Trinidad human rights lawyer AnandRamlogan has shocked the country and theworld with sensational newspaper columnson the treatment of kidnap victims. Thecountry is stunned by the unbelievably vi-cious and barbaric details, especially thoseshowing the sexual brutality shown to In-dian women. Their lives have been de-stroyed, their families broken.These are Anand’s stories of two Indian

women who have gone through a kidnap-ping (one a victim and the the other amother), first published in the TrinidadGuardian.

KIDNAPPED FOR LIFE,LIVING IN HELL

“I was stripped of all my dignity,” she saidquietly. Hands covering her face, she re-counted the details of her kidnapping.She had come to see me, because she read

my columns and felt that Iwould understandand “feel” her pain. She wanted to tell me

INSIDEIndo-Caribbean web site goes on line P3Don’t rush to retire back in Trinidad P4Sexual revenge motive seen inkidnapping of TT Indian women P4Don’t stop the Carnival. TT report P6Rough treatment to criminalsstops Guyana kidnapping P7Help your child succeed in school P9Beware consumer manipulation P13Record house sales in January P14Holi melas everywhere P15Nalini needs a kidney P16Shilpa Shetty scores in Britain P17Religion page: A Gita in every Home P18Youth can fight global warming P19Windies aim to win World Cup P21Short story: Veiled mystery woman P20Major All Fours league in action P22

ROTI AND CARIBBEAN FOODTAKE OUT � EAT INCATERING� CURRANTS ROLL416-253-5358 3296 Lakeshore Blvd (West of Kipling Ave)Catering and Party orders

her about her experience:Kidnapping is so organised. There are

several groups involved, with each one per-forming a specificduty.Team A, the abduc-

tion team, snatched thevictim. TeamAhandedher over to Team B(the transportation

team) at an undisclosed location that wasonly made known to it after a few callsfrom someone who gave careful,specific di-rections.TeamAdid not know where Team B was

taking her, just in case the police managedto arrest anyone from TeamA.Team B was responsible for transporting

the victim to the hiding spot and handingher over to Team C (the guard team), whichwas responsible for taking her to the placewhere she would be imprisoned untilnegotiations for payment of a ransom weresuccessfully concluded.Team B did not know where Team C

was actually taking her to detain her.Team D separately contacted the family

to negotiate the ransom. Team E visited thefamily in full religious wear to say that itsorganisation could find her for a fee, andthat the police were a waste, because theywere probably in cahoots with team D.Whom do you trust? Negotiation calls are

made to distant friends to evade tapped tele-phone lines.Whilst in captivity, one of her guards (X)

tried to reassure her that everything wouldbe all right; once the ransom was paid shewould be released unharmed.She cried constantly and could not eat.

After three days, she became weak.She decided to keep herself alive because

she was able to hear her husband’s voice onthe cellphone and he told her he was goingto pay the ransom.Hope and tears mingled freely in her

bosom. Later that night, the guards changedshift. A new set of men came. They playedcards and drank heavily.

BRUTALIZEDALLNIGHT

She fell asleep, but was awakened by ahand on her leg. She slapped it off and col-lected a slap. Wide awake, she looked upand saw all three of her guards, dressed intheir briefs alone, staring at her.She struggled, but was overpowered, and

they took turns raping her. They had theirway all night, invading and brutalising herwhile their fantasies “and her worst night-mare” became a reality.At some point, her body became numb

and lifeless, paralysed by the assault andhumiliation. The next morning she waskicked and told to “wash off properly.”She heard them discussing the possibil-

ity of testing for DNAwith sperm and me-chanically washed in front of them.

She could not cry anymore. She hadprobably run out of tears.

(CONTINUED ON PAGE 5)

NEW GUYANASTADIUM READYFOR WORLD CUPThe eyes of the sportingworld will be fixed on thatgreen oval when theCaribbean hosts its firstever Cricket World Cup.See SPORTS Page 21

I LOVE WINTER!Celebrate the season isthis youngster’s messageat recent winter festivitiesin Scabrorough.See HEALTHAND

WELLNESS Page 16

Kidnap horror: Lawyer reveals gang rape of Indian women, police involvement

Ramlogan

TIMESTIMES416-289-3898 ictimes@rogers.com

Who’s that dashinghorseman there?It’s our own Akaash Maharaj,

Canada’s top tent pegger in the thou-sand year old military sport of usingswords and lances to catch tent pegswhile at full gallop on a war horse.Akaash, who was born in Canada ofTrinidad parents, has quietly risen tothe top of the sport and is currentCanadian chamption. He will be head-ing to Oman on March 2 to representCanada against the top rated Indians,while promoting the United NationsChildren’s Fund (UNICEF) and tryingto raise awareness of suffering childrenthroughout the world.It’s a surprising change for a man bet-ter known as Oxford academic andLiberal politician. (SEE PAGE 23)

These are the(Indo-Caribbean)Times of Our LivesWelcome to the first issue of Indo-Caribbean Times, which we offer as a com-

munity newspaper dedicatedto the education, upliftmentand strengthening of the200,000 strong Indo-Caribbean community inCanada. As we go about

building our lives and forming a vibrantIndo-Caribbean community in this newcountry, we should remember to enjoy it.These are really the times of our lives, thetimes we will remember ever after. Wewant to help make sure those are goodtimes and record them. (SEE PAGE 2)Akaash is top athlete in ancient sport

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

DDUUCCKKYY’’SSSaturday special sada roti with tomatoesand salt fish, Bigan ChokhaBaked products: currants roll, sweet bread,pone

Vol 1. No 1 MARCH 2007

It’s the realthing: Templekarate at theVedic Cultural Centre Page 15

Indo-CaribbeanRia Ramnarine isfirst Indo-Caribbeanworld boxing championPage 11

Ram Jagessar

MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR Indo-Caribbean Times M arch 2007 Page 2Times of Our LivesFrom Page 1

People have asked what is the needfor another newspaper. I answer thatwe need papers and other media notas businesses but as helpers in soci-ety building.We Indo-Caribbeans in Canada arerepeating the task our ancestors tookup when they first came to theCaribbean. They had to rebuild acommunity of several different In-dian groups, all of it in a strangeland, under strange rulers, and in anunfriendly if not hostile environ-ment.We are trying to take Indians withroots in Guyana, Trinidad, Jamaicaand several other Caribbean coun-tries to make a strong Indo-Caribbean society in Canada. Wedon’t intend to disappear into main-stream Canada and be just a mem-ory in a few decades.A newspaper can give help in edu-cating and informing our people towork towards our goal of a stableIndo-Caribbean community. It can

be one of the cords that bring ourpeople together, that remind us topull together for the same goal.That is how we offer the Indo-

Caribbean Times, as a communitynewspaper for a young communitytrying to grow up right.Our focus is directly on Canada

where we live and work and dream,and secondly on the Caribbeancountries we have left behind. Wedon’t see ourselves as exiles orrefugees from our homelands.Rather, we are like our jahaji ances-tors who became immigrants in astrange land to find better lives forthemselves and their children.We aim to look at the lives of Indo-Caribbeans in Canada, throughoutCanada and not just in places likeToronto and Mississauga. We willlook at all aspects of those lives, cel-ebrating the victories and warning ofthe dangers as they arise. And wewill keep one eye pointed in the di-rection of the Caribbean where somany of our friends and relatives

still live. We want our pages to be full of thethoughts and words and activities ofthe ordinary Indo-Caribbean. There is no greater goal for a com-munity newspaper than seeing theexperiences and wisdom of thosewho have been here for a long timebeing passed on to newcomers andthe youth. That is society buildingat its best, community developmentat its highest. In the weeks and months to comewe aim to carrywork on our goalsstated below, with your help andsupport. We expect to encountergood times, hard times, scary times,wonderful times, all of them theIndo-Caribbean Times of our lives.

