By Johnny Coomansingh
On May 30, 2026, Trinidad and Tobago celebrated ‘Indian Arrival Day.’ The Indians, indentured servants of the British Crown, arrived, they survived, and as we all could see, they thrived. Although the South Asian diaspora in Trinidad and Tobago annually observed this historic event, it was not until 1994 that the day was made an official public holiday. The National Archives of Trinidad and Tobago records:
“… in February of 1845, the Futtle Rozack (known widely as the Fatel Rozak) set sail from Calcutta, India, with the first set of Indian indentured labourers bound for Trinidad and Tobago.
The ship docked in the Port of Spain harbour months later in May 1845, with over 200 passengers on board. They had spent a little over 100 days at sea, during a long and dangerous journey that spanned 14,000 miles. They were the first immigrants from India who had come to this British colony to work on the plantations after the abolition of slavery. These indentured immigrants were contracted for five to ten years of work on local estates (sugar, cocoa and coconut) in a system that ended in 1917.
Approximately 147,500 immigrants came to Trinidad and Tobago over these 72 years, bringing their traditions, religion, and culture to Trinidad and Tobago’s cosmopolitan society.”
In the article, ‘The Tulsi Plant — cultural baggage,’ published (03/27/2024) in Caribbean News Global (CNG), reads:
“Indentured servants comprised religious persuasions of both Muslims and Hindus. Professor Wilbur Zelinsky, a world-famous cultural geographer, coined the term “cultural baggage” which describes what people bring with them when they migrate. Many migrants are more concerned with the mentifacts they take along, that part of their lifestyle; the most protected psychological or cerebral aspects of their being. Religion, language, art, music, and magic fall within this mentifactual category of culture. As it follows, the South Asians, in particular those of the Hindu persuasion, brought aspects of their culture that were more tangible than that of the Africans because they had the ‘freedom’ to bring with them what they cherished most. In his article, A Passage of Indian Ancestral History in Trinidad and Tobago, Paras Ramoutar indicated: ‘They came with Ramayana, Hanuman chalisa, Satnarine Poti, tulsi plants, and mango trees.’”
Although I accidentally inherited what seems to be an ‘Indian’ name, I must clarify that I was not part of the diaspora that arrived in Trinidad on the ship from Calcutta. I was made to understand that Joseph ‘Baap’ Coomansingh, my great-grandfather, originally came from Nepal. There is also another story to his origins. Some say in his attempt to avoid being married, he pretended to be a peanut seller and stowed away on a ship that sailed from Goa, India. The ship docked in Grenada. It’s possible that Baap’s history is locked somewhere in the mists of time.
Appearing on my birth certificate as just ‘Informant,’ I heard that my father, Rolland Coomansingh, who came from Grenada as a young man, found himself working probably as a handyman/carpenter/cabinet maker in the American Base in Wallerfield (Fort Read) during the Second World War (WWII). It was clear that he was not raised as a Hindu or as a Muslim. As far as I know, he was brought up as a Seventh-day Adventist (SDA).
Notwithstanding the fact that he was living in a common law relationship with my mother, he insisted that his children attend the Sangre Grande Seventh-day Adventist Primary School. It was in that school I was labeled ‘Johnny Coomansingh.’ The principal applied the name to me because he inferred that my so-called Seventh Day Adventist father was married to my mother. Maybe the name works for me. Who knows?
In that school I made friends with all races. I saw people as people, but some were not so kind to students of Indian extract. Racism is learnt behavior and sometimes I wonder what the colour of God is. However, in the primary stage of my education, Krishendath, who sat next to me in class, became my friend. He lived just about 100 feet from the gap of the SDA school. Because of this friend, I came to learn the idiosyncrasies of Hindu Indian people. A short account is given in my book, published in 2015, titled: Seven Years on Adventist Street:
“Krishendath was my best friend in school. Almost every evening, I would visit his family on my way home. His mother loved me dearly, and I called his oldest sister didi (Hindi for big sister). In his house, I saw the murtis and the pictures representative of their deities. I never questioned them about why they had these items or pictures in their house. They were Hindus, and I loved them all the same. I ate when they offered me food. In this home, I was sure to get a meal. On almost all occasions, they served dhal (yellow split peas), bhat (rice), bhagi (spinach/dasheen bush), and some type of chutney, all of which were cooked on a chulha (fireside). I loved the dried coconut chutney they made. They also served saada roti with some kind of choka, for example, roasted tomatoes or eggplant (baigan) seasoned with salt, garlic, and hot pepper or talkarrie (most times a curried dish, such as curried seim, bodi or snake bean, almost the same as a choka).
