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Tel: 416-289-3898 ictimes@rogers.comVol 2. No 1 January 2008

Indo-Caribbean

T IME ST IME S

One hundred years ago two historic arrivals inCanada marked the beginning of the Indo-Caribbeanpresence in this country.

A young medical student Kenneth Mahabir fromSan Fernando came to Dalhousie University in Hali-fax, Nova Scotia to become a doctor. He went to serveCanada in World War 1, and visited Trinidad, but hemade Canada his home.

Also in that same year a 25 year old English speaking clerkfrom Demerara (British Guiana) M.N Santoo migrated to Mon-treal via the ship Dahomey that docked in Halifax in summer2008.Those were the first arrivals in Canada that we know. They

performed the first rite of Indian Arrival, and from those hum-ble beginnings sprang a community of Indo-Caribbeans thatnow numbers over 200,000 spread out in every province andterritory in Canada.

This year is a special milestone for us Indo-Caribbeans. Wecan say with pride that we have placed our roots in this countryfor a century, that we have brought much with us and have muchto give to this country.

Most of us are no longer immigrants. We are Canadiansnow, but still proud of the Indian heritage and culture we havebrought from the Caribbean and are transmitting to new gen-erations. We are doing just what the jahajis did after they leftIndia to help build a new land in Trinidad, Guyana and a dozenother Caribbean countries.

It is what we must celebrate all through this year, in ourhome, our school, our places of worship, anywhere we gather..Happy Centenary! Happy Indo-Caribbean Arrival Year to all!

1908 - 2008The first century ofIndo-Caribbeanarrival in Canada

Crime crisis in TTHindu leader tells youth to leaveUNC MP says form communitypolice stations and arm yourself

Richard Aziz

MORTGAGE SPECIALIST

Acrisis of crime and safety is comingto a boil in Trinidad and Tobago, as

more people believe the country faces abreakdown of law and order.Sat Maharaj, secretary of the main Hindugroup the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha,has told young people they should leavethe country, as they have no future inTrinidad.Opposition member of parliament and

former attorney general Ramesh LawrenceMaharaj has advised communities to formtheir own community police stations be-cause the Trinidad police cannot protectthem. Maharaj has told communitiesplagued by crime to arm themselves andbe prepared to kill criminals in self de-fence.Citizens at a Tunapuna Against Crime

rally crime have said openly and withoutbeing contradicted that Trinidad and To-bago is a lawless society and is no longera safe place to live.The country racked up a record 395 mur-

ders in 2007, most of the victims beingkilled with guns, and continues in the samedirection. There were an amazing 20 mur-ders in the first 14 days of January 2008,and two kidnappings, with one of the kid-nap victims being murdered.

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Armed robber gangs, some of them usingpolice and army uniforms and police issuedguns, are pouncing on Trinis in their work-places, on the beach, at their river limes, atfunerals, in their driveways.

Kidnappings and kidnap murders con-tinue as before. Criminals are extorting pro-tection money or “coward tax” fromcitizens to spare them from kidnapping.Street vendors and taxi drivers are disap-pearing as soon it gets dark, and joining theother citizens hiding behind burglar proof-ing, fences and guard dogs and electricgates. Most Trinidadians are living under aself imposed curfew, and existing as pris-oners of their homes and their cars.

Meanwhile the police and securityforces appear unable to stop or contain thecrime wave sweeping the nation. The pop-ulation believes that many of the securityforces are corrupt, incompetent or in leaguewith the criminals. The detection rate forcrime according to a former attorney gen-eral is 10 per cent and the conviction rate isaround 1 per cent.

Law and order have broken down inpractice. Hundreds of people are migratingto safer countries. Sweet Trinidad is nomore. Something must be done beforethere is a total collapse.

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Community policingstarts in Trinidad P. 3Revival of Hinduismin the West P. 11Canada: How muchaccomodation byimmigrants P. 14Culture loss amongSt Vincent Indians P. 18

Arm yourselfand be ready tokill criminals inself defenceOpposition chief whip Ramesh Lawrence

Maharaj says the law allows for citizens tokill in self-defence. Maharaj was address-ing residents of Macaulay and Claxton Bay,One of the major concerns of the troubledvillagers was how they would be dealt withby the law if they defend themselves whenattacked by criminals.

Maharaj was adamant that citizens"should not be weak in their homes." Hetold them if an assailant entered their house,they could retaliate and even kill their at-tacker once they believed that their life wasunder threat. Urging them to continue withtheir watch groups, Maharaj said memberswho had a licensed firearm could carryit.He also saw no problem if they armedthemselves with cutlasses."The weaponsare necessary," he added.Using himself as an example, Maharaj

said he was not going to stand idly by andlet an attacker kill him. Maharaj said he hadno qualms in killing any man with his li-censed firearm, should his life come underthreat. He said even if he had a cutlass anda man attacked him, he would not hesitateto hack off the head of his assailant.

Armed securityguards take up dutyThe Opposition UNCA has launched its

own brand of community policing througha pilot project which links armed private se-curity officers with members of theMacaulay Village crime watch group.The project was launched by Tabaquite

MP Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj and Ch-aguanas (West) MP Jack Warner at theMacaulay community Centre in ClaxtonBay.Addressing a large gathering comprising

both old and young residents in front of alarge banner which read: ‘People versuscriminals. We need protection against crim-inals now’, Maharaj said security officersfrom SWAT Security Company Limitedwould be made officially available fromMonday January 14.“We are going to make this service avail-

able from tomorrow night, but we are goingto provide a service tonight but we do notwant to tell the country where that servicewould be,” he said.“The security guards would both be open

and undercover so the criminals would notknow where they are.” Speaking to re-porters following the meeting, Maharaj saidthe service would operate in pretty muchthe same way as a government-run policeservice on the streets.“It would be both covert and overt and itwill depend upon strategies and intelli-gence. I cannot disclose how it’s going towork but it’s going to work in the same wayas if a police service is on the street,” hesaid.He said the criminal element had forced

residents to become virtual prisoners intheir homes and the time had come for de-cisive action.

A record 24murders in 16days of January

An amazing 24 murders havebeen committed in Trinidad for

the first 16 days of this year, overthree times the 7 murders for thesame period last year. Twenty onehad been shot with guns, twostabbed and one beaten to deathwith a cricket bat. Four had Indiannames, Roland Naresh Toyer, Roop-narine Singh, Ravin Mannah andZorissa Bhola. Eighteen of the mur-der victims were in their teens ortwenties.This is the grim list for2008, which seems to continue therecord breaking murder spree of2007 which saw 389 murders at therate of more than one a day.

January 16: Kevin Marcano, 27 killed inArima

January 15: Ezra Mitchell, 30, shot deadin El Socorro Jason Joseph, 22, shot inDiego Martin

January 14: Shaka Wiley, 26, killed inArima.

January 13:. Bishop Williams, 24, a con-struction worker of La Brea, stabbed in thechest outside his home. Dwayne Rose, 24,of St John's Road, St Augustine, shot deadby a gunman outside a Tunapuna recreationclub. Paul Salandy, 59, a businessman kid-napped and shot to death in Arima.

January 09: Jonathan "Ants" Blanc, 22, aconstruction worker of Arima, found be-hind a house with gunshot and stab wounds.

January 7: Roland Naresh Toyer,19, ofQuarry Street, Diego Martin, shot dead athis home

January 6: Jason Hoyte, 25, ofArima, shotduring an altercation at an Aranjuez chris-tening. Roopnarine Singh, 53, of San Juan,shot while seated in his car at Morvant.

January 5: Adisa Williams, 26, a handy-man of Morvant, shot dead near his home.Trevor Timothy, 21, of Morvant, shot deadin Laventille. Anastacio "Papa" James,19,of Belmont, shot at the Belmont MoravianChurch, Laventille. Christopher LeonHenry, 49, Morvant, shot by gunmen..

January 4: Sean Wade, 23, of Belmontshot dead by three men who stormed hishome

January 2: Brandon Calica,15, of SangreGrande, beaten to death with a cricket bat..Ravin Mannah, 21, a doubles vendor ofBarataria, shot dead while returning home.Delano Mc Nicols, of Morvant, shot deadoutside his aparment complex

January 1: Andre "Cutters" Richardson,28, of Laventille, shot dead while sleepingat his home. Zorissa Bhola, 47, of JaffarStreet, Bamboo Settlement No.2, Valsayn,found stabbed in bushes in Gasparillo. Jun-ior Phillip, 18, of , Longdenville, Chagua-nas, shot outside a local pub. ShevonLamkin, 23, of Morvant shot dead whileasleep at his home. Damien Charles, 27, ofSea Lots, shot dead..

Trinidad and Tobago is a "bogus democ-racy" where only people with money

can enjoy constitutional rights, according toSatnarayan Maharaj, secretary general ofthe Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS).He delivered the stinging criticism on the

first day of the year yesterday, during a sat-sang (Hindu religious prayer meeting) atthe Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha head-quarters in St Augustine.In an emotionally charged speech, Ma-

haraj slammed the Government for thepressing problems that plague this land."I say to you and I say to the nation, don't

congratulate yourself that we are a democ-racy.We're a bogus democracy, we're asham democracy, only if you have millionsand political power you enjoy democracy,"Maharaj said.He said all over the world there is unrest

and battle for democracy, as in Pakistan andKenya, but right here at home, even thoughwe had a peaceful general elections, we re-vert to living in a place where our rights aresuppressed."We see on a daily basis our leaders going

to court and coming from court, judges arebeing threatened, the senior judge in theland, the Chief Justice, for two years wastormented and almost destroyed," he said.

He added, "We see the rise in crime.There is more blood flowing on the streetsof Trinidad than water through the pipes ofWASA. The cost of food has now become aproblem. We as a nation, we are starving inmidst of prosperity, our health care is in dis-array and as a people we cannot accessproper health services."Yes you may say we have survived, but

we have survived in a bogus democracy.Trinidad and Tobago is a bogus democ-racy."

Maharaj said because of this bogusdemocracy, the children of this nation weremigrating."The brainpower in this land is moving

away and I am saying 'yes move out', be-cause there is a glass ceiling, only the pre-ferred should cross that glass ceiling."Adding there was no reason for our chil-

dren to remain here, because they wouldonly be denied the right to expand theirmind and do the things they are qualified todo, he said, "The biggest hypocrite ... indenying the people their freedom andrights, is always the Government and theState."He said the Government runs this coun-

try according to its own whims and fanciesand this is the only democratic country heknows where a referendum was never heldon any topic.Maharaj said this country had not yet de-

generated into open warfare, but we wereliving in a country where "we don't knowwho is police and who is thief, this is a fact,this is stark reality".He said the emotional connection people

have to this land is the main reason whymany are still here."I'm going to be cremated on the banks

of the Caroni River...This is the place whereI was born, this is the place where my fa-ther and grandfather was buried."Reiterating that the new generation will

not remain here because the politicians aredriving them out., he said we must look for-ward."We must go back to looking inward,

protecting our communities and villages,we must always stand up and speak outand fight against anybody who has deniedus our freedom.

Former attorney general and Member ofParliament for Tabaquite, Ramesh

Lawrence Maharaj, says if Governmentdoes not act to protect citizens, he wouldencourage them to form their own citizenspolice stations, vigilante or watch groups.And he says he would help provide armed

security guards to assist citizens "to trackdown the criminals in the area, catch themand then deliver them to the police".Maharaj, who was addressing a meeting

of crime-affected villagers at the MacaulayCommunity Centre, Claxton Bay , toldthem if Government failed to provide po-lice protection against criminals, peoplewould be acting legally if they take upweapons to injure or even kill their attack-ers in self defence.

The residents of Macaulay and sur-rounding areas, which include the con-stituencies of Pointe-a-Pierre andTabaquite, complained of an upsurge ofcrime and lack of police action. They saidwithin recent months, there had been an in-crease in hold-ups, robberies, car theft,house breaking, rapes and murders.Maharaj said the history of the law is that

a man's house is his castle and "when some-body leaves the road and go to your home,they must be prepared to face the conse-quences. You are entitled to use whateverforce necessary to protect everyone in yourhome and your life".Urging citizens not to sit back and allow

bandits to terrorise their lives, Maharaj said:"The law is that you do not have to wait forsomeone to kill you before you act in selfdefence. So if I am walking out of the doorand a man comes to me with a gun I do nothave to wait for him to fire, I can take outmy revolver and shoot him and kill him,and that would be self-defense."If a man comes to attack my family in

my house, I do not have to wait for police tocome, I am entitled to use reasonable forceto protect my house and family, even if itmeans shooting at his feet."He stressed that as MP, it was his duty to

encourage his constituents to defend them-selves, especially because the Constitutiongives every citizen the human and funda-mental rights to life and enjoyment of prop-erty.Responding to critics who spoke against

citizens deciding to form watch-groups toprotect themselves in the absence of policeprotection, Maharaj said: "The alternativeof not defending themselves is to permitcriminals to kill, kidnap, rape and rob de-fenceless people."The former attorney general said: "It is

totally false for anyone to give the impres-sion that such watch-groups with the assis-tance of such security personnel are notpermitted by the law or in any way are dan-gerous to law-abiding citizens.”

1% convictionrate for crimesResponding to plans by Manning to

amend the laws on hanging, Rameshwanted to know if Prime Minister PatrickManning plans to hang "invisible people".He noted that "for you to reach the stage

of the death penalty, you first have to de-tect, to hold and then convict"."So it is a national joke for the Prime

Minister, in a situation where there is a tenper cent detection rate and a one per centconviction rate, to talk about implementingthe death penalty as a solution to crime,"

Trinidad crime crisisRamesh starts communityfight back against criminals

Sat: TT a bogusdemocracy, childrenare migrating

COMMUNITY NEWS Indo-Caribbean Times JANUARY 2008 Page 3Extra Carnivalflights to TrinidadCaribbean Airlines is putting on additionalflights to Trinidad in all its NorthAmericanroutes to accommodate peak Carnivaltravel. Two flights a week will be added tothe normal NewYork schedule, resulting in13 flights a week, while Toronto flights in-crease to ten flights a week, up by twoflights. “Toronto flights will be serviced bythe usual two class configuration aircraft,while the extra New York services will op-erate in all economy configuration.“CaribbeanAirlines will also add new non-stop flights from Port-of-Spain to Kingstonbefore and after Christmas,” compliment-ing the daily scheduled flights to Kingston.Additional non-stop services will be addedto the Miami route.

GOPIO Trinidad seeksCanada based membersGOPIO Trinidad and Tobago is seeking

the support from Trinis at home and fromCaribbean people in Canada and othercountries abroad for its inauguralFundraiser Awards/Dinner event on Febru-ary 29. Tickets are priced at $TT200 (about$30 US or Canadian, and 15 Britishpounds).Organization president Deosaran Bisnath

revelas that he has had queries from a fewpeople abroad, and in response is setting upa PayPal account to facilitate purchase oftickets and donations to GOPIO Trinidad &Tobago.The group is also looking forward to in-

dividuals becoming members and partici-pating in the activities of GOPIO Trinidad& Tobago. Membership is open toCaribbean people living abroad

Please contact at GOPIOTT@gmail.com, deobisnath@yahoo. com, or 868 6877529 for more information.

Sam Persad passes on at 83Barbados Labour Partydefeated in electionsDefying tremendous odds, David Thomp-son led the Democratic Labour Party to acomprehensive victory against OwenArthur and the Barbados Labour Party inthe general election earlier this week.It was a doubly sweet comeback victory

for the 48-year-old attorney, who had lostthe leadership of his party following hissecond successive defeat at the polls in the2003 general election.

He had resumed the DLP leadershipwhen the man who replaced him, ClydeMascoll, defected to the ruling BLP twoyears ago, and became a Minister of State.

With a voter turn out said to be in thehigh 60s, the DLPwon 20 of the 30 seats inthe Barbados House ofAssembly, in resultswhich saw several of the members of theformer Cabinet going down in the BLP de-feat.

OwenAathur was seeking a fourth elec-tion term, but could not convince the vot-ers this time.

Camille is newTT envoy toCanadaCamille Robinson-Regis is Trinidad and

Tobago’s new High Commissioner toCanada. She replaces Arnold Piggott whoheld the position until he was brought backto Trinidad in 2006 to serve as Minister ofForeign Affairs. Robinson-Regis receivedher letter of appointment recently from For-eign Affairs Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon.An attorney, Robinson-Regis last served inthe Patrick Manning Government as MP forArouca South. She also served as Ministerof Planning and Development, Legal Af-fairs, Consumer Affairs, and even acted asAttorney General.

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Sam Persad, known to most as “Papa Sam”,passed away quietly in Toronto on January4.Sam, who was a foundation member of

the Satja Jyoti Cultural Sabha, and a pillarof the Indo-Trinidadian community inToronto. Over 500 people attended theviewing and the funeral service, which ac-cording to the funeral agency was thelargest funderal they had ever seen.He leaves behind his wife, four grownchildren, and six grandchildren. His asheswill be scattered in Lake Ontairo and in theCaroni River in Trinidad.

Canada urges cautionwhen visiting TTCanada is advising visitors to Trinidad

to mainain a “high degree of caution”when visiting T&T, “due to high crimerates.”Its Travel Advice notes that “robberies

with violence, including assaults and rape,occur frequently” in Port-of-Spain, SanFernando and other urban areas.It says “crimes of opportunity such as

petty theft tend to increase during...Carni-val in February or March and during theChristmas holidays.”As it has in the past, it maintains that

“incidents of gangs following cars leavingPiarco Airport and robbing travellers oncethey reach their destination have been re-ported.”In a one-sentence reference to Tobago, it

states “tourists and foreign nationals arealso victims of crime” on the island.Several countries have been issuingtravel warnings or advisories about T&Tfor the past three years when the homicideand kidnappings rate began to escalate.Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Of-fice (FCO) updated the travel advisory on

its Web site www.fco.gov.uk to warn trav-ellers “you should be aware that there arehigh levels of violent crime, includingshootings and kidnappings.”It notes that “British nationals have been

victims of violent attacks, particularly inTobago where law enforcement is weak.”It also states that “cruise ship passengers

should take particular care when walkingalong the docks and downtown (Port-of-Spain).”

Giving examples of British nationalsbeing attacked, injured and robbed, it warnsof an increase in attacks at tourist sites andcar parks of supermarkets, shopping malls,restaurants and business premises.In Tobago, it says, visits are generally

trouble-free but refers to incidents of rob-bery and violence, including rape.It advises caution in renting villas in the

south-west of the island, near Bethel, Buc-coo, Mount Pleasant and Plymouth.Australia has at Travel Advice which

also warns a “high degree of caution” dueto “high levels of serious crime.”The United States notes that “incidents

of violent crime have been steadily on therise on both islands.”It goes on to warnagainst using maxi taxis as they “havebeen linked to many road accidents andsome instances of crime.

It pays toadvertise in theIndo-CaribbeanTimes

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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

COMMENTARY Indo-Caribbean Times JANUARY 2008 Page 4

Trinidad psychic YeseniaGonzalez has predicted

food riots, a political coupin Parliament, Prime Minis-ter Manning becoming exec-utive president, and crimeover-runing the nation. NowI could have predicted those

too, as well as some of Yesenia's other pro-nouncements.Trinidad seems to be taking a spiralling

course downwards, in spite of its abundantoil money, in the way the Nigeria has donefor the last few years. Yesenia could wellhave looked there when she predicted po-litical intrigue and turmoil that could createuprisings, major scandals, and a change inthe parliamentary system. She feels PatrickManning could succeed in becoming Exec-utive President, though I don't know whyhe would want that since he is already aconstitutional dictator. Yesenia predicted Ramesh Lawrence Ma-haraj will replace Basdeo Panday as UNCleader, and that was a low blow. When Ilook at the other people who were tipped tosucceed Panday rotting in the politicalcemetery, I have to feel sorry for poorRamesh Lawrence.But it's not all bad from Yesenia. She says

that in the coming year T&T will see majorgrowth in the economy as oil prices con-tinue to rise, and international investorsflock to local soil. Manning has the luck ofthe devil, much as Eric Williams did, andhigher oil prices have rescued him before.

Some more predictions are natural toTrinidad:More money for Cepep workers will createconfusion among the population, she says.On the Carnival front, mas lovers can ex-pect a hike in the price of costumes and ex-pect a major break-up among members ofthe National Carnival Commission.There will be a legal battle among the var-ious Carnival organisations as scandal andallegations of bribery emerge.Carnival will become highly commer-cialised, creating big businesses for

political gains.The Police Service will be divided inter-nally.Many police officers will be arrested forcorruption, she predicts.

On matters of national security, Yeseniahad very little work to do in predicting thatin 2008, crime will overwhelm the country,and that food prices will soar to the extentwhere people will be breaking into otherpeople's homes to get food. Riots will occurand people will call on the Government re-duce the price of food and medication.When I saw a lady in HI-LO paying out$585 TT for one third full grocery cart Icould see that food trouble is coming forTrinidad.

Yesenia feels that Trinidad will witnessincreased industrialisation as plenty moneywill be flowing into the country. But thepeople will not receive any of the wealth.The gap between the rich and poor will onlywiden, causing major conflict.

As I said, I could have predicted that. I'vebeen observing Trinidad politics for a fewdecades, and will go along with Yeseniawhen she predicts major confusion aboutcontracts and acquisition of land, many inhigh offices charged with corruption, thechanging of the organisational structure ofthe public sector and moving around peo-ple. I remember millstones being insultedby Dr Williams, as well as past examples ofher predictions of “a lot of disagreement,controversy and hasty decisons by the Gov-ernment against the media.

Absolutely no surprises there and thesame with “ a major controversy in thePNM resulting in the party being split lateron”, cabinet reshuffles because certainministers will be branded as not performingtheir duties, and trouble ahead for the UNCas two of their seats come into question.Every political reporter in Trinidad haswritten those stories with the names and

dates the only change.

Now Yesenia will have to be more creativein her crime predictions to shut out ama-teurs like me. Robberies will increase, therewill be internal problems in the executiveof the Police Service, criminals will turntheir weapons on lawmen and police offi-cers will face major danger, especially fe-male officers. Those aren't predictions, butreports taken from the newspapers.

I could say the same for Yesenia's predic-tions on health, which are that the healthsector will worsen, the shortage of beds andequipment will continue and there will bemany deaths in the hospitals, an acuteshortage of drugs, and sick people will havea difficult time getting their prescriptionsfilled. Those are history notes from the six-ties.

She thinks the traffic problem will get sobad that many people will now lookto the East to live and to set up businesses,families will migrate from the West to theEast, and the Interchange, now under con-struction, will be of little help. These haveall been happening for years now, and areonly a continuation of past problems.Now I am not saying that Yesania doesn’tknow her business. She has made some as-tounding predictions in the past, including:Soca Warriors will go to the World Cup in2006, Hugo Chavez will lose in his bid to createconstitutional reform in Venezuela.Election deadlock in 2001 of 18-18A November 2007 general electionerrorists in T&T will be found and extra-dited to the US.

That’s sereious stuff. Take your marks,Yesenia. I hate to say this, but I have toagree with all your predictions for Trinidad.This is becoming a depressingly easy placeto read, with the emphasis on depressing.I couldn’t make my living doing predictionsfor Trinidad.

From the editor’s desk

Predictable predictions for TT in 2008

Ram Jagessar

Coolie wanted to dieDesperate Attempt of a West In-dian to End His Life at the Battery

(From The New York Times July 12,1897)

A West Indian coolie. with an unpro -nounceable and unspellable name, hasat tracted a good deal of attention at theBarge Office for three weeks past.When be first appeared, he said that hehad ,arrived a week vrevious on thesteamship Caribbee, from Trinidad. Hehad meantime been robbed of $100, hesaid, and having become penniless,asked to be sent back to Trinidad. In-vestigation failed to find that he hadbeen a passenger on the Caribbee, andnothing was done for him .. He hung about Battery Park, despon-

dently, until about a week ago, when hewent to the Barge Office and flung him-

self down upon the steps, and refusedto move. He had no money and hadnothing to eat. He was exhausted, andunless aided, he said, could do nothingbut die. This appeal could not go unno-ticed. He was taken in by the immigra-tion officials and fed, and then anambulance took him to the New YorkHos pital, where he was kept till strongenough to go abroad. Then he was dis-charged, and immediately he went backto Battery Park to wait for something toturn up.

Nothing turned up to relieve thecoolie's wants or the monotony of wait-ing, and yesterday morning, it appears,he thought It time to do something.Going to the Barge Office steps again,the unfortunate fellow took off hisshoes and socks, and de positing them,together with a small bundle and hiscoat to one side, he ran around the Bat-

tery pier and sprang overboard. The Liberty Island boat lay alongside

the pier. It was filled withpassengers,and hundreds of persons were linedalong the sea. wall. There were imme-diate cries of "man overboard," and thecongregating of an immensecrowd.Various things were thrown tothe would-be suicide. who was seenswimming l!ke a duck, or rather tread -ing water, while a swift current settingover toward the East River was carry-ing him rapidly toward Staten Island.Lines and buoys were thrown him fromthe Barge Office pier. but he did not seethem. As he was carried past the rev-enue cutter ship Lieut. Scott, of the cut-ter Chandler, flung a life preserver witha line attached out to him. It fell withinten feet. The coolie had evidently bythis time changed his programme, forhe struck out for the float ing ring. Thetide was too much for him, however,

and he was swept against the hull ofone of the Staten Island ferryboats.which was about to leave her slip. He caught hold of one of the braces

be neath her guards just as the paddlesbe gan to turn. It looked as though thecoolie must be drawn beneath the bigwheel, when shouts from the shore andpassengers on the forward deck at-tracted the pilot's attention, and he hadthe engines stoppcd.

Policeman Thompson and PeterRiley, a boatman, had meantime put offin a White hall boat from the BatteryBasin, and they rescued the man. Hewas taken back to the basin and liftedup to the seawalI, where a. big crowdgathered about him as he lay on thepavement. apparently in a very weakcondition, pending the arrival of an am -bulance. He was taken to the HudsonStreet Hospital.

Trinidad “coolie” immigrant makes ahard landing in New York, July 1897

Researcher Lloyd Harradandiscovers a historic early ar-rival in the United States, prob-ably the first Indian to comefrom Trinidad to New York

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO NEWS Indo-Caribbean Times JANUARY 2008 Page 5

fear and incompetence. On the opening dayof Parliament, the Government should havegiven the country a sense of hope but theyhave not done that."Members of the anti-crime rally, includ-

ing children, eventually held up their anti-crime placards in plain view of passingvehicles as they carried out a silent protest.Standing feet away from the dead man,

one marcher stood silently as he held aplacard which read "Crime is a national cri-sis". Express 2007.12.18

PUT DOWN YOUR GUNSTHIS CHRISTMAS

Theodore LewisSunday, December 16th 2007

One Christmas Day during World War II,in an act of spontaneity, German and Britishtroops began singing a carol and soon theyleft their trenches, dropped their weapons,walked toward each other and embraced, inrecognition of their mutual humanness thatthe war had forced them to suppress.It is the nature of wars, whether between

nations, or ethnic groups as in Bosnia , ortribes as in Rwanda , or gangs as in Mor-vant, Laventille, or Diego Martin, or Nel-son Street , that it requires suppression ofour humanness so we can objectify theother. In that way, we could walk up to ahuman being and take his life for the sim-plest of things. But these soldiers in WorldWar II, at least for that day, allowed them-selves to be overcome by their humanness,and instead of shooting at their enemies inrival trenches, did something muchgrander-they hugged.I am calling on my young brothers, in

Laventille, and Morvant, and Diego Mar-tin, and the other ghetto spaces in the land,this Christmas, to put down their guns, andtry to find each other. The reason is simple-it will be a while before the current fire thatis raging among you will burn itself out,leaving behind lots of young black corpses,with holes in their skulls, and in the end, inthe ashes, we will have young widows, andeven younger orphans, black babies andchildren without fathers, now dead for hav-ing gotten themselves caught in this spi-ralling whirlpool of gangsterism, that hasappetite only for the young and the black.Or so it seems.Black men, we survived the Middle Pas-

sage, our ancestors did, and then the inhu-manity of slavery, and the arrogance of thecolonial master, to claim this land, and nowhaving done all of that we kill each other inpursuit of what? The newspapers are keep-ing score each day-300, 310, 315. Keepingscore in this game of death that no one canwin. Those likely to die in a war are those inthe fight, at the front lines.Soon it will be your turn, my brother, to

die, face down on a dirty pavement, in Mor-vant, and Laventille, and Diego Martin. Noone lives in more fear than you, who,caught up in this game of murder, set to themusic of 50-Cent and others, must watchyour back constantly, for a while at least.Because, as sure as the cock will crow inthe morning, on a tree in Patna or CovigneRoad , you will die.You will be bad, for a year, for a time,

you will feel big and strong, having thepower to kill, and maybe kill again, but inthe end, it will be your turn. To die.In the old days, when the men from the

hill went to war, men representing Silkhats,or Marabuntas, or Applejackers, or Desper-adoes or Renegades, they left each other

Patrick X and the Killings in TrinidadChronicles from the killingfields of Trinidad compiledby Lloyd Harradan

Minister of National Security MartinJoseph at a seven minute news conferenceon January 3rd 2008 admitted that Govern-ment's initiatives to arrest gang-relatedcrime have failed. Joseph said some of themeasures Government had put in place todeal specifically with gang-related violencewere the Homicides Prevention WorkingGroup, the Homicides Bureau of Investiga-tion, the Repeat Offenders Programme andthe Inter-Agency Task Force which wasused "as a crime suppression mechanism."“Clearly it did not work,” Joseph an-nounced. Is that news to anyone?In what was clearly a trial balloon the Ex-

press published an editorial suggesting alimited state of emergency.

Police and relatives of a St Josephteenager remain baffled yesterday about themotive behind his murder.Eighteen-year-old Christopher Singh was

shot several times while walking on Agos-tini Street, St Joseph, yesterday morning.He was returning from his girlfriend’shome, not far away.Singh was shot at about 12.20 am and

was pronounced dead at the Eric WilliamsMedical Sciences Complex (EWMSC)shortly afterwards.

FLASHBACKOn December 4, State witness Kelly

“Machine Gun” Denoon, 31, was killed athis home in John John, Laventille.Denoon was a State witness in the trial of

the 2005 killing of a Unemployment ReliefProgramme worker on the Brian LaraPromenade.

TEEN'S MURDER PUSHES TOLL TO 383

Denyse RenneSunday, December 30th 2007

With just one day before the start of anew year, the murder toll continued toclimb yesterday, following the shooting ofa St Joseph teenager.

The killing of Christopher Singh haspushed the murder toll to 383 for the year,this figure has already surpassed last year'sby 12, and is three short of 2005's toll.Homicide detectives say they are yet to

establish a motive for Singh's killing.Singh, 18, an employee of Bermudez Bis-

cuits, lived on Agostini Street, St Josephand was walking along the street when agunman ran up to him and started shooting.Singh was shot five times about the body.The incident occurred at around 12.30 a.m.He was rushed to the Eric Williams Med-

ical Sciences Complex (EWMSC) where hewas pronounced dead on arrival.Upon returning to the shooting scene,

homicide detectives heard several gunshotscoming from Sutton Street , which is a fewmetres from Agostini Street .When the detectives investigated, they

saw a man running with blood flowing fromhis left hand. The man identified himselfas Harold Gould.Gould ,30, told police he was asleep at his

Sutton Street home when someone shot himthrough his bedroom window.He was rushed to the EWMSC where he

remains warded nursing four gunshot

wounds to his left hand. St Joseph Policeare continuing investigations.Shawn Neaves who was also shot in Tu-

napuna around 8 p.m. on Friday, wastreated and discharged. Neaves, 24, report-edly had an argument with a man near theTunapuna Market.

The man pulled out a gun and shotNeaves in the neck. A passer-by droveNeaves to hospital. Tunapuna Police arecontinuing investigations.

KILLED TO SEND A MESSAGE

Toll for 2007 goes to 373Wednesday, December 26th 2007Last year's murder toll of 371 has been

surpassed by two, which includes the mur-der of a man described as a close relative ofa gang member.The man was shot dead onChristmas Eve after his killer wished him a"Merry Christmas".

The toll for this year now stands at373.Dead is Joseph Phillip, 35, of Augus-tine Lane , Gonzales.He was not a member of any gang but hewas killed to send a message to a relative,investigators believe.Phillip was due to be married next month,

the Express learned. Commenting about thetoll, Deputy Commissioner of PoliceGilbert Reyes said, "We are very concernedabout what is happing with the toll and weare asking people to provide the police withwhatever information they may have withregards to the murders taking place."Police said that at 6.45 p.m. on Monday,

Phillip was dropping off a few cases of beerat a parlour at St Barbs Road , Belmont ,when a gunman walked up to him.Eyewitnesses told the police that the man

told Phillip, "Merry Christmas. Ah hopeyou enjoy the gift." Then the man shot himseveral times. Phillip died instantly.Thekiller then ran off.Police have ruled out robbery since noth-

ing was taken. Officers from the HomicideBureau, Port of Spain are continuing inves-tigationsThe search for the killer continuedup to late last night.Hours later there was another shooting

incident in Port of Spain. Police said that at10.45 p.m. Corey Haynes, 19,was standingnear the Mango Rose, Laventille apartmentscheme when he was approached by threemen all armed with guns.The men opened fired on Haynes who is

a construction worker and ran off. Hayneswas taken to the Port of Spain General Hos-pital where an emergency operation wasperformed. He was in stable condition at thehospital last night.Besson Street CID detectives who are

continuing enquiries into the shooting couldnot say what was the motive for the shoot-ing.

DEAD MAN FOUND AT ANTI- CRIME RALLY

In a brutal and ironic twist, a homelessman was badly beaten and left for dead me-tres away from where an anti-crime rallywas being held at Victoria Square , Port ofSpain , yesterday afternoon“Never in my wildest dreams I thought I

would have witnessed this. This tells youwhere our country is going," said UnitedNational Congress Alliance member WadeMark, who had been invited to participatein the march."People are being murdered in broad day-light just opposite an anti-crime rally.....thecountry is under siege. It is under the grip of

wounded on the battlefield, and they re-treated to the hill, and the music could helptake their minds away, and many of themlived to old age. Maybe it is the new age oftechnology, the gun replacing the iron bolt,and killing becoming so much easier. Theold warriors from the hill lived, thoughmany could show the scars of war.That old generation of tough men always

gave themselves room for peace. Theyknew that the hill had to be shared and thatno one would be left standing if they did notcompromise.As I gazed on the hills recently in the

night, I could not discern the difference asI swivelled my eyes from Laventille to St.Ann 's, the lights shining innocently. And atthe one end of this arc, I imagined peoplein their gated communities, living in fear,and bolted inside, and at the other end, Iimagined the young man of 18, black andimpressionable, living in a deeper moredesperate fear, because for him, that night,it would either be kill or be killed.Who has a greater fear than the young

black man in our land, caught up in theghetto? His gun cannot save him fromdeath.

The surest way to escape death, mybrother, is to stand down from the heat,tough as that is to do.Christmas is a time for compromise. My

brothers, look at your children. You shouldbe around to take them down the hill on thefirst day of school, or to go shopping withthem for uniforms when they pass the SEAExam.Black warriors, put down your guns this

Christmas, and forever. You are in a battleno one can win. Soon you will be dead ifyou remain on this battlefield.What is it about us, black men? Why are

we the only ones caught up in this self-in-flicted, stupid genocidal war? Why is therenot this perpetual counting of dead bodiesin Westmoorings, or Cascade, or Valsayn,or Preysal, or Penal?So where are the spoils from this great

war black man. Where are your groceries inyour communities, your factories, yourbusinesses? What does the race benefitfrom your war?Is it because you are braver black man,

than young brothers from other races? Or isit because, as before, you are easily fooledby the shining trinket held before you?What shall we tell your children black

man, about you, when you are gone, pickedup at the corner with holes in your skull?Shall we tell them that you were some bigman? Please put down your guns thisChristmas, and forever. Hug each other mybrothers. There are larger wars in the land tofight, such as educating our children, andtrying to own our own businesses. We needyou in this larger war.Black men, please emancipate yourselvesfrom mental slavery. Put down your gunsthis Christmas, and try to live to see yourchildren grow up.* Theodore Lewis is Professor in the De-

partment of Work and Human Resource Ed-ucation at the University of Minnesota ,USA.

(CONTINUED ON PAGE 10)

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO Indo-Caribbean Times JANUARY 2008 Page 6

First kidnap on2nd day of 2008A man who drove a private car for hire

became the year's first kidnap victim onJanuary 2, when he was snatched shortlyafter he parked his car after finishing workfor the night. Relatives received a telephonecall next day from a man who demanded$50,000 and cocaine and marijuana, for thesafe release of Kimo Evans.Police said at around 10 p.m., Evans, 37,

parked his car at St James Street, Mara-bella, a couple blocks away from hisGeorge Street home, when he was con-fronted by three men who pulled up in a car.A scuffle broke out between Evans and themen, during which time a gunshot is be-lieved to have been fired. Evans was over-powered by the men and forced into thewaiting car.

Anti crime rally says Trinidad not safe to liveInfection shutsdown dialysis atSando hospital Diabetics in south Trinidad are out of luckif they are looking dialysis treatment at theSan Fernando General Hospital. The dialy-sis unit at the San Fernando General Hos-pital has been shut down indefinitely, after19 catheter lines have been found to be con-taminated. This poses a serious an infectionrisk to patients. Over 50 patients have been affected by thetemporary closure of the unit, as they wereunable to receive treatment since late lastweek. The catheter is a hollow tube em-ployed to drain fluids from body duringdialysis in patients whose kidneys are notfunctioning properly. A health official said it was uncertain whatcould have caused the contamination, but“The necessary steps have been taken todeal with the problem.” The official saidpatients would be treated with antibioticswhile the situation is being rectified. Thir-teen kidney failure patients who were ad-mitted to San Fernando General Hospital onJanuary 7 are now suffering from the effectsof enterobacteria, which can be fatal if it isnot treated in the early stages.

The patients are among 29 people with kid-ney ailments who were admitted to the in-stitution following problems associatedwith the catheter used in the haemodialysisequipment to treat them. Eight have beenallowed to go home.

The equipment was shut down on January 7for what was described as "sanitisation',after some patients became ill after treat-ment.

Huge armedgang raid Central car firm

Nine men with guns robbed a foreignused vehicle business in Chaguanas thisweek, and left with rides worth more than$350,000.At around 2 p.m., the criminals entered

Auto Rex, a company on the MulchanSieuchan Road near the Endeavour Over-pass.The employees were held at gunpoint and

forced to hand over the keys to two NissanAd Wagons and a Toyota Hilux pick upvan.Police swarmed the area within minutes,

but said the suspects split up and could haveused any of nine escape routes to get out ofthe borough.A police helicopter and highway patrol

officers were searching for the vehicles upto last night.The car firm was robbed last year, and

several suspects are before the courtcharged with that crime.

Central womanrobbed and rapedby taxi driverA Central woman was raped by the driver

of a “PH” taxi on an early Saturday nightrecently.The 29-year-old woman who was on her

way home reportedly boarded the vehicleshortly after 7 pm on the corner of Eleanorand Marc Street, in the vicinity of MontroseVedic School in Chaguanas. When the vehicle reached the vicinity of

Edinburgh Gardens, the four other occu-pants proceeded to rob the woman of hercellphone and a quantity of cash and jew-elry. She was then taken to a desolate area in

Carlsen Field and raped by the driver.This is one of several recent incidents

where passengers in taxis have been robbedby other passengers, sometimes in collabo-ration with the taxi-drivers. Many ofTrinidad’s regular taxi drivers have stoppedworking at night because of crime, and insome cases private taxis have taken up theslack.

2nd kidnap victim killedTrinidad's latest kidnap victim, 59 year

old businessman Paul Salandy, has beenfound dead with gunshot wounds along theGuanapo Road, Arima last Thursday, justhours before his relatives received a$300,000 or a half-kilo-of-cocaine ransomdemand for his safe return. He had been re-ported missing from his travel agency. Sa-landy, who had Trinidad and Venezueladual citizenship, was the father of eightchildren who live abroad. The family arenow considering their next move, as theywould like to pay final respects to their de-ceased father but are too afraid to return toTrinidad.

Bandits terroriseCaura limersThree armed and masked gunmen robbed

over 20 people who were enoying a Fridayafternoon “river lime” at Caura River ear-lier this month.

Several frightened foreigners wereamong the shocked Trinis who witnessedthe bandits robbing limers of their valu-ables. One man said his family had to fleethe scene. "Man, woman, woman with chil-dren...everybody had to run up the river,"he said. The bandits escaped after tradinggunshots with Tunapuna police respondingto frantic calls by bathers."What is thisplace coming to?" the man asked, "that peo-ple can't even have a river lime in peace."

Zorisha founddead on NewYear’s DayThe new year started on a grim note with

the discovery of the body of a middle agedIndian woman Zorisha Bholo of BambooSettlement. Bholo, who was unemployedand lived alone, was last seen alive theweekend before Christmas. Her body wasfound in the bushes off BhagwansinghTrace, Caratal Road, Gasparillo. Police be-lieve she was raped before being killed.

Witness againstMuslimeen leadergunned downSalim "Small Salim" Rasheed, one of the

main witnesses in a failed conspiracy tomurder trial against Jamaat-al-Muslimeenleader Imam Yasin Abu Bakr, was gunneddown in broad daylight just before the newyear.Rasheed, 33, was killed by an un-known gunman while he was at his Unem-ployment Relief Programme (URP) jobsitelocated on the roadside at Seventh Avenue,Malick.

Anti crime rally:TT not safe Victims of crime and members of the pub-lic who came out to support the TunapunaAgainst Crime anti-crime rally in Port-of-Spain recently voiced their displeasure atthe country's spiralling crime rate, sayingT&T was no longer a safe place to live.The group was formed recently by de-

feated Tunapuna UNC Alliance candidateChristine Newallo-Hosein, whose son waskidnapped and beaten in 2005. Newallo-Hosein appealed to Social DevelopmentMinister Amery Browne to give the Crimi-nal Injuries Act board power to assist vic-tims of crime, who had no where to turn forcounselling.A member of the public Juliet des Vignes,

whose daughter was killed one year ago,said her family was going through a toughtime trying to cope."People are dying like flies and nobody

cares. The Government does not have thepolitical will to fight crime, although theirduty is to protect each and every citizen.The criminals have no fear for the policeand courts. They are doing what they want.We are living in a lawless society."

Life gettingharder for poorDeputy Chaguanas Mayor Orlando Nages-sar says life is becoming increasinglyharder for T&T's poor. He made the com-ment while distributing food hampers toneedyfamilies in Felicity. Nagessar warned thatthe cost of living had risen drastically, andthe price of food had risen by more than 40per cent inthe last year. He called on the Governmentto make the special chicken family packsavailable to all in order to meet the needsof the working class families and those liv-ing on the edge of poverty.

Killer bees kill pensionerAnother deadly menace stalking Trinidad-killer bees- has caused the death of a PetitValley pensioner. Nathaniel James, 74, ofTara Drive in Petit Valley, died last weekafter “thousands of bees” stung him aboutthe body. Residents in the area where James lived

said the bees became agitated because of vi-brations from a tractor at a nearby plot ofland. James’ relatives said they heard theirdogs “getting on wild,” and when theyrushed outside to investigate, they sawJames lying on the road, covered by “thou-sands and thousands of bees.” Everyonehad to rush back inside the house becausethere were so many bees, and nobody couldrescue James who was bawling for help.

One relative said the ambulance re-sponded almost one hour after the call wasmade. A local resident said he had contactedthe Apiaries Unit of the Ministry of Agri-culture in December about the same beehive, but was told they had no transport, asthe vehicle at the unit “was not licenced.”

Army outfits found on criminalsCamouflage outfits worn by soldiers, a

beret, two ski-masks and two pairs of army-issued boots were among a cache of armsand ammunition seized by police in Erinthis week. Police held two men, a 35-year-old taxi-driver of Cocorite and a 19-year-old labourer of Carenage, when theyintercepted the seven-seater mini-van car-rying Venezuelan merchandise. In the ve-hicle, police discovered a cache-a Tech-9machine-gun, Smith and Wesson 9mmhandgun, 53 bullets and 145 kilogrammesof marijuana worth an estimated $1.5 mil-lion. Investigators said they also found some-

thing more disturbing-three camouflageoutfits worn by members of the Trinidadand Tobago Defence Force, a beret, two ski-masks and two pairs of army-issued boots.Last weekend in Central Trinidad, police

arrested a car thief dressed in the uniformof a soldier, who has since been identifiedby his senior officers and is being soughtfor questioning. Efforts to contact the pub-lic relations department of the T&T Regi-ment were unsuccessful.But a source attached to the Regiment

said several of the uniforms seized weregenuine and the army would probe how theuniforms got into the hands of the criminalelement. The source added that the uni-forms seized have the names and regimen-tal numbers of soldiers and they areexpected to be interrogated and possiblyconfined to barracks until senior officers getto the bottom of the problem.

GUYANA NEWS Indo-Caribbean Times JANUARY 2008 Page 7

Only 'minimal'success frompoverty reductionpapers -PM Hinds

The success rate of the poverty reductionstrategy papers over the last five years

has been minimal with no significant re-duction in moderate and extreme povertylevels countrywide.

It is against this backdrop that PrimeMinister Samuel Hinds, at the opening ofconsultations yesterday, charged the partic-ipants, for the 2008-2012 paper, to find outwhy there have been such poor results andto make recommendations about what canbe done to correct shortcomings. The Re-gion Four round kick-started the processwhich will continue in all ten regions overthe next two weeks.Hinds told the participants that the results

in two poverty status surveys conducted in1999 and 2006, following the implementa-tion of the first Poverty Reduction StrategyPaper (PRSP), have been marginal. He saidthe 1999 report showed that the nationalmoderate poverty level was 36% and ex-treme poverty levels stood at 19%.At the end of 2006 when another assess-

ment was done, Hinds said, the implemen-tation of the programmes set out in thepaper had only showed marginal reductionin the poverty levels. The moderate povertylevel only declined by 3% and to 33% andextreme poverty, by 1% to 18%. "I am notknowledgeable of the procedure of measur-ing the levels, but on the surface, the im-provement is marginal," the prime ministertold the gathering. "We have to see what hasbeen accomplished so far and why resultshave not been better and what could bedone to see more reduction in poverty lev-els," he added.Hinds also disclosed that higher levels of

poverty were found in Regions One, Sevenand Nine. He said too that the other regionshad experienced some degree of poverty re-duction. The prime minister said that the as-sessment showed that 75% of Amerindiancommunities were considered poor.Meanwhile, Hinds said his government

has implemented economic policies and re-forms in many sectors and has maintained asound macroeconomic framework althougheconomic growth has not been very signif-icant. He also said that though the govern-ment has invested heavily in the educationand health sectors, their returns would notbe seen in the short term but as the pro-gramme progresses. He posited a similarview as regards infrastructure.However the prime minister also said that

citizens have a role to play in the growthand development of the country. He saidthat the government had implementedmany programmes sector-wide as it worksto achieve the Millennium DevelopmentGoals by the 2015 target. He said too thePRSP is the people's document for devel-opment.Region Four Chairman Clement Corlette

chaired the proceedings. The audience laterformed informal groups to continue discus-sions. The Government Information agency(GINA) said this final round of consulta-tions is to further address issues related toimplementation of the second PRSP andsubsequent developments.

Good infrastructure year, poverty unchangedGINA quoted Cabinet Secretary, Dr

Roger Luncheon, as saying that consulta-tions on specific thematic areas would alsobe held. They are expected to address areassuch as rural development, gender, gover-nance, security, social protection andhealth.It had been reported too that many of the

issues and recommendations from the pub-lic consultations held in 2001 had been in-corporated into the PRSP and in additionthe consultations have assisted in the se-quencing of programmes and re-allocationof resources. The next round of consulta-tions will take place over the weekend inseveral areas in all ten regions.The consultations were held at the Ocean

View International Conference Centre.

Continuous improved infrastructure re-mains a primary objective of Govern-

ment and during last year more investmentswere made in this direction to enhance thecountry's road network, sea defences andair and river transport services through var-ious activities implemented by the Ministryof Public Works and Communications. At a press conference Minister of Trans-

port and Hydraulics Robeson Benn reportedsatisfactorily progress in 2007, which hedescribed as a principal year for infrastruc-tural development. Minister Benn noted that the achieve-

ments were not made without challenges,some of which still exist and are beinggiven significant attention by the Ministry. Updates on the various projects were pre-sented by senior officials of the responsibledepartments such as the Work ServicesGroup (WSG), Sea Defence Unit, Transportand Harbours Department, Maritime Ad-ministration (MARAD), Demerara HarbourBridge (DHB) and Cheddi Jagan Interna-tional Airport Corporation (CJIAC).

The Ministry's major road projects in2007 were the ongoing construction of theBerbice River Bridge access roads, com-pletion of the Road Safety Engineering Pro-gramme and continuation of the RoadMaintenance Management Programme. Extension of the four-lane East Bank De-merara highway from DHB to Greenfieldand continuation of the Mahaica/RosignolRoad Rehabilitation Programme which isnearing completion were other notable ac-tivities for 2007.

In addition, approximately $1.9B wasspent on upgrading, construction and reha-bilitation of various roads under the cate-gories of miscellaneous, urban andinfrastructural development programmes. These were carried out through the WSG,which was responsible for several enhance-ment activities in Georgetown which costan estimated $424M to upgrade roads, theCity's main avenues and drainage and irri-gation. Another major investment made through

the Public Works Ministry was installationof approximately 50 traffic lights at crucialjunctions under a US$2.1M project that wasofficially commissioned in July. With regard to sea defences, major con-

struction was done in Regions Two andThree under a $3.6B project funded withsupport from the European Union while an-other internationally funded project contin-ued at Belladrum, West Coast Berbice.Other improvements were done in Re-

gions Two to Six with the $650M madeavailable in the 2007 National Budget foremergency sea defence works. Continued efforts to boost the country's

ferry services include repairs to stellings atAdventure, Parika, Georgetown, Rosignol,New Amsterdam and Morwhanna whilemaintenance works were done to severalvessels including the Sandaka, Torani andLady Northcote. During 2007, the T&HDwas able to reintroduce ferry services toPort Kaituma after 20 years. Investments at the CJIA were focused on

continuing the modernisation programmethrough which new conveyor belts were ac-quired, various areas such as the ViewingGallery were upgraded and new runwaylights installed.

Several major audits were conducted byvarious agencies such as the InternationalCivil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and theUnited States Transport Security System toensure that the CJIAC's operations are inkeeping with required regulations. A simu-lated aircraft crash exercise was success-fully conducted. Other significant infrastructural projects

which took centre stage in 2007 and whichare still ongoing are construction of theTakutu bridge scheduled for completion byMarch/April and the Berbice bridge. This isexpected to become operational later in theyear.

Ramleela returns toGuyana !The epic Ramayan, and its annual re-en-

actment, the Ramleela, werebrought to theCaribbean by the indentured labourers. Itwas, and stillis today, a popular activity inthe area of North India, from which mostofthe indentured labourers were brought tothe Caribbean . Once vibrant in Guyana, the Ramleelagroups gradually dispersed until theystoppedtheir activities almost thirty yearsago.However, in sister nation, Trinidad and

Tobago , the tradition sustainedand evolvedfor over a century into an unassailable dy-namic.At the behest of a Trinidad-basedGuyanese lawyer, Mr. Randy Depoo,aGuyanese delegation, led by Pt HardeshTewari, attended a conference on Ramleelain Trinidad in November of 2006, whichwas organized by the Academy at the Uni-versity of Trinidad and Tobago .Subsequently, in early 2007, a group of

14 students chosen from seven Mandirs na-tionwide attended a summer vacationcourse at The Kendra in Trinidad. The Kendra organizes this course with a

syllabus that includes theory to practical foryouths.’The Ramdila 2007 – The GuyanaInitiative', a group of Guyanese who aretaking initiative to reclaim the Ramleelaheritage, has organized a workshop in Ram-leela. Over fifty (50) students attend weekly-

workshops at the Gopal Mandir in Lusig-nan.The Ramdila 2007 – Guyana Initiativegroup held its first major Ramleela produc-tion at the Starlite Drive-in Cinema fromJanuary4-6, 2008, beginning 6:30 p.m. eachevening. they were two-hour programmeswith no entry charges.

Local gov't pollsin ‘08 finallyLocal government elections in Guyana,

due since 1997, will be held by Decemberthis year.The Local Authorities (Elections)(Amendment) bill was unanimously ap-proved by the National Assembly , pavingthe way for municipal and local govern-ment elections to be held by December 1,2008.Minister of Local Government and Re-

gional Development, Kellawan Lallopenedthe debate on the bill which saw lively ex-changes before it was given the full supportof the House. The parties involved blamedeach other for the yearly postponementssince 1994. Lall, however, gave the assur-ance that all the machinery was in place forelections to be held on or before December1 next year.

Jagdeo favourstruth commis-sion to examineGuyana’s brutalpast

Atruth and reconciliation commissionto look into the PNC period in office

from 1966 to 1992 would not help the cur-rent state of affairs but such a commissioncould examine the period in the 1950s andearly 1960s, President Bharrat Jagdeo hassaid.He also asserted that before the govern-

ment and the opposition could enter intoan arrangement for enhanced cooperationor power sharing they must trust eachother. He added that he was reluctant toput in place artificial mechanisms to fosterrelations between the government and op-position because they would collapse ifthey are not buttressed on a foundation oftrust and goodwill.Asked at a press conference he hosted

at the Office of the President on Tuesdaywhether he feels that a truth commissioncould help in putting to rest allegations ofcorruption and other forms of atrocities al-legedly committed during the PNC's 28years in office and improving relationsamong supporters of both political parties,Jagdeo said that a lot of people suggestedthat a truth and reconciliation commissionshould be established for this purpose.

Berbice Bridge amongsound infrastructure works

It pays to advertise in the Indo-CaribbeanTimes

GUYANA NEWS Indo-Caribbean Times JANUARY 2008 Page 8

Gov’t accepts Venezuelan reply on November invasionCanje jewellerrobbed at 2.30amFriday, December 21st 2007

Canje jeweller robbed and beaten

A Canje householder put up a fight, butwas eventually beaten and robbedby armed bandits who broke into his homein the wee hours of a Tuesday,morning.

Kalamadeen Khan of Lot 2 'B' East Cane-field Settlement, a gold jeweller who op-erates at the New AmsterdamMarket, was awakened around 2.30 am onTuesday by the loud barking ofhis dogs in the yard. He heard a loudsound from his metal gate; as if someonewas breaking it down. He ran to the door and saw a masked manstanding on hisverandah looking through the glass at him.A second man appeared and they smashedthe door before attacking Khan with anaxe and cutlass, and fired bullets at him.The men ransacked the house, stealinggold jewellery belonging to Khan's wife,and taking away $300,000. The men took hisfive-year-old son, put the axe on his neck,and threatened to chop itoff if they did not get more money. Khanwas severely beaten in the attack.

Gunmen rob funeral homeTwo gunmen posing as customers walked

into Sandy's Funeral Home on ChapelStreet, Lodge and robbed an employee of$300,000 cash before escaping on waitingmotorcycles.An employee said that around 2:30 pm

she was filling out some paperwork for twocustomers when the men came up and sheheard a voice say "No noise, give me whatyou have. I thought that they were just mak-ing fun."

The employee who was still visiblyshaken said that the men got away with herhandbag which contained $40,000 and$260,000 which was in the desk drawer.The woman said that the men wore nomasks.

Army style gunmen kill twoAround five gunmen, clad in military fa-tigues and carrying rifles, shotguns andhandguns Sunday night terrorized residentsof Mon Repos,East Coast Demerara lastmonth.They killed two men and seriouslywounded two others during a ten-minuterobbery spree in a rum shop on AgricultureRoad in front of the National AgricultureResearch Institute (NARI). Dead are Rajesh Singh, 35, of Martyr'sVille and Fazal Hakim, 25, of Mon Repos.Both men, according to police reports, sus-tained gunshot wounds to their heads andwere pronounced dead on arrival at theGeorgetown Public Hospital.

Probe to checkweapons issuedby PNC govtsPresident Bharrat Jagdeo has announced

a wide-ranging probe to determine howmany weapons were issued to governmentdepartments under the late Forbes Burn-ham-led administration by the securityforces and have not been returned.And he revealed that based upon records

provided by the Guyana Defence Force, be-tween 1976 and 1979, the military issued236 weapons including General PurposeMachines Guns and other guns of variouscalibre to the Ministry of National Devel-opment. Jagdeo could not say how many ofthose weapons have been returned and heassured that the investigation which he willcommission would hopefully unearth this.He gave no time frame as to when the in-quiry will commence, neither did he saywhat form it would take.Jagdeo's announcement came following

the recovery of two weapons - a M-72 rifleand a beretta 9mm submachine gun thatwere issued to the Ministry of National De-velopment under the People's NationalCongress government from criminals lastweek Wednesday during a gun battle at Ma-haicony. Jagdeo said the investigationwould go back as far as the 1950s to pres-ent, noting that it now worries his adminis-tration that guns that were issued to thegovernment back then have now landed inthe criminals' hands. "The question to beasked is how these weapons ended up incriminals' hands," Jagdeo commented at hispress conference yesterday afternoon. Hesaid that his administration has decidedearly that it wanted a full investigation, not-ing that the matter was a serious one.Among the weapons that were issued to

the national development ministry were:seven Smith and Wesson Pistols, Four HK11 Light Machine Guns, eight G-3 rifles,four General Purpose Machine Guns, 20beretta Submachine Guns, 15 Self Loadingrifles, 50 M-10 Pistols, six .22 rifles, six .30Carbines, six .303 rifles, 15 Self Loadingrifles, six G-3 rifles, 50 M-10 pistols, 20beretta Submachine Guns, 15 M-70 riflesand five M-72 rifles. J

US based manfound dead inMahaiconyThe battered body of U.S-based GuyaneseAbdool Khan, who had been missing sinceJanuary 14, has been found at Letter ‘T'Village, Mahaicony. Police say Khan,called ‘David', who was staying at Bel-monte, Mahaica, had been clubbed aboutthe body and had apparently been dumpedamong a clump of bushes along the Letter‘T' Public Road . Police officials confirmed last night that

they have detained a 22-year-old male as-sociate of the murdered man, and are look-ing for two other suspects from Mahaica.Robbery appeared to be the motive for thekilling since, according to relatives, the vic-tim's wallet, gold jewellery and a cellularphone that he had when he left home weremissing. Khan arrived in Guyana on recently and

was staying in Mahaica, where his motherand a brother reside. According to relatives, at around 20:00

hrs on Tuesday, a car arrived at the houseand Khan left with the occupants. That wasthe last time he was seen alive.

Gunmen attack full churchGunmen on New Year's morning attackedmembers of the Bethel Wesleyan Church onthe Bachelor's Adventure Public Road, EastCoast Demerara robbing the pastor and awoman of jewellery valued at $145,000alongwith an undisclosed sum of churchfunds.The robbers, armed with rifles, ordered

over 20 members to lie on the floor whilethreatening to shoot the Pastor, ClairmonteBoucher. Speaking to Stabroek NewsBoucher said that they had theirtraditionalOld Year's Night church service on Mondayevening which concluded at 1 am on Tues-day. He said it is customary that a socialwould follow the service every year andthis year there was no difference. He toldStabroek News that they had just finishedeating - around 30 of them and were sittingmainly inside the church and on the veran-dah when around 4:30 on Tuesday morningthe bandits struck.

The majestic Berbice Bridge takes final shape. It will open in September.

Berbice Bridge looks solidThe government has accepted theVenezuelan government's responseon the incursions into Guyana's ter-

ritory by a military contingent on Novem-ber 15, 2007, "in a show of good faith" eventhough not all the questionswere answered.The response conveyed Venezuela's ac-

ceptance of a number of proposalsGuyanahad made to Venezuela to use the UN Sec-retary General Good Officer Procedure asan instrument in the common search for apeaceful solution to the Guyana/Venezuelaterritorial controversy.In its response, the Vene-zuelan govern-

ment expressed regret at the incident andaccepted some of Guyana's proposals forenhancing bilateral relations while at thesame time dealing diplomatically with theGuyana/ Venezuela territorial controversy.Minister of Foreign Affairs Rudy Insanallysaid Guyana no longer saw taking theCuyuni incident to theOrganisation ofAmerican States (OAS) or the United Na-tions (UN) as necessary.Contacted for a follow-up on whether theMinistry of ForeignAffairs had completedanalysing the response to determine whe-ther it adequately addressed and satisfiedGuyana's concerns, Insanally saidthat eventhough all the questions Guyana had putforward to Venezuela had not been an-swered, the government had accepted theresponse as satisfactory.

He did not say what the unansweredquestions were. However, it is understoodthat the issue of compensation for the twodredges destroyed by the Venezuelan mili-tary and which were owned by Guyaneseminers, had not been addressed.

Great interest inbio-fuel plantProposals from 11 companies interested

in investing in developing a local bio-fuel/agro-energy sector are likely to be evalu-ated early in 2008 with assistance from theInter-American Development Bank (IDB)and the UN's Econo-mic Commission forLatin America and the Caribbean(ECLAC).Ten of the proposals are from eight dif-

ferent countries and one is froma local po-tential investor.

The process of evaluation and imple-menting a comprehensive strategic plan forlocal bio-energy investment and produc-tion, would cost an estimated US$1.2 mil-lion which would be raised with grantfunding from the IDB and counterpart fund-ing from the government.In an interview Minister of Agriculture

Robert Persaud told the Stabroek News thatthe Guyana Office for Investment (Go-In-vest) has received the proposals, which arein varying stages of development since ad-ditional information were still being soughtfrom the potential investors.The number of investors has grown from

early August, when President BharratJagdeo had announced that six companieshad expressed interest, with one of themproposing an investment of US$600 mil-lion.The proposals submitted include thosefrom a locally-registered company, Sawa-rima Agro and Bio Energy Enterprise; andthe Canada-registered Agri Solutions Tech-nologies which is already operating a bio-diesel facilityusing palm oil at Wauna in theMabaruma District, Region One(Barima/Waini).

BUSINESS Indo-Caribbean Times JANUARY 2008 Page 9

Guaranteedincome for life

By Vic Sarju

Do your retirement plans ensure youhave guaranteed income for life?

Saving for your retirement involves a lotof careful planning. Not only do you haveto ensure your savings will be sufficient tofund your future need for income, you alsohave to ensure that your nest egg will last aslong as you’ll need it. With longer life ex-pectancy, this could be 30 years or more.As you may know, there are a number of

different investment products currentlyavailable, such as GICs, annuities, mutualfunds and segregated funds. But do any ofthese investments guarantee that your re-tirement income will be predictable, sus-tainable, and potentially increasing? Or thatit will last a lifetime?Manulife Investments has recently en-

hanced GIF Select featuring Income-Plus.Unique in Canada, IncomePlus is noweven better positioned to help provide youwith:

•Predictable income guaranteed not to de-crease no matter how investments perform*•Sustainable income that will last for life orat least until the principal is completely re-paid*

•Potentially increasing guaranteed incometo help offset inflation

•Control of your investment and access toyou savings at any time

•Tax-efficient income when held in a non-registered account

•Benefits that can ensure the smooth transi-tion of your estate

The features and benefits work togetherto allow you to invest for continued growthwhile being assured that your savings canprovide a predictable stream of retirementincome for life.If you would like to discuss this oppor-

tunity in more detail, please call me at (416)686-6127 to set up an appointment. Man-ulife Investments is with you every step ofthe way.

* Exceeding the withdrawal thresholds mayhave a negative impact on future payments.The Lifetime Withdrawal Amount is avail-able after December 31st of the year the an-nuitant turns age 65. Payments can continueuntil the contract reaches maturity or upondeath of the last surviving annuitant.

Vic Sarju is a Life Insurance Advisor withBerkshire Insurance Services Inc. A mem-ber of the Manulife Financial group of com-panies.

Vic can be reached at Tel: 416-686-6127;Toll Free: 1 888 686-6127.

The opinions expressed are those of the au-thor and may not necessarily be those ofBerkshire Insurance Services Inc. Contents,courtesy of WealthStyles from Manulife In-vestments.

