Eternal Call of the Ganga

Reconnecting with People of Indian Origin in Surinam

This paper reviews Indias interface with its diaspora from the early years of the
last century till September 2000 when the government adopted a new policy framework
seeking stronger ties between the Indian diaspora and India. The earlier policy of studied
indifference has been gradually abandoned; instead the government has
encouraged the construction of an Indian diaspora which attempts to reterrorialise
identities by consciously finding India a place in the perception of People of
Indian Origin (PIO) and seeking to rebuild roots.
KATHINKA SINHA KERKHOFF, ELLEN BAL

T
he Indian ministry of external affairs and the Federation
of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI)
decided to celebrate New Year in a grand way. Between
January 9-11, 2003, they organised the first-ever Pravasi Bharatiya
Diwas for the Indian diaspora, to most of all provide non-
Residential Indians (NRIs) and People of Indian Origin (PIOs)1
with a tremendous opportunity to reconnect with Motherland beneficial interaction (press report on the outcome of the HLC).
2 The objectives of the gathering were, "to bring the Indian family
from all over the world together. Also, to acquaint the Indian
people with the achievements of the Indian diaspora and to use
them as a bridge to strengthen relationships between India and
the host countries in this age of globalisation". With 2,000 NRIs
and PIOs participating, the event was classed as the largest ever
gathering of the global Indian family (Hindustan Times, De-
cember 8, 2002). Representatives of over 110 countries met in
New Delhi including Surinam.3
Though relatively late, the government of India has now joined
the list of nation-states trying to woo their diaspora.4 NRIs
and PIOs are included in the new narrative of a deterritorialised
Indian nation, represented as a global Indian family (India
Today, May 20, 2002, p 58). They are also paraded as Mother
Indias Children [Motwani; Gosine and Barrot-Motwani 1993,
Kumar 2000]. After a prolonged period of conscious de-linking,
India once again evoked the call of the Ganga5 and insisting
on those who have left that they should be good citizens of the
country of their adoption. Simultaneously, however, they are
told they should be good Indians and strive to find support for
India (Hindustan Times, July 28, 2002).
In September 2000 a new policy framework was proposed
aiming at forging stronger ties between the Indian diaspora and
India. Accordingly, a high level committee (HLC) on the Indian
diaspora was set up with a mandate to make a comprehensive
study of the global Indian diaspora and to recommend measures
for a constructive relationship with them (The Times of India,
January 14, 2002 and The Hindu, July 6, 2001). This step reflects
a mammoth and extremely interesting sea change in official
Indian policy towards foreign citizens of Indian descent settled
in various countries all over the world.6 The members of the
committee seemed sensitive to the fast variety among the diaspora
and were willing to consider differences in problems and ex-
pectations from their mother country. The diaspora, they feel,
is like a rainbow not unlike society within India itself. The
government of India also appointed an ambassador-at-large for
NRIs and PIOs whose goal it was to develop a global Indian
family and who sought to create a concept of unity among the
Indians wherever they are, a commonality and a sense of togeth-
erness (Hindustan Times, July 28, 2002). Committee members
in particular wanted to show our diaspora that India means
business in the matter of engaging it in long-term mutually
People left India during different times and for various reasons.
Their places of birth varied and they were equipped with different
and unequal types of capital. In this paper we focus on the relation
between India and so-called Hindustanis7 in Surinam. On June
5, 1998, the Hindustanis in Surinam commemorated 125 years
of Indian immigration. On this occasion a book entitled East
Indian Immigrants in Suriname: A Book of Names (1873-1916)
by Maurits Hassankhan (university of Paramaribo) and Sandew
Hira (Amrit Consultancy in the Netherlands) was released. This
publication contains the personal database of the East Indians
(Hindustanis) and gives an overview of the places from where
the immigrants came (Thana, Zilla and Gaon). From this
and other historical sources [Grierson 1883] it is evident that
the ancestors of the present generations living in Surinam mi-
grated mostly from the Bhojpuri area of British India, now
covering the western part of Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh.8
They generally boarded a ship departing from the port of Calcutta
somewhere between 1873 and 1916. On arrival in Surinam they
started working as indentured labourers on a five-year contract.
After renewal of the contract and another five years of very
demanding work on plantations, they could make use of a free
passage and return to Calcutta.9
Though these people shared some traditions and at times a
language,10 they were rather diffuse and had come with different
ambitions, personal histories and were variously equipped. Besides,
family migration was rare. Some sort of affiliation was however
developed during their stay in the depots,11 which was reinforced
during the months-long journey on the ship to Surinam.12
Nevertheless, these Hindustanis underwent dissimilar migratory
experience and encountered different problems while settling in
the Dutch colony. A few might have considered themselves
transients and not settlers. Yet, subsequent generations seem
to have realised that they were in a position of no return and
abandoned the idea of going back to India. Surinam became
their country of permanent abode. During the 1970s how-
ever, when many supported an independent Surinam, about

4008 Economic and Political Weekly September 20, 2003

80,000 to 1,00,000 Hindustanis settled in the Netherlands
[Baumann 2001:62] thereby becoming twice migrants. There
now are about 3,00,000 descendants of those initial immigrants
of which approximately 1,50,000 are living in the Netherlands
[Nandoe 2000:236]. In Surinam, Hindustanis still form a rela-
tively large group and are surrounded by other powerful ethnic
groups. Having experienced a unique migration history and
having been subjected to different economic and political
situations, descendants from Indian indentured labourers in
Surinam have evolved as a distinct entity with its own and varied
dynamics. It is likely that different categories among these
Hindustanis developed along dissimilar lines and evolved distinct
identities that might have marked them off, though not necessarily
so, both from Indians in India as well as from each other.
Consequently, linkages between them and India will be varied
and needs to be studied.
In this paper, we firstly review Indias interface with its diaspora,
which started with a Gandhian approach and developed in a
Nehruvian approach and cumulated in something that might
be called the Vajpayeean approach of the present government,
rolling out a red carpet for its expatriate to celebrate the success
of the 20 million NRIs and PIOs.13 We then look at the response
from PIOs in Surinam and their attitudes towards India and
Indians.14 We conclude by highlighting some findings that should
be considered in efforts to reconnect PIOs in Surinam with their
motherland. Our paper is divided in two parts. The first part
describes attitudes of those who stayed put towards those who
settled abroad. We in particular describe and explain changes
in Indias formal policy towards its diaspora and concentrate on
the latest shift during which the policy of studied indifference
[Parekh 1993:38] towards the then so-called overseas Indians
was gradually abandoned. It will be described that progressively,
the government of India attempted to construct an Indian diaspora.
It also tries to reterritorialise identities of those settled abroad
by putting place (India) back in the perception these people,
now labelled PIOs, have about themselves.
The paper however not only analyses the way in which India
tries to root its diaspora but also questions in the second part
whether and how Hindustani people in Surinam, who lost their
bodily connection to India, think of themselves as being rooted
in India and whether they derive their identity from that rootedness
[cf Malkki 1992:70]. It is also asked that since India long back
had disowned her children15 did the diaspora in Surinam not
in turn disown its land of origin?
In short therefore, this paper asks critical questions about the
ways in which PIOs are constituted and the ways in which this
possibly is contested. Our paper therefore is an important first
step in a new approach towards diaspora studies. The inclusion
of those who stayed put as an important category in the diaspora
space [Brah 1996:16],16 will set new light on those who left
as the latter are often studied in isolation.
I in their native villages and to use their capital economically.
Overseas Indians in Pre-independent Indian
Narratives: Gandhian View
Like elsewhere before [cf Emmer 1984], the abolition of
slavery in 1863 in Surinam resulted in a demand for labourers
able to work on various plantations in the Dutch colony.17
Though reasons for emigration certainly differed over time and
place [cf Singh 2001], people embarking from one of the ships
Economic and Political Weekly September 20, 2003
in the port of Calcutta and heading for Surinam were normally
needy. Many had been excluded from free access to land and
some had found no alternatives in agriculture and industry within
India or preferred migration outside. Some among these migrants
seem to have left from the port of Calcutta with an idea they
would return. Besides, relatives and friends who stayed put
longed for their return and composed songs to express this
yearning [Tiwari 2001]. Though much more research has to be
carried out in this field, it is also possible however that those
who left at times did so without the knowledge of their kin and
even with the intention never to return. Moreover, it is known
that some left against wishes of relatives who threatened they
would not take them back. On return, some of them were con-
sidered unfit for old social conditions or themselves lost any
feeling of home and felt strangers in India (Emmer 1986:196-98
and Mohapatra 1995].
Apart from informal relationships which might or might not
have existed between those who stayed put and those who left,
there also was the formal stand of the government in British India
on this kind of migration. In 1910, Lord Salisbury (report of the
Committee on Emigration from India to the Crown Colonies and
Protectorates 1910) wrote:
From an Indian point of view, it is desirable to afford an outlet
from these redundant regions into the tropical and sub-tropical
dominions of Her Majesty, where people who hardly earn a decent
subsistence in their own country may obtain more lucrative
employment and better lives.
It was added that:
From an imperial point of view it seems proper to encourage
emigration from India to the colonies well fitted for Indian
populations. It is better for India that they should return to this
country with her savings and their place in the colony should be
taken by others who are in need of employment. In many of the
colonies to which emigration from India is practised under the
Emigration Act the immigrants are well treated and amass con-
siderable savings. This substantial benefit is reaped by individuals
and we are anxious to encourage emigration to such colonies in
every legitimate manner. But the numbers emigrating or that are
likely to emigrate under any probable conditions are too small to
afford any substantial relief to the congestion of population from
which some parts of India suffer, while on the other hand, having
regard solely to the interests of India, it is not advantageous that
the coolies should settle down in the colonies, spend their savings
there, and breed up a race of Indian labourers, who will in time
supply the local demand for labour. It is better for India that they
should return to this country with their savings and that their place
in the colony should be taken by others who are in need of
employment.