Although my mother forbade us to eat the parsad (prasad or prasadam) they offered me, I did not hesitate to partake of it. Eating items offered to idols (murtis) is not in keeping with the religious views of SDAs. I saw parsad as a gift, and I thanked God for sending the food. The Holy Bible records that God sent ravens, with food to sustain the prophet Elijah at the brook Cherith. The raven is a bird of carrion and is often considered to be associated with bad omens, ill will, and death. Why did God choose ravens? God is sovereign and could choose anything and anyone. That’s what I learnt in the SDA School. I was just a child, happy, pure in spirit; full of love flowing like the crystal waters from a mountain stream. In any society, prejudice is a cancer that eats away at the core of what it is to be human.
Sometimes we allow doctrinal dogma to cloud our minds…We forget to love one another…We linger in the shadows of doubt, religious bias, prejudice, and self-righteousness. In the end, we delay the process of eternal friendship; we allow religion to suppress righteousness. If religion is meant to create better citizens, then we should not have the present misgivings and malfunctions in any society.”
That is only one part of the story. My experiences with Islam saw me attending the mosque on the Southern Main Road in Sangre Grande with my five high school Muslim friends. I saw everything as a learning exercise. Even though I never converted, figuring out what Islam taught was good for my social/educational development. I saw another side of life that other people believed. In a multiracial and multi-religious society such as ours, it was wise to gather and process information. Encounters with my godmother’s Muslim husband, the son of an imam, were more than enough to satisfy my questions about Islam. I sometimes still wonder why these two got together. She was a Roman Catholic who loved ham and food of a porcine nature. There were many a time when they engaged in heated arguments and ‘cuss-outs’ mainly in patois. And I just stood there watching.
The Indians arrived, and over the years, they survived the slavery, destitution and harassment meted out to them. But yet they thrived. Kevin K. Birth, author of Anytime is Trinidad Time: Social Meanings and Temporal Consciousness (1999) explained in his ethnographic study of a place called Anamat in Trinidad, that Indian people are oriented towards future gratification; more interested in land and very concerned about their children’s future.
A few lines of my poem Happy Indian Survival Day illustrate a better understanding of the Indians who arrived, survived, and thrived in Trinidad:
On the Fatal Razac they crossed the sea
They came with Hanuman chalisa, tulsi, and mango tree
They arrived to be servants in the cane you see
For the Brutish people, indentured slaves tuh be.
The struggle in the sugarcane was hard fuh all
Man, woman, and children had tuh wuk or fall…
By the wayside of the Brutish slave drivers in Caroni
To live and die for the Tate and Lyle Sugar company.
In every problem dey found the opportunity
To live, to earn, not dependent on charity
Yes, in every problem dey found the solution
And stayed on the land without restitution!
Yuh could say wuh yuh want, buh in the Indian
Is ah time clock called Future Gratification
Some ah dem go build ah shack, ah stall, ah place tuh sell
Dey believe in wukking fuh deyself and all will be well.
To understand the mind of the Indian and dem
Yuh doh have tuh go tuh university yuh mind tuh bend
Just look at dem as they go from day to day
Making thing tuh sell on their merry way.
Is pulorie, aloo pie, saheena, and biganie
Gulab jamoon, barfi, and chachorie
Doubles with channa and chadon-beni sauce
Roti and paratha…if yuh eh eat it, yuh rel at ah loss.
The story is told that an Indian man working on the American Base was found eating roti and bhagi. A soldier asked him if he was eating cardboard and moss and promptly gave to him a five-dollar note to go buy himself a burger. The man shoved the money in his pocket and continued eating his lunch. On his way home, he stopped and picked a bundle of chorai bhagi (amaranth) found on the roadside to cook for the next day. Money saved.
Another story comes to mind. I heard from an old friend that this watermelon farmer had intentions of purchasing a tractor from McEnearney Motors. After he sold off the crop, he went with a muddied salt bag full of money to the dealership. Because he looked unkempt with a salt bag on his shoulder, the salesman drove him out of the showroom a couple of times. The farmer insisted that he wanted the tractor, but he couldn’t convince the salesman of his need. With a dash, he made it to the manager and emptied the sack of money on his desk. He knew that he had enough money in that bag to buy that tractor and told the manager, “…take what is yours fuh the tractor and leave the rest fuh mih.”
The year 1845 is absolutely significant because South Asians (Indians) began arriving on the shores of Trinidad and Tobago after crossing the Kala Pani (ocean/black water). Some had the opportunity to return to India, but the majority (75-90%) stayed and occupied lands bequeathed to them by the British. Religious institutions came, for example, the Canadian missionaries and set about converting and educating the Indians who were once part of the sugarcane economy. One hundred and eighty-one years is a long time, but this period of time allowed some Indians to figure out where they came from, where they are today, and, of course, where they are going.