Our Goals:1.To publish an accurate report onthe lives and activities of Indo-Caribbeans in Canada, theCaribbean and elsewhere in theworld.

2.To examine the lives of Indo-Caribbeans, their achievements andproblems with a view to strength-ening them as individuals and as acommunity.

3.To provide a medium for the or-dinary Indo-Caribbeans living inthe Caribbean and abroad to ex-press their opinions and feelings.

4.To foster a spirit of unity and sol-idarity among Indo-Caribbeans asthey create a community inCanada.

5.To work to strengthen the con-nections between Indo-Caribbeansin Canada, between Indo-Caribbeans, South Asians and otherCanadians, and between peoples inthe Caribbean.

6.To preserve the Indo-Caribbeanheritage and values and work topass them on to the coming genera-tions.

COMMUNITY NEWS Indo-Caribbean Times M arch 2007 Page 3

$799 FLIGHT TO TRINIDAD,$1109 TO GUYANA IN MARCH

The new Caribbean Airlines (formerlyBWIA) is offering fares of $799.04 Cana-dian for a one week, five hour trip fromToronto to Trinidad in the first week ofMarch, which is better than Air Canada's$936 for a similar trip. To head to Guyanafor one week at the same time will cost$1109.43 for a nine hour flight that includesa stopover in Trinidad. Trips from the USAto the Caribbean are coming in at com-petive prices as well.This is good news for Caribbeans based

in North America, who have been seeingscary prices of as much as $1300 toTrinidad and $1500 recently. Several havecomplained that air flights to the Caribbeanwere more expensive than trips to Indiamore than four times as distant. Torontotravel agencies have offered flights to Indiafor as low as $1100.Caribbean Airlines is the airline born out

of the corpse of the old unprofitable BWIA,which was shut down on December 31 andall employees laid off. Check then out atwww.caribbean-airlines.com

Giving good competition is the newGuyana based airline Travel Span, whichflies from Guyana and Trinidad to theUnited States. They are offering flightsfrom JFK Airport in New York to Trinidadfor $553.41 Canadian , and $681.12 forflights from JFK to Guyana, also in the firstweek of March. Travel Span doesn’t yet flydirectly to Canada and they are expected tooperate only during the winter tourist sea-son. Canadian based travellers can get over thelack of direct flights by making a shortflight to JFK from across the border in Buf-falo, just two hours drive away. Jet Bluewill cost you $91.07 Canadian to fly to JFKin the first week of March and $81.60 to flyback from JFK to Buffalo one week later.Add about $50 for the bus trip fromToronto to Buffalo or slightly less for oneweek’s parking at Buffalo Airport, and itcomes close to the Caribbean Airlines di-rect trips to the Caribbean. Look up TravelSpan at www.travelspan.com.

Much needed indocaribbeanheritage.com website for Indo-Caribbeans goes online

TRINI SENIORS WANT COMPUTERSDozens of seniors from the Trinidad

and Tobago 50 Plus and Seniors Associ-ation are gearing up to enter the com-puter age and within weeks will behitting the keyboards and surfing the In-ternet.The computer literacy program, which

is financed by a $25,000 "New Hori-zons for Seniors" grant, was launchedat the last meeting of the group in Janu-ary by President Farouk Hydal andcomputer trainer Anthony Mohammed..It will run throughout 2007, and will in-clude developing a training manual, starting a website and online newsletter, and deliver-ing a series of training workshops for interested seniors.President Hydal explained that the program came out of a recent survey which asked

50 Plus members what they wanted most. Learning computers was at the top of the list,as the seniors said they did not want to be left out of the computer age. They want to con-tact their friends and relatives by e-mail, read about Trinidad and the world on the inter-net, and do things like banking, buying airplane tickets and shopping on the internet likeso many other Canadians.The program will see members teaching and mentoring each other in the use of com-

puters, as well as producing their newsletter and updating their website. They will becomeempowered to use computers to research health matters, and exchange information on artand culture of the Caribbean and Canada. Hydal said it was most important that seniorsbe able to relate to children and grandchildren who are very involved with computers intheir school and home lives.The computer literacy program will continue alongside the 50 Plus regular activities like

monthly gatherings, bus trips, participation in events like Black History Month, Trinifest,Indian Arrival Day, summer picnics and cultural programs. For information contactFarouk Hydal at 905-608-0239 or Public Relations Officer Rasheed Sultan Khan at 416-281-5264

Farouk Hydal (left) and P.R.O. RasheedSultan Khan discuss computer training

HINDU MUSEUMBRINGS A FESTIVAL OFINDIA IN SUMMER

Get ready for a massive Festival of Indiaon August 24-26 this summer, as the Cana-dian Museum of Hindu Civilization show-cases the many attractions of India old andnew.The museum, which was opened in 2004,and remains the only one of its kind inNorth America, expects 10,000 people perday to converge on the museum at 8640Yonge Street, Richmond Hill for the event.“This festival will provide a place for peo-ple of Ontario to embrace diversity, learnmore about people of India and their richcultural heritage. It will bring awarenessabout puppetry and folk dances that are atits verge of extinction,” said an official.Attractions include:Ayurveda and Health CareYoga and meditationMorning Lecture series (spiritual Dis-course) Evening Concerts (classical music andDance by Indian maestros Bollywood Night with renowned playbacksingerAstrology & PalmistryArtist’s Village (sculptors and Painters) Ethnic Food stalls (promoting Vegetarian-ism – the higher taste) Kaleidoscopic Folk Dances and songsPuppetry Fashion show (traditional Costumes ofeach state and its music)Outstanding Indian movies and Documen-tary films (AV theatre of the campus) Indian booksIndian God, Goddesses and Temple ritualsGift stalls (Accessories, Garments, sou-venirs, Jewelry, incense and other para-phernalia)Sari wrapping DemonstrationChildren’s Theatre HandicraftsExhibition on Various religions, VedicScience, History of Hinduism, Indian ar-chitecture etc will be in Museum. To offset the significant costs of the Fes-tival of India, the Museum is seeking cor-porate and community sponsors from theCanadian community. For further call MsBetty Bharratt at (416) 825-5170 and helpbring off a once-in-a-lifetime Festival ofIndia in Canada.