Yet, not all supported the above mentioned arguments ad-
vanced by the government of India that it was in Indias best
interests that the emigrants should return with their savings. They
argued that those who returned were unsettled by the easier life
they lead in the colonies and that they were generally unable
to settle down again to the harder conditions of life prevailing
It was complained that, with the assistance of their relations and
friends they dissipate their savings and then seek to return to
the colonies. These officials thought that it was therefore better
that, these immigrants should settle in the colonies where they
have served their term of probation. They added that even in
the event of abolition of the industry there ought not to be any
necessity for the repatriation of the large number of immigrants
4009
(ibid:106). The general view of the Indian government was that
overseas migration should be encouraged.
The first half on the 20th century witnessed the rise of a national
movement in British India cumulating in the creation of two
independent nation states in 1947: India and East and West
Pakistan. During the struggle for independence, the overseas
Indians as they were generally labelled, played a crucial role.
First as part of a struggle against the indenture system and later
as part of campaigns against the mistreatment and discrimination
of Indians in overseas colonies.
Increasingly, indenture started to figure as a significant anti-
colonial issue. In 1893, M G Ranade a leading nationalist at the
time still felt that Indian foreign emigration afforded some
relief to the growing population of India, and that the expansion
of the British Empire could be seen as a direct gain to the masses
of the country. Yet in 1896 M K Gandhi another important
nationalist had a meeting with nationalist leader Gopal Krishna
Gokhale and tried to interest him in the cause of overseas
Indians. Gandhi, who himself had left India and was living in
South Africa at the time, tried to convince other nationalists of
the necessity to abolish indenture. The plight of the coolies
was greatly dramatised during Mahatma Gandhis Satyagraha in
South Africa. Gandhi as well as other nationalists of his time
condemned the laissez-faire attitude of the colonial government
[Emmer 1986:200] and demanded abolition. This finally hap-
pened in 1916. Subsequently, ships did not export labour any
longer.18
During the three decades that followed till India became an
independent nation state, overseas migrants were seen as part
of the (future) Indian nation. Though nationalists did not request
those who had left to return, they nevertheless implored them
to identify with Indias cause, its ideology of anti-colonialism,
which would ultimately also benefit them. They were asked to
make little Indias abroad and it was thought that only a free
India can hope to protect and safeguard the interests of Indians
abroad [Gangulee 1947:14]. Though, nationalists kept on
fighting against the ill-treatment of Indians when they leave
their homeland to visit or settle in other parts of the British
Empire [Gangulee 1946:8, See also Lohia 1938:3-6]. They did
not call them back however. They rather fought for their accep-
tance in their adopted countries on equal terms and asked them
to identify with the exploited and not with the oppressors
[Gangulee 1946:10]. These nationalists tried to remove the
political, social, and economic liabilities against so-called over-
seas Indians, which should result, they expected, in the develop-
ment of a feeling of unity with the land of their adoption among
them [Ibid:11].
For these nationalists therefore, the nation was more than just
territory. One could argue that India was presented not as a
territorial but as a deterritorialised state [cf Lall 2001:40].
Nationalists in India had embraced a comprehensive Gandhian
ideology in which overseas Indians had been made part of
(future) nation. Place did therefore not matter much as there yet
was no free India. Gandhi actually never pleaded for a pure
homeland for Indians. What he wanted was a mutually shared
and sharable socio-cultural space in the racist colonies like the
one in which he had lived himself, i e, South Africa. He reminded
overseas Indians of their own imaginary homelands (des/
pardes) only to enable and empower them to fight their
battles of freedom and self-respect in their new lands (pardes)
[Kumar 2001:70, 76].
4010
Overseas Indians in the Narrative of Independent
India Nehruvian View
After 1947 when British India was partitioned and an inde-
pendent India established, some of the ideas of nationalists like
Gandhi were abolished and there was a shift in the attitudes
towards overseas Indians. The new policy can best be characterised
as one of studied indifference [Parekh 1993:38] and Pandit
Jawaharlal Nehru was its main ideologist. Unlike Gandhi, Nehru
did not include overseas Indians in the Indian nation and he also
stopped the practice of nationalists who had fought for equal
citizenship of Indians settled abroad. Nehru thought that expa-
triate Indians had forfeited their Indian citizenship and identity
by moving abroad and did not need the support of their mother
country. In short, Nehru closed Indias borders and only those
within Indias boundaries were truly Indian. Overseas Indians
were advised to identify with the place in which they resided
and not with India. Subsequently, overseas Indians did not become
part of Indias foreign policy formulation [Lall 2001:41]. The
official policy carved out by Nehru (quoted in Lall 2001:169)
was:
It is the consistent policy of the government that persons of Indian
origin who have taken foreign nationality should identify them-
selves with and integrate in the mainstream of social and political
life of the country of their domicile. The government naturally
remains alive to their interests and general welfare and encourages
cultural contacts with them. As far as Indian citizens residing
abroad are concerned, they are the responsibility of the government
of India.
Clearly, in the Nehruvian view double nationality was an
impossibility:
Either they get franchise as nationals of the other country, or treat
them as Indians minus franchise and ask them the most favourable
treatment given to an alien (Nehru in Lok Sabha March 8, 1948
quoted in Gupta 1994:18).
According to Nehru, people should identify with one place
only: i e, the country of their domicile and Overseas Indians
were no longer part of the Indian nation. Nehru did firmly believe
however that even if you take a person out of India, you can
not take India out of him/her: Wherever in this world there goes
an Indian, there is also a bit of India with him (quoted in Gupta
1994:1). Nevertheless, Nehru asked them on numerous occasions
to forget their separate identities [Ibid:15].
Yet, though this policy remained dominant till at least 1990,
opposition had made itself audible at times. Bahadur Singh in
1979 (217) for instance believed that the Indian diaspora was
part of India and should not be ignored by the government of
India. He held the view that,
It would only be natural for us to turn to the one resource
on which we have a national claim. This resource is the large
funds, which are at the command of people of Indian origin
overseas. Sentimentally they also would like to give first preference
to India.
The advent of the Janata government in 1977 brought some
change in policy towards the overseas Indians. This coalition
government introduced new entry laws to allow overseas
Indians to return to India even if foreign passport holders
[Dutt 1980:327]. The minister for foreign affairs at the time,
Atal Bihari Vajpayee, also declared that India would never
disown overseas Indians, or fail to appreciate their loyalty to the
Economic and Political Weekly September 20, 2003
motherland (ibid). Besides, government started sponsoring
seminars on overseas Indians and declared that the Indian
Council for Cultural Relations would get involved with overseas
Indians more fully. The separate cell within the ministry of
external affairs was also reviewed to better deal with overseas
Indians. Government also sponsored a meeting by the Friends
of India Society International, which demanded a separate
government department for overseas Indian affairs. Furthermore,
unofficially it sponsored organisations and newspapers among
overseas Indian communities to build-up networks of support
and informal liaison.
Increasingly, (right wing) groups started opposing Nehruvian
policies and called for sanctions against governments that
squeeze Indians. Nehrus policy was felt to be confused, and transnational identities that could not be easily contained
erratic and apathetic (ibid:326). For long however the opposition
could not change the official narrative of the nation in which
India was a territory and only those who lived within its borders
were truly Indian. For Nehru, the nation was a group settled in
a place and the opposition regretted that, unfortunately, India
had not been able to cash in on the sentiment among overseas
Indians. They complained that India had failed to create a
climate in which overseas Indians can bring in their funds and
repatriate them at will (ibid). Besides, the opposition lamented
that among the overseas Indians there was a disdain for
India and there was no hope for economic relations with
permanent migrants. At best, they thought, there could be only
cultural links with overseas Indians and India [Bahadur Singh
1979:68]. Indeed, Congress maintained cultural ties through
semi-government organisations like the Indian Council for
Cultural Relations. At times religious-cultural missions or
language (read Hindi) teachers as well as cultural attaches were
also sent to support Indians who had left. Yet, India clearly
rejected its duty of looking after the politico-economic interests
of Indians who had acquired foreign citizenship [Mahajani 1976
(1966):237].
Nevertheless, though the opposition could not create a cli-
mate, during the early 1990s globalisation had changed the
climate in India in such a way that finally the Nehruvian view
on Overseas Indians made place for a new view on People
of Indian Origin. The change of coinage in itself signified a shift
back to the Gandhian view that had included the Indian diaspora
in the concept of the nation while simultaneously tying identity
with place. After 1990, the new narrative of the nation also
recounted however that groups settled in a place are not nec-
essarily of it. In this way certain groups, such as religious
minorities, could be defined as being outside the nation, whereas
others, though actually living outside the nations borders could
be taken in [cf Brah 1996:4-5].
PIOs in Narratives of Nation
Economic liberalisation in India since the early 1980s had
increasingly exposed the country to international economic forces,
paving the way for a closer articulation of the Indian economy
with global capitalism. It involved progressive integration of the
economy into international networks of trade, investment and
finance. The important features of globalisation included the
acceleration and intensification of global capital movements and
the emergence of transnational corporations (TNCs) as major
players in the global economy. Indias status in international trade
had drastically declined during the post-independence period and
Economic and Political Weekly September 20, 2003
India was confronted with a balance of payments problem and
rising foreign debt. In this climate, India could hardly afford to
neglect its export performance and minimal participation in
international trade [Lakha 1994:213]. In 1991, India faced a huge
balance of payments crisis and the NRIs were looked upon as
a means to bail India out of its economic crisis and they had
the duty to rescue their mother country [Lall 2001:169].
