Journalist traces horrific journey of Indian immigrants to Guyana

Guyanese-American journalist Gautra Bahadur on Tuesday evening detailed the conditions endured by female indentured immigrants as she brought the curtains down on the Culture Ministry’s Commemorative Lecture Series on the arrival of Indians in Guyana.
Before revealing the harsh conditions endured by Indian women who journeyed to Guyana, Bahadur said she has visited not only Guyana but India in a quest to excavate the truth on not only the conditions endured, but the significant roles played by women in the development of Guyana during this era.

As she addressed the packed audience in the presence of the Culture Minister Dr Frank Anthony, University of Guyana Pro-Chancellor Prem Misir, government officials and members of the diplomatic community, the journalist referenced her book Coolie Woman: The Odyssey of Indenture, as she painted a vivid picture of the journey.
Before journeying to Guyana, Bahadur said the women like men and children were stripped of their belongings before being packed into ships for the rough journey to South America. It was a psychological process, she lamented. She explained the women at the time did not only face the stern reality of developing life in a strange land, but had to grapple with the fact that they were leaving behind some of their children and other relatives.
“I think that the women that left India as coolies did so quiet on purpose. It may be that the circumstances were too traumatic to remember, much less reclaim. It may be that their emotions were too conflicted.”
Many of the women, like her great-grandmother, Bahadur said were pregnant. She pointed to the fact that from the total number of women who journeyed to South American, 71 per cent were without their husbands while 70 per cent were pregnant. Though horrifying, the American journalist said Indian women saw the journey as an opportunity to escape the harsh reality of their lives in India, which included neglect, and at times abuse. For the first time they were given the opportunity to earn a living for themselves.
As indentured immigrants, she posited the women not only worked, but were used as sex partners, housekeepers and cooks.
Jealousy
However, this she said did not come without a price, as jealousy developed and sadly give birth to domestic violence, a problem Guyana is still grappling with as a nation.
“Women during indentureship possessed a greater power to remain themselves, unlike men because they were in demand as sex partners.”
According to the journalist, evidence surfaced that women were brutally chopped when their husbands who they had sought better lives with became suspicious.
However, it cannot go unrecorded, the difficulty experienced in the quest to unearth the critical information in compiling her book. According to Bahadur, for many years, she combed through ship reports, inquiries into plantation uprisings and private dossiers of officials and newspapers to establish a balance account of what transpired.
However, “these official papers were one sided… the archives leave gaps missing with very few exceptions are the voices of the indentured themselves. The vast majority were not literate in English or any English or any Indian languages so they didn’t leave behind diaries or letters and this applies especially to the women, they did not write down their own stories in their own words.”
It must be noted, she said, the lives and experiences of the indentured Indians were told through the eyes of those who held power.
Dr Anthony said the three lectures which formed part of the Commemorative Lecture Series on the Arrival of Indians in Guyana would be compiled and published before the end of the year. In similar fashion, lectures conducted in February to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Berbice Slave Uprising will also be published. He said for both the indentured and slavery periods, much emphasis was placed on the significant roles played by men while women were hidden in their shadows.
In addition to the lecture series, Minister Anthony said the Guyana National Archive is currently in the process of digitising documents and audio on the arrival of Indians in Guyana.
He also used the opportunity to advocate for persons to participate in the Indentured Monument Competition, with persons being granted the opportunity to submit designs for the creation of a monument. Minister Anthony said that Gy$500, 000 is up for grabs and all must cash-in on the competitions.