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Jahajin
From Calcutta to Trinidad they went, the girmitiyas, crossing two oceans to reach their new homes on the other side of the world. jahajin illuminates for us the extraordinary experience of that jouney, the train ride from faizabad to calcutta, the passage down the hooghly. the three-month voyage around the stormy cape and up the Atlantic to Trinnidad, where the weary migrants settled into life as indentured labourers on the sugar estates. The novel opens with the narrator, a young linguist, talking to 110-year-old Deeda, who came to the caribbean on the same ship as her great great grandmother. Deeda speaks of leaving her village in basti with her son and sailing across the seas to "Chini-dad", the land of sugar, and about the life and friendships she built on her estate.Nested within this larger story is the dreamlike myth of Saranga, torn between her monkey-lover and her prince. Deeda's stories of a lost world captivate the younger woman, encouraging her to make the journey back across the kala pani. Alive with compelling characters and the lilt of Trinidad Bhojpuri, Jahajin gathers up the various narratives of relocation and transformation across a century in a tale that is part history and part fairy tale.
254 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 10, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 18, 2022
Disappointed
I am a bit disappointed since this book painted the picture that only the Jahajins and their descendants who converted to Christianity in Trinidad prospered. This is not true because I know of many families who never entertained the idea of conversion and their descendants have prospered. My great grandparents and my grandparents did not convert, neither did my parents or my generation if siblings and we all prospered in life.
I am a bit disappointed since this book painted the picture that only the Jahajins and their descendants who converted to Christianity in Trinidad prospered. This is not true because I know of many families who never entertained the idea of conversion and their descendants have prospered. My great grandparents and my grandparents did not convert, neither did my parents or my generation if siblings and we all prospered in life.
August 13, 2022
"And at that moment it suddenly came to me, as clear as the sky, that I was never going back, that I would live and die across the kala pani."
Loved the book. It's the story of a woman who migrates from Bihar to "Chini(sugar in Hindi)-dad", or Trinidad as it was known to the girmitiyas who went there to work on the sugarcane fields. The author, an Indian-origin Trinidadian interviews old jahajins (or people who came on the boats) for their stories as part of her linguistic work, and soon sees her own history in their stories. The character of Deeda, a hundred year old jahajin is key here; not only does the book tell her whole story, but she also narrates an old folk tale of Saranga and her lover and "what the wily princess has to do to try and be with him. The folk tale and Deeda's narrative provide a backdrop of women's voices to the whole book, this also ends up being an oral/folk history account. My own problem with it is that the author seems to have made Deeda a composite character of a lot of people she interviewed, so it's unclear whether the story is of her life only or many people's stories. Fact or fictional? You'll just have to take the book at face value.
Howevre, the mythical tale, Deeda's crossing and the author's own dilemmas make for wonderful reading. The stories of Indian immigrants to places like Africa and the West Indies hasn't been read enough and this is a great start.
Loved the book. It's the story of a woman who migrates from Bihar to "Chini(sugar in Hindi)-dad", or Trinidad as it was known to the girmitiyas who went there to work on the sugarcane fields. The author, an Indian-origin Trinidadian interviews old jahajins (or people who came on the boats) for their stories as part of her linguistic work, and soon sees her own history in their stories. The character of Deeda, a hundred year old jahajin is key here; not only does the book tell her whole story, but she also narrates an old folk tale of Saranga and her lover and "what the wily princess has to do to try and be with him. The folk tale and Deeda's narrative provide a backdrop of women's voices to the whole book, this also ends up being an oral/folk history account. My own problem with it is that the author seems to have made Deeda a composite character of a lot of people she interviewed, so it's unclear whether the story is of her life only or many people's stories. Fact or fictional? You'll just have to take the book at face value.
Howevre, the mythical tale, Deeda's crossing and the author's own dilemmas make for wonderful reading. The stories of Indian immigrants to places like Africa and the West Indies hasn't been read enough and this is a great start.
July 25, 2011
As a Trinidadian of non-Indian ancestry I have always been fascinated by the link that history has forged between my country and India. After visiting India myself, I can say with confidence that this book is one that all Trinis need to read and enjoy. It is simply packed with facts that we've always wondered about. Yes, the facts are there to be researched, but thank you Ms Mohan for distilling them into this very intriguing and readable book. I was truly sad when I came to the end. And cannot wait for Ms Mohan's next work.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews