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Tel: 416-289-3898 ictimes@rogers.comVol 1. No 9 November 2007

Indo-Caribbean

T IME ST IME SDid the PNMreally win theTrinidad election?Or did the UNCA lose it?

In this issue:Trinidad Indians sunkin depression P. 4COP pays price inTrinidad election P. 7Credit or debit card-business page P. 934 years of roti makingin Toronto East P.11Documents to help youfind your roots P. 19

packages and are still waiting for the prom-ised land. There was never much in the wayof alternative employment in the sugar belt,so they are abandoned to their own re-sources.Now the cane farmers, their workers and

families, enter 2008 with nowhere to sellcane, no jobs, no alternatives. The sugarbelt, the heartland of the Indian community,is becoming an economic wasteland, a ca-sualty of the ethnic politics that have ruledTrinidad for decades.Indians in their hundreds are on the brink

of starvation or beginning to starve for lackof food or money to buy food. And fewpeople are talking about it or even recog-nize what is happening.

Read Ram’s report on Page 4, and storieson Page5,6 and 10.

focused on attacking each other bitterly, andindulging in nonsensical speculation abouthow many seats each would win.It was a joke of an election, with high-

lights like one candidate asking another tooffer his wife to prove the first one’s man-hood and the prime minister gleefully pre-dicting he would whip the opposition. It’shard to say if the opposition gave the elec-tion away or the ruling party won the elec-tion on some kind of imagined merit.That was because the election was aboutanother issue, the old one of which racialgroup would rule. Nothing fundamental haschanged in Trinidad politics. The Afroslooked at the parties and mostly chose tostay with the PNM, regardless of thePNM’s performance in office, which wasvery poor.The Indos looked mostly at the two In-

dian based opposition parties and choseone, despite the disgraceful shambles thatthe UNC has become over the last twoyears, and the incredible arrogance of theone year old, baby party COP attemptingto unseat two political heavyweights likethe PNM and UNC at its first try.Canadians would not have understood

what was going on in Trinidad if they werepresent during this election. I’m not sure Idid. Could Trinidad have failed to make anyserious political progress over the past twodecades? It’s beginning to look scarily likeNigeria, full of oil money, empty of vision,wracked with tribalism, incompetentlymanaged. I was glad to get out of there.

Ram Jagessar

Sugar belt misery in Trinidadrevealed as main issue for IndiansNeither crime, high prices, the health

system, education, water shortages,nor the loss of the election is the main issuefacing the Indian community in Trinidadtoday.Indo -Caribbean Times editor Ram Jages-sar, just back from a trip covering the November 5 general elections, feels that the cri-sis issue facing Indos is the unfolding eco-nomic disaster coming down on the headsof as much as 60,000 sugar workers andcane farmers and their families followinggovernment’s decision to close down theentire sugar industry.The ruling government has simply cut

down the sugar industry and walked awayfrom these thousands of families, leavingnothing in its place. Laid off Caroni work-ers have used up their pathetic severance

The records say the People’s NationalMovement won the Trinidad and To-

bago General Elections of November 5,2007 by 26 seats to 15 over the United Na-tional Congress Alliance. The Congress ofthe People was wiped out and won “not adamn seat”.But was that what happened? Did the

PNMwin the election or did the UNCAandCOP lose it? It was an exceedingly strangeelection by Canadian standards. The PNMran on their record over the last five years,as bad as that record was, and on somethingvague and meaningless called Vision2020,its plan for the future. The ruling party sim-ply pointed out that the opposition was di-vided and didn’t deserve to win.Astonishingly, there was almost no dis-

cussion of issues, no leadership debates, noserious examination of manifestos. ThePNM was able to avoid hot topics like itshorrible management of the crime situation,the deteriorating health services, the trulyscary food prices, the crisis in education,matters like 80% of the country not havingrunning water, and the general degrading ofservices and systems. All of these are re-ally the responsibility of the government ofthe day.For their part, the two opposition parties

aided and abetted the PNM in avoidingthese hot button issues, and the scandal ofthe government closing down the sugar in-dustry and throwing thousands of mostlyopposition supporters in the sea without lifejackets. They ignored the plentiful ammu-nition available to blast the ruling party and

Widespread Divalicelebrations in Toronto

Richard Aziz416-832-7293

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Caribbean Hindus in Toronto and across Canada celebrated Divali with much joy anddevotion this year. In this picture women devotees at the new Maha Kali Durga ShaktiTemple in Scarborough offer aarti at the Divali function held on November 10.

COMMUNITY NEWS Indo-Caribbean Times NOVEMBER 2007 Page 3

TORONTO - The actions of President Gen-eral Pervez Musharraf are blatant violationsof fundamental human rights under inter-national law and unacceptable attacks onthe independence of the judiciary, the bar,and the rule oflaw.The Law Society deplores and condemns

the imposition of the Proclamation ofEmergency, the suspension of the Constitu-tion of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, thedismissal of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muham-mad Chaudhry and over 40 other judges,the abrogation of the rule oflaw and of theindependence of the Supreme Court BarAssociation, and the reported detention ofat least 3,500 lawyers and civil rights ac-tivists.

Lawyers detained include Mr. AitzazAhsan, President ofthe Supreme Court BarAssociation, officers of other Bar Associa-tions, Asma Jahangir, International Com-mission of Jurists Commissioner andUnited Nations Special Rapporteur on reli-gious intolerance and at least 70 membersofthe Human Rights Commission of Pak-istan.The Constitution of the Islamic Republic

of Pakistan and international human rightsinstruments, including the Universal Dec-laration of Human Rights, the InternationalCovenant on Civil and Political Rights, andthe UN Basic Principles on the Independ-ence of the Judiciary, state that judicial in-dependence and human rights are necessaryto advancing the rule of law.The Law Society calls on the Pakistan au-thorities to,immediately reinstate the Constitution ofthe Republic of Pakistan and put an end tothe Proclamation of Emergency;immediately release from detention andhouse arrest those detained after the decla-ration of the state of emergency;respect the independence of the legal pro-fession and the right of lawyers to exercisefreedom of opinion and conscience and toexercise their legitimate professional dutiesas lawyers;

Karva Chauth Dayfocus on women

Law Society of Upper Canada Expresses GraveConcerns about the Dismantling of the Rule ofLaw in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan

restore the independence of the judiciary byreinstating Chief Justice Iftikhar Muham-mad Chaudhry as Chief Justice of theSupreme Court and other judicial officersdisplaced by recent events;provide assurances that the elections to takeplace in January will occur as planned, re-sulting in a full and democratic transition tocivilian rule."The Law Society stands with its col-

leagues in Pakistan who are engaged in up-holding the Rule of Law at this difficulttime. We recognize that lawyers have aunique role to play in sustaining and devel-oping democratic principles and commendour colleagues for their vigilance and theircourage. The erosion of respect for the ruleof law elsewhere threatens its tenuous po-sition even in the most democratic soci-eties," said Gavin MacKenzie, Treasurer ofthe Law Society of Upper Canada.The Law Society of Upper Canada is the

governing body for the more than 39,000lawyers in the Province of Ontario, Canada.The mandate of the Law Society is to gov-ern the legal profession in the public inter-est by upholding the independence,integrity and honour of the legal professionfor the purpose of advancing the cause ofjustice and the rule of law.

The Law Society urges the legal com-munity to intervene in support of membersof the legal profession in the Islamic Re-public of Pakistan in their efforts to main-tain the independence of the judiciary andto promote the rule oflaw.

Media contact: Roy Thomas, Director ofCommunications, 416-947-7619

For further information about the LawSociety's Access to Justice and Equity ini-tiatives, please visit our website atwww.1suc.on.ca or call JoseeBouchard.Eq-uityAdvisor.at 416-947-3984.

It is heartening to know that Hindus havealways believed in worshiping the Male andFemale aspect of God together and that SriRam was a staunch devoted husband. Notonly that, one says Seeta Ram and RadhaKrishna and as one can see the female namegets precedence.Over 3000 female devotees of Shri Ram

Mandir here celebrated the Karva Chauthday. As the name signifies, Karva meaninga clay pot and chauth corresponding to thefourth, this festival is commemorated on thefourth day after the Full Moon in Kartikmonth of Hindu calendar. The fast ofKarwa Chauth is kept 9 days before Diwali.In the olden days, a woman was dependenton a man, whether he was her father,brother, husband or Guru. Without a manshe was considered incomplete. Today thatmay not be the case. But it is still refreshingto see a loving wife or a loving husband.The festival of Karva Chauth was earlier

emerged as a day to celebrate the season ofautumn and enjoy the company of friendsand relatives. But later on, many mytho-logical legends were added to give it a reli-gious touch. This festival is glorified andwidely solemnized by the Hindus and Sikhall over the world. On this day it is custom-ary for the wife to fast the whole day. Shedoes not drink water either. She paints herhands and feet with henna, dresses gener-ally in red apparel and on her hair partingshe smears vermilion powder. It is believedthat a Pati-Vrat woman has the power toconfront the God of Death, Yama. ThisKarva Chauth fast is undertaken by thewife, so that the husband enjoys a long andprosperous life.The story of Karva is well known. Her

husband was caught by a crocodile. Karvabound the crocodile with a cotton yarn. Shethen asked Yama to send the crocodile tohell. Yama refused. Karva threatened tocurse Yama. Yama, afraid of being cursedby Pati-vrat (devoted) wife, sent the croco-dile to hell. Karva and her husband enjoyedmany years of wedded bliss. The fact thatYama was afraid of being cursed by a de-voted wife showed the power a good faith-ful woman!Maybe you have heard the story of Sav-

itri. The latter followed Yama, who carriedaway her dead husband. Yama said that shecould ask for any other boon except for thelife of her husband. Savitri asked that shebe blessed with children. Yama agreed.Being a Pati-Vrat wife, Savitri would neverany other man, be the father of her children.Yama was left with no other choice but torestore Savitri's husband to life.A few days before Karva Chauth, mar-

ried women buy new karvas, the sphericalclay pots and paint them on the outside withbeautiful designs. Inside the pot, they putbangles and ribbons, home-made candy andsweets, make-up items and small clothese.g. handkerchief. The women then visiteach other on the day of Karva Chauth orimmediately afterward, and exchange thesekarvas. Season-wise, soon after the harvest,it is an excellent time to enjoy festivities,meet one another and exchange gifts. Dur-ing the time of Karva Chauth, parents sendgifts to married daughters and their chil-dren.

The Ritual

They are not supposed to eat or even drinkwater during the day. In the evening the

ladies listen to the Karwa Chauth Katha(the legend). The fast is over after themoonrise.

The Puja Process

The pooja preparations start a day in ad-vance. Married women buy the shringar orthe traditional adornments and the otherpooja items the karwa, matthi, heena etc.Early in the morning they prepare food

and have it before sunrise. The morningpasses by in other festive activities like dec-orating hand and feet with heena decorat-ing the pooja thali and meeting friends andrelatives.The essentials of this gathering and lis-

tening of the karwa chauth story a specialmud pot, that is considered a symbol of lordGanesha, a metal urn filled with water,flowers, idols of Ambika Gaur Mata, God-dess Parwati and some fruits, mathi andfood grains. A part of this is offered to thedeities and the storyteller. They sit in a cir-cle, and many such circles are made de-pending on the number of devoteesattending the function as it is easy that thethalis are passed in a circle (fera) amongstthemselves. Here is the puja song sung bywomen, while they exchange thalis seventimes. They place 'Bayen' in the thali....

Veero Kudiye Karwada,Sarv Suhagan Karwada,Aye Katti Naya Teri Naa,Kumbh Chrakhra Feri Naa,Aar Pair payeen Naa,Ruthda maniyen Naa,Suthra Jagayeen Naa,Ve Veero Kuriye Karwara,Ve Sarv Suhagan Karwara....... (6)

This Stanza is sung 6 times i.e. It keeps onrepeating till the time Thalis have been ex-changed and all women have their ownthalis... it goes on six times, 6 feras / cir-cles.The seventh fera or circle or exchang-ing goes like this...

Veero Kudiye Karwada,Sarv Suhagan Karwada,Aye Katti Naya Teri Nee,Kumbh Chrakhra Feri Bhee,Aar Pair payeen Bhee,Ruthda maniyen Bhee,Suthra Jagayeen Bhee,Ve Veero Kuriye Karwara,Ve Sarv Suhagan Karwara..Earlier an idol of Gaur Mata was made

using earth and cowdung. Now just an idolof Goddess Parwati is kept. Every onelights an earthen lamp in their thalis whilelistening to the Karwa story. Sindoor, in-cense sticks and rice are also kept in thethali.At this time the women wear heavy saris

or chunries in red , pink or other bridal col-ors, and adorn themselves with all othersymbols of a married women like, nose pin,tika, bindi, bangles, earrings etc.Once the moon rises, the women see its

reflection in a thali of water, or through adupatta or a sieve. They offer water to themoon and seek blessings. They pray forthe safety, prosperity and long life of theirhusbands. This marks the end of the daylong fast.

IInnddoo--CCaarriibbbbeeaann TTiimmeess is pub-lished monthly in Toronto byIndo-Caribbean Times Ltd.

EEddiittoorr//PPuubblliisshheerr:: Ram Jagessar

EEddiittoorriiaall CCoommmmiitttteeee::Reynold Ramdial, Gulcharan Mo-habir, Lloyd Harradan, SandyKissoonsingh, Roop Misir, DeorajNarine, Jiantee Jagessar,KrishnaNankissoor, Rudy Lochan

OOfffificcee: 17 Gaiety Drive, Toronto ON Canada M1H 1B9

TTeell:: 416-289-3898

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Opinions given in this newspaperare those of the authors and donot necessarily reflect the viewsof the Indo-Caribbean Times.

We welcome letters, e-mails andcomments on matters relevant toIndo-Caribbeans in Canada andabroad, and also those at home inthe Caribbean. All content mustcomply with the requirements ofCanadian law.

A copy of this newspaper isposted on the internet in as a pdffile immediately after publication,and the entire contents can beread online by anyone with acomputer and an internet con-nection.Past and current issues of the IC-Times can be found at http://www.esnips.com/web/Indo-CaribbeanTimes

On Remembrance DayLest We Forget

COMMENTARY Indo-Caribbean Times NOVEMBER 2007 Page 4

Asocial crisis of majorproportions is quietly

brewing in Central andSouth Trinidad, as 8,500sugar workers who were laidoff two years ago when Ca-roni Ltd. closed down,begin to run out of money.