We are well into Canada’s fifth season:The RRSP season; the time when all

the sleeping advisors wake up and suddenlybecome your best friends, the mad franticdash to get in before the deadline. It can be the most brutal of all seasons,

the most heat (in January and February), themost pressure but quite possibly the mostrewarding and the most satisfying of all ourCanadian seasons. If treated correctly it has been known to

discharge feelings stronger than those of thefirst snowflake or spring flowers in fullbloom. Handled correctly, we literally getto take it all the way to the bank.Now don’t panic, I know that Christmas

has just passed and you are getting all thoselovely bills coming in and at the same timethere is the good old mortgage statement(you thought you paid more principal, did-n’t you?) so you are probably a littlestrapped for cash right now. But you know deep in your heart that you

should make the RRSP contribution, afterall it’s for your retirement and Lord knowsthat the CPP will not last forever (or willit?). Where will this magical, mystical money

come from, and what is the going price fora kidney these days (because you have twoand need only one so of course you couldalways sell one). Now before you give yourself a heart at-

tack (that is your advisor's job) consider thefollowing tips and we will all be furtherahead:1) Make the contribution; RRSP loans areeasy to obtain and is a good way to take ad-vantage of the biggest tax break that wehave.2) Sit with your financial advisor andarrange to make automatic monthly contri-butions to your RRSP. This way you won‘tbe left scrambling for cash for the nextRRSP season. Your money will already beworking for you.3) Arrange to have your taxes adjusted atsource; (form T1213) It is better to neverhave paid taxes than to pay and get it back.If you get a big tax refund each year you arereally giving the government an interestfree loan, (so you are now a bigshot moneylender!) instead, you can give yourself animmediate raise in pay.Unlike the four seasons: Winter, Spring,

Summer and Fall with the weathermanguessing everyday, you can actually takecontrol of the fifth season (RRSP) and growyour own sunshine whilst controlling therainy days, your life can be filled with clearblue skies with the occasional snow stormof course, because, after all, this is Canadaeh!RRSP deadline:

This year’s deadline to have your RRSPcontribution eligible for the 2007 tax yearis midnight on February 29, 2008.

Ijaz Hosein is a financial advisor withBoosterLink Financial Inc and can bereached at 647-401-1608.

TORONTO - Stock markets resumed asharp selloff after a manufacturing surveycame in worse than expected and U.S. Fed-eral Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke saidthe risks of a U.S. economic downturn aremore pronounced.

Shortly after midday on January 17,Toronto's S&P/TSX tumbled 180.33 pointsto 12,894.53 after writedowns of securitiesconnected to the U.S. housing sector andlower oil prices had helped push the TSXdown over 600 points in the last two days.The index is now below where it started2007.The TSX Venture Exchange moved down

11.08 points to 2,713.13 and the Canadiandollar declined 0.31 of a cent to 97.29 centsUS.On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial

average declined 133.97 points to12,332.19. The Nasdaq composite indexshed 17.88 points to 2,376.71 while theS&P 500 index retreated 20.24 points to1,352.96.The blue-chip index is also below where

it started 2007, as is the Nasdaq compositeindex and the S&P.Indexes had started the day on a positive

note, but losses started piling up after thePhiladelphia Federal Reserve surveyshowed regional manufacturing activityweakened in January, falling sharply to anegative 20.9 from a revised reading ofnegative 1.6 in December, its lowest num-ber since Oct. 2001."The Philadelphia Fed just announced

dreadful numbers," said John O'Donoghue,co-head of equities at Cowen & Co. He saidif you look back at Philadelphia Fed datafor similar numbers, it takes you back to the

Amortgage is often the largest debt peo-ple incur. The stress associated with its

size often sets people on a mission of tryingto pay it off as quickly as possible. Whilenot without merit, this goal is often previ-ous generation’s well intended guidancethat actually lacks financial wisdom andoften has negative results.

Advice is one thing that is freely givenaway, but watch that you take only what isworth having. Statistics Canada tells us that10% of the population control over 50% ofthe wealth. The recent publication by FraserSmith, "The Smith Manoeuvre," providesinstructions and quantitative proof showingthe benefit to re-think paying down themortgage, and to re-consider debt’s place ina financial plan.The concept is quite simple; borrowing to

invest in non-registered assets, unlike bor-rowing for a family home, allows interestto be tax deductible (according to CRA -providing there is an expectation of profit).According to Canada Revenue Agencyrules governing interest deductibility for in-vesting are set out in IT-533 Interest De-ductibility and Related Issues - October 31,2003 and represents the most current refer-ence at the time of writing.The change in reason for borrowing low-

ers after-tax borrowing costs as the interestcreates a refund at your marginal tax rate.At a 40% tax rate interest cost is 40% less.To put this in perspective, a 5% mortgagebecomes 3% after interest deduction. As aninvestor, if the after tax rate of return ex-ceeds 3% you are getting rich with some-one else’s money.Each mortgage payment is a blended por-

tion of principal and interest – interest in-

Recession fears shake N. AmericaNo reason to fear the fifth season-RRSP

curred to borrow for the home (not tax de-ductible), and principal that is paying offthe total mortgage balance outstanding. Atthe start, a mortgage payment goes mostlyto interest and less to principal – this re-verses over time. As the mortgage is paiddown the home equity can be re-borrowedto invest. Using the equity to invest, the in-terest on this borrowing is tax deductibleand unlike unused home equity, able togrow and compound.The homeowner who puts $100,000 of

equity into an income producing asset withan ‘expectation’ of profit can write off theassociated interest cost. At a 40% tax ratethe investor’s real cost to borrow is actually60% of the face rate of interest as a result.At the 4.25% prime rate of today the realcost to borrow is 2.55% (60% of 4.25%). Inother words, to be gaining the after tax re-turn need only be above 2.55%. While in-terest rates vary, the long run probability forgain is clearly strong with numerous in-vestments. As Fraser Smith points out,since the house is the security the invest-ment portfolio is free and clear and pro-vides liquidity if ever required along theway.Using home equity responsibly is a pow-

erful tool for asset accumulation. While youmay always have a mortgage - a six figuremortgage with a seven figure investmentaccount gives little concern. For advice onthis strategy can be found at www.smith-man.net. While what you owe is important,what you are worth after tax is what ulti-mately fulfills most financial goals.

For more information contact MortgageBroker Rudy Lochan at 416-410-7501

How to make your mortgage tax deductible

Ijaz Hosein

2001 to 2002 recession."It's not rocket science - the economy is

slowing dramatically, and it's being re-flected in economic reports."The White House announced during the

morning that President George W. Bush hasdecided that an economic stimulus packageis needed.Bernanke echoed the sentiment, telling

Congress in an economic update that such aplan should be implemented quickly and betemporary so it won't complicate longer-term fiscal challenges.However, details were short about what

shape such a stimulus package should take.There was also more dismal news from

the financial and housing sectors in the U.S.Merrill Lynch & Co., the world's largest

brokerage, posted a fourth-quarter loss ofnearly US$10 billion.The firm wrote down some $14.6 billion

worth of investments and trades slammedby the ongoing credit crisis. The TSX financial sector was down 0.6

per cent, with Scotiabank (TSX: BNS.TO)down 49 cents at $46.56.Online brokerage TD Ameritrade Hold-

ing Corp. said its first-quarter net incomesoared 65 per cent to US$240.8 million astrading activity increased and asset-basedrevenue continued to grow.On the housing front, the U.S. Commerce

Department said construction was startedon 1.353 million new homes and apart-ments last year, down 24.8 per cent from2006. That's the second biggest annual de-cline on record.For December, construction fell by a big-

ger-than-expected 14.2 per cent.

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO REPORT Indo-Caribbean Times JANUARY 2008 Page 10

Deputy Commissioner of Police GilbertReyes, who chastised the media for reportswhich stated the murder figure had sur-passed Homicide's official tally, thus tellingthe public that the toll had surpassed 2005'sfigure of 386-then a record toll."(The media figure) Might be different

to mine, reasons, because some of the re-ports that you (media) have classed ashomicides are not classified as homicidesin the police service."Some went for Coroner's Inquest and

some are still awaiting instructions from theDPP," Reyes said at a media conference onMonday afternoon at Police Administrationin Port of Spain .

But figures gathered by the Expressnewspaper show a different story as, of De-cember 31, the murder toll stood at 395 forthe year. This toll excludes inquests,manslaughters and unclassified killings.

Whether the homicide figure is being"massaged conveniently" or otherwise bythe police authorities, the Express has com-piled the following statistics to support itshomicide toll.The toll has surpassed the 2006 figure by

24 and is now the highest record number ofhomicides Trinidad and Tobago has everseen in its history.In 2005, the homicide figure stood at 386,

while figures for the preceding years wereall lower at 261 (2004), 269 (2003), 172(2002), 151 (2001) and 120 (2000).Earlier in 2007, Homicide had recorded

2006 as having 368 killings, but added threemore in the latter quarter of the year tobring it to 371. Explanations given for theincrease included the classification of themurder of businesswoman Vindra Naipaul-Coolman and autopsies which were per-formed on unidentified bodies found witheither gunshot wounds or chops.Despite the increase, homicide figures

provided by the police for 2006 are stillcloudy, since Express figures also showthere were a couple unclassified killingsstill not listed in the toll.This included the January 21 discovery of

an unidentified man who had gunshotwounds to the head at Sandy Trace, Laven-tille; that of a man on October 15 in a man-hole on South Quay, Port of Spain, bearinga slash wound to the neck; and the uniden-tified body of a man with chop wounds inSpringvale, Claxton Bay, on December 20.

UNCLASSIFIED KILLINGS

Unclassified killings is a term used bythe Homicide department when referring todeaths which have not been classed.When autopsies have not been performed

on an unidentified body, or a cause of deathfollowing an autopsy has not been deter-mined, they fall into this category.Speaking on the condition of anonymity,

a pathologist said the term "autopsy incon-clusive" is a figure of speech often used bythe media and police."If we are unable to find a cause of death,

we put it as undetermined. The manner ofdeath can also be undetermined," thepathologist said.

Citing the example of an individualfalling off a building and dying, the pathol-ogist said that individual has died from in-juries sustained via the fall, "but what theautopsy does not say is whether someonepushed the individual, whether the individ-ual slipped and fell by accident, whether theindividual experienced fits and this starteda series of events, or even suicide"."In a situation like this you have a cause

of death but you do not know the manner,"the pathologist said.

GANG MURDERS MUST BE DEALT WITH

Julien Neavesjneaves@trinidadexpress.comFriday, December 14th 2007GANG related homicides must be dealt

with if this country has to address a largepercentage of homicides, advised US ProfStephen Mastrofski.

Mastrofski, Principal Investigator andProject Leader of project "Transformationof the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service"and professor of public and international af-fairs, George Mason University, noted thatgang related homicides in this country hasbeen "pretty high and stable" since 2003.He also reported high levels of gang vi-

olence were found in the Port of Spain ,Northern and North Eastern Divisions.Mastrofski was speaking at the Ameri-

can Chamber of Commerce of Trinidad andTobago (AmCham) event "Towards CrimeFighting Initiatives-The Transformation ofthe Trinidad and Tobago Police Service(TTPS)" held on Wednesday at the TrinidadHilton and Conference Centre, St Ann 's.He explained that local gangs were not

dissimilar from gangs in the US or UK , oreven legal businesses, in that they competewith each other, though primarily throughviolent means. He noted that when a gangleader dies or is incapacitated, it "desta-bilises the market" and the opportunityarises for people to "compete for positions".Senior Advisor to the Minister of Na-

tional Security Richardson Franklin, duringhis contribution, noted that with the deathof gang-leader Kerwyn 'Fresh' Phillip inSeptember, a number of other murders werelinked to his killing.He also presented a chart on the probable

causes of homicides for the past four yearswhich showed 53 per cent of homicides asgang related, 13 per cent drug related, 12per cent altercations and the same percent-age for robberies, and five per cent domes-tic violence.Franklin reported that the Police Service

has been strengthening the new Repeat Of-fenders Programme (ROP) and the Ministryof National Security has interviewed repre-sentatives from the New York Police De-partment gang unit and the Chicago gangunit for the position of full time advisor towork with the ROP team.Mastrofski had previously explained that

the ROP was one of his team's crime fo-cused interventions, where the police useresources and strategies to concentrate onrepeat offenders by a number of means, in-cluding increased surveillance and arrest-ing them for outstanding warrants.

395 NEW RECORD HIGH2007 MURDER TOLL

Denyse Rennedrenne@trinidadexpress.comWednesday, January 2nd 2008

The curtains have fallen on 2007 with thehomicide figure standing at a new recordhigh of 395.Express statistics show that up to mid-

night on Old Years night, three late nightkillings had pushed the toll near the 400mark.

Commissioner of Police Trevor Paul,during his final weekly media briefing for2007, which he held just after 2 p.m. onMonday, had given the figure then as 383.

This figure was reinforced by acting

THE WAITING PERIOD

When a body is found with gunshot, chopor other wounds and is yet to be identified,Homicide does not class this as being amurder until autopsies are performed.Explanations often given by police as to

the reason why these unclassified killingsare not added to the murder figure include,"Suppose the person had a heart attack be-fore being shot or chopped ..."Saying a waiting period is adopted to en-

sure all methods of identifying the body aremet, explanations such as "there is no re-quired waiting period in which the body canbe stored.." are also often given by the po-lice.However, a pathologist, also speaking on

the condition of anonymity, said: "Nor-mally when there is an unnatural death, thewaiting period is three to nine months (be-fore an autopsy is conducted)."The waiting period varies depending on

the likelihood of the bodies being identi-fied. Usually, the waiting period also de-pends on the police, but a problem ariseswhen we have all these bodies and nospace."Noting that there is also a problem with

storage space at the Forensic Science Cen-tre in St James, the pathologist said the au-topsies are performed on unidentifiedbodies, which are then labelled as "John orJane Doe" and buried by the State.On January 10, the unidentified body of

a man of East Indian descent was foundover a precipice along the North CoastRoad , Maracas, with stab wounds. Sourcessaid a waiting period of nine months passedbefore an autopsy performed. Death, it wasfound in this case, was due to a puncturedlungs consistent with stab wounds. How-ever, checks with Homicide reveal thiskilling was not added to the police's officiallisting.For 2007, nine bodies (unidentified) were

found bearing chop or gunshot wounds,while autopsies on the bodies of three peo-ple were undetermined, although the vic-tims' bodies bore marks of violence.Sources at Forensics said: "We try not to

let autopsies on unidentified bodies go intoa new year."

However, although an autopsy on thebody of Jacqueline Joseph Adams was un-determined on June 17, a man was subse-quently charged with her killing.

Adams , 38, of Puerto Grande BeachRoad , Erin , had been missing since March30 and her remains were found at PetrotrinField Road , Erin . Her death was listed onHomicide's official figure.On March 2, the body Angelo Mendoza, 40,a US deportee of Lily Trace, Siparia, wasfound with marks of violence on CentralRoad, Los Bajos, Santa Flora; on April 15,the body of John "Wad" Vidale was foundon Spaniol Road, Diego Martin, bearingseveral marks of violence; and on October22, Hollis Thomas, a 70-year -old pensionerof Duff Trace, St Croix Road, PrincesTown, collapsed outside a supermarket aftercomplaining of feeling unwell on October21.Eyewitnesses thought Thomas suffered a

heart attack, but an autopsy performed re-vealed Thomas died of severe injuries to theneck, chest and abdomen, including a bro-ken rib cage and lacerations to his liver.

Then there was the April 24 killing of tailorDhanraj Bowlah. Bowlah, 32, of AjodhaRoad , Cunupia, went missing from hishome and was found bound and gagged inthe Arena River , San Rapheal, Arima.An autopsy failed to determine the cause

of his death, but a man is before the courtscharged with the killing and Bowlah, whosekilling was listed on the official homicidefigure.

The list goes on about questionabledeaths and autopsies which are performedon the victims which proved they died onunnatural causes. However, these results arenot reflected on the official Homicide figurebeing purported by those in authority.

STATE WITNESS KILLEDTuesday, December 11th 2007

The State said yesterday it had no choicebut to discontinue a gang-related murdercase, after one of the witnesses was recentlykilled and two others said they no longerwanted to testify.Senior State prosecutor Kathy-Ann Wa-

terman-Latchoo told Justice Devan Ram-persad said she was "unable to proceed"with the case, having regard to the positionof the witnesses.The two accused men, 26-year-old Aaron

Worrell and 23-year-old Kareem Baptiste,though visibly pleased at the news, were notset free yesterday. The judge said he neededto see a death certificate of the witness whohad been gunned down, and adjourned thecase to Monday.Worrell and Baptiste, both of Picton Road

, Laventille, are charged with murderingLaventille gang member Oba Jones onApril 21, 2005 .

Jones was gunned down on the BrianLara Promenade around midday . Hiskilling grabbed headlines for several daysdue to the boldness of the gunmen in open-ing fire in a public place.A bystander, Licensing Officer Lystra

Wright, was shot in the leg by a stray bullet.Jones had been in the company of a friend,fellow gang member Kelly Denoon, alias"Machine Gun Kelly", and he was also shotat.Denoon was shot dead on December 4,

reportedly because he refused an order totake part in the shooting of an unidentifiedState witness.

DOH WORRY, MR JOSEPHSaturday, November 24th 2007

So Martin Joseph now realises that hedidn't have a clue when he accepted the Na-tional Security Ministry. Doh study dat nahMartin!Look, when you took over de wuk from

the equally hapless Howard Chin Lee, wehad an unprecedented rise in the murderrate. Fuh de first time in our history wereach 300 murders, then we reach 400 mur-ders, then it went down to bout 390 jus' intime fuh elections and all ah we happy!As de Prime Minister rightly say, crime

wasn't ah issue!If it was, you Martin, woulda be look-

ing fuh a wuk right now!But people check dat all de CEPEP wuk

and all de tall buildings and all de oddergoodies allyuh dish out, outweigh de lossof a few lives, so what is de problemnow?So Martin, stop making excuse and stop

worrying! Your wuk safe, Manning wuksafe, and we de people doh mind gettingkilled as long as our beloved PNM inpower!Sleep good Martin, sweet dreams T&T!

Kurt Seucharan-Fuentesvia e-mail

Patrick X and the killings in Trinidad (Continued From Page 5)

ACHIEVERS Indo-Caribbean Times JANUARY 2008 Page 11

By Swami Dibyananda

Acharya Swami Pranavanandajee Ma-haraj founder of Bharat Sevashram

Sangha said, “I am He. The Almighty re-veals Himself through me. I am the des-tined Saviour (Sad Guru), thepersonification of God Himself for this age.I am the common reservoir, the powerhouse of Divine Energies and Benedictions.Come to me, connect yourself with me, re-sign yourself in me; take refuge in me,worship me, pray to me , meditate upon me,follow me, realize my ideals in your life andwork for my mission. In this way you willprogress spiritually towards the path of Godrealization, through my grace. This is theearliest course of spiritual progress in thepresent age”.“My Sangha is but the second and more

perfected edition of the Great Buddha’sSangha founded in order to fulfill the de-mands of the age. The Sangha sets forth asynthesis of the ideals of the Vedic Age andthe spirit of national re-organization of theBuddha’s period. As long as the preachingand propagation of -The Message of theSangha would be continuing, the Sanghawill be alive.”

INDIAN CULTURAL MISSION

In order to carry out His order, the monksof the Sangha were engaged in preachingHis message, the gospel of Hinduism allover the globe. On June 4th, 1948, a cul-tural mission under the leadership ofSwami Advaitanandajee Maharaj, the greatorator, left for (Darussalam) Tanzania, (EastAfrica) from Bombay. They travellled bythe ship named Kandala. Swami Ak-shayanandajee Maharaj was the Deputyleader of the Mission, he organized the tour.He was a dynamic monk in the history ofthe Sangha. The other members of the Cul-tural Mission were: Swami Tryambakanan-dajee Maharaj, Brahamachari Chandi(Swami Ashokanandajee), BrahmachariParesh (Swami Buddhanandajee), Brah-machari Ramdas (Swami Vedeshanadajee)and Brahamachari Mritunjoy. After preach-ing and providing the people of East Africawith the wealth of Hinduism, the culturalmission returned to India.In order to welcome the cultural mission,

reception programs were organized in dif-ferent states of India. For example: one re-ception program was held at theAssociation Hall in Calcutta, spearheadedby Dr Ramesh Chandra Mazumder, a greathistorian. Other receptions were chaired inDelhi and Surat to welcome these fearlessmonks.With such vast response from East Africa,

the Sangha felt a sense of comfort to sendtheir missionaries to other countries to dis-perse the verbiage of Hinduism. Then theCultural Missions continue to send monksto Malaysia, Australia, Hong Kong, Philip-

pines and different countries of South Asia.Bharat Sevashram Sangha in TrinidadIndia is at last politically free and her

people have become independent afterthousands of years of subjugation by Mus-lims and British. There is a proverb, “TheSun never sets in the British Empire.” TheBritish Government in India sent farmersfrom remote villages especially from Biharand Uttar Pradesh as indenture labourers tothe West Indies. It is assumed that the In-dians who were transported to the West In-dies were from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.This theory is still an unknown to people ofthe West Indies as to which state their an-cestors came from. Most of the East Indi-ans landed in Trinidad, Guyana, Suriname,Barbados and other Caribbean Islands.These people worked on the sugar planta-tion as indentured labourers (1838 to 1845).They were paid farmers. Today, the off-springs of the indentured labourers are nowlawyers, doctors, politicians and are well-educated men and women in the Society. Itis an established fact although people mi-grated from India so many years, to datethey have managed to keep their culture,thus maintaining Hinduism.The First Prime Minister of India, Jawa-

harlal Nehru requested the President ofBharat Sevashram Sangha, ShreematSwami Satchidanandajee Maharaj to send aCultural Mission to the West Indies(Trinidad, Guyana and Suriname) to preachand propagate Hinduism (which teacheslive and let live). During the period 1835 to1845 the Indians were sent by the British totheir colonial territories. The Christian Mis-sionaries converted a number of Indiansbut Hinduism stayed alive after 112 years.Pundits and the older generation fought andstruggled to sustain our Hindu culture. In the year 1950, 11th September, a Cul-

tural Mission again sailed from Khidirpur

PH I L L I P905 -794 - 5551

The Revival of Hinduism in the West

(Calcutta) traveled via ship (Betya) to theWest Indies, under the leadership of SwamiAdvaitanandajee Maharaj. Other memberswere Swami Purnanandajee Maharaj(Deputy Leader of the mission) Brah-machari Rajkrishna (Swami Vijayananda-jee) and Brahmachari Mritunjoy. The shipreached Mauritius Port and anchored fortwo days. The Indians welcomed the IndianCultural Mission and arranged lecture pro-grams. The Indian High Commissionerwelcomed Swami Advaitanandajee. Theirvisit and lectures were publicized in the Ad-vance Newspaper. In Mauritius 70% of thepopulation were Hindus. Then they traveledto Cape Town in Africa, the Gujrati busi-ness community organized lectures in CapeTown. Then to Barbados, the Indians or-ganized lectures in Barbados.

