I felt proud to read that Sundar Popo’s granddaughter has located her grandfather’s red Touring Hood and want to reclaim it for display at Sundar’s home at Lalbeharry Road, Debe. The red Touring Hood was so much part of the success of the singing legend and more so the launching of his debut hit, Nani and Nana.
This announcement is heart-warming as few of our descendants see value in their ancestors and their achievements. Is there another individual who is doing something of value to preserve and propagate the contribution of their ancestors?
The late Kamal Persad and Ashram Maharaj, two researchers and writers of the Indian Review Magazine, lamented the lack of interest of many descendants of several prominent Indian activists of the 1940s and 1950s. Seeking to gain access to their archival records in the 1980s and 1990s they encountered cold cooperation as most did not bother to appreciate that their parents and grandparents were champions of the rights of the Indian community when its was at its lowest.
To see Sieunarine Persad Coosal, Managing Director of the Coosal’s Group, accepting the Ayodhya Sri Ram Lalla Award was most uplifting. It only demonstrates that there is still an individual who is proud to identify as a Hindu despite the negative connotations and scorn that are poured on Hindu beliefs and practices.
What is most welcoming is the formation of the Ayodhya Sri Ram Organization of Trinidad and Tobago to overseer the installation of the Ram Lalla murti. Though there are detractors who behave as though they have deeds for Sanathan Dharma, the executive and members of the Ayodhya Sri Ram Organization, have successfully pulled through a program last Sunday May 25 in Charlieville to install the Ram Lalla murti with thousands of devotees in attendance.
One detractor has spread propaganda and naked falsehood that the Ram Lalla murti is a fake and that Indian High Commission in PoS was not part of the installation ceremonies. The installation ceremonies were otherwise, with the Indian High Commissioner very much part of the program.
The Hindu community needs a churning to purge itself of such poisonous falsehood. If this is not done more than likely that halahal is going to devour us. More of us must be bold to call out the short comings and falsehoods that are propagated in the name of dharma. This brings me to an article in icdn,today by Pandit Ramdular Singh of Guyana who points out the failings of the Dharmic Sabha of Guyana. A salient point that was made was the engagement of the leadership of the Dharmic Sabha in politics much to the neglect and detriment of the Hindu community.
In Trinidad and Tobago there is the erroneous belief that the highest position one can execute is that of a minster of government. It is no wonder that so much accolades and envy are directed at cabinet ministers as though they have the solution for all the ills in our society.
We need a holistic approach to solving our social problems. Sieunarine Persad Coosal’s association with the Ayodhya Ram Lalla murti only demonstrates that there is much more to life than money and social influence and that preserving the values of our heritage is be integral to our survival.
As the community commemorates the 180th anniversary of Indian Arrival Day we need to embody the values of our dharma. Dharma was their shield that protected our indentured ancestors in their darkest hour. If we, their descendants, abandon our dharmic shield, we will be like Karna, naked and exposed in the battlefield, only to be slaughtered by the vicissitude of time.