LOCATING information on Indo-Caribbeans in Canada and our heritage hasalways been an exercise in frustration. Thelibraries and bookstores have little or noth-ing. There is no Indo-Caribbean HistoricalSociety. The internet has scattered pieces ofvarying quality and age. That’s about to change with the launch ofa community web site aimed directly at the200,000 strong Indo-Caribbean communityand all who want to know about it.indocaribbeanheritage.com is the cre-ation of a group of Indo-Caribbean activistsfrom Southern Ontario who decided lastyear to do something about the lack of in-formation on the community. Since SouthAsian Heritage Indian Month last year,they have been putting together a freecommunity web site to fill the need.It offers information on three broad areas,the history of our people in over 12Caribbean countries, the Indo-Caribbeanheritage that was preserved and developedover 160 years since 1838 when Indiansfirst landed in the area, and a section onIndo-Caribbeans in Canada from 1908 tothe present. The year 1908 was when the first knownIndo-Caribbean, Kenneth Mahabir fromTrinidad, arrived in Nova Scotia to studymedicine and stayed. Those who believeIndo-Caribbean history in Canada begins inthe sixties will change their perspectivewhen the 100th anniversary of Mahabir’s

arrival is held next year.With 62 articles and over 160 photographs,including the best selection of pictures ofindentured Indians on the web, the site ismoving towards the goal of being “every-thing you wanted to know about Indo-Caribbeans” The group is looking for help in putting to-gether a virtual library of documents, audioand video on the Indo-Caribbean experi-ence, especially in Canada. When com-pleted, the site will offer articles andpictures on the early settlement of Indo-Caribbeans in Canada, where our commu-nity lives today, the names and activities ofour religious, cultural, social and commu-nity groups. They will be able to locate cul-tural performers, professionals and businesspeople, and learn about our communityachievers and how we are handling theproblems of developing a community inCanada. There will also be a large section on thecultural heritage that Indo-Caribbeansworked so hard to preserve in the Caribbeanand have now transported to Canada. Therewill also be room for articles and opinionson the Indo-Caribbean experience, a calen-dar of ongoing activities and feedback fromcommunity members.To reach the group, contact Ram Jagessarat 416-290-9088 or e-mail at ram@eol.ca,and of course keep looking up the siteindocaribbeanheritage.com.

IInnddoo--CCaarriibbbbeeaann TTiimmeess is pub-lished monthly in Toronto byIndo-Caribbean Times Ltd.EEddiittoorr//PPuubblliisshheerr:: Ram JagessarEEddiittoorriiaall CCoommmmiitttteeee::Reynold Ramdial, Gulcharan Mo-habir, Lloyd Harradan, SandyKissoonsingh, Roop Misir, DeorajNarine, Jiantee Jagessar,KrishnaNankissoorOOfffificcee: 17 Gaiety Drive, Toronto ON Canada M1H 1B9TTeell:::: 416-289-3898EE--MMaaiill: ictimes@rogers.com

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. All contentmust comply with the require-ments of Canadian law

A few years ago, I mentioned in passing toa well-to-do young lady—award winningjournalist &c—that listening to calypso(anywhere from Shorty’s 'Maharajin' toAloes’s odes to Oma Panday) the subli-mated sexual element, the desire for sexualrevenge against Indian women was quiteevident to me.Her reply surprised me: 'Well, why don’t

you go from here if it so bad? Leave thecountry.' That it could be true did not seemto offend her so much as my saying it. Sheleft the country some months later, and nowlives in Europe (EU passport) with her twochildren. But this had been my experiencein the media generally: people who feign‘objectivity’ but have sometimes very ob-vious agendas which they ludicrously try tohide, until they are threatened with expo-sure.My final stint at the Express was one long

battle (from 2002-2004) with sundry suchspecimens. My offensives were looking attheatre, calypso, and ‘national culture’ gen-erally, and concluding often that they werePNM populism, aimed at stirring racial ha-tred and which would have dire conse-quences in the near future. Theirs weretrying to get me fired and branded a ‘racist’.They, of course, won.The phenomena included plays that por-

trayed a very ethno-centred nationalism,radio talk shows that called Indians ‘vomit’,calypsos which told audiences that Indianswere not true Trinidadians but thieves anddrug dealers who were stealing the patri-mony of ‘true’ Trinidadians, and to ‘KidnapDem’, and ‘cultural icons’ and ‘masters’—like Earl Lovelace and Leroy Clarke—whosaid things like this openly (which I re-ported). But Iwas the only one, it seemed, who

noticed, or at least reported and commentedupon these things, & my sources told methere were people at thetop, who could notbear to see and read this kind of thing, andin 2004, I was fired, no reason given.Well, a few nights ago, listening to Anand

Ramlogan on the Islamic Broadcasting Net-work (IBN) talking about the experiences

of kidnap victims (about 80-90 per cent ofwhom are Indian, he said), the fruits of allthat cultural activism I reported on becameclear. His column last Sunday (Jan 14) in the

Guardian told of a kidnap victim who hadbeen repeatedly raped for three days whileher husband paid the ransom, and becamepregnant as a result. On IBN he added somematerial he omitted from the column: thatshe was cursed and taunted with racial slurswhile she was being raped, and made to dothings that were even more dehumanizingthan being raped.He did not go into details, except to say

that 'many' if not most kidnap victims facedsimilar fates—including men. I don’t thinkit’s unrelated that the ‘sex video’ featuringschool children making the rounds showsan Indian girl being forced to have sex withthree black ‘schoolboys’. The Express’sfront-page report of this (Jan 19) neglectedto identify the ethnicities of the victims andperpetrators (there’s a big surprise). But thiscould be the start of a rite of passage for theblack criminal underclass.And it’s not a small thing. There have

been hundreds (a thousand?) of reportedkidnappings over the last five years. Andmany that were not reported. So how manyhundreds (?) of these victims have been putthrough this?It might be worthwhile to point out here

that at least some gangs are ethnicallymixed: looking at the photographs from theSaada Singh kidnapping suspects last year,this was evident. One gang which includedsome policemen, who were all convicted afew weeks ago, was all Indian.This points to some deep resentments,

mainly among the lower castes/classes inthe Indian community, which are compara-ble to the resentments between dark andlight-skinned AfroTrinidadians. That aside,there is no way to know how ‘mixed’ thegangs are, but the victims’ reports seem topoint to a preponderance of AfroTrinidadi-ans as abductors.In the absence of real journalists and so-

cial scientists collecting data, though, weremain groping in the darkness of anecdotes

and incompetent and mis-reporting.Ramlogan also said that he was told dur-

ing the Felicity ‘riots’ late last year, an In-dian woman was pulled out of her car andher hair was cut off. This is an incredibledetail which was lost in the wide sweep ofthe incident and threats of ‘for every oneAfrican, ten Indian have to go’.And no arrests.But here is considerable evidence that

