 The UWI St. Augustine Campus will confer an honorary LLD on cultural activist, Mr. Deokinanan Sharma, during its graduation ceremonies in October 2012. Mr Sharma talked about the assimilation of Indian culture into the national psyche.
You returned to Trinidad from your studies in India in 1962, the year of Independence. In those fifty years you have been involved in opening a wider space for Indian culture within the society. What was its public space like during the first decade after Independence?
On my return from India in 1962, where I was a student for six years, I had little information of what had happened in Trinidad and Tobago. My only contacts over those years were through letters, the blue aerogram kind, from my father and brother and were mainly news of family matters essentially. There was no internet, television, telephone so I had virtually lost touch.
Once home I discovered that the Indian cultural group that I had started in Debe, my home town, called Society of Indian Art and Music (SIAM), and the Indian orchestra bearing the same name had vanished. Inadequate leadership, lack of interest and funding were some of the major reasons given to me. I discovered that key persons from the groups had migrated to greener pastures in North America.
My village had shown remarkably little growth. It was still a very agricultural village growing watermelons, bodi, pumpkins, tomatoes, and so on, with employment still hinged around the sugar industry. Telephones and television had not yet invaded Debe. Electricity was available and radio, through Radio Trinidad and Rediffusion, was accessible for those who could have afforded the costs. A half-hour Indian cultural programme on radio had been minimally increased to one hour per week. A gas station and a primary school, the Debe Hindu School, were new additions to the Debe landscape. The Hindu school was the former Krishna Mandir built by my father and handed over to the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha in the latter’s frantic drive to build as many schools as possible to take care of the still largely neglected education of the Hindu/east Indian children. Business in the village comprised a Chinese-run grocery and rumshop, two smaller versions of the Chinese shop run by east Indians, a blacksmith and a shoemaker run by Africans.
That is what I met in the months following Independence in my village and which I later found out mirrored to a large extent the situation in many of the rural areas in our country.
Indian culture was still on the backburners of the cultural mainstream with little or no recognition given by official Government sources. A trophy or two would have been the major contribution by the Government to East Indian cultural ventures. East Indian culture was left largely to those persons who, for the love of the culture, ensured that it did not pass into oblivion. These activists in 1964 formed the National Council of Indian Music and Drama, later to emerge as the National Council of Indian Culture (NCIC).
Indian culture was mainly a small village affair, practised at weddings, village temples, and at religious gatherings like Yagnas, Pujas, Divali celebrations, and so on. It was exclusively within the East Indian community with little effort made to go beyond.
Then came the declaration of Divali as a national holiday in 1966. The Maha Sabha through Bhadase Sagan Maraj organized the first national celebration of an East Indian festival at Gopaul Lands in Marabella, taking it out of the confines of the East Indian village. I was an active member of the organizing committee. It was a tremendous success, ran for three consecutive years, and had the effect of alerting the wider community that there were other strong cultural practices in our nation.
The powers that be did not take heed. For the 10th anniversary celebrations of our Independence, the NCIC organized a series of cultural performances throughout the country. We approached the Government for financial assistance, and a delegation comprising Hans Hanoomansingh, Narsaloo Ramaya and myself met with the Minister responsible for the celebrations. He offered the princely sum of $10,000 with the proviso that at no time were we to announce that the Government had supported the NCIC’s programme as East Indian culture was not considered as part of Trinbagonian culture. This then was the public space in which East Indian culture operated during the first decade after independence.
What would you say is the main thrust of the organisations you have served, such as the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha, the National Hindu Youth Organisation, the National Council for Indian Music and Dance, and the National Council of Indian Culture?
I would first like to say that I served as an executive member of the Maha Sabha for about one year following the untimely passing of its first President General, Bhadase Sagan Maraj in 1971. The organization’s objectives in its early years were threefold: Hindu religious propagation and educational advancement of the Hindu/East Indian children. Political participation in the governance of the country was not one of the objectives of the organization but nevertheless, its leaders were active participants in the political arena and political matters were widely discussed at executive meetings during my time on the executive. Over the years, direct political participation of the Maha Sabha has dwindled. Its main thrusts have remained education and religion.
The Hindu Youth Organisation was formed to bring together all Hindu youth groups in our country to propagate the philosophy, culture and learning of Hinduism. Its main thrust during its many years of existence in the seventies was the propagation of Hinduism through observances of the many Hindu festivals.