They say Indian money can stretch a longway, but two years is touching the limit.Most of the workers have long used up

their severance pay, and find there are al-most no alternative job opportunities intheir areas. They have not received thepromised two acres of land for farming andthere's nothing on the horizon to help themfeed their families. Some of them are be-ginning to starve, as they simply cannot af-ford the horrendously high prices for foodthat Trinidad has been seen recently. Busi-nesses have begun to suffer as customersrun out of money and hope.Now these 8,500 sugar workers and their

families, around 30,000 altogether, will bejoined by the 3,500 cane farmers, the esti-mated 4, 000 cane farming workers andtheir families, making up another 30,000people, as the cane farming industry endsin 2007.Government has announced firmly that

there will be no more sugar industry andcane farmers will have nowhere to sell theircane next year if they are foolish enough toplant. The cane farmers and their workersand families are being thrown on the breadline like the sugar workers, but they haveno severance to collect and they have noland to get. The payments the farmers re-ceive receive for the 2007 sugar crop willbe their last. The workers have already re-ceived their last pay packets.Very early in the new year most of them

will be out of money, and like their sugarworker brothers and sisters, out of luck.There are no jobs for them either, and mosthave neither the capital nor the land tobegin sustenance or market gardening.The ruling government party has some

make work projects like CEPEP and URPin the sugar areas, but these mostly go tothe Afro supporters of the party. Indians arebeing punished for supporting the opposi-

tion United National Congress of formersugar union leader Basdeo Panday, and theyknow it. Facing the prospect of starvationand economic depression, the sugar indus-try cast-offs have no options on the tableexcept suffering.Amazingly, the issue attracted almost no

attention during the recent election con-tested between the UNC, the People's Na-tional Movement and the UNC splintergroup Congress of the People, except foraccusations that Panday did little to protectthe sugar and industry when he was primeminister. The government of the day has openly

dumped over 50,000 people into the eco-nomic scrapheap, and walked away un-scathed. Here is as glaring a case ofeconomic racism as can be seen in the re-gion, which is grossly unfair consideringthe billions the government is handing outto its similarly poor urban based Afro sup-porters.There is no indication that the govern-

ment is planning anything like a rescue forthe sugar industry workers and farmers,even though it has oil money to burn. Thesugar workers’ union and cane farmers’unions also appear to be helpless and out ofideas. The UNC, having spent the last yearbattling the upstart Congress of the Peopleand fighting a losing election, has had littletime or willingness to look at the welfare ofits hard core sugar industry supporters.Many overseas based Trinidad Indians

are up to this point blissfully unaware ofwhat is happening to their relatives andfriends back in the sugar belt in Trinidad.Neither newspapers nor local commentatorsin Trinidad have any time for sugar indus-try dumpees living in the distant country-side.

Indians have their pride in Trinidad,maybe foolish pride. They will not comeout to the cityies and towns to beg andmake a spectacle of themselves. That's nottheir way. They will suffer in silence, astheir parents and grandparents did in thebad old colonial days. But this is the 21st century. It can't be al-

lowed to happen that way. Maybe it's up tous the foreign based Indo-Trinis to raise the

alarm and tell the world about the quiettragedy unfolding in what was once sweetTrinidad. We have to start raising moneyand sending food barrels for our people, justas the Guyanese Indians did in their time ofmisery under the black dictator ForbesBurnham.I've already started. But I need help. Lots

of help. There are an estimated 200,000Indo-Trinidadians and their families scat-tered all over the world, most of us livingin pretty decent conditions where we aresafe from prosecution and neglect. I don't think we are going to stay quiet

about what's happening in Trinidad. So I amgiving advance warning. I want some ofyour money for our people at home. I wantsome of your active sympathy. I want somevoices to make some noise, loud enough towake up an uncaring government, a sleep-ing media, and an Indian community thatdoesn't seem to know what's going on rightunder its nose. I know some Indo-Trinis here in Canada

have gotten really weary of hearing aboutthe unending advantage they see dailyhanded out to their near and dear left behindin the land of the hummingbird and cas-cadura. A few can’t bear to read the news-papers or hear about what is happeningdown there. Like our Indo-Guyanesecousins in their bad days, they feel helplessand gut sick.But it’s not our way to abandon our peo-

ple when we move to a better place. The ja-hajis and their descendants never cut theirconnections with India, even thoughdecades and thousands of miles separatedthem. We can’t do any less with our peopleremaining in Trinidad. You don’t have tobelieve me. Call up your connections inTrinidad and ask about the unfolding sugarbelt misery. Then we get ready to rumble.

From the editor’s desk

Trinidad’s sugar belt facing human crisis of abandoned sugar industry population

Ram Jagessar

It is the VETERAN, not the preacher,Who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the VETERAN, not the reporter, Who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the VETERAN, not the poet, Who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the VETERAN , not the campus organizer, Who has given us freedom to assemble.

It is the VETERAN, not the lawyer, Who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the VETERAN, not the politician,Who has given us the right to vote.

It is the VETERAN, Who salutes the Flag,

It is the veteran , Who serves under the Flag,

ETERNAL REST GRANT THEM

O LORD,

AND LET PERPETUAL LIGHT

SHINE UPON THEM.

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO NEWS Indo-Caribbean Times NOVEMBER 2007 Page 5

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Serious seva (social welfare) will beneeded to offset the developing social crisiscaused by the ending of the sugar industry,says Deoroop Teemal, president of theHindu Swayamsevak Sangh, a long estab-lished charity group that is currently work-ing in the old sugar areas.He confirmed that the population affectedcould be over 50,000 when the cane farm-ing group is counted. Already there arecomplaints from taxi drivers, groceries andclothing shops in South and Central sugarareas that business is down. Young peoplewho want to get married cannot affordhousing, and population density has in-creased in some areas, with as much as 13to 14 people in one house. The ex sugarworkers are not in line for government builthousing which is being distributed.Teemal said that denser populatio and anexpected increase in poverty social prob-lems are bound to develop.. Families arestruggling to feed themselves with a re-duced income and some of them really needhelp with basic foodstuffs. “What people need is some kind of longterm sustainable employment which is justnot available. Rural economic developmentis one possible option but the systems arenot in place. Even if the Caroni workers getthe promised two acres of land, that is notconsidered an economic plot to sustain atypical family. Then there would be a needfor capital, purchase of seeds and equip-ment, and a considerable time lag beforeany results can be seen,” he added.The HSS currently runs a small program

of distributing food parcels to families inplaces like Basta Hall and Barrackpore butit is woefully inadequate even the currentneeds of the ex-sugar workers in distress.Teemal sees the need for serious mobi-

lization of all religious, charitable and so-cial groups in the areas to prevent acatastrophe. He also believes that a politicalsolution has to be found for the problem,and a viable economic model set out to res-cue an entire community in danger of beingwiped out. He has also recognized the deep interest

of Trinidadians living abroad and wel-comes any efforts by foreign based Trinisto offer help. He can be reached by e-mailat dteemal@gmail.com.

Govt. said to beunderselling localmeat farmersGovernment promises to boost local agri-

culture is what goat and sheep farmers sayis an undermining of the industry by givingconcessions to a state company.Members of the Sheep and Goat Society

said the Government was allowing NationalFlour Mills (NFM) to build a massive cold-storage facility for imported meat, and itnoted that the company had actually begunselling cheap, imported lamb.The society referred to two newspaper

advertisements by NFM on October 25 ask-ing members of the public to submit pro-posals for the design and construction of a70,000 to 75,000 square foot warehouseand refrigerated storage area at its rice millfacility at Carlsen Field, Chaguanas.Another NFM newspaper advertisement

appeared on October 26, advertising im-ported lamb on sale at its Wrightson Roadcompound “just in time for the season,”noted the society.The advertisement said the lamb was

being sold at $11.04 a pound wholesale and$13.25 retail. The Ministry of Agriculturehas granted NFM a licence to import themeat.“This is totally unacceptable,” Shiraz

Khan, president of the society, said in an in-terview.“Local sheep and goat are sold at $30 a

pound. We can’t compete with those prices.We’re competing with 100 per cent sub-sidised imported meat from Europe andAmerica.“What’s upsetting is that the State is de-

stroying us.”But, said Khan, farmers were now fear-

ing that the importation of lamb by theNFM was no short-term plan to combathigh food prices. They feared the proposedNFM cold storage facility would be used tostore thousands of pounds of imported meatin the future.

Squeeze by NFM

Khan also noted that NFM, two weeks be-fore they advertised the cheap importedlamb for sale, increased the prices of feedsold to farmers by more than 20 per cent.

“Corn went from 79 cents a pound to 98cents, pet rice from 65 cents to 90 cents,and dairy feed went up by $20,” he said.

“We’re now wondering if it was a ploy tojack up the prices of feed for livestock andthen introduce cheap meat on the market.

“With all these moves by the State, farmersare feeling that the Government is reallytrying to get them out of business instead ofencouraging them.”

Gardener killed onwedding anniversary Ujester Narine, 44, and his wife Dhan-

matie, 40, of Las Lomas No 1, would havecelebrated their 22nd wedding anniversaryyesterday. However it turned tragic, whenbandits stormed into their house, beat them,robbed them and before escaping, draggedNarine out of the house, shot him dead andthrew his body in some nearby bushes.That was the third time in three weeks thatbandits rolled into the area and attackedfamilies by beating them and robbing them,however, it was the first time that a memberof a family was actually killed.According to a police report, at about 2

am, six men armed with guns stormed intothe Narines’ residence at Dora Maeth Trace,Governor Trace, and announced a hold up.The men gathered the members of the fam-ily, which included Narine, his wife, Dhan-matie and their children, Jenna, 18, Jason,16 and Jessie, 14, who were all asleep, andtied them up with pieces of rope and cloth.The men then ordered the family to tellthem where the money, jewelry and othervaluables were kept.Upon refusal, police said, the men, beat

them badly about their bodies. The Narinefamily were also planassed with cutlassesand beaten about their heads and bodieswith gun butts. Jason, who is a Form Threepupil of the Cunupia High School, was soseverely planassed on the left side of thehead and face, that piece of his ear was sev-ered. The men, police said, ransacked theplace and took an undisclosed amount ofcash, jewelry, a DVD player, a Play Station2, a music system and an authentic knifecollection.Before escaping the scene, police said,

one of the men dragged Narine, who was apepper and melongene gardener, outside thehouse where he was again badly beaten.Narine was then shot several times aboutthe body, with a pellet gun, killing him in-stantly. His body was thrown in somebushes obliquely opposite to his house. One of Narine’s sons, Jeremy, 19, who

was not at home when the incident occurredsaid he believed that the incident was notjust a mere robbery but that the bandits hadcome with the intention of killing his father.“These bandits only coming into the areaand tormenting the residents. This has beenhappening for several weeks and for severalweeks we have been desperately trying toget some sort of attention and help from thepolice,” Jeremy said.

Search for newtop cop

The Police Service Commission (PSC) isnow sifting through scores of applicationsas the search for a new commissioner of po-lice continues.

And the search goes on, even as Deputy Po-lice Commissioner Glen Roach is expectedto take up an acting position as CoP fromtoday.

Roach, who has more than 33 years in thePolice Service, is not one of the individualsbeing looked at for the top post.

Roach, who will now sit in the seat of Po-lice Commissioner Trevor Paul, who pro-ceeded on vacation leave yesterday,indicated he was not interested in being thenext CoP, a source close to him said.

While Roach expressed disinterest in thepost, the commission has received scores ofapplications from locals—one of them a po-lice corporal—and foreigners, both region-ally and internationally.

Roach, who is expected to proceed on pre-retirement leave in June 2008, did not applyfor the post of CoP.

Up to late yesterday, PSC officials weresaid to be sifting through the applicationsas they hope to find a suitable replacementby early next year.

Although an official from the PSC’s officesaid they had received scores of applica-tions, the spokesman indicated, however,that it was difficult to provide an exactnumber of applications that came from for-eigners.

The spokesman said the PSC was “farfrom” completing the “sorting out” process.

What the Act says:

Contacted yesterday, PSC chairmanChristopher Thomas said once the applica-tions were sorted out, a procedure set bylaw must be automatically followed.

According to the Constitution AmendmentAct 2006, the PSC shall submit to the Pres-ident a list of the names of people nomi-nated for appointment to the office ofCommissioner.

It pays to advertise in the Indo-CaribbeanTimes

Serious measuresneed for sugar beltcrisis, says HinduSwayamsevakSangh leader

IT PAYS TO ADVERTISE

IN THE

INDO-CARIBBEAN

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TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO Indo-Caribbean Times NOVEMBER 2007 Page 6

won their seats were all members of theUNC and not the alliance.He said the issue was one of whether

after Panday there was going to be one clearleader and would the other senior membersaccede to that person.

“If Kamla (Persad-Bissessar) for exam-ple was to become the leader, would Jack(Warner) and Ramesh (Lawrence Maharaj)accept that.“Ramesh said he was not involved in the

strategising committee for the elections.Ramesh probably believes that he is a bet-ter strategist that anyone in the party andmay also feel that he is the master-mind ofthe party successes in the past. So would heaccede to Kamla, Jack or even RoodalMoonilal becoming leader?”Ragoonath said the PNM is in the driver's

seat at the moment and they could only gowrong on the issue of managing the econ-omy and the energy boom the country wasnow experiencing. If they do it poorly theycould be opening themselves up to corrup-tion and mismanagement.He said it was highly unlikely that the

PNM government would collapse sincethey have a majority of 11 MPs in theLower House and that like in the past theyhave always ignored the opposition’sclaims.And in summing up the results of the No-

vember 5, 2007, general election, Ra-goonath said, “PNM is the winner by amajority of 11 seats. The biggest loser is theCOP having not won a seat, with Panday inthe middle who has once again been givena life, politically.”

Panday back as opposition leaderRe-elected Siparia member of Parliament(MP) Kamla Persad-Bissessar has givenway to leader of the United National Con-gress Alliance (UNC A)Basdeo Panday,who was unanimously appointed Opposi-tion Leader at a meeting at Rienzi Complexin Couva.Panday, who was also re-elected the

Couva North MP in the General Election,was elected Opposition Leader by the cau-cus which consisted of all 15 UNC candi-dates of who were successful in theelection. The meeting lasted all of five min-utes.Former Opposition Leader Persad-Bissessar, who chaired last night’smeeting,said it took “five seconds” to appoint Pan-day

Parliamentary presence

Ragoonath said there was the likelihoodthat the COP would suffer the same fate ofall previous third parties and end up in thepolitical cemetery.

“The question that begs however, is sim-ply how far would the COP go in terms oftrying to rebuild itself. If, for example, theCOP were to fight the local governmentelections next year and lose, that wouldcause further disenchantment to its mem-bers and could be its end.“Then the other side. The UNC as a party

knows fully well that it has been damagedby the COP. But going for the UNC is thatit had told its support-base that the COPwas not going to win the election and theywere proven right and having been provenright the best thing for the COP supportersto do would be to come back to the UNC.”He said parliamentary presence or the

lack of it would be another critical factor re-garding the fate of the COP. He said theDemocratic Labour Party, the Organisationfor National Reconstruction and the Na-tional Alliance for Reconstruction more orless came to an end after they did not havea seat in Parliament.

He said the suggestion that the COPwould have a press conference every Fri-day could help the COP, but the questionwould be one of sustainability.“Yes it would start up with a huff and a

puff but with time it would most likelydwindle,” he said.He said finance could be another chal-

lenge for the COP.Ragoonath believes that the COP could

get some money from the business com-munity, but would even have to get cheaperaccommodation than its Gaston Street, Ch-aguanas, offices.But, he said, going for the COP was the

fact that 148,000 people voted for them asa party just over a year old and that theUNC after 18 years in existence couldmuster just over 172,000 votes.

Succession in the UNC

He said the challenge for the UNC wouldbe the question of succession.“This time around there was the big hul-

labaloo of dual-leadership of the UNC Al-liance going into the election. The UNC hasonce again chosen Panday as OppositionLeader and this means that the leadershipquestion remains unresolved,” he said.Ragoonath pointed out that there was no

UNC -A now, since the candidates who

BY PRIOR BEHARRY

Political leader of the COP WinstonDookeran paid the ultimate price for notseeking an accommodation with the UNCAlliance in the November 5 general elec-tion.This is the view of political

analyst Bishnu Ragoonath in hispost-election round-up.

“Politics is about power.Dookeran, not being the tradi-tion politician, did not seekpower at all cost. If he was apolitician in the likeness of(Basdeo) Panday he would havegone after power at all costs andtaken that victory.“Of course campaigning on a

campaign of integrity and so on,he felt that he could not havegone into an accommodationwith the UNC. Some of theCOP’s anti-UNC supporterswould not have supported theCOP in that arrangement.

