East Indians created a unique space in the world – Professor Samaroo

East Indians created a unique space in the world and enriched it with their rich culture; they laboured hard and made tremendous sacrifices in order to educate their children at home and abroad, while the women kept up the cultural practices.
These were some of the declarations of Professor Dr Brinsley Samaroo, one of Trinidad and Tobago’s icon historians, who delivered the first in a series of lectures in observance of the 175th anniversary of Indian arrival in Guyana. At present, Dr Samaroo is a Senior Research Fellow at the Academy of the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) for Arts, Letters, Culture and Public Affairs.
Professor Samaroo, delivering his lecture at the Umana Yana, Kingston, Georgetown, under the theme “Making a difference: the East Indian Presence In the Caribbean, 1838-2013”, presented an in-depth address on the many contributions of East Indians in the Caribbean, both physically and spiritually. He said that East Indians made significant impact on the Caribbean’s economy, replacing a rapidly depleting African labour force.
Guyana has the largest number of Indian immigrants in the Caribbean out of the 1.3 million labourers who left India for the plantation colonies of the Caribbean. He said after settling in Guyana, a number of the Indians migrated back to India because they were promised land by the then British government, but were never given any.
Professor Samaroo said the Indians did not come into an economic disaster area as so many persons have wrongfully believed. He said that the Africans cleared the jungle and swamps and laid the foundation of the plantation systems upon which the Indians built.
The Indians also brought many of their cultures, their practices, their musical instruments, agriculture, jewellery, animals, and decorative craft, among others.
After 1857, the pace of the Indians quickened to escape the vengeance of the British. Professor Dr. Samaroo said that about 75 percent of them remained in the Caribbean making a substantial difference to the evolution of Caribbean civilisation.
He pointed out that the trip across 10,000 miles over the Indian and Atlantic oceans was traumatic. From the time they entered into the Caribbean he said, they changed because they had to mix with persons from other class, religion and race. Thousands of them had to change their names because they wanted to upgrade themselves in the new environment.
He said that the Indians made a difference by introducing a different view of the world, a totally historic approach of life by creating a unique space in the world.
Very often, Indians were described as “poor but proud” because so often they were barefooted, and challenged the Canadian missionaries theologically and quite often the Canadians couldn’t answer them.  He mentioned Toolsie Dass, a playwright and poet who was a contemporary of William Shakespeare.
The Indians brought their skills and knowledge and resuscitated the sugar industry in the region. Those areas where large numbers of Indians went were the first to show vast improvement in the sugar industry, he stated.
Meanwhile, Minister of Culture Youth and Sport, Dr Frank Anthony during brief remarks spoke of the importance of such lectures to educate Guyanese about their rich cultural backgrounds.
He said that Arrival Day represents everyone who came to Guyana as indentured immigrants.
“When we speak of Arrival Day we speak about the arrival of our East Indians, Portuguese, Chinese and African ancestors, something that we don’t relate to,” Minister Anthony said.
This year also marks the 190th anniversary of the 1823 Slave Rebellion and the ministry held several lectures, educating people on that event. Minister Anthony said that these activities have been very successful and government strongly believes that the only way to greater understanding is through lectures.
He said the ministry will also be erecting a monument in honour of the immigrants who came. He encouraged Guyanese to come together and recognise the sacrifice of their ancestors and learn from their contributions to make the country a better place.
The second lecture will be held on May 15 and will be delivered by Dr Kusha Haraksingh, Dean, Faculty of Law, UWI, St Augustine, Trinidad followed by Gaiutra Bahadur, an American journalist and book critic, on May 21.