kidnapping, and crime generally, are notjust crimes of property: they are crimes ofhatred and revenge,and having ‘the enemy’at their mercy allows these men to punishthese housewives and small business own-ers, and children of (of course according tothe PNM savants on Power 102 and i95.5,they’re all drug dealers and ‘corrupt’) forthe grievous harm they’ve suffered. Andthis does not figure the other crimes of vio-lence, like robbery, assault, and rape (with-out kidnapping) which are not reported, andnot recorded, and which are racially moti-vated.Apropos of this, how much clearer does

this situation have to be? How much clearercould it be? Apparently, still not clearenough: one of the Express’s articles on Fe-licity, written by Sheila Rampersad, used a‘fairy tale’ ‘once upon a time’ type ap-proach which told of villages, and spoiledboys, and elders, and quarrels. A most ap-propriate choice, since the mainstream ap-proach to racial issues that paints blackTrinidadians as perpetrators rather than vic-tims reeks of fecal fantasy. Could there be any doubt that these inci-

dents are the (desired (?)) result of years ofhate peddling on radio, in the theatres, inschools, calypso tents and in the pages ofthe newspapers? The people who declaredthis war were Selwyn Cudjoe (acting withthe complicity if not on the orders ofPatrick Manning) and facilitators (whotransmitted, popularized, and denied), let ussay ‘in the media’.So a large part of the responsibility for

every person who is raped, murdered, anddehumanized must fall on these hard heads.They have hidden, lied, denied, and pro-moted as something other than what it is,

FRIENDLYADVICEWith ReynoldRamdial

Dear Reynold,I recently retired after 25 years of work

in Toronto, and my wife and I are thinkingof retiring back to Trinidad. But we areworried about the reports of crime, kid-napping and racism in Trinidad. The chil-dren and grandchildren will not be comingwith us, because their life is here in Canada.Do you think Trinidad is a safe and com-fortable place for a couple of retired Indo-Trinis to live out our final years?

Dear Rudy,On your question about whether Trinidad

is a safe place to retire, I have to tell youthe truth. Trinidad is not as safe as Torontowhere you have been living these past 25years. Trinidad is not as safe as it was whenyou left many years ago. There is more street crime, burglaries, car

thefts and gun crime than you are used to,and in some cases recent arrivals fromCanada have been targeted because they arebelieved to have foreign currency.But you should know that in some areas

of Trinidad, especially in the quiet countryareas, you can be reasonably safe and freefrom crime if you keep a low profile anddon’t advertise your Canadian connection.Whether it will be a comfortable retire-

ment spot depends on what you are lookingfor. You will be very disappointed if you ex-pect to resume the life of Trinidad in theeighties. That Trinidad is gone forever. Thepeople have changed too, as many have re-tired, died, migrated or have moved on withtheir lives. They may not have much timefor you and you may have to rebuild a lifeall over again. There’s still a lot of racism and discrim-

ination in Trinidad, but you may not be se-riously affected if you are a non-working,non-political retiree. You will have to seequite a bit of blatant discrimination againstIndians around you.Your children and grandchildren will re-

main in Canada because their life is here.They don’t know Trinidad except as apleasant place to visit for a week or two.Retirement in Trinidad will mean they

will be out of your life except for brief vis-its to you or your brief visits to Canada. Bewarned that separation from the children,grandkids and friends in Canada is often adeal breaker for those thinking of retire-

ment to Trinidad. Many of those who try toreturn home to Trinidad are back in Canadain a year or so.Depending on you and your wife’s health,

you may have to evaluate the availability ofhealth care facilities, medication, profes-sionals and services. Could you imaginehaving to go to one of the major hospitals?Based on your question, we have con-

ducted a mini poll of 35 Trinis of all stripes.Only one person was willing to fully retirethere because he still has lots of familythere, owns property and is still in touch.About the health situation, his response was“I hope not to have to use it”. As for poli-tics, there was nothing but disgust. In spite of all the cautions, Trinidad is

still a warm, laid back place that can begood for a retiree. You escape the Canadianwinters in comfort. Prices can be fright-fully high, but your Canadian dollars mul-tiply by at least five down there. If you are serious about moving back to

Trinidad, give it a trial run. Don’t sell yourhouse and move your belongings rightaway. Go down for a few months and see ifyou like it after the first excitement hasworn off. Then you can make the jump, orelse come back to Canada without cost andcomplications.

Don’t rush to retire back to Trinidad

what the PNM has been doing for the lastsix years with increasing openness and free-dom from consequences. And that is, thatthe PNM through its calypsonians, agentsin the media, and its sympathizers, haveopenly encouraged this racial war, and keepit going by the police service’s collapse, andtheir embrace of criminals.But there is another aspect to this: what

is the AfroTrinidadian response? This is notthe black underclass, who are the PNM’szombie troops. These are the people wemeet, become friends with, invite into ourhomes, and are invited into theirs, inter-marry with, procreate and are generallyeach other’s friends and family, who hap-pen to be Afro-descended.Apart from Morgan Job and Lenny

Grant, it is clear that the black middleclass prefers to avert its collective eyes.The average response seems to be embod-ied in ‘reasonable’ inane babblings (seeMartin George in the Guardian) which arepatently pro-PNM, and serve the racialagenda which keeps the PNM in power.This agenda entails a childish ethnic sen-sitivity and is almost lunatic in its delu-sion, and leads to logic like:Crime? Is the fault of government AND

opposition, and is the same all over theworld.Corruption? The PNM and the UNC—

is the same thing. (Once the PNM inpower.)Society decaying? That happening all

over the world.Hate Radio? Well, is freedom of the

press.Hate calypso? That is the art form, ca-

lypsonian could say anything, yes. (Ex-cept when they say thing like BroMarvin.)But ask why mostly Indians getting kid-

napped & you get dead silence.Murmurs: Is drugs. Is family ting. Theyowe money and ain’t want to pay. That ishow them Indian is.

(CONTINUED ON PAGE 12)

GUEST COMMENTARYBy Raymond Ramcharitarraymondramcharitar@hotmail.com

TT Kidnaps show sexual revenge vs Indian women

COMMENTARY Indo-Caribbean Times M arch 2007 Page 4

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO NEWS Indo-Caribbean Times M arch 2007 Page 5

FROM PAGE 1

Later that evening, the shift changedagain. She was slapped and warned not tosay anything by the rapists before they left.She was repeatedly raped by that secondshift when they returned the next week, andshe eventually confided in one of the guards(X) from thefirst shift.He was most upset and said that was ”notpart of the plan.” He promised to informthe “bossman” about her plight. The shiftdid not change that evening, so she wasnot raped. Instead, X allowed her to speakwith her family members, who indicatedthat they were going to drop off the moneythe following morning.She was blindfolded and released. She didnot tell anyone about the rapes. They wereall so relieved to have her back, she could-n’t bear to tell them that the ransom moneywas all in vain.She wanted to scream and tell them theyhad kidnapped her soul.

ABORTED RAPE BABY

Two weeks later, after much thinking, sheflew to a neighbouring Caribbean islandand paid a secret visit to a doctor.Her worst fears were confirmed: she waspregnant. She had an abortion and returnedhome. Not wanting to tell her husband whathad happened or risk infecting him withsome unknown STD, she refused to be in-timate with him.“I was still kidnapped even after my re-lease. They kidnapped part of me for life,”she said.She eventually confronted her demons andwent back for an HIV test. She did not in-dicate what the result was, and I did not ask.She said she was living against her ownwill, because she did not want to disappointthose who had sacrificed so much to haveher back.No one has been arrested in connectionwith her kidnapping to date.