Yet, the nation-state faced other than economic problems.
Under processes of globalisation a dialectic between the promo-
tion of identities and relations that span national borders was
visible and renewed efforts on the part of the state to fortify a
nationalist ideology were witnessed [cf Schiller 1997:159]. India
was confronted with an increasing proliferation of subnational
in the nation state system as envisaged by Nehru and the Congress
Party. The Indian nation state had to come to terms with the new
paradox that the growth and intensification of global intercon-
nection of economic processes, people, and ideas is accompanied
by a resurgence in the politics of differentiation [cf Pries 1999:77].
Within India, subnationalism of all kind increased and the state
faced difficulties to govern its populations and was confronted
by a increasing inability to form and discipline its subjects
(Ibid:78). Consequently, the state started welcoming transnational
identities in order to combat subnational identities and finally,
after more than 50-years, Indias forgotten children once again
became part of Indias foreign policy.19
Not surprisingly, like other nation states in danger, in the
case of India too we can witness the simultaneous growth of
globalising processes on the one hand and the pre-eminence of
exclusive, bounded, essentialised nationalism on the other hand
[cf Appadurai 1993 and Anderson 1992]. Within the new nar-
rative of the nation, some people were excluded and others
included as well as that identity was territorialised and tied to
the original place, i e, India. With the take over by the BJP
coalition after two United Front coalitions, the narrative of the
nation definitely changed as well as the perceived role of the
Indian diaspora in nation-building. Clearly, the Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) had other plans with Mother Indias Children Abroad
than the previous governments. In an outline of its Foreign Policy
and Agenda for the Future (1995:6-7) it was stated:
A more meaningful support to Indians living abroad whenever
their basic human rights are violated is experienced from the BJP
by the people in India and outside, so that Uganda and Fiji
experiences are not repeated. The BJP is fully alive to its respon-
sibility. The people of Indian origin living abroad are an asset,
which the BJP would try to utilise to the fullest extent to foster
relations of friendship and cooperation between the countries of
their residence and India. The BJP will seriously examine the
question of dual citizenship to NRIs.
Even before BJP came to power, Indias present prime minister
Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was leader in the opposition in parliament
and also minister for external affairs in the Janata government
from 1977 to 1979. During his tenure he had continuously
emphasised BJPs different stance regarding the position of
Indians living abroad (Ibid: preface) and his willingness to
include some of them into the nation. During a seminar in 1977
already, Vajpayee rejected Nehrus policy as, it will not be
enough if India only exhorts its kin overseas to identify them-
selves with the country of adoption. Vajpayee wanted to replay
Gandhijis policy and thought that, every Indian community
overseas, whether rich or poor, needs to maintain contacts with
4011
India. Vajpayee had observed that there was, everywhere a
search for roots, for identity, a search for cultural sustenance
and he offered that, India could well fulfil this immense desire.
India also has the technical and educational facilities to extend
assistance to countries having Indian populations. Moreover, on
their part, Indians in the developed and some parts of the under-
developed world have capital and know-how, which could help
Indias economic development. Vajpayee also supported an
expansion of Indian missions overseas to help them realise their
distinctive Indian personality [Bahadur Singh 1979:13; 21; 23;
24 and 33].
Ever after, in the new environment, the nation state increasingly
has started claiming its dispersed populations and has constructed
itself as a deterritorialised nation state. Though not openly
supporting any concept of a Greater India as this might disturb
the loyalty of individuals to the countries in which they are settled
[Ibid:17], the state nevertheless likes to imagine the Indian nation
exist wherever emigrants are incorporated [cf Schiller, etc, in
Pries 1999:78-79]. Of late, PIOs are referred to as the natural
reserve for India and government is devising special policies
to tap their potential (One India. One People 2002, vol 5, no
12, July, editorial). Besides, in some cases it is argued, India
should also open its doors to those PIOs who are squeezed out
of other countries and have no other option than to return to
Mother India. They would thence complete the full circle. diaspora, and the strength of the Indian diaspora will be the
For them, it would be safest in India and PIOs might realise
that they are only truly capable of surviving in India [cf Gosine
1993:27]. Certainly, ever after BJP took over the Sangh parivar
has been calling the NRIs and PIOs. The Chennai declaration
of the BJP includes a section on strengthening our mooring in
our basic beliefs and the following paragraph reflects the sea
change:
We believe that the vast community of NRIs and PIOs also
constitute a part of the Great Indian Family. We should endeavour
to continually strengthen their social, cultural, economic and
emotional ties with their mother country. They are a rich reservoir
of intellectual, managerial and entrepreneurial resources. The
government should devise innovative schemes to facilitate the
investment of these resources for Indias all-round development
(quoted in Lall 2001:98).
The GoI looks for PIOs to act as Trojan Horses for Indias
economic and political interests [Dutt 1980:314]. At the same
time it is also realises that this policy can antagonise local
populations and raise suspicions of Indias policy towards coun-
tries in which large numbers of overseas Indians are living. If
such is the case, PIOs will be liabilities rather than assets. India
therefore wants PIOs to think as members of two societies.
Whereas Nehru wanted overseas Indians to be immigrants, now
they have to become transmigrants20 who will sustain simul-
taneous multi-stranded relations that link together their societies
of origin and settlement [cf Schiller, etc, in Pries 1999: 73].
The GoI on its part promises that instead of that nation state
building would delimit and constrain the allegiances and loyalties
of these transmigrants, it will do everything to forge a global
alliance (ibid).
Yet, not all, from everywhere and for everything. Certain
groups among the Indian diaspora seem to be more in demand
than other groups. Clearly, the male Hindu Diaspora [cf
Rukhmani 2001] in particular those in the richer western coun-
tries are more part of Mother India than other categories [cf
Dayal 2001:50-52]. Besides, certain countries are transgressed
4012
or given different status, importance and privileges.21 Neverthe-
less, the in 2002 newly appointed and somewhat controversial
ambassador-at-large Bhisham K Agnihotri, hopes that there will
be some unity and agreement on some issues and some com-
monality among all the PIOs and NRIs wherever they are
(Hindustan Times, July 28, 2002). This veteran of the right wing
conservative Hindu organisation the Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh (RSS), might hope for some consensus on issues regarding
Hindu nationalism (Hindustan Times, August 24, 2001 and
Pakistan Newswire, August 24, 2001).22
Linking up with transnational organisations such as the Global
Organisation for People of Indian Origin, Agnihotri tries to
construct a joint family consisting of those who stayed put, those
who left and those transient.23 Besides, through the opening of
government offices, departments, funding to non-government
organisations in and outside India24 , the establishment of re-
search centres and academic institutions, the government wants
to highlight and promote the Indian diaspora. Moreover, a new
industrial policy is formulated in which FDI and augmentation
of foreign exchange reserves have become part. New trade
policies are also designed and so-called PIO cards can be pur-
chased by some PIOs and will give holders certain privileges.
In this way it is hoped that a durable framework is formed by
which the strength of India will be the strength of Indian
strength of India (ARSP Bulletin 2002, July, vol 15, no 7).
India therefore, trying hard at nation-building in order to avoid
its demise25 and caught in the dialectics of deterritorialisation
and reterritorialisation, has constructed itself as a deterritorialised
nation state by including its selection of the Indian diaspora
in the new narrative of the nation (and by excluding others).26
Paradoxically however, in order to woo its diaspora efforts at
deterritorialisation of the nation state are accompanied by the
reinscription of identity onto the territory of the homeland [cf
Gupta 1992]. PIOs are requested to return to India as transmigrants
and part of the global Indian family in order to support India.
In return they are promised the benefits and protection an Indian
joint family can provide them.
II
Responses from Surinam27
As pointed out before, while Nehru held the opinion that
migrants should identify with their new homelands, he also
believed that you can take a person out of India but you cannot
take India out of him. This leads to the question as of how to
determine if India is in a person. Is India in her if a woman wears
a sari at a wedding party? Is India in them if people burn incense
during a prayer meeting? If they are Hindu? If they watch
Bollywood films? If they go searching for relatives in India? If
they now and then think of India? There are, evidently, no
unequivocal answers to these questions. After all, is America
in a Dutch if he eats hamburgers? Is Israel in him because his
Christian religion originates from there? Here we will use the
expression India connection instead and try to establish the
significance of India in terms of collective, ethnic and national
identity formation for Hindustanis in Surinam.
If India connection is understood as the relation with India
or things of India, contemporary Surinamese Hindustanis
definitely have an India connection. India figures, in one way
or the other, in the lives of most Surinamese Hindustanis.
Economic and Political Weekly September 20, 2003
Bollywood films and movie songs are tremendously popular;28
now and then students go to India for studies (languages, history,
dance, music);29 Indian pandits are invited to Surinam for religious
meetings and lectures; a wide range of Indian goods are imported;
people take courses in Hindi, yoga, Indian classical dance and
music at the Indian Cultural Centre; affluent Hindustanis visit
India for holidays, pilgrimage or roots tourism, etc. The question
arises as of what this India connection says about the emotional
bonds between Hindustanis and India. What does India, its people
and products mean to these Hindustanis? How do they relate to
the people of India, and to India as a national state? Do they
consider themselves colours of the same Indian rainbow, or
children of Mother India, as is suggested by Indian leadership?
Hereafter we will examine different aspects of the Surinam
India connection in relation to identification, identity formation,
and the politics of space from the viewpoint of members of the
Surinamese Hindustani community. First we will discuss the early
history of British Indian migration and settlement in Surinam.
