Book and baiganee 185 years later...

 

Book 

Nice cool afternoon of 5 May, 185 years after the first indentured labourers arrived from India in the Indian Monument Gardens. The Indian Commemoration Trust has their annual Pushpanjali

"You still like your books " the former student laughs after spontaneously hugging me. She is wearing Indian wear.

I have come to the event ,  improperly dressed in wear that is not Indian , well the cloth for the pants was bought from an Indian owned store - to buy Dr Seeta Shah -Roath's book.

Petamber Persaud  has the book stall. He will be selling books and displaying books from his collection of books about Guyana.  Pushpanjali might be the only 'cultural' event for Indian arrival

Petamber's personal labour of love with books is a cultural tribute which is often not recognised when we hear culture. Culture seems to be clothes, food, dance and maybe some other performances.

His collection includes books which are out of print. The Gardens make a nice venue to pick up books and browse them, a nice place to sit and read.   To eavesdrop on other conversations about the books. 

The Gardens would make a nice venue for a  book fair, book festival.

Baiganee

The women are selling food. There is a display of sweet meats.. I look and yearn, think of saying to hell with the other shugah legacy, the diabetes and then in my head Rajiv Mohabir's lamentation that the shugah that the ancestors slaved for is now a kind of poison for many descendants including many in my family.  

Lunch was pumpkin and channa, and corn bread. Remembering when a relative felt like making kankie as one of the sweetmeats for a Hindu function and the politics of food and culture and so. Tribute in my head to all ancestors not those who came from India.

Thankfully there is baiganee, made on site , hot.  One of those things which is difficult to make as it could absorb the oil, get soggy and greasy. 

 "coolie styling", Coolitude

As we absorb oil this week, the coolie Attorney General is going to appeal the ruling from the coolie Judge which is in favour of the two black men who asked for insurance for an oil spill. Some coolie people have no problem with a Guyana soaked in oil.

"Ah coolie styling" the woman laughs at me. She has come on Saturday, 'yesterday was holiday. me nah go noway'.. .  Her story - family dispute, robbing of property, money, violence. "Me used to ask me muddah how she get education and still get rab"  She has been waiting six months now for public assistance. The Ministry of Human Services has a nice poster for "Happy Arrival Day', the minister in 'Indian' wear. 

I meet a woman who is learning French with me. She is looking forward to the food and performances.

We chat a bit in French and English. I come home and remember Mauritius, go looking to find poems in French by other descendants of indentured labourers to share. Khal Toorabully wrote poems, and described 'coolitude' . to talk about the diverse experiences of the descendants of the labourers who left India to work in other colonies.

Coolie styling this week as the coolie Vice President says the coolie woman who is head of the Guyana Press Association is on a political campaign, rather than advocating for professional ethics. Coolitude.. coolie styling in Guyana includes this 'PNC' thing .. some commenters under my letter published 185 years after the first arrival also say I am PNC.

The weirdness about coolitude in Guyana as people give different greetings 'Happy Arrival Day' and Happy Indian Arrival Day. A lot of people writing asking why the day is not 'Indian Arrival instead of 'Arrival'..

I hustle up to leave the Gardens before the performance . Coolie styling in Guyana, coolitude includes this deference to politicians and while I glad to hear tassa, I don't like tassa knocking for those who want to soak in oil.

The report of the  Prime Minister's address to those who remained in the Gardens says "Although he was speaking at an event held to commemorate the 185th anniversary of the arrival of the first East Indians to the shores of then British Guiana, the PM pointed out that Arrival Day was set aside to celebrate the multicultural character of Guyana."  

It looked as though he was wearing 'Indian wear'.

I feel sorry for him.

His published message in the newspapers had him saying 'Happy Indian Arrival Day'. His coolie bosses probably had to pull him up.

Dr Shah-Roath's family had for 40 years put on a dance event - Nrityageet- which was grounded in the arrival of Indian indentured labourers, but which intentionally included the descendants of other people who were here before Indians arrived and who came, and which reflected all the evolutions and complexities. 

I remember a coolie woman, PPP woman,  telling me after one show, that she did not like that particular show as it was not "Indian culture'.   A coolie minibus driver told me he that he was talking with a newly arrived labourer from Chennai, India . The driver said that the man told him that a lot of what we know as coolie history and the language and so is false, about the languages and so.

I saw a flyer for a coolie gospel singer who had rejected Ram and embraced Jesus who was headlining and a concert in Berbice and the organisers people encouraged the people to dress 'festive' .  

There are no reports of this event like how they had for the Hindu event in Berbice.

 Coolitude.. coolie-styling.