A tribute to my ancestors

I stumbled upon this picture today. It is what one would call the 'memorial' of my ancestors who landed in Mauritius on November 2nd, 1871 as indentured labour.  Their son was my father's paternal grandfather. Though our surname should have been Singh, the officer who noted out the details of their arrival was too lazy yo write the whole name and just wrote my ancestor's first name that became our surname, that to with a strange spelling. I cannot begin to imagine how had life must have been for these 'slaves' but I know it was not easy. I also know that my ancestor chose this to escape the gallows as he was deeply involved in the 1857 rising. Two swords belonging to British officers are witness to this fact.

Leaving your home, however poverty stricken is no easy task, any one who has migrated is an 'exile' of sorts. The longing for the motherland remains generation after generation and manifest itself by an almost irrational attachment for traditions. I wonder how the couple who landed one fine day on an alien land felt. This is the barracks where such labour landed before it was assigned tom a sugar plantation. There they toiled hard for the contracted period that was of five year and many chose to stay, eking out a living from the modest amount they had saved.

It is said that the working conditions of these indentured labourers was repressive and their plight terrible. Corporal punishment was frequent. I wonder how many blows my Baba and his wife received on their third backs, how many tears of rage, of despair and of longing for their homeland they shed. I know that things got get better and their descendants of which I am a proud progeny became one of the leading families of the Island, but do we not owe our freedom and privileges to these two brave hearts; Goburdhunsingh and his wife Kawallee. Every breath we take bears the pain of the blows and misery they suffered. How can I forget that and what can I do to honour their sacrifices and their courage.

In the list of people who made me who I am, these two wonderful souls find their place right above all others. Had they not stepped on a ship and ventured into the unknown, my life would have been that of a simple village girl.

God bless their souls. I want them to know, that even if no one remembers them, I do and always will.