Ragoonath added: “But agood politician would knowwhat to sell and not to sell. But,if he wanted to sell that (an accommoda-tion) to his supporters then he could havesold it.”After the election last Monday, the PNM

came out victorious with 26 seats, the UNCformed the Opposition with 15 seats and theCOP did not win a single seat.Ragoonath said: “But then again the COP

was not about power. They put a lot of trustand belief in people but they did not appre-ciate the fact that Trinidadian society is avery civil society and people would comeand shake your hand and say ‘I would votefor you,’ but when it came to voting theycould not discern the true supporter of theCOP as oppose to the ones telling them yes.They were sold on that idea.”Up to the day before the election, the

UNC Alliance had called on the COP toform an electoral arrangement in order toput up a single challenge against the PNM.The COP refused.

Spoiler COP?

Ragoonath said the election went the wayhe predicted in that the PNM won and thatit “would have taken several of the margin-als and that was not necessarily because ofthe three-way fight but because of the shiftin the boundaries that would have made themarginals more favourable to the PNM.”He disagrees with statements that the

COP was the spoiler of the elections.“Yes they did not win any seats and there

is some disappointed. But, for a party totake on two challengers who were literallytried and tested and the kind of appeals thatwere being made by Basdeo Panday, I didnot think that the COP had a chance any-how,” he said.He said the appeals by Panday included

ones that the COP was indeed the spoiler inthe election and would split the UNC votesand give the PNM victory.“I am told that those appeals did come to

past and played a critical role. In St Augus-tine, for example, some COP supporterswere appealing people to vote for the UNCrather than the COP up to election day,” hesaid.He said the results proved him correct

that the COP did indeed take about 25 percent of the UNC’s base.

Colleges faceshutdownTERTIARY institutions have been giveneight months to register with the Accredi-tion Council of T&T (ACTT) or face shut-down, says the council’s executive directorDr Ruby Alleyne.These include the University of T&T

(UTT), the College of Science, Technologyand Applied Arts of T&T (Costatt) andCipriani College of Labour and Co-opera-tive Studies, which are yet to apply.Failure by these institutions to comply to

an earlier deadline set by the ACTT, led toan extension of the deadline date.In facilitating the extension, the ACTT

also took into consideration the fact that ifit had enforced the law, students wouldhave been severely affected.Alleyne yesterday insisted, however:

“There will be no further extensions...Par-liament has said that.”Speaking at an ACTT function at Algico

Plaza in Port-of-Spain—to toast the Uni-versity of the Southern Caribbean (USC),of Maracas, St Joseph, as the first institu-tion to become registered—she said:“Institutions that are not registered with usby July 8, 2008, will be operating illegally.That means they will be fined, if they areconvicted, of $20,000, and $500 per day foreach day they continue to operate.”Alleyne said of the 163-plus tertiary in-

stitutions locally, only 29 applications hadbeen submitted.She pointed out that of the 29 submitted,

many were incomplete and had to be re-turned.“As a result, we came up with the phrase

‘acceptable candidates’ for those that wereproperly completed.”The others were asked to redo their appli-cations.

Negative fallouts

Alleyne said that according to the origi-nal Act of Parliament, higher level institu-tions are in a “transitional period thatshould have ended in 2006. We went to Par-liament and got an extension of that, so thenew period ends in July 2008.”As a consequence, all tertiary institutionsare accepted as “operating legally” until thetransitional period ends next year.Alleyne said: “In a lot of cases throughoutthe region, there are many pieces of legis-lation with no teeth. Therefore, deadlinescome and go and people don’t comply. Wehave the legislation with the teeth.“If they don’t comply, there will be con-

sequences and negative fallouts.Institutions will lose their status and stu-

dents enrolled will be affected. We are ex-tremely concerned about that. That’s whywe have taken time to give so much supportto the institutions.”Compliance to this law also applies to for-eign institutions based in T&T.Alleyne said she was hopeful the variousinstitutions shared the ACTT’s goal to en-sure the delivery of quality education.At yesterday’s function, the College of

Health Environmental and Safety Studies(Chess) was certified as a “college.”

COP paid a big price for going it alone

Defeated COP leader Winston Dookeran leaves his office on election night in TT

GUYANA NEWS Indo-Caribbean Times NOVEMBER 2007 Page 7

Twenty-three-year-old Delroy Forde ofLaing Avenue was shot dead around afterhe robbed a couple at the corner of RobbStreet andOrange Walk, Bourda.According to reports, the bandit was shot

dead by one of his victims who is also a li-censed firearm holder. It was another ex-ample of the type of desperate measure thatmembers of the public have begun to takein the face of continuing attacks of this sort.

Delroy FordeAccording to police reports a man and his

wife had just withdrawn some money fromthe bank and were heading into Bourdamarket to do some shopping when Fordeconfronted the man's wife. A police state-ment said that the man's wife was con-fronted by Forde who held her at gunpoint.During the confrontation, Forde was shotin his chest by the licensed firearm holder.After lying at the corner of Robb Street andOrange Walk for almost an hour Forde'sbody was removed and taken to the George-town Public Hospital where he was pro-nounced dead on arrival. Police said anunlicensed .32 Taurus revolver was foundon Forde's body along with a matchinground and one spent shell. It is still not clearif Forde managed to relieve his victim ofany valuables.

TUC chargeselected dictator-ship in GuyanaTUC General Secretary Lincoln Lewis

says the labour movement has to be moremilitant, vocal and aggressive on issues af-fecting it and he argued that there were in-creasing signs of an elected dictatorship, acharge that the ruling party slapped down.In his address to the Second Triennial

Delegates Conference at the CritchlowLabour College on Thursday, Lewis saidthat it was a false assumption that labourshould stay out of politics when it was thelabour movement that fought the colonialauthorities for internal self-government andwas at the forefront advancing the cause forindependence."This is a false assumption and we should

resist outright anyone telling us this in orderto make us silent and helpless in the face ofpolitical mismanagement and wrongdoing,"Lewis declared, adding that "Politics is in-tegral and important to the struggles andwell-being of the workers and their familiesand the labour movement has a responsi-bility to ensure that decisions made at thepolitical level are pro-workers."He noted that the 40-hour work week,

stipulated overtime rates, one man-onevote, education and heath care for all,among others, were all a result of labour'sstruggle and now at the height of escalatingmismanagement and anti-worker policieslabour cannot stay away from politics.Stating that labour has not achieved any-

thing significant over the past three years,he said that the government refuses to re-spect the rights of workers and engage thelabour movement in any deliberation that

Robbery victim shoots young bandit deadwould realize the advancement of the causeof the working class. He charged that politi-cians across the spectrum refuse to adhereto campaign promises and serve the inter-ests of those who elected them "to advanceand safeguard their interests.""We are today in a political culture of in-

activity, managed through denial and fin-ger-pointing. We are seeing the increasingmanifestation of an elected-dictatorship andstrong leanings to a one-party state as dis-tinct from shared governance, which is as-sisted by the lacklustre and impotentopposition," he argued.Lewis contended that the leaders today

have become armchair generals whofeel se-cure in managing the welfare of their con-stituents through press releases, columnsand letters to the media.The only parliamentary political party thatis working, he said, is the ruling PPP but hecharged that they are not working inlabour's interest.Responding to these charges, PPP Gen-

eral Secretary, Donald Ramotar toldStabroek News that he could not see thewisdom in any ofLewis's statements giventhe achievements the country has seenunder the leadership of the PPP since theparty took office in 1992. He feels thatLewis is blinded by his prejudice againstthe PPP.

Christmas policing planlaunchedThe security of citizens has been placed

high on the agenda of the Guyana PoliceForce as it officially launched its 2007Christmaspolicing plan which will coverfrom November 16 to January 16, 2008.The Christmas policing plan which has

become a tradition for the Guyana PoliceForce over recent years has once againsought to have the private sector, the Cham-ber of Commerce, the media and Commu-nity Policing Groups involved.The plan was formulated after all the Di-

visional Heads met to discuss a plan whichwill not only cover the Georgetown area.According to Commander Slowe the planis aimed at reducing and controlling crime,building confidence, reducing traffic acci-dents and traffic congestion during theChristmas season.As is customary the plan will entail pa-

trols, the setting up of booths,raids, road-blocks, river patrols and one new additionalfeature, the mobile outpost which was re-cently presented to the Guyana Police Forceby the bauxite company BOSAI. Areas ofparticular interest outlined in the plan in-clude main municipal markets,Agricola/Eccles, Kaneville/Grove, Al-bouystown, South, North, East and WestRuimveldt.Moreover, to make shoppers more com-

fortable booths will be set up in areas thatover the years have been vulnerable tocrime.According to Slowe booths will be set up

at points including Croal Street, Main andQuamina streets, Water and Holmes streets,Robb and Cummings, Regent and Welling-ton, Broad and Lombard, Saffon and Jamesand Waterloo streets.

Caucasian bodiesfound in CorentyneThe bound, decomposing bodies of two

males appearing to be of Caucasian descentwere discovered at separate points on theCorentyne recently and the police werenight contemplating the gamut of possibil-ities behind the macabre find.Both of the men's hands and feet were

bound together with pieces ofgreen rope.Their heads were completely bald and theirteeth, eyes, earsand parts of their face weremissing. Immersion in ocean water for longperiods can lead to severe skin bleaching sothe police are leaving all options open.Police Commander 'B' Division Clinton

Conwaysaid night that Police were work-ing on all possible leads into the deaths, butdidn't believe that the men were Guyanese.

Bridge across Takutumoving wellCONSTRUCTION of the bridge across theTakutu River, Region 9 (UpperTakutu/Upper Essequibo), is progressingsatisfactorily as the 11 piers required on theBrazilian side already completed, whilework on the third pier on the Guyana sidehas started.

This bridge will create a stronger infra-structural linkage between Guyana and itssouthern neighbour, Brazil, and is expectedto facilitate increased trade and economicactivities between the two countries.

Technical Adviser to the Minister of Trans-port and Hydraulics, Walter Willis said thecantilever sections of the bridge on theBrazilian side have been completed andconstruction of the bridge’s superstructureis currently about 55 percent into its workprogramme.

The Takutu Bridge is funded by the Brazil-ian Government and is being supervised bythe 6th Engineers Battalion of the BrazilianArmy while the works are being carried outby Arte Leste of Curitiba from the State ofParana, Brazil. Construction of the bridge,which began several years ago, was haltedin 2001.

It was restarted earlier this year and was ini-tially set for completion by the end of Jan-uary 2008. However, there were delaysdue to the May/June rainy season and thenew scheduled date of completion is March2008.

Completion of the superstructure is esti-mated to cost US$3.5M. The project’s ini-tial estimate outlined in 2001 wasUS$5.6M. The project design includes con-structing the 14-metre wide reinforced con-crete structure across the Takutu Riversupported on four piers with pedestrianwalkways on both sides.

Additionally, preliminary designs havebeen submitted for construction of the one-mile access road required on the Guyanaside of the bridge and these are being re-viewed. Once there is agreement on thealignment, width of roadway and standardof construction to be used, the works willcommence by early January, Willis dis-closed.

Police announces 17percent decrease incrimeTHE administration’s continued support tothe Guyana Police Force (GPF) has seen theforce employing a new crime fighting strat-egy which has resulted in a reduction incriminal activities.

Assistant Police Commissioner and Com-mander of “A” Division Paul Slowe re-cently announced that the Police have beenable to reduce the different categories ofcrimes in the country from the correspon-ding period last year.

Police statistics show that there has been atotal of 1,971 crimes committed this yearcompared to a total of 2,368 last year, rep-resenting a 17 percent reduction.

There were 99 murders this year comparedto 135 last year and 1,094 reported rob-beries compared to 1,454 last year.

In relation to illegal firearms, 126 seized forthis year compared to 119 for the same pe-riod last year.

The top brass of the Force have cited train-ing, information gathering, and intelligence,anti-crime, ongoing joint operations andmotivation of ranks as major contributorsto the satisfactory results.

In May, Home Affairs Minister ClementRohee expressed concern over the crimesituation and had instructed the Force’s sen-ior staff to review their crime fighting tac-tics.

As part of their renewed efforts the Policeintensified its foot and vehicular patrols andconducted searches at several road blocks.There are also ongoing joint operations inthe communities on the lower East Coastand East Bank of Demerara.

The Force has been receiving tremendoussupport from government through severalinitiatives in the areas of training, buildingmodern Police stations, improving theForce’s forensic capability and intelligencegathering unit.

Government, along with internationaldonor agencies, is working on severalmajor security programmes which includes:the National Drug Strategy Master Plan(NDSMP), Citizens’ Security Programme,the Crime Stoppers Programme and the re-cently signed four-year Security ActionPlan between the United Kingdom andGuyana.

These initiatives will help in the area ofmore community/police relations, buildingoperational capacity, forensics, crime intel-ligence and traffic policing. (GINA)

GUYANA NEWS Indo-Caribbean Times NOVEMBER 2007 Page 8

Governmentclaims 70,000houses given out

Harry Narine Nawbatt

With house lot allocation over 70,000since 1992, the Ministry of Housing is urg-ing allottees to start building on their lots orto visit the ministry to address issues thatmay be challenging their efforts.The ministry said non-occupancy of

house lots has been a setback and is preva-lent in areas such as Tuschen, Diamond andEccles resulting in the perception that thereare available lots in those areas. Accordingto a Government Information Agency(GINA) press release although governmenthas a re-possession policy, it has been re-luctant to enforce it because of its commit-ment to the land distribution process. Thereare over 30,000 house lot applicationspending. The ministry said house lot allo-cation has reached in excess of 70,000.Minister of Housing and Water Harry

Narine Nawbatt again urged allottees to oc-cupy their lands during a visit to Tuschen,East Bank Essequibo recently. He also dis-cussed alternative measures to assist thoserequesting extensions to begin construction.The Scheme was established in 1999,

with over 2,626 lots allocated. However, todate there is still 41 per cent non-occu-pancy. Nawbatt said the situation is not de-sirable as there are many other personsawaiting house lots. Additionally, theunoc-cupied lots are overgrown with vegetationand these pose security problems for resi-dents.GINA said government has established

over 35 new housing schemes which haveseen a rapid development of the housingsector.

Trinidad said to bedumping cheap flourin GuyanaFlour prices remain high even as the Na-

tional Milling Com-pany of Guyana(Namilco) alleges that the Trinidad and To-bago National Flour Mill (NFM) is dump-ing flour on the local market and iscontributing to heavy losses and scaled-down production.Since the flour market opened in July,

large quantities of T&T flour have enteredGuyana. Namilco Managing Director BertSukhai told Stabroek News (SN) that NFMis selling flour cheaper to Guyana than it isin T&T. He contends that NFM is sellingthe Hibiscus brand flour in T&T at US$21per 45-kg bag, while the same baker's flourbeingexported to Guyana is being soldbelow this. This newspaper has seen a pricelist from NFM dated May 28, where itshows prices for the said brand movingfrom close to US$18 in May to US$21 ef-fective June 1. At that time the NFM hadsaid that the rising price of wheat whichwas said to be 70% of their raw materialcost was to blame.According to the World Trade Organiza-

tion, dumping refers to the pricing of ex-

ports at a lower level compared to prices ofthe product in its home market; and often,dumping is intended to drive out competi-tion andto secure a foothold in a foreignmarket. Sukhai says that this is the strategyNFM is using to capture the Guyana flourmarket and as a result he believes that hisclaim of dumping is "very well founded" inthe light of the lower cost of the exportedflour to Guyana.The managing director estimated that

wheat costs for a 45 kg bag offlour atNamilco is US$24 but it is selling flour atUS$25, excluding the value-added tax(VAT) and the true price should be US$30excluding VAT, to allow them to make aprofit.

