A memoir worth reading

Feb 03, 2019 Book Review…, Features / Columnists

Book: A Proud Product of Guyana’s Bitter-Sweet Sugar
Author: Nowrang Persaud
Critic: Glenville Ashby, PhD

The Nowrang Persaud story is an inspirational, providential journey that deserves more than passing attention. It is in Guyana’s cane piece, defined by the forces of colonialism and political resistance, that a young man is born.
The progeny of indentured servants brought from India after the manumission of slaves, Persaud’s upbringing is marked by laborious work and scant resources. In such parlous settings he emerges, psychologically measured, academically and professionally successful and, moreover, humble.
He was raised in Blairmont estate, a kind of incubator that condemned many to an existence of perpetual servitude.
Persaud recounts that 89 percent of the household were Indian [and] that the whole population was organized as a labour force. And in common with other sugar estates, living conditions were dangerously unhealthy, unkempt and atrocious.
“In the logie I found myself scratching my skin and my older sister, Chitrekha, combing me continually to get rid of the lice; the corners of my mouth were invariably ‘cut’ and exposed the white signs of malnutrition called wapa.”
His parents’ arduous work didn’t go unnoticed, especially that of his mother.
“Weekends,” he pens, were used “to cut and fetch wood for our side cooking or cultivating a one-acre rice field at Cotton Tree Village.”
Persaud doesn’t follow a chronological script, and early into his narrative, he recalls traveling to reconnect to his paternal grandparents. It is resoundingly instructive as he relates the power of history and culture.
“The high point of my visit was my meeting with the widowed Bhowjie (elder sister-in-Law) of my Aja. She was blind, but as I bowed down to touch her feet, in keeping with our traditional respectful meeting with elders, she caressed my face…and exclaimed: “Gowrie Sankar Ja Naitah” which I interpreted to mean the descendant of Gowrie Sankar, my grandfather.”
No doubt, one of the indelible moments in Persaud’s illustrious life.
It is here that he veers into philosophy. Could fate be ever questioned? What is the destiny of the soul? He never directly responds, but his life trajectory offers some clues to these searching questions.
Of note, is Persaud’s involvement in pan-Hindu movements, a response to the anachronistic and provincial character of the established priestly class. As if by osmosis, he finds new meaning, his passion for justice and humanity emerging. He writes, “[they] were not polarizing initiatives nor in any way intended to divide the Hindu community. They were conscious efforts to educate Hindus in their Dharma, to democratize and liberalize the practice of the religion with the growing education and natural curiosity of the new generation of Guyanese…”
Expectedly, growing up had its challenges. Enrollment in high school was hard fought. But Persaud persevered. He assumed additional responsibilities, including performing “the occasional “jhandi” as a substitute for the regular Estate Pandit when he was ‘over-booked.’
“The ‘dakshna’ and ‘arti’ money were like winning the lotto,” he writes.
His educational success and subsequent assignment as a teacher were communally lauded. He was respected as educator, an accomplishment that was rare among the common folk. But Persaud intended to soar beyond the strictures of plantation life. He eyed a legal career in the United Kingdom. Guyana, it seemed, was suffocating this ambitious young man.
But unable to secure a loan to further his studies, he embraced the Herculean route, fastidiously saving from additional revenue streams. He notes, “Saving money was a near impossibility, but I never-the-less augmented my basic and extracurricular earnings by gushing and gardening.”
He subsequently details the circumstances surrounding his application for cadetship and his unlikely acceptance. He was determined, his words speaking volumes: “Oh, how sweet can be the uses of adversity!”
His cadetship in personnel management from Booker’s Sugar Estates Limited was in his words, “the catalyst for a life-long career in Human Resource Management.”
Upon completion of his studies in the UK, he was appointed the Officer-in-Charge of HR at Rose Hall Estates.
‘Bitter-Sweet Sugar’ takes on a tenebrous tone when lingering disenfranchisement, combative, partisan politics, industrial strife and racial tension boiled over with deadly consequences. In the haze of disinformation and distrust, plantations were set ablaze and the innocent were sacrificed in an apoplexy of mindless hatred.
Persaud’s timeline is detailed and graphic. A young nation is split at the seams as the poor, ever blind to their real adversary, turn on each other.
“During this time, racial conflict became a phenomenon that the most aggressive could not have anticipated.”
He elaborates, describing the severity of the climate: “[Around] West Coast Demerara and environs, the Africans and Indians who respectively were minorities in one another’s communities (the Casbah was one), agreed to exchange residences in order to escape any further lethal discrimination, it was voluntary and a logical effort of self-preservation, unorchestrated by leadership.” Persaud had the unenviable task of facilitating this movement.
But there were also celebratory times, for example, the raising of a jhandi (red flag) in front of his new quarter as a member of the senior staff at Blairmont, was not only a personal milestone, but a signature cultural moment embraced by every Hindu on the plantation.
And profoundly moving is Persaud’s recount of performing the Hindu tradition of touching the feet of a revered elder, only this time, it was one closest to him: “…I would ‘bump’ into my mother (who was still employed as a Weeder in the Estate and would [perform this tradition] every time we met as was my custom.”
It is this boundless devotion to family, one of many displays of ingenuous piety that speaks to the reader.
Persaud chronicles other noteworthy experiences, some revolving around the sometimes charged political dynamics of the workplace. He highlights his tenure at UNICEF that took him to several continents, and his return to Guyana as Director of Human Resources of Guysuco. Witty, loyal and diplomatically sound, he soars professionally.
Tales of human triumphs abound, but there is something special, almost mystical about Persaud’s journey. Providence, some call it; a kind of unseen rudder that steers an unassuming young man through the choppiest of waters. But for all its magic, there is no trace of hubris or feigned humility. His is a story that is richly authentic and almost innocently delivered. And therein lies the exceptionalism that defines Nowrang Persaud.

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A Proud Product of Guyana’s Bitter-Sweet Sugar by Nowrang Persaud
Copyright 2018 Nowrang Persaud
ISBN: 978-1-64348-182-1
Publisher: BookVenturing Publishing LLC
Available at Amazon
Ratings: Highly recommended