VISIT TO TRINIDAD

Finally the ship reached its destination,Port of Spain, the capital city of Trinidadand Tobago at 9.00 a.m., on the 28th of De-cember 1950.A Reception Committee headed by Mr. C.

V. Mathur was formed in Trinidad to wel-come the Cultural Mission. Swami Advai-tanandajee Maharaj the leader of CulturalMission and other members of the groupwere garlanded by the welcoming commit-tee. First, Mr. C.V. Mathur (President of thecultural committee) welcomed the IndianCultural Mission with a short speech.Then, Swami Advaitanandajee Maharajleader of the Cultural Mission replied witha short lecture thanking the people ofTrinidad for this warm welcome. The HighCommissioner of India, Mr. Anand MohanSahay, Bhadase Sagan Maharaj, BishramGopi, R.R. Ojha, Pandit Seunarine ,E.J.Pelse and many other Hindu leaders wel-come Swami Advaitanandajee Maharaj

and the other members of the Indian Cul-tural mission . They took them to ChampsFleurs in the house of Mr. Bhadase SaganMaharaj where they were accommodated.He was the richest person as well as a dy-namic Hindu leader in Trinidad. The nextday, the Welcome Committee arranged agreat reception program for the Indian Cul-tural Mission in Queen’s Park, Port of Spain(the capital city). Thousands of Hindus,Muslims and Christians from all overTrinidad and different islands of the WestIndies came to the reception program. Theywere overwhelmed by the lecture of SwamiAdvaitanandajee Maharaj, the great orator.After hearing the dynamic lecture, the

Hindus were thinking God has sent thesedivine saints to our blessed country to saveour religion. Since their forefathers came toTrinidad from India about 112 years ago, nopreacher came from India and for the firsttime in their lives they saw Indian monks.Yet, it is amazing how these people fromTrinidad managed to maintain their religionwithout any support from any cultural or as-cetic background to keep their faith and re-ligion alive. The Cultural Mission started preaching

from Champs Fleurs. Mr. Bhadase SaganMaharaj from a Hindu background alwayssupported the missionary group and pro-vided them with a pleasant stay. Swami Ad-vaitanandajee Maharaj lectured in differentcities and villages of Trinidad at the requestof the Hindu leaders of Trinidad. The Cul-tural Mission was preaching the culturalheritage of India with Vedic Sandhya andHavan. The charming and melodious songsof Brahmachari Mritunjoy kept everyonespell-bounded. Brahmachari Rajkrishna,the young fair-complexioned and handsomelooking was with long curly black flowinghair, provided the backdrop when he usedto perform the Heroic Guru Arati, in thedancing mood, people were captivated. Therebirth of the wonderful Vedic age camealive once more. 112 years from one’smotherland, change is expected; thereforelarge numbers of Hindus were converted toChristianity as the Christian Missionaireswere in Trinidad. However, after hearingthe dynamic lectures of Swami Advai-tanandajee Maharaj, a large number of themwere returned to Hinduism. The ChristianMissionaries were not able to convert theHindus in Trinidad very easily any more.Due to the preaching and propagation ofHinduism by the Indian cultural mission inTrinidad and due to inundating the Hinduswith Hinduism, they were unable to convertHindus into Christianity.The Hindu leaders of Trinidad arranged

a few farewell programs in different cities.After adding to the wealth of Hinduism tothe people in Trinidad, the Indian CulturalMission flew for British Guyana on Sep-tember 14th, 1951.

(CONTINUED ON PAGE 19)

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SAY IT IN PICTURES Indo-Caribbean Times JANUARY 2008 Page 12

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Good things come in the holiday season

Indo-Caribbean Times JANUARY 2008 Page 13

Seeta Oumadatt (standing second from right), posing with her two Santas and some of thechildren at Patentia, West Bank Demerara. She comes each year from New York,.

.

Enmore Paradise Restaurant owner Harry Persaud (right) and staff from left Roza, Raseena, Sita and Rudra laid it out at their first New Year’s Eve party, with patrons (in picture at left getting in the mood) to bring in 2008

Surrounded by family and pundits, Toronto Arya Samaj stalwart Rupa Narine tends tothe sacred hawan fire at her 70th birthday celebration held at the Vedic Cultural Centre.

Now that’s what you call a bird. The Guyanese Harpy Eagle has a wingspan over twometres and can prey on quite large animals.

How old are you now, is the question put to IC Times editor Ram Jagessar (right) at hisbirthday celebration over the holidays.He gives a six fingered clue to friends and family.

Indian immigrant transport vessel SS Forth

COMMUNITY Indo-Caribbean Times JANUARY 2008 Page 14

BHAGVAD GITA FOR EACH HOME

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

Winnipeg:Ajodhya Mahadeo 204-661-6643

British ColumbiaChameli Seegobin 604-945-9510, e-mailaddress maylee34@hotmail.com, andNaraine Mohabir at 604-274-8938

GUYANA: Saraswati Vidya Niketan ph.2760013/14

By Roop Misir, PhD

Indo-Caribbean immigrants come toCanada mainly to economic reasons. Assuch, they strive to achieve career ob-

jectives. Since this means doing things dif-ferently, out of necessity they are requiredto adapt. However, problems of adjustmentcan pose a challenge for some newcomers.With few official centers to welcome im-migrants, many find support amongst rela-tives, and comfort in people of similarcircumstances.Often overlooked is the fact is that we

come not only with our skills but also ourculture. Some of us choose to retain onlyrelevant aspects of culture and tradition.However, many would like the best eco-nomic opportunities, plus the freedom tolead their lives exactly as in former coun-tries. Are these expectations overlooked orignored by mainstream Canadians?The ongoing challenge is how to balance

one lifestyle with another that’s different.Whether we like it or not, aspects of ourculture may become modified and our for-mer ways tempered as newcomers becomeexposed to Canadian culture.

Culture

The “culture” for a given population canbe defined as all the behaviors, ways of life,arts, beliefs and institutions that are passeddown from generation to generation. For animmigrant (or other) group where culturedominates the way of life, then culture alsodictates the choice of food, codes of con-duct, modes of dress, as well as the lan-guage spoken, religion followed, ritualspracticed, morality and norms of behavior.A major challenge facing Canada is not

only attracting talented immigrants, but alsohelping that them adjust to life here. Thetask of making them “feel at home” shortlyafter arrival may be easier said than done,especially amongst new immigrants fromcountries where peoples’ lives are governedby culture and tradition. For the authoritiestherefore, the challenge is how to makenewcomers happy and as they strive to be-come contributing citizens in a strong andunited Canada?

Social Dislocation a Necessary Price

There is increasing movement of skilledworkers across the globe. Many immigrantslike to acquire citizenship of adopted coun-tries. Naturally, some choose to retain tieswith former homes. I myself hold bothCanadian and Guyanese passports.Does dual or multiple citizenships nec-

essarily mean divided loyalties? Can a per-son concurrently serve both Canada and adistant country?Other immigrants are willing to accept

social dislocation as the necessary price foreconomic advancement. And so theyquickly become assimilated into the socialfabric of Canada. Who says that the rite ofpassage from the home to the host countrynecessarily has to be rough and traumatic?If there is a secret formula for immigrant

success, what approach should the hostcountry Canada follow to assist new immi-

grants? Should it be accommodation, inte-gration or a combination of both?

“Reasonable” Accommodation

At the time when there was debate amongQuebec politicians over limits to “reason-able accommodation”, Prime MinisterStephen Harper said: “I first of all think im-migrants come to this country to belong tothis country.” Then he spoke of the need foraccommodation for immigrants and theircultures. He added that the Canadian mix-ture of integration and accommodationmight be the right approach. By rejectingthe notion that the country is facing a crisisinvolving newcomers who won't embraceCanadian values, Mr. Harper then pointedout: “…our country also consciouslychanges somewhat for new immigrants andnew cultures.” [http://www.theglobeand-mail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071223.wharperimmigration1223/BNStory/Na-tional/].

Limitations to Accommodation

During the October 2007 Ontario elec-tion, the Progressive Conservatives stirredup debate over what was “reasonable ac-commodation” when they proposed that theprovince fund private schools, including re-ligious-based schools. But voters stronglyrejected this proposal, and thwarted Toryleader John Tory’s election bid. Despitethis, private schools are still allowed to op-erate, but the students must pay tuition fees.By rejecting public funding for religious

schools, does this mean that Ontarians areinsensitive to specific religion or people’sbelief systems? Or do they prefer that thesame education be provided to ALL Ontariostudents? Why? Is it because the prevailingview is that there SHOULD NEVER bespecial privileges for special interestgroups?

Need to Revisit Multiculturalism?

Ever since it became official, Canadianswere apprehensive that official multicultur-alism may have its drawbacks. While con-ceived with the best of intentions, is there asinister side? For example, does it encour-age racial or ‘bloc’ voting, or promote theradicalization of fringe elements in reli-gious communities? In recent times, therehave been calls for prayer rooms in publicspaces, and the insistence on dress codepreferences in schools and in sports. Whilethese demands are by no means illegal, aresuch requests unexpected and asking toomuch? Do they undermine the spirit of mul-ticulturalism? The recent arrest and chargeof a Muslim Canadian man for the murderof his teenaged daughter, allegedly for re-fusing to wear a traditional headscarf hascast elements of multiculturalism in a dif-ferent light.Then there is the view that the multicul-

tural label can be unconsciously patroniz-ing. Newcomers arrive in a cloak of exoticmystery. This supposedly discreet charm isnever allowed to fade by assimilation, butrather is preserved by the façade of officialmulticulturalism. As a consequence, the ex-otica becomes embedded in immigrants’permanent identity. Nowhere else is this“accommodation” more obvious than atsummer fairs and other cultural extrava-ganzas. Here newcomers showcase foodand costume (“sari and samosa”), andmusic and dance (steelband and bhangra).Immigrants are encouraged to hang on totheir identity of origin rather than adopting

ways of the new country. In these circum-stances, isn’t there is the risk of immigrantsbecoming “people of nowhere”? Yes, cele-brating one’s culture may lay our claim toboth lands; but the fact of the matter is thatit also gives newcomers no true place to callhome.Of concern to us all is: Does multicultur-

alism encourage immigrants to assimilateor integrate? Or does it force them to re-main “ethnics”—on the fringes of Canadianmainstream—merely to be seen and notheard? Is there a hidden agenda here? Whatare possible implications for Canada in thelong term?

My Love Has No Bounds

True, most us get emotional when itcomes to the place we call “home”. Like ason to a mother, my love for Guyana is un-questioned. But having left her shores manydecades ago, I now realize that my love forother places also has no bounds. For some35 years, I have lived, studied and workedin many provinces and cities of Canada. Tome, home is wherever I happen to live. Fornew immigrants and Indo-Caribbean peo-ple, that home is Canada. For young peopleborn here, that place is also Canada. Myown children have little interest in my‘marti bhoomi’ Guyana, choosing to con-sider my mother country as just anotherplace on the map. Should I get them forthat? Or should I be man and matureenough and respect their views? Signs ofthe times, eh?Like fellow Indo-Caribbean immigrants,

I know that I am the one who choose tocome to Canada. Accordingly, it is incum-bent on me to adjust in order to becomesuccessful in this wonderful country. I havehad no hidden agenda, no cultural axe togrind, and everything divine to respect. Asa Guyanese-Canadian with Indian rootsstrong and proud, universal truths are in-stilled in my cultural DNA. One of thefinest sayings in Sanskrit with universal ap-peal is: Vasudhaiv Kutumbikam: “Theworld is one family.” Billions around theworld increasingly share this conviction.What’s the best way for Indo-Caribbean

and other newcomers achieve success inCanada?Those with eyes let them see. Those with

ears let them hear. And those who chooseto whine, or use Canadian secular laws topush linear agendas, let them persist. Whereit will all end, only time will tell, but in theend, Satya meva Jayate - meaning: “TruthAlone Triumphs”! Indo-Caribbean andother immigrants who try hard enough aremost likely to succeed. Knowing what ourrights is one thing; demanding them is an-other. Complaining will get us nowhere.Amidst the apparent turmoil of life in

‘multicultural’ Canada, is there one happymedium where all can be reasonably ac-commodated and respected? And can thisbe done without compromising our newcountry’s goals for peace and prosperity?

[Dr. Roop Misir is an Indo-GuyaneseCanadian Teacher with the Toronto DistrictSchool Board. You may contact him atroop.misir@gmail.com]

Indo-Caribbean and other immigrants: How Much Accommodation?Fishing boats bringguns to TTLetter to the Editor

I referred to the Venezuelan connection in apast post regarding the type of ammo andrapid fire munitions that have been cominginto T&T and the rest of the Caribbean forthe past 20+ years.

It has become so bad now that it may be im-possible to capture the culprits. Ordinaryfishing boats have steel extensions weldedon to the underside of the boats and cannotbe seen as they are at least 4 feet into thewater.

These steel extensions act as "tie-ons".Large waterproofed plastic containers andbags are attached to these underwater, to es-cape detection.

They carry everything!

Even though the Coast Guard stops thesefishing boats it is difficult to detect unlessthey have CG divers like they do in the US,who can check the hull for underwaterdrag-equipment.They know when the Guardia Nacionalvessels pass by ( you can even see themfrom the beach in Los Iros) and when ourCG under-equipped small boats go by.

That is sweet T&T for you. No woner somuch guns with Portuguese writings andSpanish logos are found in the streets inT&T.

If you have $500.00 TT you can pick oneup in San Juan, Curepe and all of the"hoods" in T&T! You can even rent one!

That's how bad it has become, and the po-lice knows who the traders are!

Dr Chris MahadeoAssociate Professor of Biology

OPINION Indo-Caribbean Times JANUARY 2008 Page 15

No apology to humiliated TT chief justice Sat Sharma

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By Clevon RaphaelTrinidad Guardian

Now that Chief Justice SatnarineSharma has been cleared of any

wrong-doing by the Mustill tribunal, certainquestions must be seriously addressed if thecountry is to learn anything from this act ofinjustice.Who is going to apologise to Mr Sharma

for putting him through hell, which somepeople would go to their grave believingwas motivated by spite, vindictiveness andmalice?Let?s face the hard, cold truth: although

Mr Sharma has been vindicated, because ofthe dog-eat-cat society we are now existingin (it wasn’t like this all the time), there arealso those who would swear on the grave ofwhoever, that the man was guilty of what-ever.Because of their myopic, biased and jaun-

diced mindset, they would always ignorethe facts and swear to whatever demon theyworship that the CJ did a wrong and heshould not have been cleared by the veryeminent people who adjudicated the matter.The good name of the holder of the coun-

try’s third highest public office has beendragged through the mud, worse than aGood Friday “bobolee,” all the while suf-fering in silent agony.But thank God he and his family, who

were also put through the shame and hu-miliation that Mr Sharma underwent with avery strong resolve to clear his name anduphold his reputation, ended up victorious,as many expected he would have. Includ-ing myself.But victory at what price, one may very

well ask.That’s why it is very important that some-

body, anybody, must do the right thing andexpress some regret, even remorse, for theembarrassment and pain caused the CJ.

Would Chief Magistrate Sherman McNicolls lead the way as he was the catalystof this whole mess, and set the example andtell his boss he is sorry for what has tran-spired?Remember it was Mc Nicholls’ complaint

to then Attorney General John Jeremiewhich triggered this whole mess.Can he find the time from dealing with

his own problems to be a big man and dothe decent thing?Time will tell.Can we hope Jeremie, another key player

in this history-making affair, and who saidhe had nothing personal against Sharma,would do the right thing at this time?Since November 5, the country has not

heard a squeak from Jeremie so I don’tthink we can hold our breath on this one.Would the Prime Minister, who told the

nation he was only doing his constitutionalduty by asking the President to set up theinquiry, do what most political leadersloathe doing and offer a sincere apology toMr Sharma?I doubt we should hold out much hope

since he, a la Pontius Pilate, washed hishands of the matter when he restated his“only” role in it,when the report was deliv-ered last week.Since our dear PM has often professed

his intention to take the pulpitwhen hedemits office, should he not display hisChristian-like heart at this time and openlyreassure the CJ that his only role was in factthe constitutional one he performed?Then what about others who had no sig-

nificant part to play in the failed attemptsto sink the CJ but who by their actionsclearly found the man guilty even before asingle tribunal member was appointed?I am referring in general to those irre-

sponsible talk show hosts who demon-strated an appalling lack of professionalismby lambasting the man up and down their

frequencies.In this regard would Louis Lee Sing

record and air a new tape apologising forthe station’s unreasonable and bewilderingcalls for Sharma to go “now.”In retrospect, Mr Lee Sing, were you and

George “Umbala” Joseph right to take thatposition against a man who was simplyfighting against all theodds to salvage a life-time of unblemished public service in theland of his birth?In retrospect you two gentlemen, don’t

you think you owe it, if only outof a senseof fairplay, to apologise for that ingloriouspiece of indiscretion? That is putting itmildly.Louis and Umbala, I will be monitoring

your frequency on behalf of all citizens whohave a sense of decency to hear whetheryou are men enough to apologise to thegentleman CJ.There are so many issues that come to

play in this, as I said, very unfortunateepisode in the country’s jurisprudence his-tory that this space does not permit at thistime to comment on many of them.But I cannot leave unless we deal with

this matter about Sharma being told, by youknow who, to resign or else the policewould prosecute him.Apart from the disputed propriety of suchan ultimatum, given the penchant for pass-ing illogical judgments on others by the ter-ribly misinformed and biased segments inour country, just think what the perceptionwould have been if the CJ had agreed to doso.The talk on the ground would have been

“he was guilty, that is why he resigned.”

Sharma to retireon January 24A pained and humiliated Chief Justice

Satnarine Sharma returned to the helm ofthe judiciary last December 21, a day afterhe was spared impeachment. "I am happyto be back...I still have work to do," he said.Sharma, in a wide-ranging impromptu in-

terview session with the media, said he didnot believe that the judiciary was weakenedby the charges against him.And, just like earlier last year, Sharma's

return to his judicial duties will be short, ashe is due to retire on January 24, 2008.Sharma resumed duties on March 26,

2007, when criminal charges, which weresparked by complaints by Chief MagistrateSherman Mc Nicolls that Sharma tried tounduly influence the outcome of the In-tegrity trial of former prime minister Bas-deo Panday, were dropped on March 5.The prosecution against Sharma was dis-

continued when Mc Nicolls refused to tes-tify, saying he preferred giving evidencebefore an impeachment tribunal.He was again suspended on June 13, after

more than two years of legal wrangling in-volving allegations of interference byT&T's third-highest official in a prelimi-nary inquiry.At a hastily-called press conference on

the third floor of the Hall of Justice in Port-of-Spain, Sharma steered clear of com-menting on thefindings of the impeachmenttribunal. Sharma said he had nothing to sayon the report which cleared him.He said, however, that he believed the

country would come to its own conclusionson the entire issue.“I stood up for what I felt was right,” he

said. He does not plan to take any actionagainst the State for prosecuting him.

HEALTH AND FASHION Indo-Caribbean Times JANUARY 2008 Page 16

Humidifier canhelp manage drywinter airWinter brings the stuffy combination of

cold season and months of dry airwhen the heat goes on.If you're struggling with a dry cough, or

reaching for the tissue box to try - in vain -to blow your nose so you can breathe, it'stime to consider a humidifier.By putting moisture back into a dry en-

vironment, the machines can bring relief tovictims of the dreaded winter cold. Humid-ifiers can help ease dryness in the lining ofthe nose, the bronchial tubes and the lungs,said Jim King, a family physician inSelmer, Tenn."The water evaporates into the air, and

then you can breathe it into the nasal pas-sages and it keeps everything moist so it'seasier to clear and breathe," said King, pres-ident of the American Academy of FamilyPhysicians. "If you have a lot of congestionand you're stopped up and can't clear the se-cretions, it will be a benefit."Humidifiers are also touted as a way to

help with scratchy throats, chapped lips, dryskin, and congestion from sinus problems,allergies and asthma as well as householdproblems such as static electricity, peelingwallpaper and cracks in paint and wood fur-niture due to low humidity.King says anyone can use a humidifier,

but he mostly recommends one for chil-dren, who have small nasal passages, andcan't always blow their noses by them-selves.Lisa Schroeder, a mother of two from

Mamaroneck, N.Y., said a humidifierworked well for her four-year-old son,John, when he was younger. She planned tobuy one for her daughter, Mary, who turnsone in February."It's so dry all winter long," Schroeder

said. "It's good for the nasal passages andto keep them free of stuffiness so they canbreathe easier through the night."

Just remember, humidifiers must becleaned regularly to keep them clear of bac-teria that can make you sick. And a humid-ifier isn't a wonder cure."You're not curing anything," King says."You're trying to treat the symptoms and

make them more comfortable."

Are Indo-Canadians running low on vitamin D?Vitamin D tests conducted on a

group of University of Toronto stu-dents have found that virtually all

non-whites had insufficient levels of thesunshine vitamin, putting them at elevatedrisk of debilitating diseases such as osteo-porosis, cancer and diabetes.