Next we will demonstrate that, no matter how intricately linked
with India, metaphors such as children of Mother India, or the
Indian rainbow are inappropriate to describe contemporary
Surinamese Hindustani reflections on the Indian diaspora and
their own cultural and national identity.
Dutch Surinam and British India
Of the first 537 immigrants who had the right to return in 1880,
only three decided to settle in Surinam [De Klerk 1953:162].
For almost all of them, Surinam had been a temporary phase in
their lives. They also must have found it very difficult, to stay
in touch with their relatives during their contract period.30 Yet
the enormous distance between the two countries was no im-
pediment to return to Bharat Mata, Mother India. Of the ap-
proximately 35,000 British Indians31 who migrated to Surinam
between 1873 and 1916, one third (of the indentured labourers)
made use of their right of free passage to British India after
termination of their contract. Between 1878 and the end of 1926,
over 11,000 British Indians returned to India [ibid:159].
The wish to return to British India was particularly strong
among the first batches of migrants. According to a Dutch
protestant missionary report about Surinam, life was hard for the
British Indians. They could not understand the languages, some
food items vegetables and fruits were not available and they
hardly had any kind of family life. It also was tough to practise
their religion as there were no holy places for worship, few
spiritual leaders and priests and no holy streams to bathe [Steinberg
1933:275].
According to De Klerk (1953) the most important reason for
return was their homesickness. After all, at arrival in India the
returnees usually expressed their satisfaction about the way they
had been treated in Surinam and explained that it was only a
strong yearning for their relatives in British India had induced
them to leave [De Klerk 1953:154]. Apparently the longing and
homesickness was so strong that British Indians were called the
people of the great longing [de menschen van het groote
heimwee]. The one who speaks to them in their own language,
sings their songs, tells them of their fatherland, will find the way
to their hearts [Steinberg 1933:275].
The reconnection between the people who had stayed put in
British India and the ones who had left and now returned was
by no means unambiguous. If migrants originated from regions
Economic and Political Weekly September 20, 2003
where migration was common, returnees would meet few dif-
ficulties in terms of community acceptance. However, if they
were from areas where migration was unusual, they often faced
problems. Some needed to undergo cleansing rituals, others
were barred from the community all together. A number of such
outcastes could, for example, be found in Calcutta, where they
were trying for another contract [De Klerk 1953:156].
Banishment from the community was, however, not the only
reason for second and third emigrations. Another, more important
motivation was the inability of return migrants to get used to
the Indian life again. De Klerk illustrates this with a story of
a migrant, who after return to his home village sat down on a
charpoy (local style bed) in front of his house one day, as he
used to do in Surinam. A brahman, who saw him sitting there,
beat the man on the head with his wooden sandal. Members of
the mans caste were supposed to sit on the floor. The incident
made him realise that he no longer wanted to live in such
oppressing environment. As soon as he was able, he returned
to Surinam for good [ibid:157].
In the course of time, fewer and fewer contract labourers
returned to British India. More British Indians were born in
Surinam and had never seen the country of their forefathers.
Since contacts with relatives in British India were so difficult
to maintain, family connections became non-existent as time
went by. To our knowledge there are no Hindustani families today
who have maintained family relations since their migration. This
does not mean, however, that there are no relations between
Hindustanis and their Indian relatives overseas. Although we do
not know any numbers, it seems that quite a lot of people have
searched for their relatives in India, in some cases successfully
so. Since the high costs involved in such an expedition, the
search for relatives has only been possible for well-off people.32
We come back to this later. First we will discuss a matter
closely related to the relationship with India and Surinam: the
issue of naming.
From Coolies to Hindustanis
Present-day PIOs in Surinam and The Netherlands refer to
themselves as Hindustanis (in Dutch: Hindoestanen or
Hindostanen).33 It seems that this has not always been the case.
Initially the British Indian contract labourers were simply known
as coolies. Apparently people got so used to the word as a
designation for British Indians that when the first migrants from
the Dutch Indies arrived (in 1894) coolie typically referred to
the British Indians. During the first decades, everyone used
coolie, including the British Indians themselves, who had, ac-
cording to De Klerk, no problems with the name. Free cultivators,
however, developed a preference for the name British Indian.
First, because Creoles used coolie in a derogatory way, and
secondly, because it was intimately linked with unfree contract
labour. In the course of the first few decades of the 20th century
the term Hindustani became more popular. With Indias
independence in 1947, when British Indian made no sense any
longer, Hindustani became the common designation [De Klerk
1953:43-44].34
These changes coincided with a change in the legal status of
the contract labourers. Until 1927, all British Indians (including
those who were born in Surinam) were officially identified as
aliens [vreemdelingen]. In 1927 the Dutch decided by law
that all people born from parents residing in Surinam (and other
4013
Dutch colonies) became Dutch subjects and received the same
rights as Dutch citizens [ibid:185].
It seems likely that such legal change also had to do with the
Dutch wanting the contract labourers to settle in Surinam.
In order to encourage them to stay, they offered them land
for free. Nevertheless, the number of labourers who stayed in
Surinam was not quite as high as the Dutch desired. They tried
to increase the number by securing the right of free passage
for settlers (earlier they would lose that right with acceptance
of the land) and by improving living conditions in Surinam
[ibid:162]. Slowly the number of free settlers did increase,
from 548 in 1895 to 5093 in 1913. De Klerk attributes the
change to these policy measures. Slowly, the emphasis of the
Dutch had come to lie on settlement issues rather than immi-
gration. This became particularly important when the British
government abolished indenture in 1916, which meant the end
of British Indian.
At the time of Indias independence, British Indians had become
legal citizens of Surinam and Hindustanis by name. What does
this tell us about their cultural and national identification? How
did they relate to India? Do these changes indicate a slow process
of detachment from Bharat Mata? There seems to be no
unambiguous answer to these questions, as we will see hereafter.
Even today, different Hindustanis feel connected with (or dis-
connected from) India in different ways and for different reasons.
While an increasing number of (former) British Indians had no
ambitions to return to India, for some their yearning remained.
One informant told us that even after Surinams independence
in 1975, a number of Hindustanis still did not identify with the
Surinamese nation.
In 1947, this same informant (a 59 years-old teacher, living
in Paramaribo) remembers how Hindustanis celebrated Indias
independence and how they mourned Mahatma Gandhis death:
everyone cried loudly. He also recalls how people used to refer
to Bharat Mata, while speaking of (British) India. Yet, while many
migrants from the Dutch Indies (commonly known as Javanese)
returned home after Indonesias independence in 1949, Hindustanis
stayed put in Surinam after Indias independence. The man
remembers that, when he was around the age of twelve, someone
returned from India with a hand written message from Jawaharlal
Nehru stating that you have to create Bharat Mata there. Nehrus
ideology concerning the overseas Indians was communicated all
the way to Surinam.
Official Hindustani viewpoints on their relationship with British
India and with Surinam show that already in the first half of the
20th century, Hindustanis increasingly looked upon Surinam as
their country of permanent abode. Hereafter three examples to
illustrate these viewpoints:
In 1913, a two-headed delegation was visiting a number of
British colonies to inspect the circumstances of indentured
labourers. The first Hindustani organisation, the Surinaamsche
Britisch-Indirs-Bond (established on April 3, 1910) collected
thousands of signatures to encourage inclusion of Surinam in
their inspection tour. They succeeded and the British Indian
delegation was invited to come to Surinam. It was, however,
another, more progressive Hindustani organisation, the Surinaamse
Immigranten-Vereeniging (established one year later) who used
the opportunity to make themselves known to a larger world.
They asked the inspection team to send to the whole British
Indian population our best wishes and carriers of the news that
their country men in Dutch Guyana are taken good care off and
4014
that they, although they are separated by thousands of miles, still
cherish a love for their native country. All without exception are
happy and satisfied and many are well-off in the country which
they have accepted as their new fatherland [quoted by De Klerk
1953:174-75].
A second example that indicates a general shift of focus are
some Hindustani reactions to the abolishment of indenture in
1916. A number of Hindustanis did not quite agree with that
British decision, either because they did not oppose to the system,
or because they feared that the end of indenture would lead to
a loosening of the India connection. In 1920, a group of Hindustanis
went all the way to India where they tried to influence public
opinion in order to allow a continuation of free migration to
Surinam. They even met several British Indian opponents of
contract labour, including Mahatma Gandhi himself. This,
however, to no avail [ibid:178-79].
Thirty years later, the newly founded Hindustani Javanese
central assembly (formed in 1945 as a committee of represen-
tatives from various Hindustani and Javanese socio-cultural and
religious organisations) wrote in its first motion that in
correspondence with their constitutional position of rights
and duties, the Hindustanis wish to be fully considered as
Surinamese citizens, who want to contribute to the best of
their ability to the welfare of the entire Surinamese society. (..)
They strongly reject the personal viewpoint of some that they
would be strange intruders, for who one has to be on the alert
[ibid:204].
Each example shows clearly that, at the time of Indias inde-
pendence, the Hindustanis had officially accepted Surinam as
their new motherland. This does not mean that ordinary
Hindustanis cultivators shared those sentiments, or that, for
that matter, all influential community members shared that
point of view.
While some people clearly identified with Surinam, others still
felt primarily Indian. Such differences in perspective clearly show
from the following event. On April 18, 1948, the South African
Durai Swami Patthiappan held a lecture in Paramaribo. When
he stated that he was first and foremost Indian, and secondly
South African, some other PIOs agreed. Others however replied
that the situation was different in Surinam, where Hindustanis
feel first and foremost Surinamese [ibid:205n80].