******************A MOTHER’S PAIN: FAMILY SMASHED TO PIECES BY KIDNAP

‘It took me ten years to have a child andnow I feel as if I have lost her,’ the mothersaid. My mind darted back to the headline“Kidnapped for life” a few weeks ago. She had all but given up having children.She would look in sadness as other peopleloved theirs, praying and trying every kindof fertility treatment, even local herbs.Everything and anything. When she real-ized she was pregnant, she couldn’t believeit. Her husband was ecstatic; the unspoken,emotional void was about to be filled. Her daughter was kidnapped. She now re-fuses to listen to music. Ransom negotia-tions were not going well and people hadbecome frustrated. Hands tied behind herback, with duct tape plastered over hermouth and a pair of headphones over herears, she was raped by the three men whostood guard over her during captivity. Themusic was so loud in her ears that it dis-tracted her from the pain. ‘I screamed in myhead because I couldn’t open my mouth,’she said in a distracted, matter-of-fact kindof way. She eventually accepted her fate and de-cided that she would try and concentrate onthe music instead of focusing on the inva-sion and violation of her body but her pow-ers of concentration were no match for thebrutality. The duct tape was yanked off and

she was forced to submit herself to theworst forms of sexual abuse. It was de-grading and humiliating, but the worse wasyet to come. Her parents were trying to betough with the ransom negotiators. Theyhad so far refused to pay a ransom. This, onthe advice of the police and a private nego-tiator her father had hired. The kidnappers were playing for time,

knowing that the family will come round.The father was also playing for time, think-ing that once they eventually realized thathe was not going to pay up their resolvewould weaken and his precious daughterwould be freed. She paid the price for thisprincipled stanceAs the negotiations intensified, she was al-lowed to speak to her uncle on an oldschool friend’s cell phone. He asked if shewas alright. More concerned about her fam-ily and how they were coping, she put up abrave front and said yes, they were treatingher fine. She didn’t want to add to the pres-sure they were under but asked him to dowhat they could to get her back.The following day, she was dragged out ofher room and into the kitchen what seemedlike a run-down dirty apartment. It was thefirst time that she had even left the room.No head phones, this time. The men werecursing, saying her father ‘set dem up’ and‘took dem for (expletive) fools’. “All yuhIndian feel all yuh too smart!’ he said. Hewas supposed to drop off the money yes-

terday but appar-ently changed hismind. They hadanother kidnap-ping job to do andwere behindschedule andsomeone (theboss) was not toohappy. It seemedas if they were

working with a list. They blamed her for allof this. She didn’t do as she was told. Shewas supposed to cry and beg them to paythe damn ransom. They blamed her for failing to convincethe family to pay the ransom. They con-cluded that she had things too easy. She too,was ‘(expletive-ing) dem up’ because sheplaying brave and didn’t show enough pain.That was about to change. She was spread-eagled on the floor naked, belly down andanally raped by all three men. She couldn’tresist as the other two actually stood on herhands. She begged for the headphones shehated so much to no avail. She could feelsomething running down her legs andthought it was semen. It was not. It was theblood from her ruptured anus that didn’tmake any difference to her rapists. One manused a condom because he didn’t trust theother two ‘because all yuh always runninghoe (whores)’. Battered and bruised, she thought of herfather. He was indeed wealthy. Why did henot just pay the money? Did her mother nottell him to pay it? Were the dreams aboutthem talking to her and lovingly coaxingher to sleep each night during captivity notreal? She thought she was so close to herfather that he could read her mind. He knewshe was tough and always put up a bravefrontShe remembered how he hugged her andtook her for ice cream when her best friendchose someone else to speak at her birthdayparty and she pretended not to care. Theprecious, unforgettable unspoken under-standing between father and daughter. Didhis money mean more to him? That night, she cried and begged her unclefor daddy to pay the ransom. It was paid the

following day in full at three different drop-off points. Now, she wishes she never brokedown because facing her family was moredifficult than that the suffering and assaultshe had grown to accept and endure. Shewas bitter, angry, hurt and totally discon-nected. She keeps asking herself if it washer brother that was kidnapped whether herfather wouldn’t have just paid the moneywithout waiting. She went into a shell. She lived in her

room. Spoke and ate very little. One night,she just woke up screaming. Her parentsrushed in and she pointed at her father andsaid she hated him. She accused him ofmaking them rapeher and startedrampaging herroom. She wasstark raving mad.She flung every-thing from herdesk, picturesfrom the wall andbroke the bedlamp. She rum-maged throughher drawers and took a gold chain he hadbrought her for her 16th birthday and rippedit and pelted him with it. She wanted noth-ing from him anymore she shouted, tellinghim to take back his (expletive) land. (Herfather had given her a piece of land). Her mother held her and tried to hug her.She raised her hand to slap her but wasstopped by her brother. She struggled. Thephone started ringing – neighbours wantedto know if everything was alright. Hermother chased everyone out, cursing andtelling them to ‘leave her alone with herchile’. Her mother listened in horror toeverything and in tears confessed that shetold the father to pay the ransom. The kidnappers had spoken to her once ather sister’s home. He told her that theywould not harm her daughter if the moneywas paid. He gave her his word. He said thepolice were involved and if the family toldthem what was going on they would onlymake things worse because they (the po-lice) were very greedy. She begged her husband to pay the money.The police had set up shop in the house andhad advised him not to do that because thekidnappers might think he paid it too easyand ask for more. He must negotiate. Hehad hired a special negotiator who hadhelped another family whose child was kid-napped. The men, she said took over.She didn’t trust the police and spoke to

her husband but he did not listen to her. Shetried telling her that her father meant wellbut the look she would never forget the lookfrom her daughter that pierced her eyes likea well-sharpened dagger. She had to bestrong. No point reminding her about all herfather had done; all the years she’d spurnedher mother as a child in bed so that shecould go to her father’s side to hug him tosleep while sucking her thumb.She had failed the child that God had

blessed her with after ten long years ofpainful infertility. She had thought about se-cretly pawning her jewelry and borrowingthe money from her sister herself to secretlypay the ransom without telling her husbandand the police but had no way of contact-ing the kidnappers.

32 known women kid-nap victims since 2005Women have been a popular target for kid-nappers in Trinidad for the last five years,with at least 32 reported by the media in thelast two years and five murdered by kid-nappers. The true figure is probably muchgreater, as many of the kidnappings are notreported to the police, and an unknownamout of reported kidnappings are not re-ported to the media by Trinidad police. InMarch 2006 the Anti Kidnapping Squad re-vealed that 30 kidnappings had been re-ported to the police during January toFebruary 2006 but were never revealed to

the public.