The research found that 93 per cent ofSouth Asians (those of Indian or Pakistaniorigin, including Indo-Caribbeans) wereshort of vitamin D, as were 100 per cent ofthose of African origin, and 85 per cent ofEast Asians (those of Chinese, Indochineseor Filipino origin, among other countries).

The findings have alarmed the researchers,who say that if the results are typical ofCanada's growing non-white population,the country could be facing a public healthcrisis.

"I think it's important to take measures assoon as possible for this," said EstebanParra, an anthropologist at the universitywho worked on the study and said the re-sult "really surprised" researchers.

Insufficient vitamin D amounts were alsofound among those of European ancestry,but were less widespread, at 34 per cent ofthose surveyed.

The research, based on blood tests con-ducted at the university's Mississauga cam-pus in February and March, is the first tosystematically examine vitamin D levels ofa group of racially diverse, young Canadianadults and categorize the results by ethnic-ity.

A variety of factors influence how much ofthe vitamin people have, but skin colourand diet are among the most important.

The results indicate that Canada may haveto revise its vitamin D intake levels and in-crease awareness about the risk of defi-ciencies, particularly among non-whites.

Some of the levels found - among peoplefrom all ethnic groups - were so low that ifthe students had been infants, they wouldhave been at risk of the debilitating child-hood bone disease known as rickets. Insuf-ficiency in the study was defined as a bloodlevel of less than 50 nanomoles/litre, orabout half the amount found earlier thisyear to prevent cancer in a U.S. trial.

Currently, Health Canada doesn't have aracially based recommendation for vitaminD. The Canadian Cancer Society, however,earlier this year advised non-whites thatthey need to consume more than whites.The recommendation, through diet and sup-plements: 1,000 IU a day year-round fornon-whites, and that amount in fall andwinter for whites.

The new study vindicates the cancer soci-ety's approach, and also suggests that thecountry's main food-fortification strategy -adding vitamin D to milk and infant for-mula - doesn't work for non-whites as theyget older, although it helps prevent ricketsduring infancy.

The U of T findings reinforced the impor-tance of skin colour, which has been knownfor more than a decade to be a factor deter-mining how easily a person is able to makevitamin D at a given latitude.

Most of a person's vitamin D is made when

skin is exposed to strong spring and sum-mer ultraviolet light, hence its nickname thesunshine vitamin. Those with darker skinshave more pigmentation due to melanin, anatural sunscreen, that slows the ability ofskin to make the vitamin.

"The darker your skin, the lower your aver-age vitamin D level will be. There is nodoubt about it," said Reinhold Vieth, a pro-fessor in the department of nutritional sci-ences at the university and another of theresearchers. Dr. Vieth said Canada needs apublic health strategy that includes more in-formation about vitamin D, particularly forthose at risk of deficiencies based on skincolour.

One of the participants in the study, RoselleGonsalves, said she was "very much sur-prised" that her vitamin reading, while nearthe average of the group, was considered in-sufficient, even though she had a summerjob working outdoors for part of the day.Ms. Gonsalves, of South Asian ancestry,hadn't been aware that melanin in skin re-duced vitamin D levels, and before partici-pating in the study had thought her skincolour gave her an advantage when it cameto the nutrient. "I was shocked," she said.

Regardless of racial background, peopleliving in Canada are among those at thehighest risk in the world for vitamin D in-sufficiency because of the country's north-ern latitude. It is impossible, even insouthern parts of Canada, to make the vita-min in skin for about six months each yearduring the fall and winter because the sun-light is too feeble, so the amount a person isable to build up during the summer is ofcritical importance.

THE SUNSHINE VITAMINMost of the vitamin D circulating in ourbodies is made in our skin, when it is ex-posed to ultraviolet light.

Whites can make about 10,000 Interna-tional Units after about 10 minutes to 15minutes in a bathing suit around noon insummer. Those with darker skin need up tosix times longer to make the same amountbecause their higher levels of melanin actlike a natural sunscreen.

Those with low levels can easily correct theproblem by taking supplements. Most mul-tivitamins contain 400 IU, but vitamin Dpills have up to 1,000 IU. A year's supplyof the bigger dose costs about $15 to $20, orabout five cents a day.

There are a number of conflicting recom-mendations on how much vitamin D totake. Health Canada developed its recom-mendations 10 years ago, and many criticssay its advice is outdated. In any case, theagency says an adequate amount for thoseaged one to 50 is 200 IU daily; for 51 to 70it is 400 IU, and over 70 it is 600 IU. Thesafe upper limit is 2,000 IU.

Given that differences in skin colour deter-mine how much vitamin D a person makesin sunlight, the Canadian Cancer Society isrecommending non-whites take 1,000 IUdaily year-round, while whites take thatamount only in fall and winter.

Government health-insurance plans coverblood tests for vitamin D requested byphysicians. Many researchers think peopleneed at least 75 nanomoles/litre for opti-mum health, although typical levels in

Canada in winter fall to around 40 nmol/L,and even less in non-whites.

Vitamin D insufficiency used to be thoughtof as a problem causing only rickets, but inrecent years, researchers have found thatlow levels of the nutrient are linked to a dis-parate range of diseases and health prob-lems, including many types of cancer,osteoporosis, mult-iple sclerosis, diabetesand susceptibility to tuberculosis and in-fluenza.

Diet is a source of vitamin D, but very fewfoods contain it naturally. In Canada, milkand some other products are artificially for-tified: a cup of milk contains about 100 IU.Oily fish, such as salmon and sardines, alsocontain about 300 IU a serving. Smalleramounts are found in organ meat and eggyoke.

MAN-MADE VITAMIN D

With the right amount of exposure to UV-Bsunlight, it's possible for humans to createenough vitamin D. Here's how:

1. Sebaceous glandsProduce an oily substance that contains

acompound called 7-dehydrocholesterol.2. SunlightProvides the energy needed for 7-dehy-

drocholesterol to rearrange itself into achemical called previtamin D3.3. Key organsThe liver and kidney convert the previ-

tamin D3 to vitamin D. From there, it is re-leased into the general circulation andtransported to target organs.

As people age, the concentration of 7-dehydrocholesterol falls, reducing theirability to produce vita

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Low vitamin D may betrigger for heart attackPeople with low vitamin D levels face an

elevated risk for heart attack, heart failureand stroke, according to a study publishedtoday suggesting that the vitamin may pro-tect against cardiovascular disease. The el-evated risk was particularly acute amongthose with high blood pressure, the re-searchers found.Vitamin D helps the body absorb calciumand is considered important for bone health,but a number of studies have indicated itmight provide a number of other benefits.In adults, vitamin D deficiency can lead toosteoporosis, and it can lead to rickets inchildren.Researchers led by Dr. Thomas Wang of

Harvard Medical School in Boston fol-lowed 1,739 people, average age 59, for 5years, taking blood samples to gauge vita-min D levels.Those with low vitamin D lev-els had about a 60 percent higher risk of acardiovascular event like heart attack, heartfailure or stroke compared to those withhigher levels, even with well-known car-diovascular risk factors such as diabetes,high cholesterol and high blood pressuretaken into account.The risk for heart attack, heart failure or

stroke was double in people with both highblood pressure, also known as hyperten-sion, and vitamin D deficiency, the re-searchers said.The findings were publishedin Circulation, a journal published by theAmerican Heart Association.Wang called the findings intriguing but

said it was too early to say that taking vita-min D supplements would lower one's riskfor heart disease or stroke.

RELIGION Indo-Caribbean Times JANUARY 2008 Page 17

Dharma indexto guide HinduinvestorsAfter investments in stock market based

on Islamic values, investors wouldnow be able to park money in stocks ofcompanies that operate in accordance withthe principles of religions like Hinduismand Buddhism.Global index developer Dow Jones In-

dexes, in partnership with Dharma Invest-ments, on Tuesday launched 'DharmaIndexes,' which measure theperformance ofcompanies selected according to the valuesystems of religions, especially Hinduismand Buddhism."The Down Jones Dharma Indexes bring

together a combination of environmental,social, governance and traditional sin sec-tor filters. As such, the index is unique andwill not just have appeal to the religious,but to a far broader audience as well,"Dharma Investments CEO Nitesh Gor toldreporters in New York.The first faith-based index was launched

in 1999 when Dow Jones came out with anIslamic market index. Presently, there aremany Shariah-compliant indices with assetunder management of over $500 billion.The Dharma indices series includes Dow

Jones Dharma Global Index, as well as fourcountry indices for the United States, theUnitedKingdom, Japan and India. For in-clusion in the index, a stock must pass a setof industry, environmental, corporate gov-ernance and qualitative screenings, Gorsaid.Dow Jones will licence the index to mu-

tual funds that may come out withproductsbased on the index.Dow Jones Indexes Senior Director (AsiaPacific) Sumeet Nihalani said 8-10 mutualfunds have already approached the com-pany for the index. The funds will becharged an annual licence fee or a smallpercentage of the assets under management,he added.

Listen live to Islamic New Yearevent Jan. 20The Muslim Youth League (MYL) says

Caribbean Muslim Scholar Al Haj Ka-maludeen Ghanny will serve as guest of ho-nour at celebrations being held for theIslamic New Year 1429 on January 20.In a press release the MYL said it, in col-

laboration with the Guyana United Sadr Is-lamic Anjuman and the Anna CatherinaIslamic Complex, is hosting the programmeat the newly opened Hogg Island Masjid. Itsaid the celebration has been added to itscalendar of events for Muslims in Guyana.The MYL said this is the first time that

the programme will be hosted in anothercounty. It is expected to be covered live byTrinidad and Tobago's (T&T) most popularRadio Network, Radio Shakti, which isowned by that country's Hindu CreditUnion, and beamed to the Caribbean andNorth America.Ghanny, along with members of the T&T

diplomatic corps, political, religious andcivic leaders and members at local mosquesare expected to attend the event.A boat has been contracted to ferry personsto Hog Island for the event. The MYL saidFarouk Amin is providing this service freeof charge.

Be wary of English translations of Hindu scriptures

By Sheena Patel

Most Hindus living in the West have anurge at one point in their lives to learn

about Hinduism. Sometimes the curiosityarises from a genuine desire for guidance inlife. In other cases the urge to look into Hin-duism comes from a particular incident –for example being asked questions thatwe’re not able to answer. There may be anynumber of different starting points to an in-dividual’s quest.

So how does such a person go aboutstudying Hinduism? One of the seeminglyobvious things to do would be to obtain anEnglish translation of some of the majorHindu shastras (sacred texts) and readthem. And this is what quite a few peopleattempt to do, perhaps from a library, book-shop, or an old copy lying around at home. Reading the Hindu shastras would seemlike a sensible thing to do for someonewanting to learn about Hinduism.

However the result of such pursuit isoften confusion and misunderstanding ofwhat Hinduism is all about. The problem isin the translation. There is an old story about how a com-

puter, programmed to translate from Eng-lish to Russian and back, rendered thephrase "The spirit was willing, but the fleshwas weak" into "The Vodka was strong, butthe meat was bad.A similar phenomenon occurred when

European scholars made their first transla-tions of Hindu shastras into English in the19th century. Unfortunately, it is often thetranslations of such European scholarswhich form some of the most readily avail-able collections on Hindu scriptures. Ex-amples of such translators include MaxMuller, Ralph Griffith, Monier William andH. H. Wilson.Although they played a role in the pur-

suit of English translations of Sanksritworks, they were relatively new to Sanskritand without a background in the ideas ofthe Vedic era, for them to set out to translatethe large and complex works of the Vedicage is an exercise bound to fail. It is com-parable to a person trying to interpret aphysics paper without a grounding in thebasic concepts, but just having learnt thelanguage.

In addition to the difficulty inherent intrying to interpret early Sanskrit of thou-sands of years ago by people who had only

just discovered the language, some of thesescholars (with a handful of honorable ex-ceptions) also projected their own world-view, biases and agenda into theirtranslation. For example, in the 19th century a racial-

ist view of history was in vogue, wherebyhistory was a product of constant invasionsand subjugation of one race by another.Therefore, it was automatically assumedthat anything sounding vaguely like a con-flict in the Vedas was a race war betweenan invading European-like horde (Aryans)versus darker Dravidians, even if there wasno objective evidence that this was the case. Unfortunately, because of the greater pres-tige attached to European scholarship in thehumanities compared with Indian scholar-ship, these translations have achieved anaura of authority. Unfortunately large sec-tions of English speaking Hindus ended uplearning Hinduism through their transla-tions.

Better English translations of Hinduscriptures have been written by Hindu yogisand scholars, such as Sri Aurobindo, BalGangadhar Tilak, Swami DayanandaSaraswati and Swami Chinmayananda,amongst others. These translations are oftendifficult to get hold of, and are quite diffi-cult to read due to the style of English used– but are very rewarding and enlighteningfor the more serious reader who has gotwhat it takes to persevere through the earlystages. Recently, the Bhagavad Gita hasbeen extensively translated into English,and a number of excellent translations andcommentaries exist – although there arealso a few of dubious quality.

Other recommended ways of startinglearning about Hinduism are the beginnersbooks on Hinduism by David Frawley(“Hinduism: The Eternal Tradition,” avail-

able to read online) and Linda Johnson(“The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Hin-duism”), both of which are written by non-Hindus who have embraced Hindu dharma,and have many references for further read-ing which you may wish to investigate.Hindu Wisdom (formerly known as ‘A

Tribute to Hinduism’) is a great site on Hin-duism and you may also want to browsethrough the Culture, Spirituality & Lifestylearchives of Hindu Voice UK, which arefilled with articles on a huge range of sub-jects relating to Hindu spirituality.

Mukesh Ambanibecomes world'srichest man

Last month a Hindu became the richestman in the world for the first time in

modern history. Mukesh Ambani, whosefortune was estimated at $20.1 billion at thebeginning of the year, has prospered im-mensely in 2007 due to an excellent run inthe Indian stock market, which saw thebenchmark Sensex gain more than 4,000points to break new records.Being a major shareholder in Reliance

Industries, one of India’s largest companies,as well as the rupee gaining considerablyon the dollar has propelled Mukesh Am-bani’s fortune to approximately $63.2 Bil-lion by the year end, ahead of Bill Gates’$56 billion.

In the table of the world’s ten richestmen, no other nation in the world except theUSA now has more men than India. India’sfive richest men now hold more wealth thenChina’s forty richest, despite the fact thatChina has a GDP per Capita of about twicethat of India. Ambani is currently building the world’s

most expensive house, to be completed bySeptember this year. The Antilia is estia-mated to cost $1billion.It is as tall as an average 60 story build-

ing, but contains 27 extra tall stories, withthree helicopter pads at the top. Six storieswill be reserved for up to 168 cars and onefloor for car repairs. There is also one floorfor entertainment, including a 50 seat the-atre. Up to 600 servants will be employed totake care of the massive building, its threefloors of gardens, swimming pool andguest quarters.

YOUTH Indo-Caribbean Times JANUARY 2008 Page 18

Race retention and culture loss: SouthAsians/East Indians in St. Vincent

By Kumar Mahabir

Abstract - The West Indian/Caribbean is-land of St. Vincent is home to a small per-centage of South Asians/East Indians, all ofwhom came to work as labourers in the sug-arcane fields after slavery under a systemof indentureship (1862-1885). On the islandthere are distinct areas where Indo-St. Vin-centians live, namely Richland Park, Calderand Rosebank. This paper takes the form of an interview

done in 1982 with a 93-year old Indian, Mr.James Woods. Through this key informant,readers get an insight of the living condi-tions of Indian indentured immigrants, theirrelationships with one other, and with thelarger ethnic African population. Woodsalso reveals the traditions and customs thathave been retained mainly through song,dance, religion and marriage. He also at-tempts to explain why so many Indians con-verted from Hinduism to Christianity. The following interview was done with

Mr. James Woods, born 1889, at his homein Richard Park, St. Vincent, on March 15,1982 when Woods was 93 years old.

MAHABIR: Mr. Woods, did your parentscome from India?WOODS: My father and grand-father comein a boat from India. My father come twoyears old, li'l child. He come here in St.Vincent in 1852.They come on a boat,"Light in London." The boat wreck in Bar-bados.

MAHABIR: How did they reach St. Vin-cent?WOODS: They swim to shore. They take anext boat for come in St. Vincent.

MAHABIR: Why did your grand-fatherleave India?WOODS: My grand-father (by my mother-side) name is Kowlessar. They did immi-grating people to come to St. Vincent towork. They come under immigration. Theycome to work. They come here under im-migration to work. My father name is See-taram. My mother come from India too. Mymother name is Rajani.

MAHABIR: What work did your father doin India?WOODS: I believe he was a sheep-a-man,seeing about cattle. He was seeing aboutcattle. He told me that. He and some fellarminding cattle for other people, and he takea stick and he knock the fellar. So he try toget-way in the immigration before they doanything with he.

MAHABIR: Were you told anything aboutcrossing the kala pani [black waters]?WOODS: No.

MAHABIR: In which estate was your fa-ther bound?WOODS: Argyle. My father did all kind ofwork in the estate, but his last work wasoverseeing. All the work they got in Argyle,he head all the work. To dig bank, he beatall hand; to cut cane, he beat all man. Hewas the head work-man. You understand?So they raise him and raise him untilhecame over- seer. He was a sealer-man inArgyle too. Sealing rum . my father.

MAHABIR: Did he have problems, as anoverseer, with workers on the estate?WOODS: All the Indian people, if theyhave any case, they go bring it to him. He

MAHABIR: Did they blow horns duringthe ceremony?WOODS: Yes. Blow you' shell man. Ringah bell. pundit [priest] have their book.21Them ah read.

MAHABIR: Can you read Hindi?WOODS: No. Me can't read man. Me hum-bug meself man. My father could ah readand write in Indian.

MAHABIR: Did Indian marry Blacks inthose times?WOODS: No, no, no. Black can't comenear them. They wouldn't accept them atall. No. That time no Indian at all ever mar-ried a black. Negro find their rank; Indianfind their own rank. Now Indian ah go withBlack; Black ah go with Indian. All beforethat time, when we there in the estate, In-dian people have nothing to do with Black,and Black people have nothing to do withIndian. You ah Indian, you keep by your-self; you ah Black you keep by yourself. Noother people eh mix up with one another.

MAHABIR: Do you know about Muslimfunctions?WOODS: No.

MAHABIR: Do you know any Indiansongs?WOODS: Oh yes man. Wha' you talk? Meand a fellar named Seecharan sing wholenight till day clean. Indian song.

MAHABIR: Well, sing a piece for me.WOODS: All right . Rama kena bhajo manamariobow lagai kay Put your mind onRama and praise him until deathRama kenabhajo mana mariobow lagai kayPut yourmind on Rama and praise him untildeathKoi kaie phiira jilebi baraphi mangaikay Some people send for phira jilebi andbaraphi [sweetmeats] to eat Koi kaie phirajilebi baraphi mangai kay Some peoplesend for phira jilebi and baraphi [sweet-meats] to eat Sadhu kaie ruka suka hari gunah lagai kay Sadhus [ascetics] eat dry andplain food and sing praises to God

MAHABIR: Did non-Indians ever abuseyou by saying "coolie"?WOODS: Them ah say "coolie," but I say Ino "coolie," me ah "Indian." I say, "Me nuhcome as slave; I bound." We used to callthem African, "Negro."

MAHABIR: When did the Indian way oflife change?WOODS: I used to follow the Indian wayright up to the time when the old Indiandead out. After, the young people take upthe English way; so we throwdown the In-dian rule. Everybody begin to christen theypickni [children] and baptize they pickni indifferent, different religion. Some ah Pen-tecostal, some ah Salvationist, some ahChurch of God, some ah Seventh Day Ad-ventist, all different religion.

MAHABIR: What do you have to say aboutthe young Indians in St. Vincent?WOODS: Them young people today cyaneven give their own account. They have towork out their own salvation.

MAHABIR: Mr. Woods, thank you verymuch for speaking with me.

Race retention and culture loss among Indians in St. Vincentgo set the case. If he say you wrong, youwrong. If he give a judgement, you don'thave to go through magistrate. The Indiansused to set they own case. They call all thepeople . estate people. He take evidencefrom them. They no used to go to no courtat all. He used to be the ... am ... judge. Heleft Argyle in 1905 when he bound done.

MAHABIR: Did he live in the estate bar-racks?WOODS: He been have a separate housebecause he was an over­-seer. 5 Andif anybody dead and you have a child - ninedays, it used to have big dance and all kindof thing. You have a daughter who go mar-ried, some buy a gallon of rum, some buyhalf gallon, according. And two pound arice, three pound of rice, according.7 Theyinvite all the Indian; the woman them, theman them. The woman from Richland Parkwent to singin the house. They knock drumand sing and dance and thing.

MAHABIR: Did people marry at an earlyage?WOODS: Just as they five year old. Littlechildren - they getting married. You are thefather and you are the father. Well, he sayyou have a daughter. He say you have a son.When the time come, they make a gowna[ceremonial acceptance of bride]. Theymake a big feast. Their parents choosing forthem.

MAHABIR: Did this happen in St. Vin-cent?WOODS: Yes. But the gyul go stop at themother house until she come to a certainage. When they feel they can go, they makea big feast and they bring the boy and gyul.They put them in a rule, the Indian rule.None of the gyul couldn't commit adulterywith any other man. So you done marriedbefore you know anything about the world.

MAHABIR: Was the wedding big?WOODS: Oh yes. They build big shedcover with trash mostly. Cane trash. Bam-boo post. They had big broad bush callchaila bush. They spread it all about and wego sit down right round. They share food inthe bush.That was the rule, the Indian rule.

MAHABIR: Was there a priest?WOODS: The Indian minister there. Theycall him pundit. He come and married them.