No matter how strongly one identified with India, at the time
of Indias independence, Surinam had become the country of
permanent abode for the Hindustani community. Encouraged by
the Dutch government, the Nehruvian view on the Indian diaspora
and the socio-cultural and political elite of the Hindustani
community itself, Surinam became the new motherland of the
former British Indian contract labourers.
The question remains what this says about their socio-cultural,
political and economic affinities with India, and how the process
of rooting in Surinam affected ethnic and national identification
and sense of belonging. Hereafter we will discuss what India
has come to mean for present day Hindustanis.
Better Off in Surinam
The two-person delegation from British India that came to
Surinam in 1913 to investigate the labour circumstances wrote
in its final report that they were convinced that the majority of
migrants were better off in Surinam than in India [De Klerk
1953:175-76]. This idea that the contract labourers, despite all
Economic and Political Weekly September 20, 2003
their suffering, had exchanged a life of dire poverty for a life
of relative wealth, has continued to be an important theme in
Hindustani perceptions of India. When Hindustanis talk about
past experiences in India, future trips to India, or about reasons
for not going there, poverty, overpopulation, and unhygienic
circumstances generally figure in their stories. Some informants
explicitly expressed their gratefulness to their forefathers, whose
migration saved them from poverty.
The well-known Hindustani poet Jit Narain also unambigu-
ously expresses gratefulness. In the following poem he thanks
his adji, grandmother, for staying in Surinam:
Adji
thanks for staying
at least untied
am I
from the curse of the gods
still resting on the Indian
your initiative
tore folded hands open
and clenched fists in the struggle
for justice
I kneel down
at your feet, adji
gratefully
not compelled
[translation by Ellen Bal]35
Here, Narain is very critical of India. By staying put in Surinam,
his grandmother has saved him from the curse of the gods, still
resting on the Indian.
One day we were invited for a small get-together of Hindustanis
and one Indian, who is working for the Indian cultural centre
in Paramaribo. That morning we witnessed an interesting con-
frontation about the issue of the Hindustani identity. One
Hindustani made it very clear that while India is the native land
of their ancestors, it certainly is not the land of the Hindustanis.
Our question about the identity of Hindustanis led to a heated
debate between him and the Indian woman. When the Hindustani
argued that India may think that Hindustanis are Indians, let them
first prove that, the Indian replied emotionally that:
You must prove that you are not Indians! We cannot prove what
happened during thousands of years but we can prove what
happened within the last 150 years. And thus are you Indians.
The Indian woman reasoned that since Hindustanis are origi-
nally from India, they are Indians. The Hindustani saw this very
differently. He answered:
Culturally I am Hindustani, nationally I am Surinamese. The
problem is that they claim that we are one of them. We were not
told that we were Indians. We were taught in school, much later.
Also that we were British Indians.
The idea, that their cultural identity is Hindustani and their
national identity Surinamese, was shared by all of our informants.
While India has different meanings for different people, everyone
agreed that Surinam is their motherland. If there is an India
connection, it is by no means based on a shared national identity
with the Indians. Also striking is the statement that the problem
is that they claim we are one of them. While the Indian believes
that Hindustanis are also Indians, the Hindustani clearly dis-
agrees. To his mind, Indian ancestry does not make a person
Indian. Thus while the government of India includes Hindustanis
in the Indian nation (as pointed out in the first part of our paper),
Hindustanis include themselves in the nation of Surinam. Indian
Economic and Political Weekly September 20, 2003
ancestry turned out to be the central ingredient of the India
connection in all our interviews. Hindustanis feel there is a link
because their forefathers came from there. This does not mean
however, that Hindustanis are also Indians.
Land of Ram and Sita
In his poem, Narain uses a religious metaphor to describe the
circumstances of the Indians. Religion is another important element
that connects many Hindustanis with India, often in a much more
positive manner. For example, according to a lecturer at the
university of Paramaribo, the only link with India is Hinduism:
India is the land of Ram and Sita. The lecturer believes that for
that reason because their religion comes from there the
majority of Hindu Hindustanis would like to visit India.
Otherwise India is of no concern to Hindustanis, she thinks.
According to a successful businessman, Hindustanis think of
India as the land of Ram and Krishna. It therefore has to be a
holy land. For the man himself it is also particularly religion that
brings about the India connection. After all, spiritual food comes
from there. Apart from religion, he feels connected through
culture. This is, for example, why he tries both to promote
Hinduism and to create a positive image of India with his Hindu
broadcasting network. His channel is entirely devoted to Hin-
duism and Indian culture. He makes it a point to promote a
positive picture of the country. No wild music shows, violent
films or dramatic documentaries on his television network.
While this informant is eager to experience the real India is
he also anxious to go. He knows the stories of the crowds, the
dirt and the poverty. He told us how he plans to spend the nights
in five star hotels and travel around in a hired car with chauffeur
and guide. And he is not going to climb the thousand steps to
see a temple. For that there will be a camera man.
The religious and spiritual significance of India also showed
from frequent visits of Indian pandits and other spiritual leaders
to Surinam. People explained how it is often felt that where
religious or spiritual leadership is concerned, Indians are gen-
erally considered superior and more knowledgeable; the cradle
of Hinduism and true knowledge of Hindu faith is in India. In
other words, when it comes to matters of Hindu religious faith
and erudition authenticity is important.
Here it interesting to note that this perception of religious
authenticity is particularly important for members of the Sanatan
Dharm denomination. It seems different for the Arya Samaj.
One member of the Arya Samaj explained us that the central
principles of the Arya Samaj are universal. India, as a territory,
has no special place in their faith. Their religion is not territorially
rooted. They have no birthplace of Ram and Sita or holy battle
grounds of the Mahabharath and Ramayan. This is not to say
that Arya Samajis are not interested in visiting India, but land,
or soil, does not figure in their religious belief as it does for
members of the Sanatan Dharm.36
Culture and Authenticity
Do notions of superiority and authenticity of Indian soil
also feature in Hindustani appreciation of religious or cultural
products of India? In other words, are idols and other religious
products also considered more valuable? Do they need to be
authentically Indian? According to a high Indian official, cur-
rently posted in Surinam, Indian religious products cannot be
4015
duplicated by other countries. They have to come from
India. Various Hindustani responses seem to indicate a different
opinion.
Indian products are obviously popular in Surinam. Stalls in
the central market and shops around the city sell various Indian
goods, ranging from incense to idols to saris. These products
are part of Hindustani culture. During both cultural and religious
celebrations, many women wear Indian garments and for reli-
gious festivities one Indian product to perform pujas. The question
is whether such products are so important because they are of
India, because they represent Indian culture, or because they have
become elements of local Hindustani culture and derive their
meanings from localised practices. In other words, are Hindustanis
in need of authentic Indian products?
The owner of a Amrish store, Kries Ramkhelawan who is
also a well known singer, does not seem to think so. While he
sells a variety of Indian cultural and religious products, which
he partly obtains from India, he tries, in fact, to encourage local
production. For example, he recently bought a cheap stack of
Chinese bangles, had small ohm symbols affixed and turned them
into Hindustani jewellery. They sold like hot cakes. Together we
visited a lady who owns a local pottery and produces the dias
and other earthenware that he sells.
Ramkhelawan is also famous as a chutney, baithak gana and
qawali singer.37 He scored his first hit in 1975. Ramkhelawan
has performed in various countries in the world, occasionally
together with Indian mega stars, but is particularly popular in
the Caribbean. Ramkhelawan was trained in Surinam and al-
though he visited India once, for business purposes, he never
went there for music purposes. Ramkhelawan is well known
for his chutney music, a creolised music style based on Indian
and Caribbean influences.38 He makes it a point to create his
own compositions, in which he combines both Indian and
Caribbean styles.
During a visit to the central market of Paramaribo, a Hindustani
salesman of Indian products explained how he places his orders
by fax, and how loads of Indian products are shipped to the
Netherlands, and from there to Surinam. There is no need for
him to go to India for business purposes. Moreover, such trips
are far too expensive. The man would not mind visiting India,
for a vacation, but never permanently. After all, those people
do live differently. While his father used to go to India for
business, these days the ties with India are through faxes,
nothing more.
About the Hindu idols he is also selling in his stall, he said
that many of those are produced in Surinam itself. One of us
went to visit the maker of a number of the statues, Roy Manoredh.
Manoredh is an important sculptor of such idols in Surinam. He
produces the religious figures in the absence of marble of
cement and plaster. Most often for Hindus but sometimes for
Christians as well. He learned the art of sculpting by himself,
in Surinam. The statues form in his hands, as if by themselves.
His work is a way to make contact with god. In this sense his
work is a religious activity in itself. Manoredh beliefs that, in
the end, there is really only one god. One that is not particularly
tied to India. It was interesting to note that at the time of the
visit, the sculptor was wearing Dutch wooden clogs. He explained
that these reminded him both of Holland and of India, where
people used to walk on wooden sandals too. The clogs symboli-
cally connected him with the three central countries in his life:
Surinam, Netherlands and India.
4016
Uneasy Connections
During an informal visit to the Indian embassy in Paramaribo,
the second man of the embassy explained why he could not grant
us a formal interview. All such information would first need
formal approval of Delhi, which evidently was much too time
consuming. During the same brief encounter, he did explain
Indias importance for the Hindustanis. He said that while Surinam
is closely linked with the Netherlands economically, as a con-
sequence of the eternal soul, the cultural ties with India would
always remain. Apparently these cultural ties are not left to soul
matters only, for the embassy also runs a small Indian cultural
centre, where they organise language courses (Hindi), classical
music and dance, and yoga.
