INDENTURESHIP RECORDS REVISITED.
By Ramnarine Sahadeo
Congratulations are in order to the Govt. and people of Guyana and all who participated in the historical visit of Shri Narendra Modi, the indefatigable Prime Minister of Bharat that is India. In a few weeks he travelled to Africa, South America including two days in Guyana where he met with leaders of Caricom countries.
In his many speeches he encouraged Guyanese to visit the ancient land of the Rishis. He mentioned the festival of KUMBH MELA which will be held from January 14 to February 25, 2025 in Prayagrat, Uttar Pradesh, on the banks of Ganges, Yamuna and Saraswati Rivers. This spiritual event has been described as the largest peaceful gathering of human beings anywhere on the planet. The magazine Hinduism Today estimated that over 240 million people attended the event in 2019. It is estimated that this number will be exceeded on this occasion.
This cultural giant also encouraged attendance to the Ram Temple in Ayodhya inaugurated on January 22, 2024. This original birth place of Lord Rama attracts up to 150,000 visitors daily.
Every Guyanese inspirited by his presence have been given a reason to Visit Bharat. It could be female cricketers for training; those interested in business but mostly those with a spiritual yearning to take a special dip in the holy rivers.
A significant number also have a keen interest in tracing their own history but cannot do so unless the records of the family can be obtained from the archives in Guyana. This group includes those residing outside Guyana which has the largest Diaspora at 36.4% as of 2020 according to a U.N. population Division.
A significant number of these have been trying to trace and visit the actual villages where their ancestors left from May 5, 1838 to 1917. The few who have been able to do this are fortunate and rarer still are those who have developed a continuing arrangement and return regularly to assist the poor in those villages.
Those who recently visited the Archives in Guyana indicate that the condition of the records needs to be preserved from further decay. One set is readable, another set needs a special machine to make them readable while another set is beyond repair and this number is increasing each year.
Lieutenant Michael Charles Remembered.
It is equally appropriate in 2024 to salute the Govt. and the armed forces of Guyana for their recognition of the contribution that our national hero, pilot extraordinaire, legend and friend Captain Michael Charles made to country. Mike voluntarily shared his life, knowledge and skills with all Guyanese and the world. He was one of the few who could through his late great grandfather, Moses Rampershad (1897-1999), trace his history to Varanasi also known as Kashi,(formerly Benares) one of the oldest and holiest cities in the world.
Shri Narendra Modi happens to be the representative for this district and has been elected 3 times from this constituency to become the Prime Minister of India.
As Recently as October 2024 the Prime Minister inaugurated numerous developments projects in the area including sports projects and airports.
Our local hero thus shared something in common with an International leader much respected by his global counterparts.
On or about December 19, 2023 a letter to the editors of Guyana Times, Kaieteur News and other print media entitled Michael Charles, Leguan and Indentureship was published. The comments and letters that followed over the last year showed that there was a keen interest in getting the records of indentured servants digitized just like Suriname and Mauritius.
Guyana alone received about 239000 Indentured servants from India second only to Mauritius.
It is appropriate to summarise some of the comments:
“We visited India many times and arranged tours annually but we still have to find our ancestral village. We do not have time to travel to Guyana and come away in frustration and anger as we cannot read and write much; we are retired and live on a pension and cannot understand why this information cannot be put on a computer so our grandchildren can sit at home on a computer and tell us which village we can from. If the govt is short of money we are willing to donate our CASH GRANT to the cause as it also requires us to travel to Guyana to collect it.”
“We are embarrassed when our Indian friends and neighbours ask why we cannot speak Hindu. Now we have to explain to them why we cannot find why village we came from in Bharat. All we know is that it is in Uttar Pradesh or Bihar. It’s our dying wish to travel to see not just Bharat Mata but to immerse ourselves in the sounds, colours, the taste and smell of the villages of our foreparents.”
“The President is a good man. He and the Vice President visited their ancestral villages. Maybe another meeting at 5.30 am would reveal those who do not carry out his wishes.”
It is difficult to explain why in a country where 40% can trace their ancestry to Bharat cannot put this subject on the front burner and treated with the respect it deserves.
There are regular outreach meetings with Ministers where it can be broached.
There are weekly press conferences where only oil and gas seems to matter.
Where are all the investigative reporters in the print, radio and TV media who should ask about the broken promises going back as far as 1992 to preserve and make these records available?
Hopefully the authors of the book on our late Hero will find space for his connection to Varanasi and that by the next anniversary many can sit at a computer anywhere in the world and like him trace their villages of origin in the most ancient of civilizations, Bharat that is India.