MAHABIR: What sort of clothes did Indi-ans wear?WOODS: When they come from India,they used to wear dhoti [loin cloth] andthing. All ah them been ah wear dhoti. Allthe woman and them beenah wear orhini[veil] till they get the English wear. Onetime when I send my hand under the stonein Argyle River, the bera [bracelet] jam. Myfather bring cruba [picket] and turn thestone from my hand. I used to have , threebera 'pon me hand and my mother used tohave nose-ring,jewel all over her hand.They call it julana [nose-ring].

MAHABIR: How did Negroes see the In-dians' wedding, clothes, etc.?WOODS: The Negro dem used to be slave.In 1834 the slavery come off ah them. Theyrelease them from they slavery. Indian peo-ple was under bound.

MAHABIR: Was there any trouble betweenIndians and Negroes?WOODS: The Negro and dem live separatefrom the Indian and them. We did livingseparate from the Black. The Black and

them did living in a place call Bottom Bar-rick. It did have one Indian man livingthere. They call that man William Laban .he English name, but he did name Takoor.

MAHABIR: How did your father convertto Christianity?WOODS: My father didn't come to Christi-anity. At the time of his death, he did stillliving the Indian way. But in 1931, I wasbaptized by Seventh Day Adventist. I was41 years of age. I didn't stop long with theAdventist because their teaching not right.I change to the Church of God.

MAHABIR: What made you change fromHindu?WOODS: There were two boys, Manoramand Ramrattan. They come Trinidad. Whenthey come, one ah them used to stop at anyhouse because he find Ididn't used to eatanything unclean. Ramrattan used to stop ata fellar named Harry Gonzales. One used tostop at me down there. But whenthey ready,the two ah them go back to Trinidad. Themcome as a colporteur [bookseller] for theSeventh Day Adventist. They selling bookandthing. I buy a book called The GreatControversy between Christ and Satan andThe Revelation and Christian Sabbath. Ibuy those booksfrom them. Those boys.

MAHABIR: What did you find wrongabout the Hindu religion?WOODS: My father dead. See? After oldIndian people dead off, we take up the Eng-lish way. Before, Indian, when they have achild born nine days, theyhave big danceand singing and thing. When it come to aman dead, forty days, they have big party;sit down and eat and drink. All them ahIn-dian rule.

MAHABIR: Tell me more about Hindu fu-nerals in St. Vincent?WOODS: When they bury the dead, every-body have to go and bathe. The woman andthem na go for burial you know. When wedone, you have to go to the river and bathe.They mean to say you unclean. When youdone bathe, you come back home.

MAHABIR: Did they ever burn anybody inSt. Vincent?WOODS: No. They never burn anybody inSt. Vincent. They never burn none. All themah used to bury them the same. They usedto have the Indianminister, the Indian sadhu[ascetic] they call them.

MAHABIR: Did your father stay separate?WOODS: All the Indian whe' come Argyle;they come in one like. They join up withone another. They have Dowlat and them,they have Sieunarine them. All ah them ahdifferent nation [caste] you know. Some ahChamar, some ah Garedhia, some ah Ahir.

MAHABIR: Did Muslims stay apart fromHindus? WOODS: Well, Muslims did there too withthem. All the nation there. If you is a Hindu,you is a Hindu; if you is a Chamar, you is aChamar; if you isa Muslim, you is a Mus-lim. But all ah them go mix up because theynuh have you' family.

MAHABIR: Do you remember any katha[Hindu ceremonial worship] being done inSt. Vincent?WOODS: Yes man. We used to have katha.We put up a white flag on bamboo in theyard. We sing and so. They no eat no meat- milk. Up to now medon't eat no beef youknow.

INDIANS IN THE CARIBBEAN Indo-Caribbean Times JANUARY 2008 Page 19

The Revival of Hinduism in the West (Continued from Page 11)Swami Purnanandajee, the deputy leaderof the Cultural Mission remained inTrinidad to carry out the stream of Hin-duism in Trinidad.

BHARAT SEVASHRAM SANGHA IN GUYANA

Dr. Jung Bahadur Singh, Pandit S.P.Sharma, Barrister Sugrim Singh, RamjasTewari and many other Hindu leaders werepresent to welcome the Indian CulturalMission at the Atkinson (Cheddi Jagan)Airport (Guyana). Dr. Jung Bahadur Singhwelcomed the Mission by giving a shortspeech; people garlanded every one of themonks. Swami Advaitanandajee Maharajreplied with a short lecture to thank andwelcome the people of Guyana. Lots ofpeople were waiting on both sides of theroad to greet them. They brought them tothe Kitty Mandir and arranged their ac-commodation in the house of Mr. Balkaranin Lamaha Street, Kitty.

Next day, the Welcome Committeearranged a great reception program in theTown Hall of Georgetown. Mr. CharlesWilly, Governor of British Guyana wel-comed the Cultural Mission. On behalf ofthe city, Mr. H. B. Gajraj, Mayor, welcomedall with an accepting speech. The audiencewas overwhelmed by the dynamic lectureof the great orator, Swami AdvaitanandajeeMaharaj. The Hindu leaders from differentparts of Guyana invited the Mission and or-ganized lectures. The Cultural Mission preached the cul-

tural heritage of India with Vedic Sandhyaand Havan all over Guyana. They receivedlot of co-operation from every one. Thepeople of Guyana were captivated by theheroic Arati performed by Brahmachari Ra-jkrishna. The Cultural Mission spread thewords of Hinduism all over Guyana as theydid in Trinidad. The Hindu leaders ofGuyana requested Swami AdvaitanandajeeMaharaj to recruit one monk in Guyana tocarry out the stream of Hinduism. SwamiAdvaitanandajee Maharaj said, Swami Pur-nanandajee is in Trinidad right now and hewill work with the Hindus in both Trinidadand Guyana and will carry out the activitiesof the Sangha. After preaching and addedto the Hindus on Hinduism in Guyana, theCultural Mission departed. Farewell pro-grams were organized in the Town Hall,Kitty Mandir and Arya Samaj Mandir.

Enroute to India, the Cultural Missionreached London. Dr. Kumaria and otherdevotees welcomed them at the Airport. Dr.Kumaria is the founder of the Hindu Asso-ciation in London. Swamjee lectured at theHindu Association for two days at the Stu-dent Burrow and other places. After preach-ing and increasing to the growth of Hindusin respect to Hinduism in London for threeweeks, the Cultural Mission left from Lon-don via Paris and Rome and reached Bom-bay Airport.As mentioned earlier, Swami Purnanan-

dajee Maharaj the deputy leader of the In-dian Cultural Mission remained in Trinidadto carry out the stream of Hinduism at therequest of the Hindus of Trinidad permis-sion granted by Governing body of BharatSevashram Sangha (Calcutta, Head quar-ters). In Trinidad, Swami Purnanadajee Ma-

haraj had no particular place to stay. Usu-ally he stayed in different Temples, in thisway he was engaged in preaching all day.He used to teach Sandhya and Havan to thedevotees and lectured on Hinduism. Mr.Sooknanan Maharaj, from Princess Town,donated him a car and he also gave him a

newly built house to reside. Swamijee felt itwas his obligation to clarify the depth ofHinduism. He did not sleep in the houseprovided but slept in the car so movingfrom one area to another can be easily ac-cessible to educate and add to the value ofHinduism to the people of Trinidad. Hehardly slept in the house; he returned to hishome every 10-15days. His goal was tospread the teachings of Hinduisim (teach-ings of his Guru, Acharya Swami Prana-vanandjee Maharaj).In Trinidad the Maha Sabha was formed

through the guidance of Swami Purnanan-daje Maharaj. Bhadase Sagan Maharaj wasthe President of Maha Sahba. Swamijee en-couraged Mr. Bhadase Sagan Maharaj toopen Hindu Schools to protect the Hindusfrom converting to Christian missionaries.Today, the Maha Sabha has 52 HinduSchools. After the expiry of Mr. BhadaseSagan Maharaj, his son in law, Satya-narayan Maharaj became the Secretary ofMaha Sabha.In 1953 a devotee from Felicity, Brijlal

Bansraj donated one plot of land to build anashram. When Swamijee got the land, heused to sleep on the ground on a mattress inan open space with a mosquito net. Devo-tees used to beg him, Gurujee! We are pro-viding you a room, please come, butSwamijee would not listen to them. Whenrain fell, he used to sit with an umbrella.Devotees used to ask him again, Gurujee!

Come to our house; he used to tell them,The sky is my roof. Within a few months hebuilt a Temple in Felicity on that land.Swamijee formed an organization namedTrinidad Sevashram Sangha. By his en-couragement and support, another threeTemples were built; Caparo, Bejucal andFreeport. These Temples are the branchesof Trinidad Sevashram Sangha. Swamijee organized hundreds of groups.

Swamijee wrote HINDUTVAM, it is calledthe BIBLE for the Hindus in Trinidad,Guyana and other parts of the world. InTrinidad (Felicity Ashram), his determina-tion was so strong that he would use onlyone match stick to light the firewood tocook. If it did not light, he would not cook.Some times he used to boil papaya leavesand used to drink it as food. Gayadutt Singh (Sunder), used to visit

him every day and Swamijee used to feedhim. If there was no food, Swamijee usedto give him the boiled liquid papaya leavesto drink. Sunder asked, “Gurujee! What isthis?” Swamijee used to say, Sundar, “Thisis very good for one’s health.” Sunder en-tered the kitchen and found out; there wasno rice and vegetables to cook. That’s whyGurujee boiled papaya leaves to survive.He never asked any one nor would he

spend money to buy any thing for him.Swami Purnanadajee Maharaj, dynamicmonk, spent five valuable years in Trinidad.He established Trinidad Sevashram Sanghawith four branches. Felicity Ashram is theHeadquarters.

One African gentleman, Mr. EphramCharles took initiation from Swamijee. Hewas a politician and Swamijee selected himas the President of Trinidad SevashramSangha. He went everywhere with Swami-jee to preach. Another African gentlemanMr.Huangriggs donated all the money toprint the Bhagawad Geeta, which was writ-ten by Swami Purnanadajee Maharaj.The echo of Trinidad reached to Guyana

long before. The Hindus of Guyana werewaiting anxiously for Swami Purnananda-jee Maharaj. Swamijee appointed the exec-utive committee members of TrinidadSevashram Sangha and Felicity as the

Headquarters of all the branches. He gaveresponsibility to Brijlal Bansraj to run theservice of Felicity Ashram. He purchased amini bus and he used to travel with thedevotees all over Trinidad to perform Sand-hya, Havan as well as to preach and propa-gate the message of Guru Maharaj. Mr.Brijlal Bansraj along with Mr. ShyamlalJadunandan was very dedicated to GuruMaharaj.

SWAMI PURNANADAJEEIN GUYANA

Hindu leaders of Guyana, Dr. Jung Ba-hadur Singh, Pandit S.P. Sharma, Mr. R.K.Singh, Mr. Budhu and Mr. Kedar sponsoredSwami Purnanadajee Maharaj.On Octobor 28Th, 1955, Swamijee ar-

rived in Guyana. All the Hindu leaders ofGuyana went to the airport to welcome him.His accommodation was arranged in thehouse of Pandit S. P Sharma in Kitty, 29,Sandybabb Street. Swamijee did yojna(Prabachan) for fourteen days in Campbel-lville Temple (greater Gorgetown). Hecommenced preaching and propagatingHinduism all over Guyana and added to therevolution of Hinduism in Guyana. Mr. & Mrs. Resaul Maharaj met Swami-

jee in Kitty and offered Swamijee 20 acresof swampy land in Cove and John, EastCoast Demarara to build an ashram. He ac-cepted the generous donation and started tobuild an Ashram. Bhaijee Dudhnath, a verydedicated disciple of Swamije, worked withSwamijee all the time in the ashram. Henever saw Gurujee neither cooked nor eat.One day he asked for permission from Gu-rujee to enter in the kitchen and was aston-ished to see heaps of coconut shells. Heasked Gurujee! What do you eat? Swami-jee replied, “Coconuts.” In this way, heused to survive but he never asked thedevotees for anything.In Guyana, Hindus used to bury the dead

bodies like the Christians. Swami Pur-nanadajee Maharaj defended the cause forthe Hindus whereby the Government ofBritish Guyana had to change the law toallow the Hindus to cremate their dead. Dr.Jung Bahadur Singh was the first man to becremated in Guyana and Swami Purnanan-dajee Maharaj was present at his cremationceremony. He showed the devotees how tocremate. Swamijee used to say, “Hindushave the sacred privilege and birth right tocremate their dead bodies.”Swamijee had a dream to live for. He said,“Until and unless I can build a Hindu Col-lege and dormitory my dream will not befulfilled and the Indians will be able tostand on their own feet.” Swamijee en-couraged Indians, by saying, you the Indi-ans and you are the majority yet youIndians are treated like Coolies. How longyou will all be dominated? Arise, wake andbe a vibrant Hindu. One day you will haveto rule this country. When he used to saythese inspiring words, his voice rose androared like a lion. In 1956 the prominent lawyer Mr. Sugrim

Prasad (son in law of Mr. & Mrs. ResaulMaharaj) supplied materials to build theHindu College (Secondary School) andDormitory. Devotees from all over Guyanahelped manually and financially and fewdevotees from Trinidad came and helpedfor construction also. Brahmacharies andstudents (boys) used to stay in the dormi-tory. Hindu Primary School was built bydonations. In due course more buildingswere constructed in the complex is knownas Guyana Sevashram Sangha (Cove &John Ashram). The Governor of British

Guyana Mr. Patrick Renison laid the foun-dation for the science lab, 26 February,1956. The Hindu Primary School and theHindu College was the top educational in-stitution in British Guyana. All races of stu-dents attending in the Hindu college andthat was the only school in the westwhereby students were allowed to say theirown prayers before attending class. Swami-jee allowed the poor students; free educa-tion and allow them to stay in the dormitoryfree, thus the reason for Swamjee to build aCollege for the people of Guyana. This isthe work of this great organization (BharatSevashram Sangha). Swamijee traveled all over Guyana to

preach and propagate the ideals of Hin-duism. Sometimes the Pandits created lotsof problems, but due to his heroic and dy-namic personality and the blessings of hisGuru Acharya Swami Pranavandajee Ma-haraj, on one could touch him. As theAshram was growing with lots of activities,Calcutta Head quarters sent another monkto assist Swamijee, who unfortunatelypassed away in Guyana after a few years.Swami Purnanandajee trained five Brah-macharies in the first group. SwamiVidyanadajee is the first Sannyasian fromthe first group in Guyana (South America).He is presently in charge of AmericaSevashram Sangha and Guyana SevashramSangha.From time to time, Swami Purnanandajeetook short trips to India. During those trips,in 1960, he decided to make a short stop inLondon (UK). He saw the need for the re-vival of Hinduism and in 1961 he estab-lished the London Sevashram Sangha, inShepherd Bush, London (UK). Later, hebrought two Brahmacharies to Londonfrom Guyana. Swami Nirliptanandajee whois presently in charge of the London branch,was one of the Brahmachari he broughtfrom Guyana.In 1967, Calcutta Headquarters assigned

Swami Brahamanandajee Maharaj (B,S.c)to Guyana as the principal of Hindu Col-lege. Swami Brahmanandajee served theHindu College as the Principal and also incharge of Guyana Sevashram Sangha forten years. In 1973, he rebuilt the new Tem-ple of Guyana Ashram. By the request ofGuyanese and Trinidadian devotees inCanada, Swami Brahmanandajee visitedCanada in 1975. With the consent of theGoverning body of Bharat SevashramSangha, Calcutta Head quarters, SwamiPurnanandajee sent Swami Brahmananda-jee in 1977 to establish a branch of BharatSevashram Sangha in Canada. He stayed indevotees’ homes and conducted serviceevery other Sunday at the University ofToronto and devotees’ homes. Swamijeeworked hard and with the help of the devo-tees, a property was bought with a house in1981 and establish an ashram at 196, RoyalYork Road, Toronto, Ontario (Canada). In1989 the Ashram was moved to 2107,Codlin Crescent, Toronto, Ontario. (Phone416-679-0967, E mail - bsstoronto@yahoo.ca). Swami Purnanan-dajee trained Brahmachari Shivshankar(Swami Bhajanananda) He served Hinducollege as an English literature teacher.Swami Purnanandajee sent him to Trinidadin 1981, as In-charge of TrinidadSevashram Sangha and he served there forfive years. In 1986, Swami Bhajanandajeewas sent to Canada to assist Swami Brah-manandajee.

(CONTINUED ON PAGE 21)

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New book onconstitution reform inTrinidadAvailable from www.amazon.com andwww.ianrandlepublis hers.com

A new book by Kirk Meighoo and PeterJamadar “Democracy and Constitution Re-form in Trinidad and Tobago” deals com-prehensively and exclusively withConstitution Reform in Trinidad and To-bago. It undertakes this task from a numberof different critical angles: comparative,his-torical-evolutionary, philosophical, theoret-ical, sociological, cultural, statistical, andorganisational.

The book challenges many taken-for-granted notions about what democracy is(e.g. free and fair elections, the rule of law,majority rule) and provides a more histori-cally and cross-culturally sustainable defi-nition. The new definition of democracyformulated in this book applies to both an-cient and modern democracy, in the richworldand the poor world. This provides agenuinely new contribution to the theoreti-cal discussion of democracy and the analy-sis of democratic government, state,culture, and institutions, in the Caribbeanand elsewhere.The book also furnishes the reader with

the most detailed statistical analyses avail-able of First-Past-the- Post versus Propor-tional Representation for all of Trinidadand Tobago’s general elections from 1946to 2002, and all Tobago House of Assem-bly elections from 1980 to 2001.

Cast: Darsheel Safary, Aamir Khan, TiscaChopra, Tanay Cheda, Sachet Engineer andVipin Sharma Director: Aamir KhanAll parents want their children to be top

of the class. Therefore, there is no place forslow learners. Nobody has the time or tol-erance to cope up with kids suffering fromdyslexia and Aamir Khan smartly tacklesthis issue in his first directorial venture'Taare Zameen Par'.Some films are meant to entertain and in-

form. However, this one is an eye openerand a must watch.Bullying of children by their parents is a

shameful thing and as the story unfolds youbegin questioning your treatment of yourchild. As the film shows, the same yardstickcannot be used for every child.The film is well scripted and all actors

have done a good job although some dia-logues are too heavy and preachy.

'Taare Zameen Par' would make for agood film for teachers and parents as wellas kids who might be able to relate to theprotagonist in the movie.Emotions shown in the film are not over

the top. They are real and often strike theright chord. So don't forget to carry tissuepaper.Humanely covered in 'Taare Zameen Par'

is the dilemma of Ishaan Awasthy (DarsheelSafary) - a child suffering from dyslexia.His parents demand excellence from him inevery aspect of life. When he fails to liveup to their expectations, he is subjected topunishment and sent to a boarding school.He begs them to not send him away but theover ambitious father ignores him. Life be-comes more difficult for little Ishaan in theboarding school - he is left alone to fend offbullies in the form of teachers.The insensitivity of his peers, rough treat-

ment by teachers and his parents' inabilityto understand his problems take their toll onthe nine-year-old boy. Eventually he losesinterest in everything, including hisfavourite hobby of painting, and stops in-teracting with the outer world.And then enters an unconventional art

teacher Ram Kumar Nikumbh (AamirKhan) who had faced a similar problem inhis childhood and is able to connect withIshaan. Nikumbh's gentleness and devotionhelps Ishaan overcome the trauma that hehas suffered.A brilliant script by Anil Gupte and ma-

tured handling of a sensitive subject byAamir leave viewers overwhelmed withtears rolling down their eyes. If Darsheel'sname comes first in the credit, he deservesit. The gifted child artist demonstrates everynuance of a kid faced with such trauma, tor-ture and humiliation and you feel likereaching out to him and comforting him.Aamir fits the bill of an art teacher.'TaareZameen Par' tackles a sensitive social issueand ended 2007 on a positive note.

Bollywood cinema

Aamir Khan andyoung Darsheelscore with TaareZameen Par

Dabydeen winsCaribbeanNobel” writing-prizeDavid Dabydeen is much garlanded

within and without his native land --Guyana. Thrice the winner of the GuyanaPrize, he has just won the biggest prize ofhis life, the ANSA/Sabga Award forCaribbean Excellence in Arts and Letters,the 'Caribbean Nobel Prize'.The announcement was made on Friday

in Port of Spain and Professor Dabydeenwill collect the TT$500,000 prize in April.The Stabroek News caught up with him

for an exclusive interview in his Coventryhome in the English Midlands on the day ofthe announcement.SN: How did you find out you had won?DD: I took a phone call one mid-morn-

ing, when I was lazing in bed, wonderingwhether to get up and face the bleak wintryday. The phone call was the warm, lyricalvoice of the Director of the Sabga Awards,telling me that I was their Arts and Litera-ture laureate for 2008. Needless to say,England suddenly felt tropical, and I arosefrom my bed.SN: How do you feel about being given

this 'Caribbean Nobel'?DD: It's a great honour bestowed upon

me, particularly special because it is a re-gional decision. The Sabga Awards Projectis one of only a handful of activities and in-stitutions (cricket, University of the WestIndies, Caricom) which are genuinely re-gional.I should also add that I am happy that the

award went to a Guyanese. On many occa-sions in the past years I have become so de-pressed by idiotic actions in Guyana (frombanditry to the withholding of ads toStabroek News) that I decided to abandonthe country to its own global insignificance.I thought I would relocate, imaginativelyand physically, to India, which is a place, tosome degree, of cultural greatness andsplendour.But I changed my mind and became even

more determined to stay with Guyana, be-cause writers should not abandon theircountries to politicians and bandits, espe-cially when the distinction between the twogroups threatens to blur.And, in moments of despair I remem-

bered the countless intelligent, compas-sionate, truly decent Guyanese whom Iwould meet on my various visits, peoplewho care deeply about the future of thecountry, and whose shining character rep-resented the highest values of Guyanese so-ciety. My duty as a writer is to keepcompany with such people, against thepetty and the idiotic. And I see my role tooas reminding people that they should notsurrender to cynicism and self-abasement,that there are many, many examples of eco-nomic, social and cultural progress inGuyana.Our bounty is of course the rainforest,

which has to be preserved from humangreed. It was truly wonderful when Presi-dent Jagdeo announced a willingness to ex-tend Desmond Hoyte's magnificentIwokrama initiative, I thought Jagdeo wasbeing visionary and global as very fewleaders are.

