The Cutlass Magazine®️
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A podcast and platform dedicated to the Indo-Caribbean community and other descendants of Indian indentureship around the world.
Caribbean and South Asia
Joined August 2020
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This scene from the BBC film “The Hummingbird Tree” (1992) illustrates how the church acted as an agent of racial and religious division in Trinidad. Set in 1946, around the time universal adult suffrage was granted, it captures the prejudices towards Hindus being able to vote.
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On the occasion of 4/20, we must never forget how instrumental our ancestors were in propagating the recreational, medicinal, and spiritual use of marijuana in the Caribbean. Indians played such a important role that weed is still known locally by the Hindustani name “ganja”.
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Today the intersection of 131st Street and Liberty Avenue in New York was named “Trinidad and Tobago Street”.
📸: Sudarshan Maharaj
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Do young Indo-Caribbean people know the historical and cultural significance of the “bera” (bay-ra)?
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When people ask me what is Indo-Caribbean and I am too tired to explain so I send them a picture of my parents:
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Words in 🇹🇹 that mean the same thing:
+ Chadon Beni (Creole)
+ Bandhaniya (Hindustani)
+ Culantro (English)
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Just interviewed a 100-year-old Indian lady in Trinidad and she said “kukurwa ke naam mange” (you want the dog’s name too) because I was asking too many questions 💀
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“These records list the 225 adult Indian indentured labourers who, on this very day 176 years ago, were nearing their final destination. Aboard the Fatel Razack (meaning ‘Victory of Allah the Provider’ in Arabic), they would ‘arrive’ in Trinidad and Tobago on May 30th, 1845.”
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Grand Chief Morning Star, also known as Paul Navarro, of the Moruga Indigenous Peoples passed away today at the age of 102 in Trinidad. Just shy of his 103rd birthday on April 28th, he was the oldest living chief in the Western Hemisphere.
📸: Nyla Singh and Andrea De Silva
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She will always be a winner and Rani for us. Aché you made your country and people, Trinidad and Tobago, so incredibly proud 🇹🇹
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Take a look at this footage of Port of Spain, Trinidad in the 1950s. As the national anthem so aptly suggests: “Here every creed and race find an equal place.” As you can see, a world of cultures and ethnicities are depicted. Can you spot the orhni-clad women and the sadhu?
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As the Hindu community celebrates Lord Ram’s birth today, I am reminded of how my ancestors would read the Ramayan underneath a lit flambeau after a brutal day working in the cane fields. In the way we greet one another with Ram Ram and Sita Ram, we carry on their legacy with us.
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Signal boost 🔊: An organization I am part of, Caribbean Hindustani, is raising funds for a 15-year-old boy in Suriname (Darshan) who was kicked out of a Christian-run orphanage after refusing a role in a Christmas nativity play due to his Hindu faith -
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This 85-foot tall murti of Hanuman is located in Carapichaima, Trinidad. It was designed by T. Subramanian Sthapathi from Chennai in 2001 and adheres to Dravidian architecture found in South India. It is the largest Hanuman Baba statue outside of India. Happy Hanuman Jayanti!
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Lata Mangeshkar brought so much comfort, joy, and pain to us and our great-grandparents, grandparents, and parents. Her voice crooned behind every wedding, funeral, and birthday. Some of us woke up to her and for others she was the last thing they heard before falling asleep.
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Indo-Caribbean culture is meeting a Muslim named Donald, a Hindu named Randolph, and a Christian who goes by Heeralal.
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Imagine some people will never know the comfort of daal, rice, and bhaaji.
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May 5th marks Indian Survival Day in Guyana. When slavery ended in 1834, the British wasted no time looking for a new group to exploit. In then British Guiana, Indian indentureship began in 1838 with John Gladstone, the owner of the Vreed-en-Hoop and Vreed-en-Stelin estates.
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While the British abolished African slavery in 1834, the Dutch ended it three decades later in 1863. Indian indentureship began on June 5th, 1873 in Suriname. Aboard the ship “Lalla Rookh” (Red-Cheeked), 399 Indian labourers landed in the port of Fort Nieuw Amsterdam on June 4th.
