Ethnic Indians in Trinidad & Tobago yearn to visit the land of their forefathers, deterred only by the lack of easy communication.
PORT-OF-SPAIN: Ethnic Indians in Trinidad & Tobago yearn to visit the land of their forefathers, deterred only by the distance and the lack of easy communication between the two countries, said Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Leader of Opposition in Trinidad & Tobago.
Easy travel facilities and direct flights between Trinidad & Tobago and land of their ancestors will greatly facilitate our visits to India, said Persad-Bissessar.
“You see, for us, it is not mother India but grandmother India,” Persad-Bissessar said.
“Trinidad is the land we were born in and this is our motherland. India is our grandmother just as Africa is to our Afro-Trinidadian brothers and sisters,” she elaborated.
There are 520,000 Indian origin people in Trinidad & Tobago and comprise a little over 40 per cent of the country’s population of around one million.
Most of them are descendants of Indians who had arrived in the 19th and early 20th centuries to work as indentured labour on sugarcane plantations. “Every time you think of going to India you also think about taking a long arduous flight via either London or Paris,” she said. “It is a big deterrent.”
Persad-Bissesar, 54, who belongs to the Indo-Trinidadian-based United National Congress (UNC) political party, has several firsts to her credit in Trinidadian politics. She was the first woman to serve as attorney general, acting prime minister and leader of the opposition in Trinidad & Tobago.
Asked how much ‘Indianness’ is left among today’s Indo-Trinidadians, most of whom can’t speak Hindi, she said, “We stay connected with India by watching (Bollywood) movies and listening to Hindi songs. We are also celebrate Diwali and Phagwah (or Holi in Trinidad & Tobago) in a big way.”
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