Among the Indians of St. Lucia
By Martin Latchana
The first Indians arrived in St. Lucia on board the Palmyra on the 6th May in 1859. In total, about 4,500 indentured workers arrived sporadically between 1858 and 1900.
"SAKWEY KOOLI !" used to be a phrase of contempt in patois.
It was during a brief visit to St. Lucia in the summer of 1995 that I developed an interest in the Indians of St. Lucia. Twenty minutes into our catamaran voyage to the Soufriere volcano, the captain categorically announced to the tourists “most St. Lucians were of African descent.”
Perhaps he realised we were perplexed and then five minutes later he said “but we have Indians too who came as indentured workers.” In fact, I was later gratified to see Indians mentioned on the St. Lucia Tourist Board web site on the Internet.
Later on during that expedition, we introduced ourselves to the skipper of our boat the “Mango Tango” and he proclaimed not too loudly that “the coolie man saves like hell but we can’t do it.” On that one-day sojourn on the island, I saw about five more Indians, including an elderly impoverished woman standing on a street corner of a fishing village; it looked as if she was begging. That image stuck with me for a long time.
On subsequent vacations in November 1996 and November 1997, I took the opportunity to learn more about the Indian presence and the contributions to St. Lucia. I had heard that the “small island” Indians had lost all traces of Indian culture. This proved partially true but there are many “Indian traits” that are still important. All of the Indians I spoke to “were proud of being Indian.”
Some of them had visited Trinidad and were astonished that so many Indians there had prospered and maintained an “Indian culture.” Some of them have relatives in Guyana and had visited that country.
The first Indians arrived in St. Lucia on board the Palmyra in 1859. In total, about 4,500 indentured workers arrived sporadically between 1858 and 1900. As the result of the shipwreck of the Volga off Castries on December 10, 1893 several hundred Indians, who were not originally destined for St. Lucia, were added to the population of the island. Generally, many of the workers returned to India after their contracts expired, the last batch leaving in 1903. Some left to work in other Caribbean countries. The current percentage of Indians in St. Lucians is not known; estimates range from 3 to 8% of the population of a hundred and sixty thousand
There are considerable numbers of Indians in the south of the island. Many taxi drivers from the area are Indian and work at the airport. On my visit to Augier, I noticed that Indians owned most of the houses. I could have sworn that I was in rural Guyana. Vieux-Fort, the second largest town is found near the main airport and there are substantial numbers of Indians present as well as several Indian-owned businesses such as “Saroo’s Supermarket.” In 1996, at Vieux-Fort, I visited the richest man on the island, Mr. Louis Boriel. I was apprehensive on my first visit; the dogs, which were half-asleep on the veranda, added to my unease for I had not phoned ahead. Ms. Heraldine Gajadhar-Rock, who provided valuable information during my trips in 1996 and 1997 had said, “you must visit the shepherd who became a king.” Mr. Boriel, close to eighty years old told me to help myself to a beer in his fridge; we discoursed for a long time.
Louis Boriel's parents came from India as indentured labourers. Life was hard in his early years when he worked for twenty-five cents per day. During the Second World War he was a barber to American soldiers stationed near Vieux-Fort. Soon he started saving his earnings, bought a cow and became a butcher. Subsequently, he was able to purchase more cows and acquire much land. From his veranda, we looked out to Vieux-Fort and he said, “I own most of this.” I detected no boasting by this humble man who knows all about Indian immigration to the Caribbean and on my departure both times said, “give my regards to my people when you get back.”
After speaking to Ms. Gajadhar, Mr. Burai, Mr. Abel Ghirawoo, taxi-drivers and other Indians, I found out that race relations are generally good. Indeed, most of the St. Lucians I met were curious about my own background and Afro-St. Lucians would make reference to someone as “Indian like you” or make passing comments such as “Indians have nice hair.” While some of the hostility and negative attitudes toward Indians have decreased, there is much mutual stereotyping. The word “coolie” is used widely by Afro-St. Lucians but not generally in a racist sense but to my ears, it was a surprise. The phrase “sakwey coolie” in patois means, “damn coolie” and is considered as an insult by Indians.
Having interacted all my life with Indo-Guyanese and Indo-Trinidadians and having been told that most Indians in St. Lucia had not retained Indian surnames, I was surprised to see that many of the prominent Indian business and professional people on the island have surnames such as Adjodha, Burai, Gajadhar, Gidharry, Khodra, Mangal, Mungroo, Naitram, Rambally, Sadoo, and Surage. Several Indo-St. Lucians have played important political roles on the island. Ms. Gajadhar-Rock served as a government minister while Boswell Williams was a recent Governor General. Currently, Menissa Rambally, a member of the well-known family serves as a government Minister.