These activities seem quite popular. Hindustanis visit the ICC
to attend various courses, all based on traditional Indian culture.
However, these attempts do not always meet approval of the local
Hindustanis. Several people complained that the ICC wants to
stick to an Indian-oriented traditional culture, not adapted to the
Surinamese environment. Others complain that they provide jobs
for Indians only and do not train Hindustanis to become inde-
pendent teachers.
And according to Jit Narain, Indias attempts to link up with
Surinam have been rather pointless. Narain stated that India may
have good intentions, but for us India is not interesting. India
is not truly interested in languages. Here, they pass their time
and are being arrogant in ways that we do not like. India is our
world the other way around. Here, India is important for its pop
culture and movie culture. It has been unable to affect the
Surinamese with classical culture.
Much of the Hindustani critique of Indians had to do with
Indian arrogance. This generally applied to Indians who they
had met outside of India (in other countries or Surinam itself).
One informant, a successful business man, told us about Indians
that when they are outside India, they are arrogant. To this he
added that I feel a better Indian than them. We have no caste
system, and so on. I am more Hindustani than those gawks
(lummels). Surinam is not India.
While the owner of the Hindu network told us about Indias
religious and spiritual importance, as we pointed out before, he
added that Indias religious magnitude does not mean that Indians
also know more than Hindustanis. Many other Hindustani in-
formants, too, made equalising remarks about the status of
Hindustanis and Indians. They explicitly referred to the worth
of Hindustani culture or even tried to prove Hindustani supe-
riority. It soon became clear that the relations between Indians
and Hindustanis are by no means uncomplicated. On the one hand
Hindustani Surinamese set themselves apart from other Surinamese
ethnic communities by identity markers which are based on their
Indian descent or on contemporary cultural attributes such as
Bollywood movies, Hindi pop, Indian dressing styles, etc. On
the other hand they distance themselves from Indians by stressing
their distinct cultural development and national Surinamese
identification. Despite their India connection, ideas of the
Hindustanis about Indians were never entirely positive.
Another informant explained why the Hindustani Surinamese
has never accepted the Indian embassy. But what do they expect?
They focus on Hindus (while there are so many Muslims) and
even their peons feel superior.
Narain was very outspoken about the Indians in Surinam:
Here, Indians are only having holidays. They are being taken
Economic and Political Weekly September 20, 2003
care of by rich Hindustanis. They cannot even clean their own
kitchens. The money that comes from India only goes to Indians.
It never reaches the Surinamese.
Other informants also criticised the Indian attempts to spread
Indian culture. Some told us that the Indian embassy is only
interested in propagating traditional classical Indian culture and
not interested in Hindustani art forms or other cultural expres-
sions. Others complained that India does not invest sufficiently
in the training of local art teachers, but instead sponsors their
own people, leaving Hindustanis dependent on Indians.
Indian Experiences
In spite of their uneasy relation with Indians and India, many
Hindustanis feel drawn to India and have the wish to visit the
country. People come and go for various reasons: business
purposes, roots tourism, pilgrimage, education, holidays. Since
India and Surinam are separated by thousands of miles and
the fastest connection is via the Netherlands a visit to India
is too expensive for many Hindustanis. Nevertheless, despite the
distance and costs involved, Hindustani Surinamese do find their
ways to India. Hereafter we will shortly discuss the cases of two
Hindustanis who went to India, for two different reasons. The
first person is the owner of a travel agency that also organises
trips to India. He also went searching for his relatives and has
a guru in India, who he visits on a yearly basis. The second person,
a Hindi and Sarnami teacher, went to India for studies. While
both men feel closely connected to India and have had many
positive experiences, their stories also reveal that their India
connection does not lead to a national identification with the
Indian nation.
The travel agent went to India for the first time in 1967. He
then traced some relatives down in Nagpur region, Uttar Pradesh.
His comments about one of his first acquaintances with an India
reveal some general thoughts of Indians. He told us that strangely
enough, I met an honest Indian straight away. Apparently,
honesty is not a common Indian characteristic. Nevertheless, this
person was very supportive with the search for his ancestors.
In the local shoe shop of his grandfathers village, the man
met a family of namesakes. The villagers were acquainted with
the stories of a couple of young men setting off for South America.
At the time of their migration, poverty was enormous and people
knew about the five-year contracts, and about the possibility to
return back home afterwards. The travel agent spent four nights
in the village. It was an amazing experience. He was particularly
surprised by the dominant position of the elderly women in the
extended family, since in Surinam, elderly men are generally most
influential. He also noticed the important role of the community:
everyone has to accept one another and live together. Ever since
that visit, he has been returning to India. Nowadays he goes there
four times a year. Once a year he visits his guru.
The organised tours to India of his travel agency last 13 days.
These journeys include visits to Delhi, Rishikesh, Calcutta,
Varanasi, Chennai, Trivandrum, Goa and Bombay. Once they
also included Bihars capital Patna in a tour. This, however, was
no success at all. Everyone wanted to leave the very same day.
Despite the fact that many contract labourers came from Bihar,
Patna meant nothing to these tourists. They did not like it at all.
Chennai, on the other hand, is very popular, for its movie
industries. Rishikesh is another popular tourist destination. First,
because it features in most Bollywood movies, and secondly, for
Economic and Political Weekly September 20, 2003
its religious significance. The travel agent told us that he always
notices changes in the group when they are there. With this visit
to Rishikesh, the people fulfil their religious duty. Interestingly,
his India tours sell less goods than they sell 50 per cent less
than those which include countries such as Indonesia or Thailand.
The travel agent feels strongly connected with India. Apart from
the fact that he goes there on a very regular basis, has searched
for his relatives and has an Indian guru, he is also member of
GOPIO, Surinam. He sympathises with the aims of GOPIO to
map the Indian diaspora and to connect the different commu-
nities. His interests are entirely cultural, not political. His national
identification is evident. To the question whether he is an Indian
he answers: No, never in my life. I do not want to be one! He
was born and raised in Surinam. His ties with India and his Indian
relatives are based on his sense of responsibility towards the
country of his ancestors. Not because India is his own country.
The second case is of a 59-year old Hindi and Sarnami teacher.
Because of his interests in Hindi and his desire to write Surinamese
textbooks (instead of the Indian ones, on which Hindi teachers
long depended), he decided to apply for an Indian scholarship.
In 1985 this man went to India for one year. He had heard awful
things about the country, that it was so poor, that there was no
food. But when he got there he liked it so much that he did not
really want to return. The people were so beautiful and friendly
and he got the opportunity to see so many places. And everywhere
people received him well.
In Delhi, the teacher shared a flat with some Dutch Hindustanis.
They used to communicate with each other in Sarnami. One day,
an old man overheard their conversation and asked them why
they had come from his homeland. They replied that they were
from Surinam, but he refused to believe them and called them
liars. He was so sure they were from his village. When they
explained they came from South America the old man started
crying. You have preserved our language so well. He wanted
to take them to his village. Because of their exams, they never
went.
Unfortunately, he could not fulfil his wish to visit his
grandfathers village. People from the university had advised him
not to go. They had warned him that so many villagers would
claim to be a relative. He then decided not to go but still cherishes
the wish to visit his grandfathers village one day. While after
15 years, the teacher still misses India very much, he would not
like to settle there for good. Surinam is his country. We are
Surinamese. Our ancestors come from there, but that does not
mean that we are Indian.
For both men, their experiences in India have been very positive.
They feel connected with the country and they feel a desire to
go back. The travel agent explicitly said that he feels a respon-
sibility for the people of India. The teacher told us that he wants
to teach Surinamese people about the good things he witnessed
in India. Nevertheless, their India connection does not make them
Indian. Both men are very clear about their identity: Hindustani
Surinamese.
Conclusion
January 9 was selected as the opening date of the forthcoming
Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas because Indias most famous NRI,
Mahatma Gandhi, had returned to India on this day after 21 years
of stay in South Africa. Yet, whereas Gandhiji returned within
the same life span, many of the PIOs who will be participating
4017
in the largest ever gathering of the global Indian family in January
2003, will be returning after several generations. The Indian
governments decision to woo these PIOs has been explained
as a response to globalisation that stimulated an Indian ideology
of transnational ethnic commonality among PIOs the world over
[cf Tsuda 2001:56]. Our experiences in Surinam show, however,
that mutual criticism has already infested the India-Hindustani
relations. Our Hindustani informants were rather explicit about
both their admiration for and disapproval of Indians, and of the
contemporary Indian attempts to bring back the PIOs to their
motherland. The Indian perceptions of PIOs as children of mother
India, members of a global Indian family, or part of the same
rainbow, do not always comply with notions of the self and
with the national identification of many members of the Hindustani
elite of Surinam. More extensive research among other ordinary
Hindustanis, Muslims and women is needed, however, to be able,
to draw definite conclusions for the contemporary Hindustani
community of Surinam. So far, it seems that there indeed is an
Indian connection, based on historical roots, religious connec-
tions (in particular for Hindus), and cultural and linguistic simi-
larities, but these PIOs are also successfully rooted, culturally,
economically, politically and nationally, in the nation of Surinam.