2005Leela Roopnarine,Kyna Rampersad,NadieHarripersad, Pixie Surujdaye Lakhan (mur-dered),Unnamed woman, Beulah Lopez,Michelle Arvello, Neisha Seetaram, LindaAli,Mary Baldeo Waheed (jumped out ofkidnap vehicle and killed), Nurse unnamed, Seeta Ragoonanan,Penal woman unnamed, Candice Harragin,Vanessa Ramsahai,TessaRamdath Mahara, Samdaye Rampersad(beaten, back broken and buried while stillalive), Jade Solis, Unnamed Belmontwoman.

2006Indira Seepaul, 9 year old daughter of In-dira Seepau, Vindra Naipaul (missing),Deb-bie Singh-Ali, Rehanna Ramlochan (rapedand murdered), Candice Beharry, AvalonStrachan, Giselle Holder, 14 year old YvaAlexander, 15 year old Diana Bedeau,Reshma Boodoo (thrown out of kidnap carand killed), 16 year old school girl kid-napped on Henry St, Port of Spain and gangraped.

2007Annalee James

Vindra Naipaul..stillmissing, feared dead

Debbie Singh-Alispoke out in public

The home phone was tapped by the policeand it was her husband and the negotiatorwho spoke when they called. Her son sidedwith his father and told her to leave it aloneand she did.She knows that her husband loved his

daughter more than life itself but her daugh-ter’s pain was too great for her to think ofanyone else’s. She took her daughter andmoved out of the house. She misses her sonbut has explained to him that he must takecare of his father while she looks after hissister. Her husband has gone into a state ofirreversible and permanent depression. Heswallows pills and drinks himself to sleepevery day. The man who fathered her twochildren was now an unrecognizable drunk.She still has access to the bank account andhe makes sure that there is always enoughfor them to live on.

(CONTINUED ON PAGE 12)

Brutal kidnap shatters Indian family:marriage broken, husband “an unrecognizable drunk”

RINIDAD AND TOBAGO Indo-Caribbean Times M arch 2007 Page 6

Trinis heading for Vincy

Some wealthy Trinis are heading forSt Vincent and the Grenadines to es-cape high crime rates at home.That'sthe word from Dr Ralph GonsalvesPrime Minister of St Vincent and theGrenadines, who says he’s seen in thelast three years an increase in the num-ber of people—business people, pro-fessionals, retirees—from Trinidad (andJamaicq) who want to own a secondhome in his country.

Manning Waffles over Smelter

GOVERNMENT is amenable to reversingits December decision against the alu-minium smelter in Chatham, following in-formation that “drug elements” in that areamay be involved in smelter opposition,Prime Minister Patrick Manning has an-nounced.After heavy resistance to the Chatham

smelter, Manning had announced at Christ-mas that the smelter would be shifted fromthat location to an offshore point at Ota-heite. Manning was told by COP leader WinstonDookeran to produce the evidence or shutup. Others have attacked Manning for mak-ing this statement.Surprisingly, the police said that Prime

Minister Patrick Manning was right whenhe said there is drug dealing in Chatham,but he is wrong to link the rape of a womanby burglars to anti-smelter activism. He isalso wrong about the other claims he made.Detectives have no evidence that groupsopposed to the aluminium smelter con-struction were linked to the drug elements,and detectives in Point Fortin have no re-port that a villager who supports the build-ing of the smelter in the village wasthreatened and his dog poisoned.And La Brea police officers are unawareof reports that pro-smelter supporters werethreatened with physical violence and anarson attack on a home.Manning watchers would be aware that thisis only the latest in a long series of gaffes.Just before this there was his mishandlingof the Maha Sabha application for a radiolicence. Manning seem to be unaware thatthe PNM lost control of the airwaves in1986, when the NAR came to power. So theMaha Sabha celebrated its victory after aseven year battle that had to be decided bythe Privy Council. Satnarayan Maharajwent to India with a group of Pundits andhas been making daily reports to the faith-ful. Manning flew to Africa where he issuedinane statements about smelters.It is not clear who is giving Manning allthis bad advice. One shudders to think thathe is advising himself, remembering thelegal dictum, "He who advises himself isadvised by a fool."

End of sugar industry .. too dear

TRINIDAD’S sugar industry shuts downfinally this year, as government has decidednot to buy any more from cane farmers afterthe 2007 crop. The 7,500 cane farmers (andabout 60,000 family members and caneworkers and their families) will have to findsomething else to live on. Caroni Ltd. is al-ready closed since 2003, workers laid off,and only a sugar factory Sugar Manufac-turing Company Limited (SMCL) remainsto handle sugar for local consumptionPM Manning told the farmers the sugarindustry had become a financial burdenGovernment could no longer bear. Hetalked about the $47 million given to thesugar industry team last year, and another$61 million given to the research extensionsupport services. That’s $108 million.However, Government seems to have notrouble finding money for the make-workCEPEP program, which has gobbled upover $1 billion since 2002, or another bil-lion for the Tarouba Sports Stadium thatnobody wanted or asked for.

TRINIDAD REPORT By Lloyd Harradan

How many kidnaps last year?

A STORY in the Trinidad Express articleon January 2, 2007 said that between Jan-uary to October last year there were 162kidnappings, both with and without ran-somdemands. That means an average 16kidnaps per month (four every week!), andan estimated total by December of 194kidnappings. Remember these are just thekidnappings police know about, which areestimated to be around 10% of the total. Soif 194 kidnaps are 10% of all kidnaps, couldthat mean Trinidad had 1,940 total kidnapslast year? The National Security ministersays the kidnapping situation improved in2006.Trinidad not safe to live in

TWENTY TWO of the country's leadingprivate sector business groups have saidopenly that Trinidad and Tobago is not asafe place to live or do business. They aredemanding that the "authorities take swiftand decisive action to deal with the criminalelements in the society".Last month the business groups told Na-tional Security Minister Martin Joseph theydidn't believe his claim that Trinidad ismaking progress in the fight against crime.Several important new laws have not beenpassed, the witness protection program isnot effective, so that witnesses are afraid totestify in court cases, and citizens are yet tosee any improvement in the level of servicedelivered by the Police Service, say thegroup.

Food prices gone crazy, inflationrising 9% over last year

SOME recent food prices should qualifyfor arrest under the Terrorism Act more thanInshan Ishnael. Try little Cornish hens at$45 dollars for one, regular chicken $5.15per pound, a case of 20-ounce soft drinks$78, powdered milk $12.99 per kilo-gramme. Then there’s packaged slicedbread for $6.25, a half-pound of coffee$9.99, a dozen eggs $8.99 and a pound ofbutter $12.99. A tin of corned beef set youback $7.29, powdered detergent $16.99,humble peewah ten dollars a pound ( Takeit or leave it!), fish $14 and $20 per pound,pigeon peas $10 per pound, patchoi $4 to$8, dasheen bush between $3 and $5, im-ported grapes $18 per pound, and one. pom-mecytere for $2.50, the same as animported apple. Trinidad will begin im-porting chicken from Guyana’s Didco farmthis month.