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These records contain the names of the 225 Indians who, on this day 179 years ago, arrived in Trinidad. Aboard the “Fatel Razack” (Victory of Allah the Provider) for five months this group, mostly adults in their 20s, marked the start of Indian indentureship in 1845.
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I love how Trinis use the word “ting” as if they do not know any nouns but will pull out fancy verbs like capsize, pelt, galavanting, idling, and quarrel.
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This video was submitted to the Caribbean Hindustani group by Shiva from Trinidad. It features his 88-year-old grandmother singing a traditional Indo-Caribbean folk song in the community's mother tongue while beating a drum. She has helped promote the culture in her own village.
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“The arrival of indentured labourers introduced marijuana to the Caribbean, altering the culture to the extent that Hindustani words like chillum, ganja, and bhang have been retained in many dialects. It had a major impact in Jamaica, informing early tenets of Rastafarianism.”
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Snapshots of Indian life featured in archival footage of Port-of-Spain in Trinidad and Tobago from the 1950s.
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On April 20th (4/20), we pay tribute to how instrumental our Indian ancestors were to propagating the recreational, medicinal, and spiritual use of marijuana in the Caribbean. They played such a large role that weed is known by the Hindustani name “ganja”.
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May 5th marks Indian Survival Day in Guyana, known as “Arrival Day” by the government. When slavery ended in 1834, the British wasted no time in exploiting a new labour force. In then British Guiana, indentureship began in 1838 with the Gladstone Experiment by John Gladstone.
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Just taking a moment to appreciate the beauty of Aishwarya Rai as Jodhaa Bai in Ashutosh Gowariker’s historical romance “Jodhaa Akbar” (2008).
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People who love prayers food but like to bad talk the prayers 🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩
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Parang is a genre in Trinidad tied to Christmas. Derived from the Spanish word “parranda” for ‘fete’ or ‘spree,’ the style stems back to when groups would perform for christenings and birthdays. These troupes consisted of four or more men, accompanied by musical instruments.
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Simple breakdown of some phrases:
+ Mashallah - God has willed it (Past tense)
+ Inshallah - God willing (Future tense)
+ Subhanallah - Glory to God (Present tense)
+ Alhamdulillah - Praise be to God
+ Bismillah - In the name of God
+ Astaghfirullah - I seek forgiveness from God
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Anybody who says “roti skins” needs to be cancelled. How dat does sound appetizing to allyuh?
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It is not “cool” to hate chutney music. Everyone has their own tastes, but to try and prove why one specific genre is somehow lesser than or associated with a certain “class” of people is ignorant.
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Indo-Caribbean culture is all too often boiled down to Bollywood, saris, and curry. It is so much more than that.
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This Robin Hood Flour ad from the late 70s or early 80s was filmed in Trinidad. It depicts the typical Indo-Caribbean kitchen complete with a belna, chowki, and tawa. You see the woman, wearing an orhni, sprinkling partan on the loya before bhelay-ing it out to make chicken roti.
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“Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham” (often abbreviated as K3G) was released exactly twenty years ago on December 14th, 2001. The title of the film means “sometimes happiness, sometimes sadness” referring to the various ups and downs in the life of a family.
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Daisy Voisin (1924-1991) was known as the “Queen of Parang” for her rich voice. Born in Erin, in the southern part of Trinidad, she was the youngest of six girls. Her father Matthias, of French ancestry, was from Arima in the north. Her mother Juliana had been born in Venezuela.
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The way Trini people had me convinced this was called a “chester draw” 😭
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Imagine wanting “cream cheese on a bagel” instead.
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Indo-Caribbean culture is calling one thing by multiple names, like culantro/bandhaniya/shado beni, and having an “Uncle Bobby” whose real name is Ganesh.
