Indians did not have an automatic right to practice their culture under indenture ship

May 10, 2021 Letters

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Dear Editor,
Hamilton Green in his S.N. May 9th letter seems to be rambling of someone who on one hand demands that his kith and kin be given their rightful respect and at the same time sought to put down Indians. He writes about Indians retaining their Sanskrit names. And infers that it is because they were paid Indentured servants. He conveniently ignores the efforts to shame the “Coolies” that started from the British, then continued under the PNC. Indian-shaming still exists till today in subtle forms where Indians are constantly being told in public spaces that we must not call ourselves Indians but Guyanese. From saying that roti and curry is Guyanese and not Indian, or Buxton Spice mango is Guyanese even though it is Himasagar mango that came from India along with so many fruits and vegetables that came with the Indians. That it is “civilised” (sic) to say dholl and not dal and corila not Karaila even though both of these are the real words for both. That there is a language called Guyanese Creolese but this very language is really the language that the Indians created when they were shamed into discarding their ancestral languages. This very Creolese language is full of Hindi words yet no one has sought to give it its rightful identity.
Slavery and Indentureship cannot be equated and should never be viewed as who suffered more than whom. How can one judge suffering? By what scale or criterion? Who got more lashes than whom? Like when “five Indians had run away to Berbice from Vreed-en-Hoop. They were apprehended, confined temporarily in the hospital, tied to a post and in the presence of fellow workers, flogged with a cat-o -nine tails by the interpreter, Henry Jacobs, a Eurasian. Afterwards, salt pickle was rubbed on their backs.”
“To detail the whole of the iniquities practiced on the wretched Coolies, remarked Scoble, “would fill a volume.” Dr. William Nimmo, Medical Attendant at Belle Vue and a relative of Gladstone, had reportedly struck an Indian patient with a horsewhip and had also inflicted corporal punishment on several others.”
“January 9, 1839 several cases of ill-treatment and flight from Vreed-en-Hoop and Belle Vue. Two Indians, Jummun and Pulton, who fled from Belle Vue, were never seen again, though the bodies of two strange men were discovered at Mahaica, East Coast Demerara. An Indian girl of ten was reportedly raped and killed.” Basdeo Mangru S.N. May 4th 2013.
I will never compare and contrast on the inhumanity meted out to our respective ancestors since they arrived in Guyana. However, when commentators call for education and respect, they need to show same. Many refer to the Indians and their preservation of their Culture and attribute this to the fact that Indians were Indentured and thus imply that this gave them (Indians) the automatic strength to practise their Culture. How dishonest is this generalisation! It dismisses the sacrifices, blood, sweat and tears of the Indians of Guyana.
Why did the Indians especially Hindus keep their Dharma from the time they arrived till today? This is the crux of their strength. Indians were not protected from brutality. Commentators do not explore why the Indians held onto their way of lives. The British tried and failed and so did the PNC under the leadership of the despotic dictator Forbes Burnham. Indians especially Hindus who did not sell their souls to them, were time and again faced with the situation where their very existence was under threat. I will tell Hamilton Green our strength. The names of Ram and Sita of Hanuman Ji. The love of Sri Krishna. The mercy of Lord Mahadev and The Shakti of Devi Ma. The 40 Verses of Hanuman Ji has carried us though every trial and tribulations. That is why every Hindu household does the Jhandi puja and flies the Jhandi/flag of Hanuman Ji in front of our homes. It is our strength, it is our identity – this is how we have retained our ancient Culture in Guyana and now in various parts of the World where Indians from Guyana fled as a result of actions of Hamilton Green and his acolytes, past and present. At Times Square last August my brother and I led the singing of the names of Ram and Sita. We were asked by the Press about our passion for Ram and Sita and we explained that it is the name of Ram and Sita and Hanuman Ji that have kept us alive. Even today Hindus from Guyana still greet each other with Ram Ram, Sita Ram, Jai Sita Ram.
Hamilton Green demands respect for his race and that is his right. This Hindu woman, who grew up under his party’s rule, will never find it in her heart to give him a single modicum of respect. Even though his demand is about a race of people, that he chooses to speak on behalf of; he is more like a stain for Hamilton Green needs to own up to his part in the hell hole that the Indians in Guyana lived in while his party was in power and even when they lost. Would the day ever come when he will apologise to all of us Indians and to Guyana for his part for what we endured under his party and as a result of his destructive actions?
Also, will Hamilton Green ever explain why he has never sought to educate the people of Guyana as to why the National Cultural Center has not a single tribute to the very people whose money was purloined by his leader to build? Respect is earned and he is one person whose role in Guyana’s sordid history makes him one of the last to chide anyone or demand respect. Instead of wasting time lecturing on others he should follow his own advice of “Let us share knowledge and information so we can truly educate to liberate.”
Yours truly,
N. Sahadeo

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