Pirates attackagain - 22 fishingboats stripped The captains and crew of 22 fishing ves-sels of the Number 66 Fish Complex wereleft stranded in the Corentyne River onSunday, after armed pirates relieved themof their gasoline, engine coils and a quantityof fish glue.None of the crew seem to have been hurt

or terrorized, as has happened in the past.Stabroek News learnt that after 5 am yes-terday three of the boats - belonging toClent Nathoo, Michael Gibson and Kr-ishendat Gopaul - returned to the fish com-plex to tell the sad tale, after the crewimprovised sails, which allowed them tosteer the boats home.Gibson told this newspaper that he visited

the complex after 5 am and saw one boattowing another to the shore. Shortly after-wards, he said, his crew arrived with hisboat. Some of the crew of the other boatsswam to the Coroni shore in Suriname andtelephoned the owners around 3 pm onMonday. Rescue teams have since gone outto search for the other boats, taking withthem components to fix the engines so thatthe boats could be piloted back here.Nathoo, the owner of one of the boats, whowas also a victim of piracy in the past, saidit was fortunate that the pirates had not ter-rorized the crew. He said he did not find outtoo much from them as to what transpiredas he was "fed up wid this thing."According to Nathoo, another of his boats

is still out at sea, but he could not say if thathad been raided by the pirates as well.Chairman of the complex PravinchandraDeodat said that over one week ago the pi-rates stripped the boats of the engines, fishand glue after terrorizing the crewmembersand badly beating one of the boat ownerswith a gun butt and pieces of wood.

Patient dies afterbeing turned awayfrom hospitalRelatives of a man who died after a road

accident on the Corentyne recently, have al-leged that he was turned away from the PortMourant Hospital and sent to New Amster-dam 14 miles away, where he was pro-nounced dead on arrival.

Clerk-in-Charge at the Port MourantHospital Shaneza Nabi, who spoke on be-half of the Cuban doctor there, told thisnewspaper on Monday that the procedurefor emergency cases presenting at night wasfor the patient to be allowed into the hospi-tal compound accompanied by a security

guard. The nurse on duty would then ex-amine the patient and send the securityguard to the doctor with a message. The se-curity guard, if necessary, would accom-pany the doctor back to the hospital,especially if it was dark.However, when Stabroek News visited

the Port Mourant Hospital on Sunday, afteran allegation was made following an acci-dent on Saturday night, Mr Prashad, the se-curity guard who had been on duty thatnight, admitted that a vehicle had taken anaccident patient to the hospital, but he hadnot allowed it into the compound. He saidhe had been instructed by the nurse on dutynot to allow patients in at night, especiallywhen there was a blackout, since there wasno alternative source of light.He said there was a blackout at the time

and he had therefore instructed the personswho took the patient to the Port MourantHospital to go to the New Amsterdam Hos-pital for treatment. The patient was TyroneHenry called 'Iguana Man' of Nurney Vil-lage, Corentyne, who was pronounced deadon arrival at the New Amsterdam Hospital.

Nine per cent pay hikefor public servantsThe Office of the President (OP) yester-

day once again arbitrarily announced anacross-the-board pay hike of nine per centfor public service workers, retroactive toJanuary 1 of this year.The statement by OP said the formalities

would be concluded to allow for the dead-line of a payout no later than December 13.This has been the practice of the govern-ment for the last few years as it has repeat-edly been unable to reach agreement withthe Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU),which represents the workers.While the nine per cent is up one per cent

on the government's original offer, it is stillfar from the 14 per cent the GPSU had de-manded.The government's move, announced in a

statement from OP yesterday afternoon,came as a surprise to the union, sourcessaid, since a meeting was scheduled for to-morrow.GPSU President Patrick Yarde and his

general secretary are out of the country butthe sources confirmed that the meeting wasplanned and as such, the government's an-nouncement came as a surprise. "This an-nouncement by the government is veryunfair to us," one source said yesterday.Last week, the GPSU said at a press con-ference that it was asking the governmentfor a 14 per cent pay increase for this yearand for the wage deficit from 2002-6 to betaken care of. At that time, the union hadsaid it was concerned with the lack ofprogress in negotiations but was lookingforward to a meeting with the governmentthis week. However, according to thesources, the government did not commit tothis meeting in writing.Yarde, at the press conference last week,

had said that the union was giving the gov-ernment a fair opportunity to respond to itsrequests and if the time came to do some-thing, should the request not be met, itwould. He said since the perception wasthat the union was confrontational, this yearit had decided to avoid certain assertionssince there was no intention to cause preju-dice but rather to be rational in its approach.

Power, waterwoes hit Berbicians hardThe Guyana Power and Light Incorpo-

rated is hard pressed to convince its thou-sands of consumers on both sides of theBerbice River that the spate of unscheduledand disruptive power outages over the pastmonth has been due only to maintenanceworks and mechanical problems as offi-cially stated.Just over two weeks ago, an official of thecompany had explained that the then two-week-old outages were as a result of gener-ation shortfall and maintenance works atthe No. 53 Sub-station. The maintenanceworks, he had said then, were related to animminent link-up with diesel plants at Guy-suco's Skeldon Estate.According to him, the company was

working to alleviate the situation by theweekend of November 3.On November 2, the company issued a

press release stating that tests on the ma-chinery and transmission lines connected tothe Skeldon Co-generation Plant werebeing conducted. These, it said, were aimedat identifying and remedying faults andglitches. Consumers in the region, the re-lease said, were expected to begin receiv-ing power from the plant during the lastweek of November.For the umpteenth time in recent years,

the unexpected blackouts returned out ofthe blue just over four weeks ago to plagueBerbicians like a malignant disease.No community, from Abary to Crabwood

Creek, has been spared the misery, the in-convenience, the fear, financial loss, inse-curity and damage to equipmenttraditionally associated with sudden, fre-quent and prolonged outages.

The problem has been further com-pounded over the past two weeks by relateddisruptions to the potable water supply sys-tem, which depends on electricity. The sit-uation reached serious proportions lastweekend when there was an almost totalshutdown of the water supply system withsome areas deprived of both services for allof Sunday and most of yesterday.Over the past week, consumers have

been forced to endure between six and 12hours of blackouts across Region Six andthe West Berbice sub-region.In a press release issued on Sunday, the

Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) saidthere was an initial improvement in thepower supply from last week. However, thefluctuation in the power supply in RegionsFive and Six has severely disrupted the dis-tribution of water to residents in the two re-gions. "The electrical power received fromthe Guyana Power and Light Inc," the re-lease said, " is inadequate for the pump sta-tions to operate at their scheduled times."As if to inflict further pain on the already

suffering consumers, during most of yes-terday the power and water supply playeda game of cat and mouse; when there waspower there was no water and vice versa. Insome areas, schoolchildren with bucketscould be seen combing their neighbour-hoods for water to prepare for school. Manyeventually gave up and decided not to at-tend classes.A source at GWI's New Amsterdam Planttold this newspaper that they were encoun-tering mechanical problems with twopumps but they were expected back in op-eration by late yesterday.

BUSINESS Indo-Caribbean Times NOVEMBER 2007 Page 9

Run a few such transactions on a vacationand you might run out of cash and be un-able to get money from an ATM, or be hitwith overdraft fees. Blocking also occurswith credit cards, but it has no impact onconsumers unless they are precisely upagainst their credit limit.

Consumers who insist on using debitcards to pay for rental cars should reservethe car with a credit card and switch to debitwhen they pay in order to avoid checkingaccount blocking.

• Immediate withdrawal of funds. Judicioususe of a credit card amounts to a free 30-40day loan, whereas using a debit card (sig-nature-based or PIN-based) means themoney exits your bank account right away.Using a credit card lets you keep your cashin an interest-bearing account for an extra30 days. Over a decade or more, that addsup.

• Fraud protection. Federal law affordscredit card consumers better protection thandebit card users. Credit users' obligation iscapped at $50. Debit users can be on thehook for $500 if they don't report fraudwithin two days of learning about it andface unlimited liability if they wait morethan 60 days. In practice, both debit andcredit users generally enjoy zero liabilityguarantees from their banks, but those gen-erous debit policies can be changed at anytime. Consumer protection under the law isa safer bet.

• Fraud recovery. Getting money back inthe event of fraud is much easier for creditcustomers than for debit users. When acriminal uses your credit card, all you haveto do is refuse to pay for the fraudulent pur-chases. When a debit card is stolen, themoney disappears from your account, andthe burden is on the consumer to call thebank and get that money replaced. Anyonewho's ever logged online to see a zero bal-ance or been denied cash at an ATM afteran incident like this will tell you that is nosmall distinction.

• Rewards programs. Such programs tendto be more generous to credit card holdersthan debit card uses. Debit cards "provideno qualification of creditworthiness. Themost effective way to build a high creditrating is to use credit responsibly.

As with all rules, there are exceptions. Many personal finance writers recom-

mend debit cards as a better tool for con-trolling spending than credit cards. When zero balances caused transactions

to be automatically denied, that was validadvice, but that is no longer the case. Still,for those who just can't control credit cardspending, or those whose credit scores keepthem from qualifying for a low-interestcredit card, debit cards can be a useful al-ternative.Similarly, consumers with high balances

or high interest rates on their credit cardsshould stop using the cards until they arepaid off. Turning to a debit card then can beone way to avoid adding to credit balances."Cash back" debit transactions can be oneway to evade this fee. If your bank doesn’thave an ATM nearby, you can buy a packof bubble gum and ask for $20 cash backfrom a merchant who doesn't charge debitfees. At the same time, remember the ad-vice above: It's best to limit the number oftimes you use your PIN.

Home buyersmay be hit hardby new Torontoland transfer tax

Credit versus debit: the inside storyWhat the banks & credit card companies don’t want you to know

By Ijaz Hosein

Paper or plastic? Credit or debit?These are the questions that hauntconsumers as they head to the check-

out line every day. I can't help you with thebags, but I can ease your burden on ques-tion number two. With only a few excep-tions, you are better off sticking with creditcards and using debit card only to get cashat ATMs. Before I lay out the argument for credit

cards, let me clarify for you the differencebetween credit and debit. It's not what youthink.Banks and retailers have done their best

to muddy what should be a very straight-forward question for consumers – pay nowor pay later? The reason is money, ofcourse. It might seem like a simple questionto you, but billions of dollars ride on thedistinction.

Here's the first surprise: "Debit orcredit?" is actually an unfair, misleadingquestion. There is no such thing as a debitcard that's used as a credit card. When youhand over a debit card, you are engaging ina debit transaction no matter how you an-swer. When clerks ask this question, theyare really asking you to pick one of twoways they can process your debit – a PIN(personal identification number) basedtransaction or as a signature-based transac-tion. One costs the merchant a little moreand one takes a little longer to hit yourchecking account, but fundamentally adebit transaction is a debit transaction. For all the reasons cited below, you want

neither. So when I say pick credit instead ofdebit, I don't mean tell the clerk to use yourdebit card like a credit card. I mean putaway the debit card you use to get moneyfrom the bank and pull out a true a creditcard instead.

On to the reasoning:• Bounced checks. Debit card users are hitwith more overdraft fees -- a lot more.Many consumers don't realize that a bankwill approve debit transactions even if theyhave insufficient funds in their account.Then the bank tacks on a $35 overdraft fee,which doesn’t become apparent until theend-of-month statement arrives. Thatmeans a $5 hamburger can easily become a$40 hamburger.

• Extra fees. Some stores charge 25 cents to$1 for use of a debit card, though such feesare slowly disappearing.

• “Blocking” surprises. Paying for carrentals, hotels and gas stations with debitcards also can cause your account to beoverdrawn, as retailers often withdrawmore money than you've actually spent,then put some back later. It's a practicecalled 'blocking." Car rental firms can ac-tually block off hundreds of dollars extra,to make sure the consumer has enough intheir account to pay for possible addedcharges. The blocked funds are never reallytransferred to the retailer, but they aren'tavailable to the consumer, either. Instead,they reside in a kind of financial limbo.

Toronto’s new land transfer tax is going tohit the home buying market hard in thepocket and probably deflate the still boom-ing real estate sector.That’s the opinion of Remax real estate

agent Peter Seepersad when asked about thenew taxes imposed by the City of Torontoto help balance its budget.“The home buyer will have to pay an ad-

ditional $3500 or so on a typical house.First time buyers will get a rebate of mostof the land transfer tax, but they will have toput it up first. Nobody knows how long itwill take for them to get back the money. Inmy opinion this new tax will kill the mar-ket,” he said.The other tax measure, a $74 vehicle own-ership tax, will have less impact on Toronto,he added.A release from the Toronto Real Estate

Board (TREB) explains that the TorontoCity Council has approved a municipal landtransfer tax that will be levied on top of theprovincial land transfer tax. TREB opposedthe original proposal and was able to getseveral amendments from the Council. in-cluding rebates for first-time buyers, a re-duced rate, and grandfathering for existingtransactions.

City Council approved a second landtransfer tax, on top of the provincial landtransfer tax, at the following rates:

Residential: a .. 0.5% of the amount of the purchaseprice up to and including $55,000 b .. 1% of the amount of the purchase pricebetween $55,000 and $400,000 c .. 2% ofthe amount of the purchase price above$400,000

Commercial / rndustrial / Etc.: a .. 0.5% of the amount of the purchaseprice up to and including $55,000 b .. 1% of the amount of the purchase pricebetween $55,000 and $400,000 c .. 1.5% ofthe amount between $400,000 and $40 mil-lion d .. 1% of the amount above $40 million Are existing transactions grand fathered? Yes. Any transactions where the purchaserand vendor have entered into an Agreementof Purchase and Sale for the property priorto December 31, Z007 will be rebated thefull amount of the Toronto land transfer tax.

Where does this apply? The Toronto land transfer tax only appliesto transactions within the City of Toronto.This does NOT apply to property transac-tions outside of the City of Toronto.

Are first time home "buyers affected? First time home buyers of new AND re-salehomes will receive a rebate of the Torontoland transfer tax of up to $3,7Z5 (thisequals a 100% rebate on homes purchasedfor up to $400,000).

Details of how exactly the new taxes willbe administered and the way the rebate forfirst time buyers will be handled are not yetavailable.Insiders in the Toronto real estate indus-

try fear that the tax could serve to driveaway home buyers into the 905 area sur-rounding Toronto. The tax does not applyin these areas, which have seen boomingreal estate values and building over the lastfew years.

If credit cards are usually the better al-ternative, why are so many people nudgingyou toward using your debit card? And whyare debit transactions more popular thancredit?The answer lies in who gets the cut.With each plastic transaction, a merchant

pays a few pennies per dollar to someone.During the course of a day, those penniesadd up. From the merchant's perspective,they add up much faster if you use a creditcard rather than a debit card. According toConsumer Reports, stores pay about 20cents for PIN-based transactions on a $100purchase, but $1.48 if the transaction is sig-nature-based. That means the retailer paysthe bank more than seven times as much,and explains why some banks charge con-sumers extra for debit transactions, tonudge them toward signing the slip (pick-ing “credit”) rather than entering a PIN. On the other hand, when you use a credit

card, the bank where you have your check-ing account is cut out of the loop. Instead,the credit transaction fees go to the card-is-suing bank. In other words, if you hold aCIBC debit card and a RBC credit card,your small choices have a big impact ontheir bottom line.The nudging by banks has worked. Ear-

lier this decade, debit card use surpassedcredit card use, both in transaction volumeand in total dollars. Debit cards are nowequally as popular as cash, and are poised tosurpass all payment mechanisms soon. Visa reported last year that more than $1

trillion had been spent worldwide usingdebit cards, much of it one $3 latte at a time,as consumers become increasingly com-fortable pulling out plastic instead of smallchange. A recent marketing campaign por-trays plastic as quicker than cash, showingan embarrassed fast-food buyer holding upthe line while digging for quarters in hispockets. But not all plastic is created equal. In this

case, the minority is right. For most people,credit it better than debit. If you are really on top of your game then

you could be paying for those holiday pur-chases in February rather than January.

IT PAYS TO ADVERTISE

IN THE

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TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO REPORT Indo-Caribbean Times NOVEMBER 2007 Page 10

There appears to be just a single Hindu inthe newly appointed PNM government’scabinet in Trinidad, Senator Lenny Saith.