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With Lunar New Year observed today (January 22nd), we honour all the Chinese contributions to the rich cultural fabric that is the Caribbean. One major visual element of Chinese culture in the Caribbean is “Chinee” Cake or Black Eye Cake.
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Sending many congratulations to the Indo-Guyanese cricketer Shivnarine Chanderpaul on being inducted into the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Hall of Fame. Well done 🇬🇾
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These records list the 225 Indians who, on this very day 177 years ago, arrived in Trinidad. Aboard the "Fatel Razack" (Victory of Allah the Provider) for five months this group, most of them adults in their 20s, marked the start of indentureship in 1845 in the island nation.
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Having said Indian Survival Day for some time in my family, I adopted it as an alternative to Indian Arrival Day in a post last year. I am repeating it now as we again observe the days upon which the first ships carrying indentured laborers landed in their respective colonies.
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These records list the 225 adult Indian indentured labourers who, on this very day 176 years ago, were nearing their final destination. On the Fatel Razack (meaning ‘Victory of Allah the Provider’ in Arabic), they would ‘arrive’ in Trinidad and Tobago on May 30th, 1845.
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Pepperpot is one of Guyana’s national dishes. It can be served with roti, rice, or bread, as well as sweet potatoes, plantains, eddoes, and cassava. As with black cake, this is a speciality cuisine and takes a while to make but can be eaten for many days as leftovers.
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Words in 🇹🇹 that mean the same thing:
+ Malju (French Creole)
+ Najar (Hindustani)
+ Bad Eye (English)
= 🧿🧿🧿
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A funeral service is no place to chastise people about how they must convert to Christianity or else face eternal damnation in hell. It is also not the time to use Bible scriptures to delegitimize COVID and the vaccine.
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I spoke to a 103-year-old Indian lady and she asked ME for health tips. Sorry Nani but I ate Dunkin Donuts at noon for breakfast I go ded long before you.
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The five-day festival of Diwali begins from this day onward with Dhanteras. Many have been keeping vrat/brata (fasting) already, and will start cleaning today. Here is a thread on what the origins of this auspicious period are, as well as how Indo-Caribbean people observe it.
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Phagwah should be a national holiday in Trinidad the way it is in Suriname and Guyana. There is literally no holiday without Holi Day.
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Have you seen this iconic 1972 Jamaican ad? Tourism Minister Anthony Abrahams said: "There was a wave of interest and curiosity about China… we had an idea we would do an ad with a Jamaican-Chinese girl… it would establish the idea that the exotic East is also here in Jamaica."
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"The birth of chutney soca came with the release of Drupatee Ramgoonai’s 1987 album, 'Chutney Soca'. Featuring songs in both English and Hindi, the genre was a mixture of Indian and African influences during a time when economic unrest in the country had reignited racial tension"
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I am saddened to be posting about the passing of Indo-Trinidadian singer and musician Rajdaye (Rajdai) Sookraj yesterday at the age of 75. Hailing from the illustrious Sookraj family of Central Trinidad, she helped spread chutney music and Hindustani classical in the West Indies.
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Sometimes I try to remember that Diwali is a celebration of victory over this kind of evil, ignorance, and darkness. I am not going to share the name of this Trini person (who apparently has a couple thousand followers) because there are many others who share these beliefs.
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Caribbean people toting Israeli flags all over their social media pages have the ancestors rolling in their graves.
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Did you know most Indian people for some time referred to the town of Chaguanas in Trinidad as “Chauhan” (chow-haan)? It was named after the Chauhan clan of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, a surname belonging to the Rajput warrior caste of north India.
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I would like to send my condolences to Anil Bheem’s family, his team at 103FM, and his fans all around the world. Whether it was chutney, Bollywood, or bhajans; Anil earned the title of “the vocalist” due to the tonal and lyrical delivery and quality of his many recordings.
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I interview women in their 80s, 90s, 100s. One generation removed from indentureship. They all grew up in abject poverty, had little access to education, got married as teenagers. So many of them have been widows for more than half their lives. Most did not have great husbands.
