Cheers to Indians

The ship in the waters - Fatel Razack - indentured labourers from India aboard it - the anchor is thrown at the coast of Trinidad - the hope of an economy rising. The people of Trinidad remember this day as Indian Arrival Day!

Indian Arrival Day; Source: Contributor from Deviantart

It was the time when the economy was collapsing and everything was falling apart. There seemed to be no particular hope for things to come back on track. In such a situation, people usually look up above for some miracle to happen. A miracle did happen but all they had to do was look towards the horizon. They saw a dot in the blue where the ocean and the skies meet.

It was hope in the dark as the Fatel Razack, God's victory, crossed several seas from Calcutta to Trinidad. It brought with it people who had signed up with the British to work as indentured labour. It did not merely bring hope but dreams of all aboard the ship and with them a different way of living. First, they lived in the barracks in the estates and worked on the sugar plantations. Then they became a part of the islands.

People have been travelling since ancient times, leaving the homes of their ancestors to settle in newer lands. When this happens, they take some and give some, an exchange of cultures brews something new as the world becomes more similar than different.

Trinidad and Tobago were mysterious lands for those who had travelled the oceans, not as free men, but as indentured labourers. They were sold to live somewhere between slaves and free folk in a land that was not theirs. But this was no normal movement of a mass of people from one landmass to another. This one was celebrated.

As the economy of the island country started standing on its back in the years following this arrival, the culture of the islands also started shifting gradually. The Caribbean islands had their own distinct traditions and cuisines. But now in the food was mixed roti, pholourie and kurma and in the clothes, people started fashioning dhoti, salwar and even choli!

In religion, people bent towards Hinduism and Islam and in music, they started hearing the melodies on tabla, Tassa and sitar. The island shone brightly on the night of Diwali and bend silently towards Mecca on Eid. On the day of Holi, colours flew high. For the Shia Muslims, a new festival of Hosay emerged over the years and became a part of the cultural fabric of Trinidad and Tobago.

Moreover, people on the Caribbean islands started speaking Bhojpuri. The language became a unifying element for all East Indians on a known foreign land!

The most interesting change however was that the places in Trinidad and Tobago were started being named after Indian cities and towns and villages. So there is a Fyzabad and a Barrackpore and a Chandernagore as much in the Caribbeans as they are there in India.

The tattoo art was replaced by a temporary Indian version of it - the Mehandi. While in India, it is usually brides who apply the henna on their hands, far away in the Caribbeans, all people decorate their bodies with the cold mixture of the shrub! They also took their political ways and now in the villages of Chandernagore and Barrackpore sit Panchayats under the trees to solve the conflicts between the Indians and islanders.

From 1845-1917, some 140,000 Indians were transported on the twin islands of Caribbeans. Today, it is a cause of celebration. Imagine a country celebrating the arrival of Indians every year on their land. 30th May is recognised as the Indian Arrival Day in Trinidad and Tobago. Earlier named as the Arrival Day, Indians was added to the name of the day later. A country that considers the guests as God was treated godly when it went as guests to another part of the world!