The National Council of Indian Music and Drama (NCIMD) was the original name of the NCIC. The original name was limited in scope and the need for a wider objective to cover all aspects of Indian culture resulted in a name change to the NCIC. The main thrust of the organization is to promote and advance Indian culture in as authentic a form as may be possible considering the time and circumstance in which we now live.
The National Council of Indian Culture (NCIC) was a major part of the formation of the Divali Nagar 25 years ago. Does the Nagar today resemble what was conceptualised at its beginning?
Yes in many aspects but with inevitable changes consonant with the changing times. The original concept was to expose East Indian culture in its purest form to the wider Trinidad and Tobago community and the Caribbean. In fact the concept of Divali Nagar as an East Indian cultural vehicle has gone beyond the Caribbean to areas in North America where West Indians of East Indian descent have settled. The most popular Hindu festival of Divali was chosen as the vehicle around which we would showcase as many aspects of Indo-Trinidadian culture as was possible and which would achieve an awareness of the religious, social and cultural dimensions of Indo-Trinidadian culture that did not then exist. It was also intended to expose the multifaceted talents of the Indian cultural practitioners on a national stage.
The very first Divali Nagar was built as a Girmitiya (agreement signers in reference to indentureship) village wherein we constructed traditional thatched roof houses, Kutiyas (temples), and displayed artefacts and everyday utensils used by our indentured ancestors. The interest was so overwhelming that we had to leave the village on display for several days after the closing of the seven-day festival. There was an open air theatre where the cultural programmes took place. Two Hindu religious groups and three or four commercial houses participated. The crowds far exceeded our expectations.
From the second Nagar we had to expand to accommodate the crowds. Two stages were built for performances. For the first time we established a theme and an exhibition on the theme was mounted for public viewing. An Indian restaurant serving strictly vegetarian fare was constructed. A pre-Divali Nagar Yagya was also organized. This was a seven-day prayer meeting where discourses on Hindu religious texts were delivered and prayers offered for the success of Divali Nagar.
The two-stage concept has remained since. The second stage, however, is now exclusively dedicated to folk performances by village, temple and drama groups, which was a most welcome development. The thematic presentation has become much more professional and very informative and educational exhibitions are mounted each year. The restaurant has expanded into a full-blown food court, perhaps the most visited area of the Nagar. Participation of business houses has expanded considerably and rentals from commercial booths are the main source of our income to help fund a continually expanding Divali Nagar. Hindu religious sects now participate in large numbers, as well as several NGOs, disseminating useful information to the public.
Divali Nagar has kept to its original concept of exposing Indo-Trinbagonian culture to the wider community and in creating a national awareness of this rich cultural tradition which we hope will live on. It has grown to proportions that we had not anticipated and continues to grow, attracting not only visitors from all of our diverse peoples but reaching to countries beyond our shores.
What would you most like to see in the development of Indian culture in Trinidad and Tobago?
I would like to see our culture in its traditional forms retained and propagated alongside the new developments in our cultural practices. Too many of our cultural traditions have been lost forever. Local Indian classical singing is one of our traditional cultural forms that has thus far survived, but is in danger of being lost. This has been recognized and strenuous efforts are now being made to ensure its survival. I would also like to see the NCIC cultural complex in Chaguanas develop fully, making it a cultural mecca second to none, where patrons and visitors can come, experience and participate in the rich culture of the Indo-Trinbagonian in all its glory. Finally, I would like to see equitable treatment of the culture. The policy of multiculturalism is a step in the right direction but I would like to see this policy properly defined, explained, debated and made official government policy.
What does this honorary degree mean to you?
To me it means that Indian culture is taking its rightful place in the cultural space of my country, Trinidad and Tobago, as premier institutions such as The University of the West Indies take note of the efforts of those who have toiled voluntarily for most of their lives to ensure the survival and growth of an intrinsic part of the culture of our beloved homeland.
I am the son of an East Indian indentured labourer who came to Trinidad in search of a better life, a labourer who was totally unlettered in the English language and who toiled on the sugar plantation at Williamsville. That his son today is being honoured by such a prestigious institution is cause for much satisfaction to me personally, my family and my ancestors.
I have been taught to live by the dictum enunciated by Lord Krishna in the Bhagwat Gita as follows: “Your right is to work only, but never to the fruit thereof.”
I have followed this injunction as faithfully as I could and though I never looked for rewards, I gratefully and humbly accept the honorary degree as recognition of my lifelong voluntary work in the promotion and preservation of our culture. There is much more to be done and I vow to continue as long as I can.
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