By Kimberly Ramkhalawan
May 30, 2023
May in the Caribbean often marks observances of the arrival of the indentured Indian labourer to sugar plantations across the region. Some 500,000 indentured Indian servants are said to have been brought by European governments between the years 1838 to 1917 to the region, as a solution to the so-called labour shortages arising from the emancipation of the enslaved Africans that came prior, after a failed attempt to put to work Chinese labour in the region. As a result, the east Indians were shipped from their home land with the promise of return after a tenure, or a settlement agreement for their stay on the plantations.
Many were brought to Caribbean territories like British Guiana (now known as the Co-operative Republic of Guyana), Trinidad, Suriname, Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, Jamaica, Belize, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Grenada, St. Kitts, and St. Croix.
From their arrival, the landscape and culture of these countries would forever be changed from their culture, language and orientation, creating many cosmopolitan nations with an intertwining of European, African, and Asian descendants to make the Caribbean the people it is today.
For Guyana, May 5 marks the day of the first arrival back in 1838, while in 1995, the Government of Jamaica proclaimed May 10, Indian Heritage Day, in recognition of the Indians’ contribution to the social and economic development of the country. The arrival of the Indians more than 170 years ago is commemorated in stamps. Saint Lucia on May 6, 2013, with St. Vincent and the Grenadines officially declaring June 1st as Indian Arrival Day.
In Suriname, Indian Arrival Day (Prawas Din) is celebrated on June 5, 1873. On this day a ship named Lalla Rookh, arrived in Paramaribo carrying the first batch of 399Indian Indenture Laboures.
Trinidad and Tobago was the first country to start this holiday back in 1995, remembering the arrival of the Fatel Razack ship which arrived on May 30, 1845 after a journey of five months, carrying 225 Indians.
Celebrations had started in Trinidad Indian Arrival Day was first celebrated in Skinner Park, San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago, as the East Indian Centenary on May 30, 1945 which marked the hundredth anniversary of the coming of Indians to Trinidad. The Acting Governor representing the Government of the United Kingdom attended indicating the significance of the observance. Other local dignitaries who addressed the large crowd included Timothy Roodal, George F. Fitzpatrick, Adrian Cola Rienzi, and Murli J. Kirpalani.
It would be a lobby put forward in 1991 by Members of Parliament Trevor Sudama and Raymond Pallackdarrysingh to introduce in the House of Representatives the concept that Indian Arrival Day should be made a national public holiday. This call to make Indian Arrival Day a public holiday continued to be unheeded until 1995 Prime Minister Patrick Manning declared that the 150th Anniversary would be a public holiday called Indian Arrival Day, but thereafter the holiday will be called Arrival Day. The 1995 celebrations surpassed the 1945 celebrations with the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha having major celebrations in Trinidad and Tobago.
In 1996 Prime Minister Basdeo Panday declared that May 30 would be known as Indian Arrival Day and not Arrival Day. However, in the birthplace of Indian Arrival Day – Trinidad and Tobago – there is a lobby to remove the word ‘Indian’ from the name. In the 1990s the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha expanded the Indian Arrival Day celebrations and dubbed May as “Indian Heritage Month” which ends on Indian Arrival Day.
Since then a month long of collaborative events take place country wide, with observances including distinguished lectures, art exhibits, discussions on cultural contributions and in the modern sphere, theater, movies and other activities often put on within communities, the National Council for Indian Culture, NCIC, who is often responsible for the annual Divali Nagar put on for the festival of lights, as well as members of the Presbyterian church, who have had a main role in the development of the community and sustaining its culture dating back to the influence of the Canadian Missionaries who established their churches through the east Indian settlers.
However, in recent years, a narrative has begun to take root among some, who do not see it fit to celebrate the arrival of these people to Caribbean shores, stating that all it has done is continue to “perpetuate prejudices among the indo-caribbean community”, as the arrival marked a “traumatic uprooting, forcing them to become survivors of this legacy of indentureship”. With this some of the groups says it is about time the diaspora push back on this idea of celebrating our “arrival” and instead, reflect on ancestry, the legacy of indentureship and call it Survival month, going beyond offering tribute to the rich contributions Indians have made to Caribbean culture. One notable author, likened celebrating Indian Arrival Day to celebrating the exploitation of their labour.
Here is where I deviate saying this narrative can teeter on a dangerous brink of seeking to minimize those who came and persevered despite all the obstacles and have pioneered paths science, research, political spheres, food, development of nationhood, entrepreneurship and much more spanning many generations.
Thing is, yes Colonialism happened, but it never took away our heritage, in fact it birthed so many new things as we came together to shape and form so many aspects of our culture we enjoy as Indo-Caribbean people
Our forefathers might be have been coerced and forced into coming here, but they toiled and worked hard so generations to come would have a home, and I dear say opened doors for further migration abroad to communities known in other foreign lands, carrying a culture unique to the indo-caribbean community that have become striving industries, whether it be restaurants in Little Guyana located on Liberty Avenue in New York, to Toronto’s downtown landscape, other parts of the world.
They overcame many obstacles while some have chosen to dwell on the negative. And I am sure we might be probably more blessed here than the land of our forefathers. Life in this uprooting was birthed by their pioneering spirit to take a journey across treacherous black waters (kala pani) to come to an unknown land with a promise of a future of betterment. And surely to limit it to anything less than than is to be blinded. The contributions of our ancestors should not be diminished by a limited focal point.
Need be to call names, would be to list the likes of Trinidad’s Dr. Rudranath Capildeo, a scholar who made contributions in the fields of applied mathematics and physics. He studied the nature of space and time and this sparked his interest in understanding Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity. His work resulted in new theories, such as the “Theory of Rotation and Gravity” or “Capildeo’s Theory” for short.
To Guyana’s Sir Shridath Surendranath Ramphal, often known as Sir Sonny Ramphal, who as politician who served as the second Commonwealth Secretary-General, holding the position from 1975 to 1990. A recipient of numerous awards and honours from several countries, international bodies and academic institutions, including Knighthood from Her Majesty the Queen of England in 1970, he has served with distinction the people of his nation, the Region and the wider international community in a multiplicity of roles.
His involvement with the movement for a West Indies Federation as Assistant Attorney General marked the commencement of a distinctive record of advancing the process of Caribbean development.
Sir Shridath has made indelible contributions to the wider world, sharing in his memoir, the story of the Commonwealth’s role in ending the Unilateral Declaration of Independence of Southern Rhodesia by a minority white regime and bringing Zimbabwe to independence; of aiding the struggle against apartheid and securing its end, and the release of Nelson Mandela and South Africa’s freedom; of the obduracy of Britain’s Margaret Thatcher against sanctions and the heroic stand against her by other Commonwealth leaders – from Africa, India, the Caribbean, Canada and Australia. Ramphal replaces conjecture over these dark episodes in human history with fact.
And the names can come forward to our present day, with a lengthy list of names in the musical fraternity who have created new music today, stemming from our region, from Soca, which is the melting pot of Indian drumming beats with calypso beats, to chutney music widely celebrated and shared among the indo diaspora regionally.
These are just a few examples and testimonies of all our forefathers who have toiled, sacrificed leaving an undeniable, invaluable legacy for generations coming after to emulate, be inspired and persevere despite whatever may come their way, becoming successful in their own right in years to come. Let us celebrate and may it be unifying force to reflect and to yes dear I say celebrate!