THE WEST INDIAN is not exactly hostileto change, but he's not much inclined to be-lieve in it. Meantime in a fashion Amerigois getting Americanized. The inflow of cashis making everyone more prosperous. MostKinjans go along cheerily with this explo-sion of American energy in the Caribbean.To them it seems like a new harmless andapparently endless Carnival.Inshan Ishmael, a businessman and socialactivist, disturbed by the high crime rate inTrinidad, called for a national shutdown onthe 25th and 26th of January, 2007.What was the government's response?

Surely they must have noticed that crimewas on the increase, and it must have oc-curred to them that they were responsiblefor the safety of the citizens? If the citizenswished to send a message to the govern-ment on crime - or any issue - surely it isthe duty of the government to listen to thatmessage?Not in Trinidad where it is always endlessCarnival. The government began by attack-ing Mr Inshan's business. Mr. Ishmael im-ports foreign used vehicles. TheGovernment has moved swiftly to imposequotas for the importation of foreign usedvehicles. Next came an order by the Telecommuni-cations Authority for the removal of his twoprograms from IBN Channel 8.Then their was a statement by the Com-missioner of Police who should be busyfighting crime suggesting that the long armof the law would reach anyone who enticesor intimidates business people from open-ing for business.Although Mr Inshan applied for, and wasgranted permission to hold an assembly inthe Aranguez Savannah, this permissionwas withdrawn. The matter was taken tocourt and the permission was regained. Butthe Commissioner of Police did not givepermission to use a public address system.Finally Mr. Ishmael was arrested. Mr Ish-mael was supposed to be detained under theAnti Terrorism Act. He was forced to stripand was charged with distributing a flyerwithout his name and address.The shutdown was boycotted by the UNC.the Syrians, French-Creoles and blacks. Butfor two days Indians closed ranks, and sincethey are the only ones who work I bet muchdidn't happen in Trinidad on those twodays.Is Kick For Them

A GASPARILLO businessman, Shiva Sie-unarinesingh, skilled in martial arts, es-caped a gang of potential kidnappers onMonday in front of his mother’s business.Shiva was securing the business at around3.50 pm, when a man came up to him. Theman allegedly whipped out a gun andshouted: “Bank man, you going with me.”Police said the gunman attempted to dragoff Sieunarinesingh who kicked the gun-man. The gun fell to the ground some dis-tance away. What the Police did not say wasthat Shiva broke the gunman's arm with thatone kick. Officers did not apprehend any ofthe men, but we didn't really expect themto, did we? Police are also not on the look-out for a black man with a broken arm, whohas to get medical attention at some time.If you can't shoot bandits... shoot Babies

Trinidad police are probing the circum-stances under which two babies were shotwhile playing outside their home in Care-nage as detectives of the Western Divisionchased two suspects who were being soughtin connection with the killing of Clint

Latchman.The incident triggered a bitter controversyas relatives of the injured sisters Kaylan,two, and Kyla, one, claimed the childrenwere shot by the police.But investigators dismissed that claim,

saying they did not open fire although thesuspects had shot at themSo what did they do? Hide behind the ba-bies?...and Beat up students

POLICE denied allegations of brutalityafter 70 University of the West Indies(UWI) students claimed they were beatenon Friday 9th February by officers at thetraditional Chutney fete on the St Augustinecampus.At a press conference at the campus, how-ever, students maintained their accusationand said they were going to take legal ac-tion against the police."The matter will be pursued at a nationallevel. Our students paid for police presenceat the fete, not to brutalise students,” saidShazard Mohammad, chairman of the Na-tional Affairs Committee at UWI.There was no reason for that. Some of thestudents asked what was going on and theywere brutalised,” he said.Mohammed said the students sought med-ical attention at various hospitals but no onewas seriously injured.He said out of the 3,000 students at thefete, 70 of them sought medical treatmentafter being beaten by the police.Mohammad and other students claimed

the police were allegedly drunk at the fete,and campus security gave the officers per-mission to attack the students.Police officers said the fete was due to stopat 2 am, when the bar licence expired.It was then the students then became vio-lent, they said.Investigators said they were approachedby the promoters (students planning com-mittee members) who said Crazy and otherentertainers did not perform. The officersthen permitted the fete to continue until 3am.The officers said after 3 am, when the feteended, the students were allegedly drunkand they got annoyed and took the tassadrums and flags outside on the road. Thestudents began to threaten and throw bot-tles at the officers and their vehicles, andone student had a cutlass, police said. Po-lice said they did not use a gun to dispersethe students.At approximately 3.15 am, requests for thestudents to disperse and stop the tassadrumming were made by the State police.Following the request, some studentsclaimed they were assaulted by police in thecar park.Calypso tents feel Indian Backlash"I note with some sadness," V M Cristofrom Arouca writes, "that calypso tents are"seeing trouble''. Some have gone cap inhand (a time honoured national pastime) tothe Government for funds to keep this onceproud national institution running. Maybeit's time calypsonians do some introspectionand ponder on the cause or causes behindthis situation...since Cro Cro sang , "Allyuh look for

that'', I have stopped going to calypso tentsand I have advised all my friends and fam-ily to do same. That was 1996. Since then Ihave also heard Cro Cro sing a song that en-dorsed and promoted kidnapping as a formof economic development. Calypso is nowa weapon to batter the Indian communityevery February."

Don’t stop the Carnival! 194 kidnaps last year not a problem!

GUYANA NEWS Indo-Caribbean Times M arch 2007 Page 7

Buddy’s International Hotel in Georgetown is the grandest of a new group of hotelsbeing built to accomodate the Cricket World Cup and other events in Guyana.

GUYANA UPDATEProgess in the villages,black kidnap criminalson the defensiveOn a recent trip to Guyana I realized that therewas an undercurrent in the country that was notreflected in the media.I hadn’t visited in 5 years and there were someimmediate visible changes. For example: theroads. I was really impressed with progress on theroads around the entire country, not to mentionGeorgetown. In and out of Georgetown there are4 lane highways that are well lit. I am wondering,“is this Guyana or Toronto?” Housing is anotherarea that struck me. The government has in the lastfew years given out affordable house lots to theordinary people to build. And it is visible thatthere are significant improvements in this area. With respect to “black outs”: I did not experiencea single one in the 10 days that I was there. Blackouts used to be the norm in Guyana.I noticed that when I entered a home there was aphone there, even in the villages. This was a sur-prise also. Even water availability was noticeablyimproved.Driving around Georgetown I observed dozensof hotels under construction. I learnt that thesewere being built for the 2007 Cricket World Cup.I also learnt that the hoteliers are given a 10 yeartax holiday as incentive to build these hotels. Butwho are the owners of these hotels? Well, inter-estingly, it appears that the owners are mainly thedrug boys. You see, Guyana has emerged as a keydrug centre. Because of the strict anti launderinglaws in North America, the drug money is stuckin Guyana. So the money is now appearing as ho-tels. One of the big debates in Guyana was thecasino issue. It appears that this is another formthe money can be laundered. Noticeably absent were the high profile crimeslike kidnapping and businessmen murders. Theseare invariably against Indians. After askingaround I found out that the businessmen/drug boystook the situation in their own hands: they wenton their own campaign to clean out the elementsin Buxton who were responsible for these crimes,including Wadell the racist, who called himself theAfrican freedom fighter who publicly expressedhis anti Indian hatred.There was an uneasy calm in Guyana. It was thefirst time I was there and I was not having “loosebowels” when I passed Buxton. What I heard wasthat the criminals in Buxton were at a loss as todeal with the vengeance from the drug boys. Co-incidentally, the drug boys are mostly Indians andthe kidnappers blacks. This has put a pause onthe race crimes in Guyana. What this is saying isthat if the anti Indian crimes are answered withquick and vicious response that they will stop.This has happened in Guyana just by coincidencebecause it affected the drugs boys who happenedto be Indians. Because of the calm and non- ob-struction for the PNC racist elements, the govern-ment is able to move ahead with theirdevelopment program at a normal pace. This isbenefiting Guyana …..for now. Who knows howlong this calm will last? It will last as long as theIndians will not tolerate the nonsense from theracist destructive elements from the black popu-lace. In this instance we are lucky that the blacks