The full cabinet is:* Patrick Manning, Prime Minister* Senator Bridgid Annisette-George,Attorney General;* Senator Lenny Saith, Minister in the Of-fice of the Prime Minister;* Senator Jerry Narace, Minister of Health;* Esther Le Gendre, Minister of Education;* Neil Parsanlal, Minister of Information;* Joseph Ross, Minister of Tourism;* Kennedy Swaratsingh, Minister of PublicAdministration;* Paula Gopee-Scoon, Minister of ForeignAffairs;* Dr Keith Rowley, Minister of Trade andIndustry;* Senator Conrad Enill, Minister of Energyand Energy Industries; n Christine Kanga-loo, Minister of Science and Technology;* Gary Hunt, Minister of Sports and YouthAffairs;* Senator Dr Emily Gaynor Dick-Ford,Minister of Planning, Housing and Envi-ronment;* Karen Nunez-Tesheira, Minister of Fi-

nance;* Senator Hazel Manning, Minister of

Local Government;* Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, Minister of

Public Utilities;* Marlene McDonald, Minister of Com-

munity Development, Culture and GenderAffairs;* Colm Imbert, Minister of Works andTransport;* Dr Amery Browne, Minister of Social De-velopment;* Senator Martin Joseph, Minister of Na-tional Security;* Rennie Dumas, Minister of Labour,

Small and Micro Enterprise Development;* Senator Arnold Piggott, Minister of

Agriculture, Lands and Marine Resources;* Peter Taylor, Minister of Legal Affairs;* Mariano Browne, Minister in the Min-

istry of Finance.

Ministers of State

* Fitzgerald Jeffrey, Science, Technologyand Tertiary Education;* Senator Tina Gronlund-Nunez, Planning,Housing and the Environment;* Donna Cox, Community Development,Culture and Gender Affairs;* Alicia Hospedales, Ministry of Social De-velopment;* Stanford Callender, Office of the PrimeMinister.

Parliamentary secretaries

* Junia Regrello, Ministry of CommunityDevelopment, Culture and Gender Affairs* NiLeung Hypolite, Ministry of Works andTransport;* Senator Wesley George, Ministry ofHealth.

Those who returned

* Dr Keith Rowley, former housing minis-ter, now Trade and Industry Minister;* Colm Imbert, former works and trans-ports minister, retains his portfolio;* Martin Joseph, former national securityminister, retains his portfolio;

Trini shot20 times

A TRINIDAD-BORN mentally illteenager identified as Khiel Coppin died ina hail of bullets fired by New York policewho thought he was brandishing a gun,when instead, it turned out to be a hair-brush. The incident occurred on Mondaynight at his Bedford-Stuyvesant, BrooklynApartment.According to news reports, officers

claimed that they acted within guidelineswhen they fatally shot Coppin. Coppin wasreportedly shot 20 times.During a news conference, Police Chief,

Ray Kelly said officers had reason to be-lieve that they were under threat.Kelly said that police received a call fromCoppin’s mother, Denise Owens, at about 7pm Monday. He said that in the backgroundof the 911 emergency call, Coppin’s voicewas heard saying: “I got a gun and I’mgonna shoot you.”Kelly said that once the officers were at

the scene, Coppin began shouting from thefirst floor window at his mother and the po-lice.Before emerging and approaching the po-lice, officers said Coppin was brandishingtwo knives and appearing to hide an objectunder his shirt.As he got nearer to the police, he (Coppin)said: “Come get me. I have a gun. Let’s dothis,” Kelly told reporters.“As we know the facts now, this shootingappears to be within department guidelinesas officers fired at someone they reasonablybelieved to be about to use deadly forceagainst them,” he added.

The Coppin’s family attorney, PaulWooten, said they were disappointed thatthe police had “decided to rush to judge-ment somehow within 24 hours of thistremendous tragedy.”Mayor Michael Bloomburg said the “cir-

cumstances of how it occurred are under in-vestigation and you can rest assured that wetake this very seriously.” Khiel’s motherhad attempted to have him hospitalised ear-lier in the day on Monday. He had a historyof mental illness. In the evening, accordingto reports the incident happened as Khielbegan screaming from a window at hismother and officers, before climbing out ofa window and heading towards the policeofficers holding a black object in his hand.A candlelight vigil was later held in

Brooklyn to protest against the police offi-cers’ actions. Monday’s killing evokedpainful memories of the police killings inNovember 2006 of Sean Bell on his wed-ding day and an unarmed African immi-grant Amadou Diallo who was shot by 19of 41 shots fired by police in the Bronx.Bell was killed in a 50-bullet police bar-rage.Attempts to contact local relatives of

Khiel Coppin were unsuccessful.

Barely a Hindu in theTrinidad cabinet

* Christine Kangaloo, former legal affairsminister, now Science, Technology and Ter-tiary Education Minister;* Rennie Dumas, former local governmentminister, now Labour and Small and MicroEnterprise Development Minister;* Arnold Piggott, former foreign affairsminister, now Agriculture, Lands and Ma-rine Resources Minister;* Lenny Saith, former public administrationminister, now Minister in the Office of thePrime Minister;* Conrad Enill, former minister in the Min-istry of Finance, now Energy and EnergyIndustries Minister;* Hazel Manning, former education minis-ter, now Local Government Minister.

MPs withoutportfolio

* Former public utilities minister PennelopeBeckles (Arima);* Former social development minister An-thony Roberts (St Ann’s East);* Roger Joseph (La Horquetta/Talparo) ;* Indra Sinanan Ojah-Maharaj (Toco/San-gre Grande) (known to be a Hindu).

11 year boy winsMastana BaharForm One Student of Presentation Col-

lege, San Fernando, 11-year-old PravanaMaharaj sang his way into first place atTuesday finals of the Mastana Bahar con-test, the first child in the 37-year history ofthe popular contest to achieve such success.Pravana was still in shock yesterday at

his good fortune which brought him$75,000 from the Ministry of Culture. Buthis father Suresh Maharaj had a lot to sayabout it.“I was amazed at my son’s ability to ex-

ecute such a difficult song as “Lapat Japattu Arey Bajarewa” by Manna Dey, but atthe end of the contest I was satisfied that hedid his best, and now I know everyone elseagreed that he was very good.”He said that Pravana had shown interest

in singing from the time he spoke his firstwords and has been singing ever since.Pravana, he said, would continue to pur-

sue his course in vocal and music training,and thanked veteran musician and singerRana Mohip who started teaching Pravanawhen he was six years-old.By the time he recovered enough to speak

following his victory, Pravana with a boyishgrin that endures him to people said heloves songs of Manna Dey and would at-tempt others as he grows older.“I am just trying my best to sing the songthe way it is sung in India and I am gladeveryone enjoyed it.” The “Lapat Japat”song is a patriotic rendition very popular inIndia and in TT. It calls for rain after a pe-riod of intense drought.Producer of Mastana Bahar, Khayal Mo-

hammed, said he was thrilled the contesthad thrown up another promising artiste inTT.List of winners:1. Pravana Maharaj 2. Varesh SeenathSchool of Dancing of Barataria3. Shiva Mohammed, Classical dancer4. Tropical Power Country Boys TassaGroup

Ravi wins withgrandfather ’ssongs

Deokinanan Sharma (left) presents a trophyto NCIC Teen Talent champion Ravi Ja-groop. at right is promoter Surujdeo Man-garoo

RAVI JAGROOP won the NCIC TeenTalent last year when he sang the classicaltune, ‘Langan Morey ga Garaa’. The ex-tremely talented drummer and singer, whorecently repeated his success in the compe-tition, is reaping the blessing of his grandfather, the late singer Vidoor Gangadhar.Having won with his grandfather’s songlast year, Ravi chose another of his verypopular songs, “Barkay Bradge Nari”.According to President of the NCIC Pun-dit Doekinanan Sharma, Ravi has been in-strumental in bringing back songs that werepopular in the 60’s before the advent ofsoca and chutney music. “This is phenom-enal that this young man should choosesuch a selection that can capture the heartsof everyone,” he said.Promoter of the Teen Talent competition,Surujdeo Mangaroo, said Ravi created animage on stage like that of his grand father.“His voice is similar and he is one of the

few people who can actually beat the drumsand sing at the same time,” he said, addingthat Ravi captured the audience at the startof the song when he belted out his “sher”— the opening verse minus the music.The Marabella-based classical singer

copped the Coca Cola first prize of$10,000. Speaking about his performance,Ravi said he has not been doing a lot ofshows because he wanted to pursue hisstudies.However, whenever he had the time he

would listen to his grandfather’s recording,Classical Songs by Vidoor.“I just feel a connection with his songs. I

am sure they were composed for me and Ifeel compelled to sing them,” he said.Ravi said as a child growing up his father,Pooran Jagroop would listen to these songsas a daily ritual and he was drawn to them.Ravi, 18, said his dream is to record hisgrandfather’s songs.Ravi is a first year student at UWI study-

ing Environment, Natural Resources andBiology. His aim is to release his own CDafter he completes his degree.He thanked the NCIC for giving him the

opportunity to sing his grandfather’s songs.“I am happy that this religious institutionrecognises the beauty in these songs and Ihope other youths will attempt them,” hesaid.Amal Menocha placed second at the

NCIC Teen Talent competition, with CapilSamlal coming in third. Sirlan Phirangeeplaced fourth and pannist Petronela CharlesDavid placed fifth. Sixth place went toKavita Rambaran.

ACHIEVERS Indo-Caribbean Times NOVEMBER 2007 Page 11

Nothing beats a Caribbean style rotifor a satisfying lunch or even atasty dinner.

That’s the considered opinion ofRozanne Persad, owner of Curry and RotiRestaurant in Scarborough. She shouldknow, as her family has been making theunique food for 34 years over two genera-tions ever since her uncle started the restau-rant in 1973.

The business in 1973 began with heruncle Kunj Persaud from GeorgetownGuyana. Rozanne and the husband MacPersad from Trinidad and her two childrenSimone and Jonathan have been carrying iton since 1993.“More Canadians are starting to discover

what West Indians know so well. Roti is nu-tritionally far superior to some of the junkfood that is sold in fast food outlets. It hasa good mixture of carbohydrates, vegeta-bles,fibre and meat protein. It has a widevariety of fillings including meat, sea foodand vegetables like bhaji, pumpkin, andchanna, all tasty and very flavorful.“Our roti has very little fat, is not over

salted, and is made fresh the same day usingno frozen materials. There’s no artificialpreservatives or chemicals in roti, no dan-gerous sulfites such as you find in other fastfoods. It is as natural a food as you can getin this country”, she explained.“On top of all this, a decent roti gives youa satisfying feeling that lasts for hours. Itprovides more food than chicken and chips,a couple slices of pizza, a hot dog, ham-burger or a couple of burritos. A ham orcheese sandwich just doesn’t compare witha hefty roti made by an experienced WestIndian hand, says Rozanne.“My roti is wholesome, flavourful and

freshly cooked. It is all made from scratchand nothing comes from frozen food . It isalso very low fat. Our meat is pre-cut andcomes fresh from the butcher. There are nopreservatives and no dreaded MSG isadded. I usually add whole wheat grains.My roti is cooked on the same day andmade in house with no prepackaging. I alsouse very little oil and that is canola oil.“I can tell you that my roti is very healthy

and filling. It contains major food groupitems like the vegetables, meat protein,grain, and very healthy spices like turmericwhich is known to be a CANCER fighter.It's generous in size and sometimes twowomen will buy one and share it.“We've been in this spot since 1993 and

I find there is much greater acceptance ofroti in a mainstream community over theyears. More people are willing to try multi-cultural cuisine, and a good proportion ofmy customers are white Canadians. Officeworkers and executives are coming specif-ically for roti at lunch.“I get people from all over the world

coming to buy roti and take back with themincluding visitors from the States, Trinidadand Barbados, to name a few.“I think there's a lot of potential for roti

in Canada, as well assome of the otherCaribbean foods like doubles, jerk chickenand oxtail that we also sell.

Anyone wishing to enjoy a healthierlifestyle can drop in to The Curry & RotiRestaurant from Monday to Saturday from11:00 am to 9:00 pm. at 1732 LawrenceAvenue East in Scarborough. This Saturday is the start of their Festive

Caribbean Breakfast offering SADA Rotiwith choices from saltfish and a variety ofvegetables.

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Nothing like a tasty Caribbean roti,says Curry and Roti owner Rozanne

Rozanne Persad and her daughter Simone at their Scarborough restaurant

Prime Minister Patrick Manning says heexpects President George MaxwellRichards to continue serving in office whenhis existing five-year term ends in March2008."There is no vacancy of President right

now and I don't anticipate that one willarise," Manning said yesterday.He made the comment after taking an

early-morning walk with several membersof his new Cabinet in Salybia.Manning was responding to questions on

whether he had spoken to Senate PresidentDr Linda Baboolal about her replacingRichards as the nation's President, as hemay not stay for another five-year term.

Asked specifically if he expectedRichards to serve as President for the nextfive years, Manning said, "Yes, I have noreason to believe otherwise."The Electoral College, which is com-

prised of all the members of the Senate,elects the nation's President into office andall the members of the House of Represen-tatives "assembled together", as mandatedby the Constitution.The Constitution also states that it is the

Speaker of the House who presides as its

chairman, and "shall have an original vote",who shall convene the Electoral CollegeTen Senators, the Speaker and 12 other

members of the House of Representativesshall constitute a quorum of the ElectoralCollege.Section 29 of the Constitution states that

the Electoral College shall elect a Presidentby secret ballot and no one can be a presi-dential candidate unless a nomination papersigned by him and by 12 or more membersof the House of Representatives nominateshim.That nomination paper must be deliveredto the Speaker at least seven days before theelection.Under section 31, the candidate who is

unopposed or who obtains the greatestnumber of the votes cast shall be declaredelected as President. In a case where thevotes for two or more candidates areequally divided, the Speaker shall have andexercise a casting or deciding vote.

Linda Baboolal not gettingpresident post in TT

A young devotee offers aarti at Shakti Durga Temple Divali celebrations

Devotion to theShiva Lingam at the Hari Mandir in Tunapuna, Trinidad

ATTENTION CANADIAN CITIZENS TRAVELLING TOTHE UNITED STATES BY LAND OR WATER As of-January 31 , 2008, if you travel to the u.s. by land or water, a U.S. law will require you to present: a government-issued photo 10, such as a driver's licence; AND a birth certificate or a citizenship card; OR For youth under 16, a birth certificate; OR ·A valid passport: , Canadians citizens flying to or through the U.S. must present a valid Canadian pass-port.

The Government of Canada will keep Canadians informed as the u.s. makes furtherchanges to its entry requirements.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: www.canada.gc.ca 1 800 O-Canada (1 800 622-6232) TTY: 1 800926-9105

SAY IT IN PICTURES Indo-Caribbean Times NOVEMBER 2007 Page 12

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Who could possibly resist this Radha Krishna wedding table centerpiece, whichwas displayed at the Dulahin Dulaha Indo Caribbean Bridal Expo?

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We certainly didn’t see this for a wedding reception head table back in the Caribbean.

Pundit Kanhaiya (centre) and devotees offer Divali havan at Shakti Durga Temple

Berbice Palace Restaurant owner Lloyd (centre) tries on the “big hat”with his chefs atthe recent grand opening

Indo-Caribbean Times NOVEMBER 2007 Page 13

We know the Caribbean BESTCall: Shobha Maharaj

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Ladies celebrate the Karva Chauth festival at the Ram Mandir in MississaugaPundit Roopnauth Sharma(with microphone) recites prayers at Ottawa Divali function

Young musician Randy Mahadeo tries out the wedding headgear with his cousin tablaplayer Ramona Bharath at the Divali Nagar held at The Centre.