We have tried to demonstrate therefore that actual ethnic
encounters that occurred in Surinam did not trigger off ethnic
transnationalism among the Hindustanis in Surinam. Instead, the
latter group reacted negatively to perceived socio-cultural, his-
torical and economic differences between the two groups and
this strengthened their separate national identity as Surinamese
(cf ibid). Very soon, however, the two will meet on Indian soil,
and hopes for mutual ethnic transnationalism are high. Yet, we
should keep Parekh (1993:39) in mind who remarked:
Unless they clarify and put their relations on a healthy and mutually
beneficial basis, there is a grave danger that the long awaited reunion
of the globally extended Indian family could break up in much
recrimination. As Indians should know, the joint family can turn
into a veritable hell if the patterns of interaction between its
members are not clearly defined and charitably interpreted. EPW
Address for correspondence:
kathinka@inranchi.com
Notes
[This paper is a slightly revised version of a paper presented during the 17th
European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies in Heidelberg
(September 9-14, 2002). It is the first outcome of an ongoing research project
(2001-2005) sponsored by the Netherlands Foundation for Research in
Tropical Countries (WOTRO) entitled A Diaspora Coming Home? Overseas
Indians Reestablishing Links with India. This project is carried out by
Kathinka Sinha-Kerkhoff and her research assistant Alok Deo Singh (ADRI,
Ranchi) and concentrates on PIOs in Mauritius, the Netherlands and Surinam.
They are guided by Willem van Schendel (IISH, Amsterdam). Ellen Bal (Free
University Amsterdam) carries out research among PIOs in Netherlands and
in Surinam and works in close collaboration with Sinha-Kerkhoff. She
received a travel grant from WOTRO to carry out fieldwork in Surinam.
The researchers extend their thanks to WOTRO and to the International
Institute of Social History (IISH) in Amsterdam. The latter enabled Sinha-
Kerkhoff to attend the conference in Heidelberg.]
1 While government documents speak of People of Indian Origin, others
at times name them Persons of Indian Origin.
2 http://f3mail.rediff.com/cgi-bin/gold/folder.cgi?formname=
read_msg&folder=Inbox&file (27 December 2002).
3 In Dutch, Surinam is spelled and pronounced as Suriname. We here
prefer the spelling Surinam. Surinam achieved independence from the
4018
Netherlands in 1975 and lies on the north-central coast of South America
and is the smallest nation on the continent. It is bordered by Guyana
to the west, French Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south. The
population is estimated at 420,000 in 1998 and PIOs, in Surinam known
as Hindustanis, constitute 34.2 per cent of the total population (Information
and statistics available at the embassy of the Republic of Suriname in
New Delhi).
4 Albeit in different ways, India followed in the footsteps of other countries
such as Greece, Italy, Haiti, Portugal, Hungary and China, which losing
ground, turned towards the dynamic elements of the diaspora to save
the nation [cf Huang; Guotu and Kyoko 1998; Prevelakis 1998 and Pries
1999].
5 The title of this paper The Eternal Call of the Ganga is taken from
a book published by the All India Congress Committee in 1951 and refers
to a passage in which the following story was reiterated that, Only two
years back, 300 aged Indians from British Guyana returned to India on
the expiry of their employment contracts there, because as they themselves
put it, they wanted to lay their bones on Indias sacred soil. The writer
concluded that this was the eternal call of the Ganga! This elusive tie
will remain so long as Indians are what they are [Rajkumar 1951:37].
6 In Indian newspapers and magazines it is often argued that Indians are
found in almost all nations of the world. Interestingly, the total sum of
PIOs (including NRIs) quoted, varies widely, somewhere between eight
million and 22 million. Besides, these aggregates seem much bigger now
than two decades ago. Authors profess to quote official (Indian) figures.
We find the number of 20 million in May 2002 (India Today, 2002:58)
and 22 million in July 2002 (Hindustan Times, 28 July, 2002). In 2001,
there was an Indian diaspora of 20 million in 180 countries (Hindustan
Times, 5 November, 2001). The Hindustan Times of June 11, 2000
mentioned, people of Indian origin are spread over nearly 100 countries
and totalling 1.38 crore in 1993 (according to this government statistics,
a core of them are foreign citizens). Scholars quote very different and
lower figures such as 11 million for the South Asian diaspora in 70
countries [Paranjape 2001:1-2]. R K Jain (1993:2) writes that, In 1987,
south Asian people living outside Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal
and Sri Lanka totalled 8.6 million. R R Ramchandani of the Mumbai
University in an unpublished paper presented in a National Workshop
in Hyderabad on India and the Indian diaspora: Linkages and Expectations
(September 8-9, 2001) writes: There are around 15 million people of
Indian origin (PIO) and non-resident Indians (NRIs) in some 130 countries
outside India. Obviously, numbers depend on definitions of the Indian/
Asian diaspora, NRIs, overseas Indians, or PIOs and on which countries
are included (and excluded). Certainly, the variety is also caused by the
politics of numbers.
7 Immigrants who were born in British India and settled in Surinam, as
well as their offspring, identified and are labelled as Hindustanis and
not as Indians or East Indians like those who settled in other colonies.
8 Indentured labour was also recruited from other regions such as
Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Yet, most of the migrants
who landed up in Surinam were from the north-western provinces, Avadh
and Bihar [McNeill 1915].
9 The issue of return migration after expiry of contract or indeed after
the abolition of the system of indenture is an important one and highlighted
in the bigger study of which this paper is a part. Here we can sustain,
however, with what Ron Ramdin (2000:152) wrote: There was little
doubt that apart from the introduction in 1895 of the payment of a
premium linked to commutation of the claim of a free passage, immigrants
who were either born in the colony or who had arrived in childhood,
seldom wished to return. Yet, some among the first generation of
indentured labourers thought their tenure was a temporary sojourn and
that after completion they would go back to their mother country.
Accordingly, they tried to save money as much as possible and remitted
savings regularly. At times there was regular communication between
India and Surinam [Gautam 1995]. (See also the study by Mohapatra
(1995) on those who returned to Calcutta.) By 1915, an estimated one
in three had decided to return [Ramdin 2000:152]. [See also Samaroo
1994:8].
10 Among Hindustanis different regional languages were used such as
Bhojpuri, Hindi or Hindustani (Urdu), Avadhi, Braj, Pahari, Magahi,
Maithili, etc. Once in Surinam they also learned Dutch and some English
and slowly developed a new language, which during the 1970s became
known as Sarnami [Gautam 2001).
11 Known as depot brotherhood (dipua bhai) [Gautam 1995:3].
Economic and Political Weekly September 20, 2003
12 Known as ship brotherhood (jahazia bhai) [Gautam 1995:3].
13 http://f3mail.rediff.com/cgi-bin/gold/folder.cgi?formname=
read_msg&folder=Inbox&file (December 27, 2002).
14 During 2002 we have made two field trips to Surinam. The present paper
only includes data collected during the first field trip. Among many others
we, in particular like to thank Kries Ramkhelawan for the tremendous
help he extended.
15 Till 1927, Hindustanis were considered as aliens whether born or not
in Surinam. Yet, in 1927 an immigration law was passed mandating
that East Indians born in Surinam would be considered Dutch subjects
[Orna 1999:123].
16 Diaspora space (as distinct from the concept of diaspora) is inhabited
not only by diasporic subjects, but equally by those who are constructed
and represented as indigenous. As such, the concept of diaspora space
foregrounds the entanglements of genealogies of dispersion with those of
staying put, in both the sending country as well receiving
country (ies), it can be added [cf Brah 1996:16]. See also: Jayaram
(1998:46-63).
17 In the first phase beginning in 1834, the majority of emigrants were
recruited in the hill coolie districts of Chota Nagpur division and some
other districts of the Bengal Presidency. Yet, soon recruiting areas were
pushed westward into the Hindi-speaking zones of Bihar and eastern
Uttar Pradesh also part of the Bengal Presidency. From the early 1870s
till the end of the indenture emigration, eastern UP remained the leading
recruiting area in northern India [Tinker 1974 in Jain 1989:161].
18 It is interesting to mention that in 1921 the British Indian community
in Surinam had sent a delegation to India to see whether emigration could
be started again in one way or another. Some scholars therefore wondered
therefore whether nationalists had asked for abolition of the indenture
system only to satisfy the nationalist feelings of the Indian bourgeoisie
in India without understanding the needs of those who left. [Emmer
1986:203 and 204].
19 See also: Anirudha Gupta, 1972, Indias Overseas Children in Third
World (London), November, vol 1, no 3.
20 Transmigrants are immigrants whose daily lives depend on multiple and
constant interconnections across international borders and whose public
identities are configured in relationship to more than one nation state
(Schiller in Pries 1999:73).
21 Definitions of PIOs are dissimilar in different contexts. As far as matters
regarding the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) of 1999 are
concerned for instance PIOs are defined as citizens of any country other
than Bangladesh or Pakistan, if (a) he at any time held Indian passport;
or (b) he or either of his parents or any of his grand-parents was citizen
of India by virtue of the Constitution of India or Citizenship Act, 1955
(57 of 1955); or (c) the person is a spouse of an Indian citizen or a person
to in sub-clause (a) or (b) (Puri and Malhotra 2001:11) The FEM
(Investment in Firm or Proprietary Concern in India) Regulations 2000,
also excludes citizens of Sri Lanka from the definition of PIO and the
FEM (Acquisition and Transfer of Immovable Property in India)
Regulations 2000, excludes citizens of Afghanistan, China, Iran, Nepal
or Bhutan besides Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, from the definition
of PIO (ibid). Similarly, the GoI has recently announced it will provide
PIOs with Indian nationality while keeping another. Yet, dual nationality
will not be accorded to all as the HLC recommend that, dual citizenship
should be permitted for members of the Indian diaspora who satisfy the
conditions and criteria laid down in the legislation to be enacted to amend
the relevant sections of Citizenship Act, 1955 (All details concerning
new policies and government schemes are discussed in the recently
published 600 page report of the HLC. It also includes a special chapter
on Surinam and the Netherlands: report of the high level committee on
the Indian Diaspora, Indian Council of World Affairs, 2001, New Delhi).
