The all but forgotten story of poor labourers, who left the Indian shores in the 19th and early 20th Centuries, is all set to be revived and immortalised in Kolkata.
Once upon a time, in some plantations far, faraway, profits were plunging down and the Masters were worried. Slavery had been abolished, and it was hard to find cheap labour for their plantations. That is when the Colonial masters started importing labourers, who were technically not slaves, from their other colonies, like India. Licensed agents started recruiting the poorest of labourers to work on contract in plantations and mines, in countries like Mauritius, Fiji, Africa and West Indies (the Caribbean). Thus began the journey o f t h e Indian Indentured Labourers, a journey started by the poor labourers in the 19 and 20 century, but continued by many subsequent generations finding an identity in the foreign lands. The Bhawanipore Depot at Kolkata marked a stepping stone in that journey. It is here that the labourers awaited the ships that would take them to a life of bondage in places they had only heard about.
A lost chapter
History has not given the poor emigrants from Bengal and Bihar their due place, and their plight went largely unnoticed amidst the many woes of colonised India. Though not officially slaves, these labourers spent a life of bondage in the West Indies, Mauritius, Fiji and Africa. Variously labelled contract is- contractual workers, jahajis- those who came on a ship and other such discriminatory titles in the new countries, many of them nevertheless dropped anchor in those places. After their ‘contracts’ got over, many labourers settled in the respective countries, while others returned to India. Descendants of the original emigrants went on to rise through the society in their country of birth, and many of them today make the ancestral land proud.
And now, if these descendants of those Indian emigrants have their way, the story of their ancestors will be retold in that very Bhawanipore Depot. Plans are afoot to set up a monument and a museum in honour of the thousands of labourers who spent their last few days in their native country in this port. “The descendants of all those who had left for foreign shores from Calcutta port during that period have been lobbying with the government for a memorial and a museum in Calcutta to honour the memory of their ancestors,” A Didar Singh, Secretary, Overseas Indian Affairs Ministry, was quoted saying in a Kolkata newspaper. The likely sites for the project, according to the report, are on DL Khan Road, AJC Bose Road and Surinam Ghat near Kidderpore.
Before the passage
Back then at the depot, a plethora of indentured workers waited, sometimes for months, for the ships that would take them to the colonies. Later as the number of indentured migrants increased, individual colonies set up their own depots for Trinidad, Fiji and Suriname. In 1889, the depot was shifted to the Garden Reach area.
The plot marked on DL Khan Road is said to be where the barracks were which kept the ‘coolies’ before setting off. Although, there is no concrete evidence to confirm this, and the BSNL campus on AJC Bose Road could very well be the actual site of the barracks, the report goes. Ashook Ramsaran, VP, Global Organisation of People and Leela Gajadhur Sarup, historian and author, are part of the survey team that is scouting for locations. The final decision will be taken after the Heritage Commission authenticates the sites.
Roots and memories
Ramsaran qualified as an engineer and now manages his electronics manufacturing company in New York. His great grandfather was one of those indentured workers taken to British Guiana in 1853, but Ramsaran added with a tinge of regret: ‘I don’t know where my great grandfather came from in India.’ The efforts for such a monument no doubt articulate the desire of many PIOs to trace back their origin. For many of them, sadly the trail stops at Bhawanipore. The countries where our Diaspora has stayed and prospered, already have such kind of monuments to the early emigrants. It is now India’s turn to acknowledge this part of her history. What started as a private initiative by the Guyanaborn Ramsaran, is now a venture that has got Mauritius, Trinidad and Tobago, as well as the West Bengal Government interested.
Challenges to overcome
Of course, the project is not going to be all smooth sailing. Even though the proposed site is now vacant land, over the years the piece of land has changed hands, been leased and the rightful owner at the moment is not very clear. Even with state support, land issues have away of getting strenuous exercises in India.
As for the funding, efforts are going on, says Ramsaran. The memorial initiative will later be expanded into a museum which will showcase the conditions under which the indentured workers lived, the changes they made in the host countries’ economy and how the Indian community grew to become an important segment of society in the new country. With the vast PIO community backing the project, funds and any other support should not be difficult to procure. It is almost as if everyone was waiting for the first step to be taken.
According to Ramsaran, the bonds that link the persons of Indian origin to India are still strong, ‘and the idea of the memorial is to emotionally connect the descendants of those indentured workers with the story of their ancestors and their ancestral homeland’.