New style electronic billboard seen in the Trinidad election campaign.

COMMUNITY Indo-Caribbean Times NOVEMBER 2007 Page 14ANNOUNCEMENTSTHE CENTRE on 6765 Invader Crescent,Mississauga invites you to a Bhajan Sumi-ran with Pundit Munelal Maharaj on Sun-day November 18 from 5-8 pm. Admissionis free. for more info call 905-362-0320 or416-723-5934 web site aumcanada.net.

CANADIAN HINDU ARTS AND CUL-TURAL SOCIETY holds a seminar “Liv-ing a fulfilled life beyond 50” on SundayNovember 17 from 1-3 pm at the Centre ,6765 Invader Crescent Mississauga. Mainspeaker is Shri Munelal Maharaj fromTrindiad. Topics include Coping with liv-ing in an old age home, Realigning the ex-pectations your hold of yourself and others.To reserve a space call 416-723-5934.

LAKSHMI MANDIR presents AnupJalota live in concert on Friday November16 at La Vita Banquet and ConventionCentre, 4000 Steeles Avenue West, Wood-bridge (Steeles and Weston Road), startingat 7 pm. Tickets run from $30 to $100 andcan be obtained by calling Pt. Sat at 905-276-1258, Satish at 647-280-8521, Nandaat 905-887-4141 or Top Notch Employ-ment at 416-741-0066.

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO 50 PLUSAND SENIORS ASSOCIATION holds its12th annual Christmas Dinner and Danceon Saturday November 17 at the Elite Ban-quet Hall, 1850 Albion Road, Etobicoke,starting at 6 pm. Los Amigos Parang Groupand the Five Star Indian Dance Group arethe featured performers. There is a granddoor prize of two return tickets to Trinidadand other prizes. Tickets are $45 each. Forinfo or tickets contact Rasheed Sultan Khanat 416-281-5264.

SATYA JYOTI CULTURAL SABHA in-vites you to its annual Bhajan Yatra on No-vember 24, starting at 6.00 pm at themandir on 6731 Columbus Drive, Units7&8, Mississauga. At the yatra 108 bhajanswill be sung. The event is a fundraiser forthe new temple scheduled to start buildingsoon. Admission is free and donations arewelcome. For info contact Ian at 905-678-2799 or Ramesh at 647-274-9454.

BHARAT SEVASHRAM SANGHA holdsits fundraising dinner and dance on No-vember 17 from 6 pm at the HumberwoodDowns Community Centre, 850 Humber-wood Blvd., Etobicoke. Program includesprofessional singers and dancers, perform-ances by over 130 children doing singingmdancing and Gita slokhas, music b yKaramchand Maharaj and sumptious vege-tarian dinner. Admission is $10. For Infocall Swami Pushkarananda at 416-679-0967.

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Bulk distribution centres. The Gita can be available in bulk at the fol-lowing contacts: Donations are expected tofund further copies; any individual or or-ganization wishing to assist in this projectcan contact us.

CANADAToronto, Mississauga, BramptonRamnarine Sahadeo 905 671 9233 e-mailramjihindu@rogers.com, Omesh SharmaOmesh@flexomark.com, Chandan Persaud at 416-754-2382, Gulcharan at416 481-5777 gmohabir@hotmail.com,Ram Jagessar at 416 289 9088 orram@eol.ca

RICHMOND HILLOmo Persaud at omo@globalspectru-minc.com 905-886-1724

Tel: (905) 789-8990

Winnipeg:Ajodhya Mahadeo 204-661-6643

British ColumbiaChameli Seegobin 604-945-9510, e-mail address maylee34@hotmail.com,and Naraine Mohabir at 604-274-8938

GUYANA: Saraswati Vidya Niketanph. 2760013/14

NORTH AMERICAN MUSLIMFOUNDATION Annual FundraisingDinner. It’s on Dec 9th 2007 5.00 pm atGrand Bacchus Banquet Hall, Scarbor-ough. The Chief Guest is ProfessorDavid Leipert from Calgary and theAmerican comedian Aman Ali will bethe house.To confirm you may call Habeeb directon cell 416 823 1738.

COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES Indo-Caribbean Times NOVEMBER 2007 Page 15

Satya Jyoti stages hugeRamayana play for Divali

Mississauga Ram Mandirmarks Dussehra

The Dussehra celebration committee ofShri Ram Mandir had set up 12-14 feethuge effigy of Ravana. This effigy of theten-headed Ravana was burnt at sunset cel-ebrating the triumph of forces of "good"over the forces of "evil". The festival of Dussehra, also known as

"Vijayadashmi" is one of the fascinatingfestivals of Hindus and is celebrated withjoy and enthusiasm. Vijay Dashmi, the daysignifying victory of good over evil afterten-day battle between the forces of LordRama and Ravana, was celebrated with re-ligious fervour, gaiety and peace and peoplefrom all walks of life exchanged greetingson Dussehra with friends and relatives.Pandit Roopnauth Sharma after offering

prayers, fired an arrow into the huge effigywhich was, stuffed -- with crackers and drystraw to the encouraging shouts of "Ram-chandra ki jai", "Victory to Rama", and alarge explosion rippled through the sky.Thus ended the 10th day of the Dussehra

festival which was celebrated here with

great fanfare with hundreds of old andyoung people who had assembled at ShriRam Mandir in anticipation to have aglimpse of the burning of Ravana.This festival has immense mythological

significance. As per Ramayan, Lord Ramdid Chandi-Puja and invoked the blessingsof Maa Durga to kill Ravana, the ten-headed king who had abducted Sita. MaaDurga divulged the secret to Lord Ram howhe could kill Ravana. Then after vanquish-ing him, Lord Ram with Sita, Laxman andHanuman returned victorious to his king-dom of Ayodhya.Dussehra literally means the tenth day. It

marks the end of the nine days of Navratri.The first nine nights are spent in the wor-ship of goddess Durga and hence thesenights are known as Navaratri. This festival falls in the month of Ashwin(Sep - Oct). This year this day was cele-brated on 20th October. Thus the tenth dayof the Dussehra day is in honour of MaaDurga Devi.

Amammoth play involving a host of actors from 8 to 65 years and sup-porting staff of over 80 people proved to be a huge success as the Satya

Jyoti Cultural Sabha celebrated Divali on November 3 this month.The play "Crowning Success" was an excerpt of the epic Ramayana

where the moving of the mountain by Lord Hanuman was an inspiration forthe cast members, led by Ramesh Dharamdass, SJCS Event Coordinator. The play was based on the theme that the struggle of Good and Evil is

always lurking. The Ramayan presents a wonderful backdrop for mankindto learn and apply various principles to their everyday life.It briefly portrays the trials and tribulations that we can translate into en-

counters in our daily lives, the principles that we should embrace whensuch challenges are encountered, always looking to DHARAMA as ourmedium of support.The war waged by Lord Rama against the unjust actions of Ravana which

concluded in the defeat and destruction of Ravana. Exemplifies the victoryof Good over Evil, Light over darkness, the re-affirmation of DHARAMAon a strong footing, hence the celebration of lights "Divali".

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HEALTH AND FASHION Indo-Caribbean Times NOVEMBER 2007 Page 16

Effects of coldwater: a warning

For those who like to drink cold water,this article is applicable to you. It is nice tohave a cup of cold drink after a meal. However, the cold water will solidify the

oily stuff that you have just consumed. Itwill slow down the digestion. Once this "sludge" reacts with the acid,

it will break down and be absorbed by theintestine faster than the solid food. It willline the intestine. Very soon, this will turn into fats and lead

to cancer. It is best to drink hot soup orwarm water after a meal.A serious note about heart attacks - You

should know that not every heart attacksymptom is going to be the left arm hurt-ing. Be aware of intense pain in the jawline.You may never have the first chest pain

during the course of a heart attack. Nauseaand intense sweating are also commonsymptoms. 60% of people who have a heartattack while they are asleep do not wake up.Pain in the jaw can wake you from a soundsleep. Let's be careful and be aware. Themore we know the better chance we couldsurvive.A cardiologist says if everyone who reads

this message sends it to 10 people, you canbe sure that we'll save at least one life. Readthis & Send it to a friend.

Household chemicalsto avoid

1. Antibacterial cleaners. It may be safer totake your chances with the germs. Thesecleaners contain triclosan, a form of dioxin,linked with weakened immune systems, de-creased fertility, hormone disruption andbirth defects. 2. Air fresheners. Air fresheners actuallystop you from smelling by coating nasalpassages with an oil film or by releasingnerve deadening agents. 3. Dishwasher detergent. Dishwasher de-tergents are the number one cause of acci-dental child poisoning. They contain a dryform of highly concentrated chlorine that ispoisonous and have been known to produceskin irritations or burns, and cause eye in-juries and damage to other mucous mem-branes.4. Oven cleaners. Among the most danger-ous chemicals in households, these clean-ers contain sodium hydroxide (a derivativeof lye) so corrosive it can eat through thetop layer of skin and cause severe tissuedamage.5. Carpet and upholstery shampoo, De-signed to knock the stain out, they may alsotake you out as well. The main ingredient,perchlorethylene (the same one used in drycleaning), is a known carcinogen, damag-ing to the liver, kidney and the nervous sys-tem. 6. Toilet, tub and tile bowl cleaners, Highlytoxic.

Indo-Caribbean weddings going upscale and glamorous

.

Indo-Caribbean weddings are linking up tothe long established and elaborate Indianpatterns, and also going really glamorous.This was the view of several of the ex-

hibitors at the recent and highly successfulDulahin Dulaha Indo Caribbean BridalExpo held at the Elite Banquet Hall in Eto-bicoke.

Those dinky little wedding invitationcards are we used to know in the Caribbeanare giving way to elaborate and fabulouswedding invitation cards such as those of-fered by Suhaag on Albion Road.

Dulahins are going for fanciful mehndidecorations on their hands for their wed-dings, picking out the usual three beautifulthree saris and some are even adding in awhite wedding gown afterwards. They arelooking for the full suite of gold weddingjewellery rather than little pieces of goldplate.Grooms may step into one of the fancy

Indian three piece kurta sets and some arechanging into western style rented tuxedosfor the reception and photographs.But it is in the decorations for the wed-

ding itself and the reception that things aretaking off. Dried flowers and helium bal-loons will not do for table centerpieces anymore. Breathtaking little statues of Hindudeities and carvings are taking their places.You can get charming little Ganesh murtisin your fancy gift bags. Decorations for the head table at the re-

ception can be of a standard not seen in theCaribbean. Professional photographers canrun up to $10,000 for the full set of photo-graphs, videos, and yes, DVD’s to hand outto relatives and friends.

The dulaha can arrive on a decoratedwhite horse and leave in a sleek RollsRoyce. We are even seeing full crops ofbridesmaids in Hindu weddings, somethingthat was not part of the tradition in theCaribbean. But then we are not in the Caribbean any-

more. We are reconnecting to our long lostIndian cousins, and finding a host of riches.Certainly it costs money for that kind ofwedding, lots of money, but according tothe Bridal Expo merchants, we seem morethan willing to pay it. To get more on the Bridal Expo contact

Julie Rambally at 416-840-3209 or onlineat www.ddexpo.com.

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Sharon Ganga of Enchanting Events displays a Horse and Carriagemoney box for collecting envelopes or cards.

Leslie Ann Ramsubir displays some of her fabulous table center pieces

This is the required mehndi treatment for the Hindu bride.

RELIGION Indo-Caribbean Times NOVEMBER 2007 Page 17

Gita educationfor Hindusgreatly needed

“Hindus have an ancient and rich heritage,but we knew least about our religion andhave done a poor job of propagating it”,said lawyer Ram Sahadeo at a recent Divalicelebration at the Maha Kali Shakti Templein Scarborough.Sahadeo was distributing copies of the

Bhagavat Gita to temple members as partof the Gita in Every Home program inCanada.“Now that many Caribbean Hindus are

living in societies around the world, ourchildren are asking us questions and wecannot answer. Our Canadian neighboursare asking us questionsand we cannot an-swer. Our temples are all over and peopleare curious about our religion, so we mustbe prepared to explain it to them,” he said.The program is trying to use the Gita for

beginning the self education of Hindus byputting a copy in each home, and even giv-ing copies to interested non Hindus.The books, which are given out free of

cocst, are purchased from India at a mini-mal cost that is covered by generousdonors. Sahadeo said there was a need formore donations and distribution centresboth here in Canada and back home in theCaribbean.“ The best gift is the gift of knowledge,

which the Gita has in abundance. For in-stance the Gita tells us to respect the earthas our mother, so that we do not inflict thekind of environmental damage on it that weseeing today. “The Gita tells us not to be influenced by

lust, anger and greed. Most of the problemcases I see in my law practice are caused byone or more of these. The Gita shows uspractical advice how to achieve a success-ful life no matter where we live,” he added.The Gita distribution program currently

operates in the Greater Toronto Area, Rich-mond Hill, Winnipeg, Manitoba, BritishColumbia, and Guyana. It is expected to ex-pand into Trinidad shortly and into nearbyUnited States.

Persons interested in taking part canreach Ram Sahadeo atramjihindu@rogers.com or by phone at905-671-9233.

Malaysia is not a model for plural societiesHindu Council of the CaribbeanP.O. Box 2286 , Chaguanas, Trinidad . 1 868 687-7529 HinduCouncilCaribbe an@yahoo. comPresident: Deosaran Bisnath \ Secretary:D. H Singh \ Treasurer: Venosh Maraj____________ _________ _________November 13th, 2007

Professor Harold Ramkissoon must becongratulated for his excellent article(Newsday 11/11/07) on Malaysia , a multi-ethnic country which he suggested was amirror for plural societies such as ours. Heasserted that apart from developing from anagricultural based economy in 1957 to the17th biggest trading nation of the worldtoday, Malaysia has been able to overcomeserious race riots in 1969 to maintaining aracially harmonious society.However, according to the Hindu Human

Rights report 2006, compiled by the HinduAmerican Foundation (HAF), nothingcould be further from the truth. Malaysiahas declared itself an Islamic Republic andIslam its official religion, despite the pres-ence of Hindus, Buddhists and Christiansin the country. Ethnic Malays do not havethe freedom to convert and are required bylaw to be Muslims. See HAF report ath t t p : / / h i n du ame r i c a n f ounda t i o n .com/pdf/HHR2006. pdfHindus appear to be special targets for

intimidation and discrimination as they aredenied lands and public funding for con-struction of temples, which are being de-stroyed instead. Hindus are further deniedthe right to cremate their dead in accor-dance with Hindu custom and forced tohave Islamic burials. In fact, so serious isthe situation that the HAF is advocating in-tervention by the UN and internationalcommunity to protect the Malaysian Hin-dus from annihilation.“Malaysia 's Indians are among those that

suffer the greatest displacement from themillion or more legal and illegal Indonesianmigrants in Malaysia . Sporadic ethnic un-rest now breaks out between the Indiansand Indonesians. Growing resentment alsoderives from the demolition of Hindu tem-ples by state governments. Dozens havebeen destroyed in the past few years.Sometimes the murtis are smashed beforeworshippers can remove them, actionwhich is insensitive at best and a deliberateprovocation at worst. Many better educatedIndians are migrating. On August 12, about2000 Malaysian Indians protested outsidethe Prime Minister's office to demand bet-ter treatment. The protest might have beenbigger but organisers claim police blockedup to 15 buses carrying Indians on the basisthat the bus drivers did not have valid driv-ing licences” The Australian Age, Novem-ber 7, 2007.

