c qoi o jus' ? ki sa sa ki sa yé ?

TRINIDAD&TOBAGO STAMP, 1970

Courtesy Lloyd Harridan, with thanks.

INDO-GUYANESE TAMIL HERITAGE

Toronto, Canada
May 6, 2006
South Asian Heritage Day event
at the Vedic Cultural Centre Arya Samaj Temple.

The lady is Indo-Guyanese said that she is Madrasee.
This type of headwear is still common in Guyana.

Canada is home to large numbers of Indo-Caribbean peoples who have migrated from Guyana and Trinidad though there are smatterings of others from Jamaica and other English-speaking countries of the Caribbean.
Since the Canadian census does not track ethnicity breakdown of Canadians who originated from the Caribbean, the size of the Indo-Caribbean population in Canada can only be estimated and it is sometimes quoted to be in excess of 150,000 including offspring born in Canada.

 

Each year for the past seven years, the Arya Samaj Temple near Toronto has hosted an exhibition and a cultural show as part of Indian Arrival Month, now officially recognized in Ontario as South Asian Heritage Month.

Part of that exhibition includes a “logie” or dwelling where indentured Indians used to love on the sugar plantations in the Caribbean. The version seen in the photograph is scaled-down. 

 

The term “Madrasee” is still used in Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago to refer to descendants of Indian indentured workers who originated from South India, and were mainly Tamil speaking.

The vast majority of Indian indentured workers who went to the English speaking Caribbean originated from North India, mainly from what is now Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Today, Tamil is only used in South Indian Hindu ceremonies in Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago. 

Photo and text by Martin Latchana
©2006 cqoj blog.
Special thanks.

MOTHER INDIA, DAUGHTER OF THE WEST?

Whatever happened to you,
Mere Bharat Mahan
expresses Norman Tiwarie in this poem -

Mother India
            
After 50 years
Still struggling
But that's all right
For some countries
Well over 150
And they're still
Not being able to
Raise their head
Above water
Like the West
Where they are
Now eager learning
The basics of life

Oh Mother India!
With your immense
Land mass
So many cultures
Dialects and customs
The cradle of Sanskrit
And the bread basket
Of Europe and Asia
Yet you forge ahead
With non-alignment
And Socialism
As others try to enslave
Your peoples and beliefs

Mother India you!
Where disciples
Of your dharma
Come from
The world over
Like a magnet
You draw the high
And the low brows
From Stars of Hollywood
To dancers from Bollywood
From the Beatles to Jesus
To the Great Mahatma
Like the Mecca
Of the world
All have trod
Your good earth

Oh Mother India!
Your children
From the four corners
Look up at you
With  majestic pride
Like the Sacred Ganges
You wind your way
Amidst the plains
And pains of
Social problems
Of restless
Religious turmoils
Abject corruption
And incomparable affluence

Oh Mother India!
As you move over
Past 50years
After independence
Refusing to abide
With Mohandas Gandhi?s
Steadfast Non-violence
Maybe partition was not
Such a good idea after all
For Muslims and Hindus
Still look at one another
As brothers not
As matadors
With mad cow disease
Aided and abetted
By myopic politicians

Oh Mother India!
You spread your tentacles
All over the five continents
From the foothills
Of the Himalayas
With the magnificent Everest
To Nagercoil
Near the Indian Ocean
Sandwiched by Pakistan
And wretched Bangladesh
As numerous offsprings
Still clasp like straw
At your Dharma
Preaching your religion
Customs and traditions
Despite the battering
Of other religions
Who steadfastly try
To change your children

Mother India the Great!
Your beauty
Is world renown
Mankind awed at  your
Kasmiri women
Making jealous English
Green with your
Fair complexion
Your picturesque landscapes
Are unrivalled
Your forests are famous
Where white hunters? slaughter
Your majestic tigers
Striking a pose
Atop elephants and platforms
Hanging your trophies
On their walls

Oh Mother India!
Your History is unrivalled
From the erotic Kama Sutra
To the Bhagwat Gita
From Kublai Khan
To the British Raj
You tell it like it is
And you live it
Like it was
Your rich culture pattern
Woven across your girth
Like the colours
Of Joseph's coat
Winding its way
Like the tributaries
And rich deltas
Of the Brahmaputra
Indus, Kistna and Godavari
To the meanderings
Of the Sacred Ganges

Oh Mother India!
Land of the untouchables
Where caste is not taboo
Where arranged marriages
And dowries
Are still a way of life
Where your customs
Baffles the pundits
Of modern civilizations
Yet you trudge on
Like an Iron Horse
Belching the stench
Of unwanted venom
Despite new propositions
And frequent oppositions
Prevalent among
The rich and poor