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Resolutions for 2024:
- Doh be paagal
- Doh be poohar
- Doh cause jhanjhat
- Doh study dem neemakharam
- Save more paisa
- Find some pyaar
- Drink more paani
- Drink less daaru
- Doh break meh dil
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Pepperpot is one of Guyana’s national dishes. It can be served alongside roti, rice, or bread, as well as sweet potatoes, plantains, eddoes, and cassava. As with black cake, this is a speciality cuisine and takes a long time to cook but can be eaten for days as leftovers.
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Did you know that "Aja" and "Aji" are now archaic terms for paternal grandparents in India? "Dada" and "Dadi" are the standard Hindi words in the main region where indentured labourers came from. Just another reason to hold on to the relics in our culture.
#IndoCaribbeanTrivia
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Today marks the 20th anniversary of “Bend It Like Beckham” (2002), a film that was far ahead of its time in many ways. Directed by Gurinder Chadha, the story of a young woman bucking tradition to pursue her happiness has stood the test of time and remains a classic.
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Imagine getting judged for being Hindu by an evangelical named Ramcharan.
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I saw this post on social media and while I know that it is a joke, it got me thinking about how we as Indo-Caribbean people make fun of and diminish our culture so much. I know it comes from being laughed at for having “coolie” or “rel Indian” names.
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Enjoyed reading this post by Indian cricketer Unmukt Chand about his travels in Trinidad. Hopefully he gets to see our preservation of language in music and speech one day.
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How many of us have been blessed to sit and listen to that generation of orhani-wearing, Hindustani-speaking East Indian women singing their folk songs? This group of ladies, born in the 1940s and years prior, quite enjoyed themselves at various functions.
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May 1st is the day Indians first arrived in Grenada. The island faced labour shortages after the Emancipation Act of 1833 freed African slaves from the plantations. Many ex-slaves acquired land that took away from the holdings of estate owners or fled to Trinidad and Guyana.
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This naming convention of calling “gulab jamun” by “rasgulla” (left) and “fat kurma” by “gulab jamun” (right) is found in indentured sites from Trinidad to Fiji. This speaks to a common linguistic ancestor in India rather than just being a mistake, a fascinating cultural history.
I love how in Trinidad we just yeeted actual rasgulla (which I don’t care for) and decided to call gulab jamun (which I love) rasgulla instead 😂😂
Idek what is the Indian equivalent of what we call gulab jamun or if that’s a Trinidad thing only. I ask an Indian ☝🏾
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Rikki Jai’s Sumintra (1988), written by Gregory Ballantyne, signaled a major shift in mainstream Trinidadian music. Opening with the Bollywood film lyric “bindiya chamkegi” (my bindi will shine), the song features Jai trying and failing to impress a woman with Indian culture.
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As today is World Hindi Day, just a gentle reminder that “Hindu” is not a language.
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Unfair wages, poor working conditions, destitute housing, restricted movement, and conversion tactics were just some of the many injustices of indentureship. Massive outbreaks of cholera, malaria, and typhoid; paired with nonexistent medical attention, savaged the population.
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This one page appendix entry titled “Deaths Of Indian Immigrants From Other Than Natural Causes 1886” is a sobering reminder of the violent lives indentured laborers endured. Indian indentureship was not a humane system and our ancestors were not simply voluntary migrants.
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Hearing Bollywood director Karan Johar say “Congratulations Trinidad and Tobago” was not on our 2024 bingo card. Sending our wishes to Aché Abrahams who has made it into the Top 12 at Miss World 🧿
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The Blundell Hunter brought the first Indian indentured labourers to Jamaica on May 10th,1845. The 228 adults and 33 children onboard the ship went to the parishes of Clarendon, St. Andrew, St. Mary, and Westmoreland. Between 1845 and 1916 over 36,000 came.
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In our Caribbean Hindustani dialect: “Abir” (ah-bee-r) is the coloured liquid. “Abrak” (ab-rack) and “gulal” (goo-laal) are the coloured powder. “Abrak” is an old Bhojpuri word some of us still use. “Pichakaree” is the pump filled with abir to spray. It is Phagwah, not Holi.