“A top Malaysian minister has urgedlocal authorities in this Muslim-majoritycountry to immediately cease demolition ofHindu temples after a 100-year-old shrinewas pulled down early this week. WorksMinister and head of the Malaysian IndianCongress Samy Vellu, who is of Indian ori-gin, said that Hindu temples built on en-croached land were still being demolisheddespite his appeals to the various state chiefministers. Four people were reportedly hurtand dozens detained following scuffles be-tween devotees and the city authorities overthe century-old temple, the local mediasaid. Temples are still being destroyed eventhough I have repeatedly brought the issueup during meetings with chief ministers, theminister said in a statement, the New Straits

Times said today. He added that the gov-ernment could not penalise those whomerely wished to practise their religionand exercise their right to believe in God.As such, I am pleading with the govern-ment to not resort to drastic measureslike demolishing temples, even thoughthey have been constructed illegally."Times of India , November 2, 2007Malaysia has not taken any action to-

ward signing or ratifying the UN’s Inter-national Covenant on Civil and PoliticalRights or the UN’s International Con-vention on the Elimination of All Formsof Racial Discrimination. Malaysia ’sConstitution upholds Islam as “the reli-gion of the Federation” but provides forthe practice of other religions “in peaceand harmony.” Part II of the Constitutiondefines the fundamental liberties of peo-ple, which include the right to equalitybefore the law; the right to freedom ofspeech and peaceful assembly; and theright to “prove and practice his religion.”

Clearly, state-sponsored temple destructionand infringements on personal religiousfreedom seen in Malaysia today are directviolations of the aforementioned guaranteesenshrined in the nation’s Constitution.

It pays to advertise in theIndo-CaribbeanTimes

YOUTH Indo-Caribbean Times NOVEMBER 2007 Page

African-centred alternativeschool – Bad idea!

By Veda Nath Mohabir

Re. Trustees again consider school tailored for blacks, Toronto Star, Nov 6/07.

Seems the Toronto School Board trustees haven’t learnt from the recent Ontario elec-tions. John Tory ill-advisedly touted a ‘faith-based school’ alternative and handed the elec-tions to the Liberals, and his riding to the incumbent education minister, who demurred. Commentators overwhelmingly noted that the faith-based platform was his and his

party’s undoing even though he led numerous polls as the best candidate for premier. Now,the trustees and their instigators in the community seem bent on fostering the segregationand a non-uniform curriculum slanted to ‘feel-good’.The article quotes Donna Harrow as saying many parents from the ( Caribbean ) islands

and Africa have gone through the “Africentric way of teaching”. Firstly, it must be noted that Canada is not the islands or Africa and as immigrants we

have chosen to relocate here with prospects of better systems. I, myself, coming fromGuyana (part of the Caribbean) have never seen nor known of such “Africentric way ofteaching”. In multicultural Guyana (and Trinidad & Tobago) where 80% of the population is East

Indian or Black, all students did comparably as any other ethnicity/race. In fact, in Guyana, aside from the Amerindians – a special case as First Nation people of Canada – it wasthe rural non-Christian East Indians who were marginalized from achieving higher edu-cation or possible student-teaching positions, yet they showed little sign of their disad-vantage as they persevered in other callings/occupations.In most primary and secondary schools, the teachers were no more than high school

graduates, with some fortunate to attend teachers’ college. What worked was discipline inbehaviour and attention to lessons in all schools and a rigorous attention to the 3-R’s at theprimary levels.One question the trustees and the proponents (Donna Harrow, Dr. George Dei, et al)

should consider is how children of other ethnicities are performing under the same system.If as seems it’s a peculiarity of the Black community, perhaps there are other factors at play.I would posit two alternate drivers of the underperformance. A couple of summers ago, a Harvard-educated black pastor and black community ac-

tivist, along with a couple of black Toronto councilor/pastor argued that the phenomenonof absentee fathers (no male role models) was a major cause of anti-social and violent be-haviour among black male youths; which is correlated with poor school performance. A second and more pervasive factor – because most youths subscribe to them - is the

popular music genres followed by the youths – rap and hip-hop. A recent report appear-ing in the Journal of Women’s Health indicts rap and hip-hop lyrics and videos as under-mining black teenage girls’ health and image of themselves. Exposure to the music andvideos make them more likely to binge drink, have multiple sex partners, test positive formarijuana and have poor body image. It ought to follow that the effects on young blackmales would be comparable and complementary. Rev. Al Sharpton and educator BillCosby have been known to object to the use of “bitch” and “ho” to refer to women, in thelyrics. As well, New York state is proposing legislation to have billions of investment dol-lars in pension funds to be redirected from rap music companies which condone the of-fending lyrics. So the solution seems to lie in cultural norms/traditions and behaviours.

AFTER

BEFORE

Researchers in England may have finallysettled the centuries-old debate over whogets credit for the creation of calculus.For years, English scientist Isaac New-

ton and German philosopher GottfriedLeibniz both claimed credit for inventingthe mathematical system sometime aroundthe end of the seventeenth century.

Now, a team from the universities ofManchester and Exeter says it knows wherethe true credit lies — and it's with someoneelse completely.

The "Kerala school," a little-knowngroup of scholars and mathematicians infourteenth century India, identified the "in-finite series" — one of the basic compo-nents of calculus — around 1350.Dr. George Gheverghese Joseph, a mem-

ber of the research team, says the findingsshould not diminish Newton or Leibniz, butrather exalt the non-European thinkerswhose contributions are often ignored."The beginnings of modern maths is usu-

ally seen as a European achievement but thediscoveries in medieval India between thefourteenth and sixteenth centuries havebeen ignored or forgotten," he said. "Thebrilliance of Newton's work at the end ofthe seventeenth century stands undimin-ished — especially when it came to the al-gorithms of calculus.

"But other names from the KeralaSchool, notably Madhava and Nilakantha,should stand shoulder to shoulder with himas they discovered the other great compo-nent of calculus — infinite series."He argues that imperialist attitudes are to

blame for suppressing the true story behindthe discovery of calculus."There were many reasons why the con-

tribution of the Kerala school has not beenacknowledged," he said. "A prime reason isneglect of scientific ideas emanating fromthe Non-European world, a legacy of Euro-pean colonialism and beyond."However, he concedes there are other fac-

tors also in play."There is also little knowledge of the me-

dieval form of the local language of Kerala,Malayalam, in which some of most seminaltexts, such as the Yuktibhasa, from much ofthe documentation of this remarkable math-ematics is written," he admits.Joseph made the discovery while con-

ducting research for the as-yet unpublishedthird edition of his best-selling book TheCrest of the Peacock: the Non-EuropeanRoots of Mathematics.Indians are also credited with discovering

‘Pythagoras” theorem long before Euro-peans, the circumference of the earth, andnumerous other scientific milestones.

Indians discovered Calculus, not Newton

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The much talked about, but seldom seen, names of the Indians who arrived on the FatelRazack in Trinidad in 1845. From the Estate Register at the National Archives, Trinidad

IINDIANS IN THE CARIBBEAN Indo-Caribbean Times NOVEMBER 2007 Page 19

Documents to look for when you are trying to trace your ancestors in India

Finding your Indo Caribbean roots So many Indo-Caribbeans at home and

abroad are now interested in findingtheir roots, but many don’t know where tostart and what to look for. In this issue ofICTimes we want to give a few hints.Finding your relatives in the Caribbean is

a fairly simple matter of asking survivingrelatives and family friends, checking birthand death certificate and marriage certifi-cates. Getting to the ones who came fromIndia is a little more difficult, and needssome detective work.The keys to finding the jahajis who came

on the ships like the Fatel Razack are to lo-cate their correct name(s) (most of themhad one name), the year they came to theCaribbean and the name of the shipt theyarrived on. With this data you can go your-self or have somebody check the shiprecords in the Archives in Guyana, Trinidadetc. With some luck you may find your an-cestor in the ship records, including the vil-lage and district he or she came from inIndia (or Pakistan, which was once part ofIndia). Then comes the big leap of going toIndia or Pakistan yourself, or having some-body do it for you, to find your ancestralvillage and any distant relatives there. First you need to find the right name, not

the common or home name. Certificates ofbirth, death, vaccination, marriage, landtitle,identification cards, even bank booksand the rare passport may give the realnames used in official documents. Even agrave stone or the memory of an old neigh-bour can lead you along the right path. Youhave to get that name, as searching for Ajiis not going to get you anywhere.

Related stories are a treasure trove to besought out. Many of the jahajis used to telltheir children where they came from inIndia, and more important, how old theywere when the ship brought them to theCaribbean. With knowledge such as BhanoAji being 20 when she came to Trinidad,and a death certificate one can get to the ac-tual year she arrived, search the archives forships arriving around that year and have afair chance of finding her name. You can’tgo in the archives and search for her namefrom the beginning. There are 143,000names for Trinidad alone, and more forGuyana. We have a master researcher in theTrinidad Archives who can research yourancestors, but not yet for Guyana. Happyhunting. We’d like to know the results.

Death certificates will give age, date of death and sometimes names of relatives

Emigration passes for men,women, boys, girls and in-fants give a host of infor-mation including village inIndia, father and next ofkin on the ship.

Certificate of completion of indenture is the jackpot in your search.

A birth certificate as here can give names of child, mother, father and grandfather ( informant).

Even a vaccination certificate will give the date of birth and the name of the mother.

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT Indo-Caribbean Times NOVEMBER 2007 Page 20

IC Times Book Club Recommendations

Guyana. Editor Arif Ali, publisher HansibHardback, 284 pages$50.00 Canadian, postage in Canada $6

In Pursuit of Justice, by Shakoor Man-raj, Hardback, 297 pages$30.00 Canadian, including postage inCanada. US .

Two books of poetryWinged Heart, by Janet Naidu$13 plus $2 postage

Rainwater, by Janet Naidu$15, plus $2 postage

Layers of the Rainforest by Shirley NajhramHardback, children’s book$15, postage in Canada $2.55

Arising froArising from BondageBy Ron RamdinPublished 2000 NYU Press288 pages ISBN 0814775489

To obtain a copy of any of these books,call ICTimes Book Club at 416-289-3898or e-mail ictimes@rogers.com

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Members of the executive of the Pakaraima writers group gather in a happy mood, fromleft Janet Naidu, President, Habeeb Alli, Executive Member, Roop Misir, Executive Mem-ber, Richard Rupnarain, Vice-President and Shirley Najhram, Secretary.

Not only a mountain range comes to mind or a famous hang-out in Georgetown res-onates when Pakaraima is mentioned, but for many Guyanese in Canada it's about

writers and poets.Recently, for the second year, members and friends of this fledgling Association gatheredover a sumptious West Indian meal at the Scarlet Ibis Restaurant in Scarborough to enjoypoetry, short stories and other works as part of a fundraiser for PAKARAIMA's new web-site, domained at www.pakaraimawriters.orgRegards were recieved from the Guyana Consulate, from whose office in Toronto this

interest group was conceived. Monthly meetings move around at different places to ac-commodate members.

The night's program included reading from Janet Naidu, author of Rainwater andfounder and President of PAKARAIMA; Richard Rupnarain, Vice-President and author ofNightly Journey, Habeeb Alli, Passions of ElDorado CS, Peter Jailal, the maestro and EdYahp, the comedian and Roop Misir the social commentator. Others whose books were onsale includes Shirley Najhram, Layers of the Rainforest, Colin Ninvale's Stereotypes andLal Balkaran's publications on Guyanese Amerindians.The evening was attended by 36 guests who expressed their appreciation for such an

occasion to get a taste of Guyanese writing in Canada. Some said that they want moreGuyanese Torontonians to join in the literary hub next year.

Clem Seecharran is a son of Guyana anda true scholar. He came from a house inBerbice with no books. Yet ProfessorSeecharran has become, or is on the way tobecoming, one of the most prolific and se-rious authors ever produced by Guyana.A distinguished historiographer, Clem

has just sent his latest book to the publish-ers. It promises to be yet another triumphfor Professor Seecharran following in thefootsteps of his masterly work on Sir JockCampbell 'Sweetening Bitter Sugar' whichwon the 'Caribbean History Oscar'-the ElsaGouveia Prize- in 2005. The serious oeuvreof the boy from Berbice just gets bigger andbigger.The latest tome is called 'Mother India's

Shadow over El Dorado: Indo-GuyanesePolitics and Identity, 1890s-1930' It will bepublished by Ian Randle in late 2008. Thebook is the first which explores the rela-tionship between the ideas of India and ofGuyana. It covers the period between the1890s, with the emergence of the first Indo-Guyanese intellectual, Joseph Ruhomon(1873-1942), through to the 1930s, the cen-tenary of the Indian presence in Guyana.

It examines the contribution of otherIndo-Guyanese intellectuals, such as PeterRuhomon and J.I. Ramphal, towards theconstruction of 'Mother India' as a sourceof their inspiration. It looks at the recoveryof ancient India as an exemplar of civilisa-tion in diverse areas of human advance-ment: philosophy, architecture, painting andso on. It looks at the Gandhian India thatwas leading the anti-colonial crusadeagainst British rule at the same time. Boththe ancient India as well as the India in re-volt were used by the Indo-Guyanese tocounter the lingering 'coolie' image and thelegacy of their indentureship dating back to1838.

By the 1920's and 1930's the Indo-Guyanese were assuming a triumphal pos-ture after periodic visits by missionariesand scholars from India such as Pillai,Tivary, Jaimini and the Rev C.F. Andrews.They had created vibrant organisations likethe British Guiana East Indian Association(founded in Berbice in 1916); The BritishGuiana East Indian Cricket Club-now theEverest (founded in Georgetown in 1915)and the East Indian Young Men's Society(founded in 1919), in which PeterRuhomon ,CR Jacob and JI Ramphal (thefather of Sir Shridath Ramphal, latterly theSecretary General of the Commonwealth)were very active. They all looked to MotherIndia for inspiration. Prof Seecharran wasgiven exclusive access to the journals of JIRamphal by his very distinguished son .Although the Indians were becoming ac-

tive in Guyanese politics, they identified thefreedom of their mother's land as crucial totheir identity as Guyanese. Coupled witheconomic success in rice, cattle and com-

Mother India’s Shadow coming from Clem Pakaraima Writers dined to sounds of poetry

merce and ideas of an Indian Colony orGreater India in Guyana, it fed an under-current of apprehension among the AfricanGuyanese. This did not augur well for racerelations as it shaped a bifurcated national-ism: one Indian, the other African. Notionsof El Dorado, of unlimited wealth in thecountry, tended to magnify this rivalry. Thatmistrust cost many lives later and exists tothis day.'Mother India's Shadow' looks like prov-

ing to be a controversial book that willstimulate necessary debate about how wemove forward towards the creation of agenuine Guyanese identity which haseluded the country so far. 'Mother India'will be published by Ian Randle ofKingston and Miami in late 2008.Ian Randle is also republishing Seecha-

ran's 'Tiger in the Stars': the Anatomy of In-dian Achievement in British Guiana,1919-29' in early 2008. This is now recognized asa seminal work in Indo-Caribbean histori-ography and was published originally byMacmillan in 1997. It has been out of printfor many years and along with Bechu:'Bound Coolie' Radical in British Guiana(1999) and the reprint of Joseph Ruhomon's'India: The Progress of her People at Homeand Abroad, published' originally in 1894(the first publication by an Indo-Caribbeanperson), they constitute a very solid bodyof work that probably makes Clem Seechar-ran the most prolific scholar in the fieldtoday.When to that is added "Sweetening Bit-

ter Sugar: Jock Campbell - the Booker Re-former in British Guiana': (2005), winner ofthe prestigious Elsa Gouveia Prize (pre-sented by the Association of Caribbean His-torians) and 'Muscular Learning: Cricketand Education in the making of the BritishWest Indies' (2006), it is clear that this allrepresents scholarship that is changing theway all the peoples in the Caribbean regionsee themselves.As if that is not enough,Clem Seecharran is now working on twoother books.