Though Hindustanis are at times left out of the Indian nation, in matters
of culture for instance they are considered to be real PIOs. In this
regard, the HLC recommends for instance that, Special measures should
be designed to recognise and highlight the achievements of Indias French
and Dutch speaking diaspora (Report of the HLC on Indian Diaspora:412).
India has other plans with Surinam too such as the establishment of Indo-
Surinamese joint ventures, a mechanism to trace the Indian roots of the
PIOs, to start an Indo-Suriname Brothership Society and the establishment
of a Hindi chair at the University of Surinam (see Report of the HLC:226).
Besides, though Surinam does often not even figure in PIO maps (see
for instance in: India Today, May 20, 2002, 58-59), the fact that in
Surinam East Indians constitute 38 per cent of the population and still
Economic and Political Weekly September 20, 2003
speak a variant of the Bhojpuri Hindi dialect known as Sarnami
is frequently highlighted [Malik 1993:204].
22 Related to support to Hindu nationalism in Surinam, the Indian Council
for International Cooperation published an interesting article in their
Mother India. Children Abroad Series on Surinam (vol V, January,
1991:90-92). In the article by Beekransing Ramlallah entitled Overseas
Indians What They Should Do it is stated that, the uplift of Hindus
should be given priority because they are most backward, divided,
oppressed, weak and less enlightened. They should be prompted to
innovate, work hard, save persevere, and dedicate their lives to the cause
of national uplift. It is concluded that now there is a government in
India which is expected to show more concern about Hindus and overseas
Indians values, should give more thought to them [ibid:94].
23 A pan-global organisation that seeks to bring together more than 18
million people of Indian origin worldwide. GOPIO aims, among other
things, to address the concerns of the PIOs in their countries of settlement
and to utilise the expertise of Indian expatriates for the benefit of people
in India and the countries where the PIOs are settled (Frontline, 1999,
vol 16, no 23, November 6-19). The GOPIO also has a Suriname
chapter, which was established on March 7, 2000 as a non partisan,
non sectarian organisation. In framing its constitution, duly account
was taken that Suriname is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-
language society, where all groups live together peacefully, interact and
work together in a constructive way. It will, endeavour to promote the
interests and well-being of the Surinamese people as a whole and the
people of Indian origin (PIO) in particular (Nandoe, 2001. In: GOPIO
Souvenir, 6th International Convention, January 6-7, ARSP, New
Delhi: 40).
24 One such important NGO in India is the Antar Rashtriya Sahayog
Parishad (ARSP) (Indian Council for International Cooperation) which
closely works together with the GOPIO in organising academic seminars,
business meetings and conventions. Sinha-Kerkhoff and Alok Singh
herewith express their sincere thanks to its secretary general Baleshwar
Agrawal who never lingers in providing extensive help in our research.
25 See also: S Sassen 1996, Losing Control? Sovereignty in an Age of
Globalisation, New York Columbia University Press.
26 Within India there are some fears. Sadanand A Shetty for instance
comments on some of the recommendations made by the high level
committee on the Indian Diaspora (HLCID) concerning special single
window clearances for NRIs and to dual citizenship. He agrees that
there is no doubt that Indians settled abroad need to be drawn into a
constructive link with their country of origin yet is questioned, how
can this be done in a way that is beneficial to both Indians and NRIs
without having to compromise Indias basic interests? Moreover, he
felt that dual citizenship to only Indians abroad would go against the
basic premise of the Indian Constitution that all citizens enjoy equal
rights. Further he felt that, the provision in the report that only those
from US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are to be favoured
seems to be discriminatory. He warned that, the government need to
seriously work on those provisions that reek of elitism or which are not
in consonance with the basic tenets of Indian democracy (in One India.
One People, vol 5, no 12, July 2002, editorial). See also in the same
issue the article by P M Kamath, who warned that one should look beyond
economic benefits and felt that contacts with the PIOs should be spread
out rather than limit them to a few rich countries. They should be related
to cultural and political contacts as well. Yet, he warned that these
contacts could play negative roles as well (Ibid:40).
27 This part of the paper deals with past and present reactions from Surinam.
The historical information is mostly based on one of the two books on
Hindus in Surinam published in the early 1950s by the father redemptorist
C J M de Klerk (1953). During our stay in Paramaribo (Surinam) we
carried out several interviews and had informal conversations with
Hindustanis from various backgrounds. We also visited the districts of
Saramacca and Nickerie, where many Hindustanis are living, and attended
some cultural events. Most interviews were with leading figures in the
Surinamese-Hindustani community mostly well-off, higher educated,
Hindu men. Our material is therefore too limited to draw conclusions
about Surinamese Hindustani perceptions of India. It does, however, give
an interesting insight in how members of the political, economic, religious
and cultural elite relate to and reflect on India and on what is from
India (goods, people, ideas, etc).
28 De Klerk already commented in the early 1950s that the most important
cultural activity for Hindustanis was watching movies. Indian films are
4019
 most popular. Most films are distributed by Bombay Pictures, based in
Bombay (215).
29 We heard of several people who had spent time in India while studying
its languages or philosophy. In the De Klerks days, however, Indian
universities were not popular at all. De Klerk found only one case of
a Hindustani visiting India for study purposes (in 1948). This person,
Kanhai, returned to Surinam with a BA in Hindi [De Klerk:202]. Many
have since followed Kanhai. Several Hindustanis, either in The Netherlands
or in India itself studied Hindi or Indology (old-fashioned indication
for classical Indian culture, languages and philosophy).
30 It is interesting to note that since 1896, the immigration department took
care of the correspondence of contract labourers [De Klerk:133].
31 This number includes some 2,500 free settlers from British Guyana who
settled on a permanent basis in Surinam. See: http://www.
nationaalarchief.nl/suriname/base_hindo/achtergrond_info.
32 This search for roots seems more common among Dutch Hindustanis.
They are generally more well to do and the distance between The
Netherlands and India is much less than between India and Surinam.
For an interesting account of root tourism see: Hira (2000).
33 Since the 1970s Hindustanis have debated about the way their name
should be written in Dutch. Some prefer to leave out the o in the spelling,
for they feel that the name Hindoestanen suggest it only includes Hindus
(Dutch: Hindoes). Others are of the opinion that Hindoestanen comes
from the part of India called Hindustan (Dutch: Hindoestan). De Klerk
uses the word Hindostan. He comments that that a Hindu (Dutch: Hindoe)
is a Hindustani (Dutch: Hindostaan), who follows Hinduism (Dutch:
Hindoesme). [De Klerk:43-44]
34 Officially they received Nederlands onderdaanschap, which differs
from het Nederlanderschap, Dutch citizenship [De Klerk:185].
35 The original poem is in Dutch: Adji/Bedankt dat je bleef/Op zn
minst bevrijd/ben ik/van de vloek der goden/die nog op de indier rust/
Jouw aanzet/reet gevouwen handen open/en balde vuisten in de strijd/
voor recht/Ik buig neer/Voor jouw voeten, adji/als dank/niet als plicht.
http://www. muurgedichten.nl/narain.html.
36 This might also be true for Muslim and Christian Hindustanis. We are
still to examine these themes.
37 Like the condiment, chutney music and dancing are hot and spicy
hence the name. For many years chutney and chutney-soca have been
making waves in Trinidad, Guyana and Surinam, among the Indo-
Caribbean communities in New York, Toronto, as well as London and
Holland. Chutney is the latest genre of popular Caribean music that is
set to make an impact on the international music scene. (...) However,
chutney music is not something new. East Indian folk-songs crossed the
seas more than 150 years ago when indentured labourers from the United
Provinces, Bihar and the Gangetic Plains were induced (by the British)
to work in the Caribbean sugar industry after the abolition of slavery.
(...) Solely women originally performed chutney songs and dance. They
sang a variety of folk songs to celebrate a wedding on the previous Friday
night (Maticoor is similar to a hen night), or the birth of a child,
celebrated 12 days afterwards (Barahee), and other festive occasions.
Some of the words sung to the bride-to-be were of a risqu nature and
bore some resemblance to the double-entendres of calypso. The lyrics
were traditionally sung in Bhojpuri, Hindi and Urdu. Chutney music
instrumentation consisted of a harmonium for melody, a dholak (hand
drum), a dhantal (a long metal rod, a Trinidadian invention) for rhythm
and the lotah (brass cups). Tassa drums were added later. Over the
years the music has been transformed with the addition of Indian film
music. Men became involved and started to sing chutney songs as well.
In the late 1960s, chutney artistes began adding/mixing calypso rhythms
to their compositions. (...) Afro-Trinidadian artists have started singing
chutney-soca too, which has helped bring the communities and cultures
together more successfully than have the politicians. http://bigmag.co.uk/
ccx/leisure/entertainment/story1
38 http://www.geocities.com/kries_r/biography.html

NCAS NEEDS AN EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

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and justice with a particular focus on the marginalized sections of the society to fill the post of
Executive Director.

Eligibility: A committed/experienced scholar/development professional with people centred and rights based
perspective; Adequate knowledge and understanding of the social sector/development scenario; Familiarity
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qualities and ability to work with a team Adequate experience and willingness to work with research centres,
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academicians.

Job Profile: The Executive Director will be the Chief Functionary of the centre working under the guidance
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and take the organisation into the next decade.

Salary: Negotiable.

Applications with detailed C.V., copies of supporting documents and a one-page note on the significance
of People Centred Advocacy should be sent by October 31, 2003 to The Secretary, National Centre
for Advocacy Studies (NCAS), Serenity Complex, Ramnagar Colony, Pashan, Pune 411 021 or email
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4020 Economic and Political Weekly September 20, 2003

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