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Basdeo Panday (May 25th, 1933 to January 1st, 2024) has passed away today at the age of 90 according to his daughter Mickela Panday. The fifth Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago from 1995 to 2001, he was the first person of Indian descent and first Hindu to hold the office.
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Parang is a musical genre in Trinidad tied to Christmas. Derived from the Spanish word “parranda” for ‘fete’ or ‘spree,’ the style stems back to when groups would perform songs for christenings and birthdays.
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You may know Sonu Nigam as the voice behind Bollywood classics such as “Suraj Hua Maddham,” “Kal Ho Naa Ho,” “Main Hoon Na,” “Mujhse Shaadi Karogi,” and “Main Agar Kahoon”. But have you heard his chutney fusion release “Trini Ladki” (Trini Gyal) from 2014?
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"In 1906, Siewdass Sadhu was only three years old when he and his parents arrived in Trinidad from India... At a time when Hinduism was not recognized by the colonial government, Sadhu built his first temple off the coast of Waterloo in central Trinidad in 1947."
#indentureship
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Condolences to the loved ones of Mr. Abracadabra, born Deoraj Seunarine, who passed away today at the age of 92. The Debe native was a magician and ventriloquist for many decades, but also dedicated much of his life to promoting Hindustani and local Indian culture. Om Sadgati 🕊
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Just taking a moment to appreciate the excellence of Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s “Bajirao Mastani” (2015). Do you have a favourite song from this film?
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Indo-Caribbean people play Bollywood songs and chutney music from the 60s like they just came out yesterday.
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“Here every creed and race finds an equal place” 🇹🇹
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This fruit is known by many names:
+ Pommecythere (Trinidad)
+ Golden apple (Guyana)
+ Pommisitair (Suriname)
+ June plum (Jamaica)
= It is referred to as “amrah” in the Hindustani dialect spoken by Indian indentured labourers. “Pommecythere” is pronounced locally as pom-see-tay.
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Being Indo-Caribbean is finding out your family members’ real names once they have passed.
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On the occasion of April 20th, we pay tribute to how Indian ancestors were instrumental in propagating the recreational, medicinal, and spiritual usage of marijuana in the Caribbean. They played such an important role that weed is still known today by the Hindustani name “ganja”.
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Do not ever let anyone tell you that Lata Mangeshkar is not part of Indo-Caribbean culture and history.
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May 6th also marks Indian Survival Day in Martinique as 314 indentured labourers landed in Saint Pierre in 1853 on this day aboard the Louis Napoléon ship. Martinique is unique because most Indians to go there were from Madras in South India rather than Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
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Hosay is an annual event where multi-coloured mosque-shaped “tadjah” or “tazia” (tombs) are paraded alongside the beating of tassa drums. While the tradition has been lost in Guyana and Suriname, it is preserved in the cities of Cedros and St. James in Trinidad.
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Are you even Indo-Caribbean if you do not know someone named Shivani?
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The Anand Bhavan or Lion House was a dispensary in Trinidad. This is the home Chaguanas-native V.S. Naipaul grew up in as part of the Capildeos. Dreadlocked sadhus or holy men incorporating ganja into their worship of Lord Shiva had an impact on the Rastafari movement in Jamaica.
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Did you know the word “nath” means ‘Lord, God, Master’ and is commonly found in Indo-Caribbean last names?
- Bisnath (God of the Universe)
- Ramnath (Lord Ram)
- Premnath (God of Love)
- Siewnath/Seenath (Lord Shiva)
- Jaggernath (God of the Universe)
- Deonath (Master of God)
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From the makers of roti skin and fat kumar, enjoy some honey pretzels—
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“Hosay” is an annual festival where mosque-shaped “tadjah” or “taziya” (tombs) are paraded as tassa drums are played. While the tradition has died out in Guyana and Suriname, it is preserved in the northwestern district of St. James and the southwestern region Cedros in Trinidad.
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