COMMUNITY Indo-Caribbean Times NOVEMBER 2007 Page

When willgood men dosomething?

By Stella Ramsaroop…

I grew up with a mother who physically,mentally and verbally abused me and Icould never understand how neighboursand family members could allow it to hap-pen without doing something about it.I lived in the city where the houses were

very close together, so I know my neigh-bours heard the abuse. One time after Istarted dating my husband, I left a pair ofheels in his car after church (I switched intoflat shoes to hang out), so he decided tobring them to me since he had just droppedme off.My future husband heard my mother's

abuse from outside the house and droppedthe shoes to run back to his car as fast aspossible. I had an aunt and uncle who livedon the first level of our house (we lived onthe second level) and aside from my auntyelling up the stairs a time or two for mymother to "leave that poor girl alone," noone ever lifted a hand to help me.Oh, I had friends at school who would

see the bruises and fingernail marks in myskin and swear they were going to call thenewly introduced abused hotline, but I usu-ally begged them not to do it because I wassure that I would be even more abused infoster care.I did go to one place for help. I went to

my pastor's daughter and told her I neededsomeone to stop my mother from hurtingme, but no help ever came for me. Thechurch did nothing to stop my mother. Theneighbours did nothing. My family didnothing. The law did nothing.As a child, I never understood how the

world could look on and watch this horri-ble scene and do nothing to help a little girl.I grew up to be the type of person whowould never stand by and allow someoneto victimise a helpless person.One of the most troubling news stories

this week is about a mother who was re-peatedly stabbed by her husband and leftfor dead in the presence of their three chil-dren. At face value, this story is so sad.However, the story is not about a man

who broke from the demands of life andkilled his wife because he could not handlethe pressure. It was obvious that this wasnot the first time this poor woman had beenvictimised by her husband.The Kaieteur News report from October

29 quoted a neighbour as saying, "We did-n't hear nothing last night because of dewedding house music but even if we didhear we woulda think that is de normalbeating."

The normal beating?

Here are some of the things neighbourssaid this woman experienced from her hus-band. The relationship was an abusive onewith constant fighting almost every night.The husband had previously threatened tokill her. He tied a rope around her neck,dragged her down the stairs and forced herto lie in an ants' nest. He beat her so se-verely recently that it put her in the hospi-tal.Which begs the question, if the neigh-

bours knew full well what was going on inthat house, why on earth did they do noth-ing to help the woman? There was one re-port that the mother was an alcoholic.

Wife beating is not sanctioned by the Koran

Divali at Otttawa withPM Harper

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Dear Editor,

The controversy of choosing words that res-onate with one's angle when translating theQuran is not new and so too on the topic ofwhether the Quran upholds beating one'sspouse .

I have written and delivered on this topicfor years, reminding Muslims that verse4:34, in one usage of darb, denotes show-ering her with extra romance and not beat-ing.

Many translations have used spanking andlight beating but Muslims who abuse theirwomen folk, only to shout the Quran 'says'this, are actually abusing the Revelation,since they are brutalising these servants ofGod in the name of Allah and its time wehave this correction done by every possiblemeans.

Some translators have struggled to explainthat the best attestation of the Quran,Prophet Muhammad, on whom be peace,himself, never beat a woman but con-demned men who did this as beasts. It mustbe remembered that the Prophet quintes-sentially agreed with Umar bin Khattabwhen he suggested about their women act-ing audaciously, after migration. However,Allah disproved of this idea and the Prophetdecalred in an immediate sermon that hecannot tolerate such beastly men who afterbeating their wives want to make love. So,using violent sex as an analogy, as somewould like, is completely irrelevant.

As for the democratic right to interpret onesmaterial and have them published is notonly Canadian but truly Islamic. TheProphet rightly said difference of opinion isa mercy and even though Zamakhshari maynot be from the mainstream sect of Islamhis linguistic treatise of the Quran is widelyaccepted and sold in Muslim bookstores.

Lets not make another hasty, riotous publicoutcry from the efforts of those who defendthe abused mothers of this world and whoin all rights have academic claims as muchas any classical Imam did, regardless, forAllah alone is the best Judge

Yours truly,Habeeb Alli, A Friend of God

Deepavali is celebrated by all Hindusworldwide, and true to its multi-culturalismCanada was no exception. On 1st November 2007 Pandit Roop-

nauth Sharma, the Hindu spiritual leader leda group of nine priests from Toronto, Mon-treal and Ottawa, who all together chantedVedic mantras at the parliament house,which was attended by several dignitariesbesides RT Hon Stephen Harper PrimeMinister of Canada, Opposition leader inParliament Stephen Dion and the HighCommissioner of India to Canada Shri R LNarayan.Over 500 Indo-Canadians dressed in their

traditional attire from nine Indo-Canadiansorganisations participated in the function.This special ceremony was attended also byover 50 members of parliament, 20 Ambas-sadors and High Commissioners from dif-ferent parts of world. The inaugural festivallamp was lighted by RT Hon StephenHarper, prime minister of Canada . Bylighting the oil lamps, the Hindus are thank-ing the gods for the happiness, knowledge,peace and wealth that they have received.Prime Minister Harper commended India

's cultural heritage and its commitment tolinguistic, ethnic and spiritual pluralism. "India has amassed a millennia-old historyof linguistic, ethnic, and spiritual pluralism.Such diversity has, at times, posed signifi-cant challenges for India and comple-mented the country in successfully meetingthe challenge," he said.Speaking on the occasion, Shri Narayan

said the festival is celebrated as victory ofgood over evil, light over darkness, andknowledge over ignorance.There are various alleged origins attrib-

uted to this festival. Some hold that theycelebrate the marriage of Lakshmi withLord Vishnu. In Bengal the festival is ded-icated to the worship of Kali. On this dayalso Sri Krishna killed the demon Naraka-sura.It also commemorates that blessed day

on which the triumphant Lord Rama re-turned to Ayodhya after defeating Ravana.O Ram! The light of lights, the self-lumi-nous inner light of the Self is ever shiningsteadily in the chamber of our heart. We sitquietly. close our eyes. withdraw the senses,fix the mind on this supreme light and enjoythe real Deepavali, by attaining illuminationof the soul.He who Himself sees all but whom no

one beholds, who illumines the intellect,the sun, the moon and the stars and thewhole universe but whom they cannot il-lumine, He indeed is Brahman, He is theinner Self. Celebrate the real Deepavali byliving in Brahman, and enjoy the eternalbliss of the soul.

Does that mean that she does not deserveto be protected from such horrible abuse?I can tell you with a clear conscience that Ilooked for many ways to escape my abuseas a child. If alcohol were readily availablefor me, it would have been an avenue Icould have explored to find a way to pre-tend my life was not as dreadful as it reallywas.I do not blame the woman for trying to

find an escape. However, where was herfamily to get her out of that abusive house?Why did the male neighbours not visit thishouse during one of the beatings and tellthat husband to stop beating his wife or theywould give him a beating?Yes, I know the woman should have left

the man, but until you are in an abusive re-lationship, you cannot imagine how twistedthings get in your head and how a slapacross the face can seem justified or looklike love. A normal person would never seea slap as a type of love. Only an abused per-son could make that misinterpretation.

Moreover, the woman may have felttrapped in the abuse if she did not have away to make money to feed her children.For whatever reason, this woman did notleave the abuse and no one rescued her ei-ther. And now she is dead.I cannot help but wonder how many peo-

ple tonight will listen to a woman beingbeat and do nothing to help. How manyother neighbours will ignore the yelling andthe cries of pain as they mark it off as justanother "normal beating"?There is nothing "normal" about one per-

son beating another person. In such a situ-ation, one person needs to be rescued andthe other needs to be arrested. EdmondBurke said, "All that is necessary for evil totriumph is for good men to do nothing."In this case, evil triumphed because good

men did nothing. A woman died becausegood men did nothing. Three children areorphans because good men did nothing. Butguess what? One evil man did plenty.He allegedly stabbed his wife over and

over in front of his own children and thenleft those poor kids with their dead motherfor hours in a dark house.No one saved me from my mother and no

one saved Kamal Doonwah from her hus-band. Good men did nothing. I just want toknow when good men will start doingsomething. Can someone please tell me?

Email: StellaSays@gmail.com

in some SPORTSSPORTS Indo-Caribbean Times NOVEMBER 2007 Page 22

Spinners took over in the 20th over and awily choke slowly fell into view: spin,bounce, little flight, gaps not easy to pierce,hurried play. Butt struggled against Harb-hajan Singh in particular: he hit tenfours inhis first fifty, but didn't hit another for 56balls. Yuvrajbogged Shoaib Malik downfirst, before dismissing him and in thispas-sage the result was written, though notwithout another nearly-there innings byMisbah-ul-Haq.

Yuvraj's earlier intervention was as deci-sive, with a familiar partner in crime. Yu-vraj and Dhoni spell trouble for Pakistan fortoday they puton their fourth century standagainst them in seven innings (average99.8), and like the others, this came whenit mattered most and atterrifying pace.

Pakistan had just clawed some momentumback after a poor start. Old men mightstruggle with early mornings, but SachinTendulkar and SouravGanguly were assprightly as a pair of teens after being putin. Ganguly was blessed with a life off thefirst ball of the match when Kamran Akmaldropped him and it was just the boost heneeded.

Duly, the pair punished Pakistan withboundaries. And just when another centurystand awaited ODI cricket's greatest open-ing pair, Pakistan cut their losses along withtheir pace and brought in Sohail Tanvir. Heresponded with a wonderful, controlledspell, immediately finding the edge off Ten-dulkar, who thus fell, for the second matchrunning, to cricket's unluckiest dismissal:caught Akmal.

A few run-light overs later, Ganguly toowas gone and suddenly as Gautam Gambhirwent, Pakistan strutted with collars up-turned. But not for long.Yuvraj wasdropped when still nervy, ironically byButt. Dhoni andYuvraj then took drinks,took stock and took control. Yuvraj madethefirst move, a spell of two runs in threeovers broken by two sixes,swept and drivenoff Abdur Rehman. And when fun is to behad, Dhonidoesn't miss out. He matched hisdeputy next over, though where Yuvraj ca-ressed balls with love, Dhoni fairly bludg-eoned two sixes.

Shoaib Akhtar and Afridi were treated asone, clubbed for three boundaries in twoovers. Yuvraj was choosier, sweeping Afridifor fourto reach fifty and celebrating thenext ball with six. Afridi the leg spinner isat his peak, but Indian batsmen don't care:

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two wickets in three games at nearly six anover in this series is in line with a careerbowling average of nearly 58 against India.

The pair brought up their century partner-ship in the 43rd over, and eventhoughDhoni went immediately after, India wereset. Tanvir excelled again at the death, butwas alone. Abdur Rehman was hidden foras longas possible, and when he couldn't behidden any longer, India prospered.

His last three overs went for 41, the miseryof miseries for Malik beingthat they werethe 45th, 47th and 49th of the innings. Yu-vraj and thelower order picked him forsixes as a sniper might a sitting duck. Inthe final calculation, that period sealed it.

Pakistan takesthe secondRiding on a stunning 117 by Younis Khan,Pakistan pulled off a sensational last-overvictory over India in the second ODI at Mo-hali . Pakistan's 322, their highest total in asuccessful run-chase, cancelled out SachinTendulkar's majestic 99.

Younis arrived in the middle in the sixthover of the innings with the asking rate al-ready above six. Starting cautiously, he keptthe scorecard ticking with singles and twos,sandwiched between fours through flicksoff over-pitched deliveries and glancesdown to the fineleg. While batting with Mo-hammad Yousuf, Younis did get boggeddown by the nagging line and length by theIndian bowlers but a 69-run partnershipwith Shoaib Malik and a 102-run stand withMisbah-ul-Haq always kept Pakistan in thehunt, even as the required rate touched ten-an-over.

Employing the sweep shot to great effect -in both directions - Younis swept SouravGanguly for six and Tendulkar for consec-utive fours behind square as India paid theprice for playing with four specialistbowlers.A slog sweep for his second six off Harb-hajan Singh brought up Pakistan's 200 and

Irfan Pathan, economical and accurate thusfar, was glanced fine by Younis to bring uphis first century against India.

Misbah played yet another responsible in-nings under the circumstances and eventhough his dismissal came with Pakistan onthe brink of victory, his ability to nudge sin-gles and twos with the occasional boundaryhad done much to get them that far. He sur-vived a chance when Robin Uthappadropped him off Zaheer Khan when on 25and cashed in with two fours off the bowler,who went for 15 runs in that over.

Younis' dismissal, with the target less than50 runs away, left Pakistan with the fire-power of Shahid Afridi and Sohail Tanvirto finish thingsoff in style. Afridi played atypically quickfire 14-ball 29 but theIndianbowlers and fielders were clear victims ofnerves. Frequent full tosses and a numberof dropped chances coincided with Pak-istan's mounting assault and led to their de-feat.

Earlier, rash strokeplay from India's bats-men allowed Pakistan to restrict the homeside to a total well below the 350 thatlooked possible when Tendulkar and Gau-tam Gambhir added a rollicking 173 forthe second wicket.

India, opting to bat first, suffered an earlyblow when Ganguly was bowled off an in-side edge in the first over, bringing Gamb-hir to joinTendulkar at the crease. Bothbatsmen were content to see off the newball which offered ample assistance toShoaib Akhtar and Umar Gul.

As Shoaib occasionally beat him with paceand bogged him down, Tendulkar struckthree consecutive fours off Gul's fifth over- a glance to fine leg, an edge past Younis atfirst slip, and a scorching back-foot drivethrough the covers. The fifty-run partner-ship came off only 62 balls andeven a dou-ble bowling change, when Sohail Tanvirand Iftikhar Anjum replaced the openingbowlers, failed to slow the scoring-rate.What helped India on their way to over 300were the 41 extras conceded by Pakistan inthe innings.

India and Pakistan in see saw battle of ODI’s

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India takes the thirdLed by Yuvraj Singh with bat, ball and inthe field, India repelled a determined pushfrom Salman Butt to pull off an ultimatelycomfortable 46-run win at the Green ParkStadium in Kanpur. Butt's fourth ODI hun-dred intermittently threatened India's 294but it was built without solid support andultimately wasn't enough to prevent themtaking a 2-1 series lead.

Yuvraj foiled Pakistan at key moments, firstwith an intelligent, elegant 77, then with ashining run out amid a gloomy fielding per-formance and finally with a vital wicket.The interventions were necessary for whenPakistan began the chase, their target ap-peared a stroll.

Perhaps it is the Kanpur air, but Pakistan'sopeners prosper here. Twoyears ago,Shahid Afridi terrorised India today Buttgave them a fright. It had rained boundarieswhen India's openers were at the crease ear-lier, but with Butt, Afridi and Younis Khanthere came a monsoon. Afridi set the tonefrom his first ball and though an ugly swishwas his end - Irfan Pathan is on top in thisbattle of /Pathans/ - the boundaries contin-ued.

It wasn't surprising that Butt was in the mix,for against India, he generally is. He aver-ages 45 against them, as compared to 33overall and all his hundreds have beenagainst them.

Of his initial strokes, not one would be outof place in a Test and if we're familiar withthe wristy flourishes through off, his leg-side play was surprisingly prominent. Anearly pull wide of mid-on was anappetiser,a punch through midwicket in ZaheerKhan's first over, a grand main course anda clip between the two to bring up his fiftya zesty dessert.

But India soon wised up: Zaheer switchedto round the wicket, the off side was tight-ened and Butt's cover drives made redun-dant. Boundaries vanished, runs slowed andwickets fell. For all their fielding comedy,India - or rather Yuvraj - managed to pulloff a spectacular run outwhen it mattered,with Mohammad Yousuf being the lazy, fa-miliar victim.

Indo-Caribbean Times NOVEMBER 2007 Page 23

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