My latest novels are partly set inGuyana's rainforest, so I am very consciousof its preciousness. Another visionary actwas to name the National Archives afterWalter Rodney, whose intellect and moral

courage were an inspiration to me as a stu-dent, a truly great man who fell victim tothe petty and idiotic behaviour of politi-cians.Of course the final duty of the writer is to

write beautifully, in terms of imaginativedepth and complexity, which is anotherkind of struggle against the petty and the id-iotic.SN: What does getting this award mean toyou?DD: It means that I can have a greater re-

gional presence, in terms of access tomedia, individuals etc. It will also encour-age me to visit more of the islands. It offersme a degree of protection against acts ofmalice. And I can buy crates of red wine aswell.The money will be spent on paying off

some of my mortgage, so I can have a se-cure home on earth; some will be spent onthe poor in Guyana, a kind of bribe to get toheaven.

SN: How do you see the future ofCaribbean writing?DD: Undoubtedly, the greatest achieve-

ment of Caribbean peoples have been theirproduction of globally applauded literature.The world respects us not because of oursugar and rum, but because of our writers,Nobel Laureates like Derek Walcott and VSNaipaul, poets of acclaim like KamauBrathwaite; visionary novelists like WilsonHarris. These figures have inspired anothergeneration of poets and novelists, likePauline Melville, Olive Senior, LakshmiPersaud, Fred D'Aguiar, who in turn haveinfluenced succeeding talent. So the futureis bright. And, given global warming, thefuture is green,I am sure the writers will be at the fore-

front of ecological struggle. This will not benew, for Walcott is the muse of the sea, andHarris is the spirit of the rainforest, and atthe heart of Aubrey Williams' art and writ-ing was the idea of catastrophe.I should also add that when events and

personalities fade into history and then dis-appear from memory, it is the writing thatremains. For example, only a handful ofpeople remember the names of Victorianpoliticians, but millions globally know theworks of Charles Dickens.SN: What are you working on at pres-

ent?DD: Happily, my new novel, Molly and

the Muslim Stick, comes out with acmil-lan next month in the UK, so I will go toGuyana, after the prize-giving ceremonyin Trinidad in April, to launch the book.

It pays to advertise in the Indo-CaribbeanTimes

CARIBBEAN Indo-Caribbean Times JANUARY 2008 Page 21

Revival of Hinduism (from Page 22)

IT PAYS TO ADVERTISE

IN THE

INDO-CARIBBEAN

TIMES416-289-3898

GOPIO Trinidad and Tobago, a newchapter of GOPIO International, will

be inaugurated at a Fund-raising Dinnerand Awards Ceremony to be held on Feb-ruary 29th, 2008, at the prestigious HinduCredit Union’s World Select Gem Conven-tion Centre in Freeport , Trinidad .The feature speaker will be the Indian

High Commissioner, His Excellency ShriJagjit Singh Sapra. Officers of the localchapter will be inaugurated by Mr. AshookRamsaran, General Secretary of GOPIO In-ternational, and Ambassador Mr. KrishnaNandoe, the Regional Vice- President ofGOPIO International, and President ofGOPIO Suriname.

Entertainment for the evening will beprovided by the Mahatma Gandhi Institutefor Cultural Cooperation.

GOPIO Trinidad & Tobago’s Executive Of-ficers are:President: Mr. Deosaran Bisnath Vice President: Mr. Reuben Girdhar-Ni-ranjanSecretary: Ms. Rajnie Ramlakhan Asst. Secretary: Ms. Sacha MahabalTreasurer: Mr. Venosh MarajAuditor: Mr. Davindra SinghDirectors: Pandit Jaganath SeeramMaharaj, Mr. Doolarchan Hanoomansingh , Mr. Niranjan Bhaggan.

GOPIO Trinidad & Tobago will honour SixPIOs (People of Indian Origin) whose ster-ling contributions have impacted positivelyon our society. His Excellency Shri JagjitSingh Sapra will present awards to:

~ Mr. Zahir Baksh~ Mr. Ramdath Jagessar~ Ms. Valene Maharaj~ Pundit Capildeo Maharaj~ Ms. Phoolo Dhany-Maharaj~ Reverend Ralph Omraw

GOPIO Trinidad & Tobago, a Chapter ofGOPIO International, is a nonpartisan,non-political, and non-sectarian organiza-tion engaged in promoting the wellbeing ofpeople of Indian origin, and enhancing co-operation, understanding, and communica-tion between people of Indian origin andother communities in Trinidad & Tobago.

The Global Organization of People of In-dian origin (GOPIO) is a nonpartisan, non-sectarian global organization engaged inpromoting the wellbeing of non resident In-dians and people of Indian origin enhanc-ing cooperation and communicationbetween groups of Indians living in differ-ent countries and in furthering their coop-eration with India .

http://www.Gopio. comhttp://www.Gopio. net

Deosaran Bisnath,President, Global Organization of People ofIndian Origin (GOPIO) Trinidad and To-bago .A chapter of GOPIO International.

Like many Guyanese, Seeta Oumadattleft Guyana 38 years ago, revisiting

years later with her hands full. The itemshowever, were not for her or her relativesbut for persons in need. The woman, who revisited the country of

her birth for the first time in 28 years, in2000, to attend a relative's funeral, now re-turns at least twice a year to distribute itemsto needy persons. This past Christmas, Oumadatt was busy

distributing gifts in several areas, even onChristmas Day itself. This was her third tripfor the year. Oumadatt, who works as a purchasing

manager for a veterinary laboratory in NewYork, revealed that seven years ago, afteran absence of 28 years, she returned to at-tend a relative's funeral in Berbice and wasstruck by the poverty she saw. Moved by the sight, upon her return to

her New York home, she decided to gathertogether some items to send back to thepeople. "I decided that I would do this onceonly", she stated. However, she was unpre-pared for the reaction she received frompersons, who upon learning of what she haddone, contributed to her efforts. The members of the Mahatma Gandhi

Satsangh located in Hollis, New York,which she belongs to, contributed as didother mandirs in the area. Co-workers,friends and family too donated clothing,toys, dishes, school supplies, linen andshoes among other items. Oumadatt saidthat the items are taken to the mandir, wherethey are sorted out and packed. Usually a40 foot container is filled with the items andshipped to Guyana. This year two 40-footcontainers were sent. The woman said that all the items are do-

nated by persons who heard of the endeavorby "word-of-mouth". For this season, in a hired canter truck andaccompanied by two 'Santas', sometimes inpouring rain, the woman distributed bags ofgoodies in villages on the West Demerarafrom Vreed-en-Hoop to Parika and alsoalong the West Bank Demerara up to Paten-tia. Additionally, items were distributed invillages along the East Bank Demerara, inGeorgetown and on the East Coast Demer-ara. Items were also sent to Berbice. Ouma-datt said that in previous years other placeswere visited and items were also donated toorphanages and sent to the interior. She noted that word is usually passed on

from person to person and when she is no-tified about needy persons, a bag of goodiesis usually prepared for the family. "When Imeet people, they tell me and I go to theneighbourhood", she said. She is assisted indoing this by several persons, whom shemet during her trips. Oumadatt, whoseemed unable to sit still during the inter-view as she tended to arrangements orchecked bags, revealed that she never sawherself undertaking something like this. She said that the first time she distributed

items the experience was "emotional" and"now I get pleasure doing it,¦ seeing the joyand happiness on their face". She noted thatsuch endeavours were also undertaken byher and others in New York and trips aremade to old peoples' homes and orphanagesespecially during the holidays. Oumadatt says that she plans to keep on

with her charity work and her "ultimategoal" is to return to Guyana and retire.Asked how she finds the time to undertakeher journey here; she said that she utilizesher vacation time. She added that her bossunderstands her endeavour.

In the absence of Swami Brahmananda-jee in Guyana, Swami Vidyanandajee be-came the principal of Hindu College andIn-charge of Guyana Sevashram Sangha.He is a vibrant monk and he has lot of com-mand on the Hindus of Guyana. SwamiPurnanandajee sent Swami Vidyanandajeeto New York (USA) in 1987 to establish abranch. He established America SevashramSangha (in Jamaica Avenue, N.Y, USA), abranch of Bharat Sevashram Sangha. In the absence of Swami Vidyanandajee,

in Guyana, Brahmachari Bhaskar (SwamiShiveshwaranandajee) took charge ofGuyana Sevashram Sangha, also the Asst.Principal of Hindu College. GuyanaSevashram Sangha is the first monasteryand first Hindu college and Dormitory inSouth America. Swami Purnanandajee’s strong discipline,

great sacrifice, guidance and contributionsfor the education insistences on moral dis-cipline produced people in every professionand field of activities in Trinidad andGuyana. By his grace, inspiration andblessings, America Sevashram Sangha,Bharat Sevashram Sangha, Canada, Lon-don Sevashram Sangha,TrinidadSevashram Sangha and Guyana SevashramSangha were founded.Swami Purnanandajee worked very hard.

He was very sick at the end of 1985. Andhe was admitted to Hospital in London.One night, Guru Maharaj (Acharya SwamiPranavnandajee Maharaj) appeared beforehim and told him, “Purnananda! You havedone a lot in the West. Your lifespan is at anend. I am granting you few more monthslifespan. You go and visit Guyana, Trinidad,Canada and America to meet all the devo-tees and encourage them to continue the ac-tivities. Then come back to London andfinally come to Mother India, then I willtake you.”Swami Purnanadajee rapidly recovered

by the blessings of Guru Maharaj. At firsthe came to Guyana. All the Brahmachariswere extremely happy as Gurujee is withthem. They were nagging, Gurujee! Youwill have to stay in Guyana Ashram with usfor the rest of your life. Swamijee Said, MyChildren! Listen, my lifespan is at an end,Guru Maharaj granted me a few monthslifespan to visit Guyana, Trinidad, Canada,America and London. Then I will go backto Mother India to quit my mortal body.Swami Purnanandajee stayed a few days

in Guyana. On day he proclaimed amongstthe Brahmacharies and devotees, Tomor-row morning I will fly to Trinidad. Next dayearly in the morning Swamijee did GuruArati. Swami Purnanandajee blessed all theBrahmacharies and devotees and encour-aged them to carry out the activities of GuruMaharaj perfectly. Swamijee sat on the carand they all started to cry. The Brah-macharies and devotees told, Gurujee!Please look back and see what you havedone in the swampy land on the bank of At-lantic Ocean. Swami Purnanandajeereplied, “I am the instrument of Guru Ma-haraj. Guru Maharaj did his work throughthis instrument.” Swami Purnanandajee left Guyana on

Monday morning, December 9th, 1985 andreached Trinidad. All the devotees ofTrinidad gladly came to meet him. He en-couraged them to carry out the activities ofGuru Maharaj. This time he was different.He gave Prasad to every one and spoke verysoftly. The devotees said to him, Gurujee!You are so kind to us. Swami Purnananda-jee said I am going back to Mother India toquit my mortal body; I will not come backphysically to you.

He visited Canada, America and Londonand encouraged all the devotees to continuethe activities of Guru Maharaj properly andtold them in the same way, that he is goingback to Mother India forever to quit hisphysical body. Swami Purnanandajee reached Calcutta

Headquarters before Maghi Purnima, hewas in good health. Maghi Purnima andShivaratri festivals were passed. There wasPurna Kumbela in March in Hardwar. Allthe monks requested Swamijee to go toKumbhmela with them. Swamijee told Iwill not go; I am in Guru Maharaj’s Sid-dhapith, ‘this is my Hardwar, this is mykumbhamela’. Most of the monks went tokumbhmela in Hardwar. On April 11th,1986, His Holiness Swami PurnanandajeeMaharaj gave up his mortal coil in CalcuttaHead quarters at the Holy feet of Guru Ma-haraj and took rest for ever in the sacred soilof Mother India.Swami Purnanandajee, dynamic monk,

shed His blood and energy in the west forthe love of His master.

The people of the West are eternallygrateful to Acharya Shreemat Swami Prana-vanandjee Maharaj, founder of BharatSevashram Sangha, who continues to in-spire and unite the devotees to the spiritualpath thereby saving Hinduism whichteaches live and let live.At present there are lots of monks of

Bharat Sevashram Sangha from India whoare recruited to the West by the Sangha topropagate the gospel of Hinduism and fromtime to time monks of the Sangha fromIndia are also visiting and propagating Hin-duism in the West.Om Shanti! Om Shanti!

EDITORS NOTE;

Project A GITA FOR EACH HOME nowhas another BULK DISTRIBUTION CEN-TRE as Swami Pushkaranandji Maharaj,one of the resident monks at BharatSevashram Sangha at 2107 Codlin Ave.Rexdale now has supplies. He works with alot of youths and hopes that all who wereonce associated with this movement in theircountry of birth should inject renewed en-ergy in their Dharmic duties by ensuringthat the youths are all supplied with a copyof the Gita.It is hoped that all other Ashrams andMandirs centres will soon follow his exam-ple of taking a supply of gitas whenever heis invited to perform religious ceremoniesat the homes of devotees.He resides on the premises and can bereached at 905 679 0987.

Seeta gives backto Guyana

Global Indiangroup to set upTT chapter:IC Times editoramong 6 PIO’s tobe honoured

SPORTS Indo-Caribbean Times JANUARY 2008 Page 22

place, Fred Lall was third, Navin Sukhootook fourth place, and Mahendra Monilallwas the fifth place individual winner.The 2008 Ontario Team Champion was

Rudy Bhoopaul, Munesh Bhoopaul andMahendra Monilall from Team CarTech

Team results

2nd PlaceFurry SeegobinAdrian ManaharAzam Ally

3rd PlacePercy MangraKaramchand PersaudRohan Singh

4th PlaceTerrence FerreiraRoy PersaudKen Dharilall

5th PlaceChilds KishoreHarold ChanSteve Singh

The 2008 Ontario Domino Championshipwas sponsored, in part, by Eldorado Rum,and tournament judges were Fred Lall andVishnu Singh. Upcoming tournaments forthe Horizon club are the 2008 CanadianDomino Championship – February 09,2008, the Pools Tournament – February 23,208, and the 2008 Ontario Chess MasterChampionship – March 01, 2008

Please email Horizon Cricket Club atlall4@rogers.com or phone 905-794-5423for more information. or to register.

CHESS, DRAUGHT ANDCHESS, DRAUGHT ANDDOMINO TOURNAMENTSDOMINO TOURNAMENTS

Players of all skill levels (beginners to advanced) areinvited to participate. Tournaments held every month during the winter.

See schedule at www.horizoncricketclub.com or phone905-794-5423. Also, adult and kids CHESS LESSONS(beginners to advance). Learn to play the world’s best board game.

Registration information at www.horizoncricketclub.com

CricketWest Indiesgained new respect in defeatby South Africa

By Denesh Ramdin

Iwould like to start this week's diary bycongratulating South Africa for a well de-served 2-1 victory in the Test series againstus.That does not mean that I - like all the

other Windies players - was not bitterly dis-appointed to lose (especially after our 1-0lead in Port Elizabeth), just that I appreciatethat they played the better cricket andseized the majority of their chances.The manner in which the Proteas exe-

cuted their game plan and took us out of thedecisive match in Durban was an exampleof the consistency and level of profession-alism that is needed to be among the topteams in international cricket.After we lost the toss and were sent in to

bat, it was always going to be a challenge tonegotiate the lively pitch at Kingsmead. Tomake matters worse, South Africa bowledparticularly well and we were dismissedvery cheaply.Then, the pitch and conditions changed

and batting became much easier and the op-position played us out of the deciding gamewith a massive first-innings score. It was al-ways going to be a tough task to overhaul adeficit of more than 400 runs. As it was, welost by an innings and 100 runs.I managed the top score of 30 in our in-

adequate first innings of 139 and then 25the second time at the crease. It was againfrustrating to get starts but not make a sub-stantial impact.I'm not seeking to make any excuses for

how we performed but I'm compelled to saythat I think the losses of our captain ChrisGayle (through injury), Shivnarine Chan-derpaul (through illness in the second in-nings) and stand-in skipper Dwayne Bravo(through injury which prevented him frombowling) hampered us tremendously in thefinal Test. I believe it could have been a fardifferent issue had we been at full strength.Despite the circumstances, I know we

have earned quite a bit of respect over here,both from the South African team and fromfans. The latter enjoyed the fact that wechallenged the Proteas in the first two Testsand, to some extent, showed a similar fight-ing spirit in Durban.Now, it's back to the shortened version

of the game with five One-Day Interna-tionals following the second Twenty20 In-ternational tomorrow. We are putting theTest series behind us and focusing on theupcoming matches.

We would love to win the secondTwenty20 as - having triumphed in the firstgame in December - it would mean weclinch that series. It would be great to re-turn home with some trophies.I will be trying to continue improving

and, if given the opportunity to bat higher inthe One-Dayers, get some runs and post abig score for the team.

I've been enjoying my time in SouthAfrica. It's a beautiful country and we havebeen well treated. Some of us tried paint-ball shooting earlier this week and had ablast. Now, it's back to work on the fieldand we will be giving it our best shot asusual.

Top 15 domino players for 2007receive awards from Horizon club

Prem Sukhoo has taken the Grand Titleof No.1 Domino Player in the World for

2007, as the overall winner of all three tour-namens hosted by the Horizon CricketClub, including the Ontario Domino Cham-pionship, The Canadian Domino Champi-onship and the World DominoChampionship.He received a huge four foot trophy and

a congratulatory letter from Canada's PrimeMinister Stephen Harper at a special cere-mony held on January 12 at the IslandGrove Restaurant in Brampton. Also re-ceiving trophies and letters were MiguelParra, the 2007 Ontario Domino King,Calvin Traverse the 2007 CanadianDomino King and Rasheed Abdool the2007 World Domino King,

The Top 15 domino players in the worldwere awarded medals:

No 1. PREM SUKHOONo.2 MUKESH DYALNo.3 RAM SANKARNo.4 RUDY BHOOPAULNo.5 MIGUEL PARRANo.6 MAHENDRA MUNILALLNo. 7 GOWKARRAN SINGHNo.8 GOVIND JAGROOPNo.9 DINANAUTH MANGRUNo.10 CALVIN TRAVERSENo.11 ROGER MANOHARNo.12 MUNESH BHOOPAULNo.13 ODIT PERSAUDNo.14 RAKESH BUDHRAMNo.15 MILROY HOOSEIN

The 2008 Ontario Domino Champi-onships were also held on January 12, andAzam Ally was crowned the 2008 OntarioDomino King. Rudy Bhoopaul took second

SoccerTrinidad topsEnglish speak-ing Caribbeanranking in CFUEIGHT-TIME Caribbean Cup championsT&T retained third spot in the region andthe label as highest rated English-speakingCaribbean side in the Caribbean FootballUnion (CFU) rankings yesterday.

T&T made progress on the Fifa list,climbing three places to No 78. Cuba re-captured the No 1 spot.Fifa’s January ratings show the Cubans

retaining their Coca-Cola world ranking of71st while Haiti dipped four places to 73rdin the world, losing the CFU pinnacle posi-tion they held in November and Decemberlast year.

Cuba, semi-finalists in the 2006-2007Digicel Caribbean Cup a year ago, last heldthe CFU No 1 position in October last year.Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz, who sank to an

all-time low 103rd three months ago, are98th in the world and stay fourth in theCFU, while Guyana displaced St Vincentand the Grenadines (SVG) at No 5.The Guyanese, who defeated SVG 1-0—

on a Gregory Richardson goal—in afriendly international on Sunday, are 129thon Fifa’s list while SVG plunged 29places—the biggest drop on Fifa’s worldlist for January—and are now sixth in theCFU.

Indian cricket tour ofAustralia to continueIndia's beleaguered cricketers got good

news on two fronts – suspended spinnerHarbhajan Singh can play pending his ap-peal against a racism charge, and the um-pire they complained vociferously aboutwon't officiate in the next Test.International Cricket Council president

Malcolm Speed told a news conferencehere Tuesday that a hearing into the India-lodged appeal of Harbhajan's three-Test banwould be held held before the next Test,which was scheduled to start on January16. The Board of Control for Cricket in India

had suspended its tour pending the outcomeof Harbhajan's appeal hearing.Speed said if the hearing was not held be-fore the Perth match, Harbhajan would beeligible to play in the third Test.Speed also said West Indian umpire Steve

Bucknor had agreed to be replaced by NewZealand's Billy Bowden for the next Test.India had demanded Bucknor be removed

from the third Test following his perform-ance in the second Test in Sydney, where upto five questionable decisions went againstthem in the match they lost by 122 runs.Speed acknowledged some people would

be unhappy because it looked like the ICCwas bowing to pressure from India.Harbhajan was suspended for allegedly

calling Australian fielder Andrew Symondsa monkey on day three of a controversialSydney Test.Dr. M.V. Sridhar, India's media manager,

said the BCCI objected to the fact thatmatch referee Mike Procter took the wordof three Australian players over that ofHarbhajan and veteran batsman SachinTendulkar when there appeared to be noother evidence.

Prem Sukhoo, 2007 Number 1 Domino Player in the World (centre, with trophy) is surrounded by other 2007 domino champions and the top 15 domino players.

Indo-Caribbean Times JANUARY 2008 Page 23

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