Currently, Indians are found in many professions and some families include doctors, lawyers, undertakers, politicians and auto-dealers. However, most of the Indians still work on the coconut and banana estates. Mr. Abel Ghiwaroo told me about the demise of the sugar industry on St. Lucia. While many of the Indians have small banana farms, others have larger estates on which they grow bananas as well as coconuts. Currently, there is much concern about the state of the banana industry because of the uncertainty about the lack of access of overseas markets. In the capital city of Castries, while many businesses are owned by Indians, but most of them are recent arrivals from India, mostly Sindhis. I went looking for the cinema owned by one of the Adjodha’s. It now a shopping mall, somewhat decrepit, owned by a Lebanese. Until ten years ago, the cinema screened Indian films to packed audiences.
Some families such the Khodras still maintain Indian customs. Roti, dhal and other Indian foods still form a major part of the diet of Indo-St. Lucians and have also become part of the national cuisine. Overall though, there has been a decline in Indian culture. There are no native Hindus or Muslims in St. Lucia. The East Indian Friendly Society formed in the 1920's has not survived. Mr. Burai told me that in the 1940's Indian cultural performances were held at Vieux-Fort. It appears that the Holi festival died out in the 1920’s while Hosay fizzled out in the 1950’s.
As in Guyana, Trinidad and Grenada, the Presbyterian Church played a major role in the education of Indians and was very successful in the conversion of Indians in St. Lucia, as the Mortons had documented. I could not find any Presbyterians though and later found out that the Methodist church had taken over that role since the early years of this century. My boyhood days were spent at the “J.B Cropper Canadian Mission School” at Albion Front in Berbice, Guyana. Thus, I tried enquiring about the Cropper family for J.B Cropper’s father had been Protector of the Indians in St. Lucia.
I had no luck; a search at the local archives would be necessary on my next trip. I gathered that the late Rev. Roy Neehal of Trinidad was related to Mr. Ghiwaroo and others and that Reverend Neehal’s father had left Trinidad to work in St. Lucia.
Having gone to Marc, Augier, the Morne, Forrestiere and Vieux-Fort, I was able to observe Indians in all avenues of life, including rum shops and farms. At Augier, I had visited the local rum shop owned by Sylvester Peter, who told me he had dropped his surname “Mahabir.” Other members of his family told me that they liked chutney music, especially songs by Terry Gajraj. At the Castries market, almost all of the butchers were Indians who came from Marc. Everywhere, one can still see many young children with Indian features.
But there are many interracial unions and in the long run it is possible that the smaller Indian populations of St. Lucia, Grenada and Jamaica may be completely assimilated.
Many of my new-found friends have lamented that the Indian merchants who have now gone to the island do not interact with them. They now look upon the Indo-Guyanese, most of whom fled to St. Lucia during the dark years, to help revitalise “Indian culture.”
In spite of all that has been written about the “assimilation” of Indo-St. Lucians there are still accusations that they are disloyal to the country. Many Indo-St. Lucians apparently supported the Indian cricket team in 1983 when they played on the island. This sentiment is not uncommon particularly in Guyana, Trinidad and Jamaica because of a sentiment that perhaps considerations other than merit continue to ply a part in the selection of the West Indies cricket team. During my 1996 trip, I asked an Indian woman, about ninety ears old if she spoke Hindi. There was no response until my taxi-driver, Nelton Williams; an Indian translated it into patois. The answer stunned me: “What is Hindi?” I was told to seek out “Man Williams” who spoke “Indian” but he was not at home according to a friendly old Indian man, quite drunk perched backwards on a chair with a felt hat perched on his head. This conjured up more images of rural Guyana. I found later that some of the older Indians still speak Hindi.
Although there is a lack of Indian culture, as it is known in the larger Indo-Caribbean populations, there is a considerable degree of “Indianness” still present. In-depth scholarly work, similar to that undertaken on the Indians of St. Vincent by Dr. Arnold Thomas, is required.
During my 1997 trip, I phoned Mr. Boriel and he readily agreed to see me. Unfortunately, I rented a car and quick learned how treacherous it is to drive in St. Lucia. I felt the wrath of an irate taxi driver and this coupled with left-hand driving entailed that I arrived very late at Mr. Boriel’s house. He had left for one his plantations.
In early 2005, I discovered accidentally on the Internet that Mr. Boriel passed away in September 2001.
I felt an immediate sadness, compounded by the fact that I never have returned to St. Lucia.