Culture

Sarita Boodhoo, while tracing the history of the Indian Diaspora in Mauritius, explains how the Indian heart of the island nation is still in the right place. The Advent In the year 1834, a tiny island called Mauritius was all set to witness a historic event. The British brought in a group of 75 contract laborers from India and employed them in the island’s sugarcane fields. With time, this handful of individuals grew to form the Indian Diaspora of Mauritius. This arrival was unique for one more reason. Among all the plantation colonies across the world, Mauritius was the first ...

Ayesha Khan unveils the transition from the conventional Bengali woman to her contemporary counterpart. Every woman holds an enigma of beauty, beauty much deeper than her skin, which lies deep in her mind.  Kolkata, the city of ethics and culture cannot be compared to any state in India. The Kolkatan culture depicts the authentic concept of ‘Indian Women’, defining their impeccable beauty, devotion and immense power. In this new age of changes, Kolkata has also witnessed mass reformation, the contemporary Bengali women depicting one of the major transformations.  Bengali women have forever been pictured as a subtle woman of sublime beauty, ...

Dr Arnold Thomas reflects on the identity of St Vincent citizens of Indian origin, or Indo-Vincentians The history of Indian immigration to St Vincent and the Grenadines is now well documented although not fully published as yet. But since we are marking June 1 as Indian Arrival Day it is useful to recap its significance. But first I would like to deal with a popular mythology: that the mutineers of the 1857 Indian Mutiny were sent to St Vincent. The facts are: following the Mutiny in 1857, the London-based West India Committee representing the planter interest in the West Indies ...

Roopnarain Persaud highlights the acceleration in the lives of Indo-Caribbeans, thanks to the Indo-Caribbean Federation. The Indo-Caribbeans are a group of people of Indian origin, the fore parents of who were contracted as indentured labourers to work in the sugar plantations of the Caribbean and the Guianas back in 1834. Religious doctrines were, and are still, used to divide them into subgroups of Hindus, Muslims and Christians. Over time, an estimated 200,000 of them migrated to and settled in the New York metropolitan area. Within the context of this shared experience the Indo-Caribbean Federation of North America was formalized by ...

Nandini Bhautoo-Dewnarain traces the cultural and social evolution of the Indian Diaspora in Mauritius.  It has often been said that when the first group of Indian immigrants came to Mauritius, they came with the Tulsidas Ramayana which sustained the social values and sentiments even in the extreme conditions of existence they were thrown into. With the qualities of eloquence developed through the Ramayana like recitation, singing, group reading and commentary, these skills were deeply entrenched into the first wave of immigrants. This punctuated social activities of the village community like days’ long weddings, birth celebrations, etc. However, at the turn ...