About this time of the year, 25 years ago, I went to Venezuela with a few other graduate schoolmates, on a three-week study trip.
 |
| One of the very few photos from my Venezuela trip |
If I am an idiot now with no social skills, well, I was worse then. I am guessing that I would have phrased it in the most awkward and politically incorrect way possible when I asked him if he had any Indian connections.
Turned out that he had!
Curiosity was, for once, useful—Carlos’ grandparents were from India. They came to Guyana, from where his father later immigrated to Venezuela, married a local and, hence, Carlos the Venezuelan!
The Guyana connection was especially interesting because a student in our group was from Suriname. And, yes, she too was an "Indian" whose great-grandparents, I think, had emigrated from India to Guyana, if I correctly recall. Like many of Indian origin from there, she, too, was keen on getting out of the country.
She never said "Indian" but always used the phrase "East Indian." Understandable--to differentiate from the "Indians" in the Americas and the "West Indians." What a confusion thanks to Columbus!
I have in my mind this blurry image of her mother and sister cooking a fabulous meal for a whole bunch of us when they were in Los Angeles. They all settled down later in New York. The years have taken a toll on my memory and I have absolutely no idea about her name; how sad!
I do remember Trevor, however.
Trevor was from South Africa and, yes, was a product of the Indian dispersion into that country. Not merely India, but from Tamil Nadu!
The common thread here is, of course, the colonizer--Britain.
So, after recalling those old stories, the nerd in me gets curious. Would the British connection then have opened up a portal for Indians into Belize? Are there people of Indian origin in Belize? Can one get an aaloo paratta there? ;)
The web comes to my rescue:
The "East Indians" as they were referred to, perhaps in order to distinguish them from the original "Maya Indians" that inhabited this part of the world, were first brought to Belize to supplement the African laboring population. It was not until slavery had been abolished that the first East Indians, between 1870 and 1880 first arrived in Belize.Tada!
East Indian food, a significant aspect of culture, is still very much prevalent in the homes of the contemporary East Indian population, as well as Belizeans as a whole. Today the East Indian community is identified by a distinctively "Indian" appearance, either in hair, or facial features. Although they have adopted many of the social practices, customs and values of the creolized Belizean populace they have given as much in return, so much so that they remain among Belizeans a group that has truly become a dear collaborator, sharing their culture and most notably, their food.So, any Indian eateries in Belize? I am awfully curious by now.
Another search and Lonely Planet recommends Sumathi Indian Restaurant! Meet the chef:
What a fascinating world!
By the way, why does the chef not smile for the photograph? Not smiling is in the Indian genes?
3 comments:
My grandfather told me the story of how the migration instigated by the British for providing workers for their colonies actually took place.
A ship would come and anchor a couple of miles off the coast of Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu (similar story all over the coast in India). Then announcers would come to nearby villages stating that they were on the look out for workers willing to come . The deal was that they would provide food and accommodation, but no wages . Passage was free. At then end of x number of years they would be brought back.
Those willing to take up the offer were taken by boat to the ship, with no clue of where they were going. Not that it would have mattered even if they had known, for they did not have Prof Khe as a geography teacher and didn't know the world. It was their sheer chance whether the ship sailed to Singapore or Fiji or South Africa or Guyana. When they landed there, some Brit asked their name and wrote it down as most of the workers were illiterate. So if the said Prasad, the Brit wrote it out as Persaud and that's how their names would be for themselves and their descendants.
The Brits kept their word (food and accommodation was indeed provided). The workers were not cheated of this, for honour and keeping to the word was then not such a rare quality. There was no way for them to communicate back with their families in India and neither side knew if the other was dead or alive. When the term of indenture was over, most decided to stay on and find some work.
And thus the great Indian diaspora around the world began. It boggles my mind that if a particular forefather had caught a ship to say Guyana instead of Fiji, the story of a whole line of descendants from him would have been totally different and they would have been at the opposite end of the world.
How the accidents of history and the game of chance shape our lives.
Yes, so many accidents in history that then led us to wherever we are now, right? Your comment reminds me of Einstein's statement that he was able to see that much more because he was standing on the shoulders of giants.
Again, as much as a joke I say this I am equally serious when I say "thank heavens that we were a British colony!" The other European colonizers were brutal, but the English were often internally troubled in their minds on how morally ok it all was, which then made them treat the colonies a lot better than how the others, especially the Belgians and the Dutch did.
It is also interesting, right, that practically all those preferred to stay back there and not return to India.
Am delighted you got to interact with your grandfather ... all my stories are only about my grandmothers. No grandfathers. Father's father died when father was not even two months old. Mother's father died when I was four. As a kid, I know I missed having a grandfather and treated a couple of my parents' uncles as proxies for grandfathers ... so, yes, lucky you ;)
Post a Comment