Oh Mother India
Your mistakes are forgiven
For your British masters
Showed your brilliance
For you were a good pupil
You towed the line
With your fearless
Courageous Gurkhas
They taught you
To divide and rule
You did it with Partition
It showed like always
The British was too greedy
To let Hindus and Muslims
Live in harmony
Betraying you
To the misguided Jinnah
Crushing the Mahatmas
Philosophy of non-violence

Today your children
Are shedding your
Dhotis and Kurtahs
For Jeans and Nike
Clamoring aimlessly
For western toys
For rock, rap and MTV
Replacing Amitah Bachan
With Michael Jackson
The singing nightingale
Popular Lata Mageshkar
With Madonna
And as you watch
With tears in your eyes
You see another betrayal
Of your culture and dharma

Oh Mother India!
Maybe with new blood
And the new thinking
In Congress
The old cronies
Who replaced Gandhi?
And the brilliant
Jawarhall Nehru
Will find it in their heart
To work for the benefit
Of the poor and the homeless
And the downtrodden
Would stop child poverty
And end child slavery
The defibulation of women
Corruption and nepotism
And for once
In their lifetime
Before reincarnation
Do real good soon
For their own sakes.

by Norman TIWARIE. Special thanks.

Mere Bharat Mahan...

CREOLE - JUST ANOTHER PATOIS?

CREOLE - JUST ANOTHER PATOIS? A REFLECTION ON FRENCH PATOIS AND CARIBBEAN (AND OTHER) CREOLES 

On the islands under French influence like Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. Lucia, Dominica, St. Martin, St. Barths, Marie-Galante, Les Saintes, Désirade... or Mauritius, Seychelles and Reunion, as well as French Guiana... nearly all the population speaks a form of French-based Creole as their first language... And, all these people can understand each other!

In countries under English influence, Creole has less standing, although there are creolized forms of English...

A person cannot be called a patois. But you can be a Creole, no matter your racial origin. Patois is a French word meaning a regional or very local language. A French synonym for un patois is un parler. Most regions of France like Picardie, Jura, Savoie, Provence or Aveyron, just to cite a few, have their patois or parler local, sometimes disappearing, sometimes being revived.

The people of Québec in Canada have kept the language and accents of the time they left France, as have the Louisiana Cajun descendents. Their old French is a precisely preserved ancestral tongue like Sanskrit in Bali, remote Tamil Nadu village speech in the French West Indies, or Bhojpuri in Guyana or Trinidad & Tobago. It is not just "bad language".

Creole and its many varieties also evolved as a patois on the overseas plantations of Europe.

TRINIDAD : FROM POET KABIR TO KABIR PANTH AND PRAIMSINGH

Baagon Na Jaa :
Don't Search the Gardens

Kabir Big in Kabiribbean!

L'expérience spirituelle

Si le pauvre va trouver le riche,
Le riche lui tourne le dos!
Mais si c'est le riche qui va chez le pauvre,
Le pauvre lui rend honneur et le fait entrer.
- Kabir, Au cabaret de l'amour.

Dans l'Inde du XVème siècle, où s'opposent hindouistes et musulmans, un pauvre tisserand de Bénarès, habité par une ardente mystique d'amour, proclame l'unité d'Allah et de Râm, le Dieu de l'islam et de l'hindouisme, et fustige, avec une audace sans pareille, l'hypocrisie des religieux.

Kabir, le poète des petits, fustigeur des fausses sagesses...

L'importance de Kabir est telle dans la genèse de la littérature hindi, qu'on pourrait la comparer à celle d'un Dante pour la langue italienne, d'un Shakespeare pour l'anglais, ou d'un Goethe pour l'allemand.  

Mais la comparaison s'arrêterait là, car face à ces grands poètes érudits, l'indien Kabir n'est qu'un pauvre tisserand, sûrement analphabète, s'adressant en priorité aux petites gens, au peuple innombrable et anonyme de l'Inde du XVe siècle, dont la langue quotidienne se trouve soudain transfigurée à travers ses poèmes.

LIRE : L'article  de Jean MOUTAPPA

Kabir Big in Kabbirean!

I attended a KABIR function earlier this year 2006 in Freeport, Central Trinidad.

Very well-attended and organized, similar to a YAGHYA.

The KABIR PANTH is a vibrant association, with Ajeet Praimsingh Ji being a prominent member.