Chalo Jahaji: On a journey through indenture in Fiji

Abstract

Subramani Gounden, the rotund and bald head master of the Tabia Sanatan Dharam Primary School in the late 1960s. A tough disciplinarian who did not hesitate to apply the tamarind 'chapki'-thin branch-to our tiny bottoms when we were caught stealing mango or guava from the school compound, he worked hard to ensure that we passed the dreaded Entrance Examination with marks good enough to secure a scholarship for secondary education. Regular night classes, extra lessons on weekends, loads of homework: we virtually camped in the school for three months before the finals. We all passed, and passed well, thanks to Mr Gounden. He is gone now, but not forgotten.In secondary school, we had a brilliant array of freshly graduated teachers, not much older than us, and full of enthusiasm and energy. Three stand out for me. The first was Krishna Datt, our history teacher, slowly balding, thickly bearded, and handsome. He introduced us to the great events of modem world history-the unification of Italy and Germany, the causes of the First World War, the emergence of Asian nationalism, to Garibaldi, Bismark, Mao and Gandhi. He read to us passages from the books of Denis Mack Smith, the great historian of Italy, the English historian of India Percival Spear, and the contemporary historian Geoffrey Barraclough. He introduced us to student politics by organizing a Students' Council. But my most enduring memory of him is of the day he arrived in class with a large placard around his neck bearing the opening words of the Communist Manifesto. Krishna, now big and Santa Claus-like, is a Labour member of parliament.Vijay Mishra, presently a professor of English in Canada, introduced us to the pleasures of English literature. With a fluent command of the language, a well tended goatee beard and flamboyant clothes, he cut a striking figure. He started a class library of classics which each of us had to read and talk about during the 'morning talk' period everyday. We read, while still in grade eleven, novels by Pa trick White, J ane Austen, the Bronte sisters,

‘Innocent’ Victims/‘Guilty’ Migrants: Hindi public sphere, caste and indentured women in colonial North India

“…68 Many folk songs of Dalit emigrants from north India represented their journey by sea as an 'escape' from the oppressions of caste, Brahmanic Hindu religion, economy, and nation. 69 At the same time, the implicit biases against Dalits, particularly Dalit woman, also appeared within the movement. Kunti was, of course, applauded for her courage.…”

“…Chamars alone totalled 13.4 per cent of all emigrants. 20 Furthermore, Dalits and tribals were perceived by the plantation owners as more submissive, malleable, manageable, hard working, skilful, and reliable, with no taboos surrounding food or work. 21 Basti, Gorakhpur, Gonda, Bahraich, Azamgarh, and Benaras became important centres of emigration, as the proportion of agricultural labour was high in these districts.…”

“…He attributes emigration chiefly to the poor economic and social position of certain classes and castes in India, rural poverty and dislocation, especially in times of famine, and explains that a new place outside India offered the possibility of moving out of the caste system. 86 Yet, numerous writings of the period pointed to the coercive nature of emigration, stressing that women in particular were always misinformed and misled by the recruiters, and often held captive against their will. It was repeatedly alleged that women were being abducted by the emigration agents in various parts of United Provinces and Bihar, for example, in Azamgarh and Gorakhpur.…”

Time and the other time: Trajectories of Fiji time

“…4. On the codification of indigenous tradition, see France 1969;Kaplan 1995;Kelly 2003; on the codification of an Indo-Fijian tradition, see Kelly and Kaplan 2001;Lal 2012Lal [2000. See Leonard (unpublished) for the emergence of an Indo-Fijian tradition under insecure land tenancy, formally regulated land allotment, and officially regulated tenant-land owner relations.…”

The Indian Diaspora in Africa: The Commodification of Hindu Rashtra

“…Colonization led to the incorporation of the Indian subcontinent and large swathes of Africa into the British Empire, which then facilitated the establishment of a substantial Indian Diaspora in Africa, which constitutes a radical difference between India and most other international actors involved in Africa. The prime dynamic for this was indentured labor, which was a form of debt bondage, by which 3.5 million Indians were transported to various colonies by the European imperialists to provide labor for the (mainly sugar) plantations (see; Malherbe, 1991;Jain, 1993;Carter, 1995;Lal, 2000;Mishra, 2009;Desai and Vahed, 2010).…”