struck the raw nerve of the drug boys who hap-pened to be Indians and are bold enough to fightback. Let’s keep this up and live out the dreamsof out forefathers to inherit a great land across“kala pani”. Our responsibility is not to run toCanada but to stick it out and fight for what isrightfully ours: a free Guyana where we can pros-per and enjoy!

Ganpat SinghHurting Guyanese longing to return home.

GOVT. HELP FOR 103 YR.OLD JAHAJI KOWSILLA

The Ministry of Human Services says itwill be providing assistance to 103-year-oldGaitree Kowsilla. According to a Government InformationAgency (GINA) press release on Thursdayhuman services minister Priya Manickc-hand visited the woman at President Bhar-rat Jagdeo's request after her daughter andcaretaker Sookia Ramdass penned a re-quest. Kowsilla, of 272 Good Hope HousingScheme, East Coast Demerara, came toGuyana on October 10, 1912 as an inden-tured labourer. She is now bedridden andRamdass, her youngest daughter cares forher. Ramdass said her mother is very jovialand that she likes to talk about her experi-ence working on the sugar plantations dur-ing indentureship. Manickchand said government would pro-vide public assistance and other support forRamdass as she is unable to work. FormerMinister of Human Services Bibi Shadickhad given a wheelchair to the family earlylast year.

RECOVERING FROM EASTCOAST DEMERARA FLOODS

Two years after the East Coast Demerara,Georgetown and other parts of coastalGuyana were devastated by flooding, resi-dents are still recovering and rebuildingtheir livelihoods. Raging floodwaterssurged over the East Coast Demerara in2005, destroying crops and forcing peopleout of their homes. Down the East Coast Demerara at Lot 1,Good Hope Bibi Shameena and her familywere cooking their dinner, while at thesame time carrying out other chores likefeeding the ducks and making peppersauce. In 2005 the Stabroek News had found BibiShameena and her brother feeding theducks from their veranda because the flood-water was about four feet high in the yardand the kitchen on the ground floor wascompletely flooded out. Their meat and lay-ing birds had all died and their once thriv-ing garden was completely covered. Theylost two calves, a cow and some goats dur-ing the floods and one cow died shortlyafter the water receded. Bibi Shameena said she cried for her cowsbecause they were like her children. All shehad to do was yell "Yo! Yo!" and theywould come for their feed, she said. Sheburied one of the cows near by the homewhen the water had receded and the other

by the seawall. She no longer has any cowsor goats. Since the floods Bibi Shameena said shehas not reared any fowls and the ducks herbrother was feeding in a pond under an ar-bour was the first set of "English ducks" shehad reared since the 2005 floods. They havereplanted some of the crops on the land sur-rounding their home but the land adjacentto the home has not been planted since thefloods. She said they would have to buildup the land because it had sunk. At first, when they had started replanting,she said, the callaloo was spotted and theboulanger leaf, rusty. The boulanger washardly ever bought by anyone even thoughthey were edible. "We are coping alright,"she and other family members agreed. Theynow have thriving plots of squash, ochroes,boulanger, pepper, broad leaf thyme andcarilla. She said they had some assistance fromformer minister of Human Services and So-cial Security Bibi Shadick who had visitedthe area. Bibi Shameena also received the$10,000 that government had provided. Bibi Shameena is just one of about

200,000 or more people who were affectedby the floods that lasted for periods rangingfrom two weeks to six weeks in some areas.While there was no major outbreak of dis-eases a number of people contracted lep-tospirosis which proved to be fatal in somecases and a number of persons had alsodrowned.

NO MORE US IMMIGRANTVISA PETITIONS FROMGEORGETOWN

THE United States Embassy has an-nounced that due to provisions in the re-cently passed Adam Walsh Child Protectionand Safety Act, U.S. embassies overseascan no longer accept family-based immi-grant visa petitions (I-130s).Although this change will inconveniencesome families, the U.S. Embassy mustcomply with the law. Consular officers willwork with affected petitioners and benefi-ciaries to ensure they have the informationthey need on the steps they need to take tocomplete processing of their cases ,“ theembassy said in a press release.It explained that as a result of the AdamWalsh Act, all family-based immigrant visapetitions (I-130s) must be screened to en-sure the petitioner has not been convictedof specific criminal offences against aminor. Consular officers at embassies and con-sulates overseas are not law enforcementofficers and do not have access to this in-formation. Thus, all I- 130 petitions for

family-based immigrant status mustnow be filed only with United StatesCitizenship and Immigration Service(USCIS) inthe United States. All family-basedimmigrant visa petitions which wereapproved at the U.S. Embassy inGeorgetown after July 27, 2006 andare pending visa issuance must alsobe returned to the USCIS for contin-ued processing in the United States”,the embassy said. American citizens and legal perma-nent residents, it said, can obtaininformation on how to file an I-130with USCIS in the United States onthe USCIS website, www.uscis.gov,or by contacting the U.S. Embassy inGeorgetown.The embassy said it deeply regretsthe inconvenience this change causesboth petitioners and beneficiaries butadded that the law is clear.“Please contact the visa inquiries

unit (email visageorge@state.gov orcall 225-7965 between 8 am- 12 pmand 1 pm- 4 pm Monday through Fri-day) if you have questions about thenew regulations”, it said.

MAHAICONY HOSPITAL TO OPEN BY MARCH

The new Mahaicony Hospital com-plex is expected to be finished by theend of February, turning it into amuch needed regional hospital.The original Mahaicony CottageHospital which was under utilised isbeing transformed it into a state-of-the-art Comprehensive Diagnosticand Treatment Centre.A team from the Ministry of Healthled by Minister within the Ministryof Health, Dr. Bheri S. Ramsaran,visited the hospital recently and Chief Planning Officer (CPO) of theMinistry of Finance Clyde Roopc-hand, was very direct, demandingand aggressive in ensuring that thegovernment gets value for dollar.There are three other such centresbeing constructed at Diamond, EastBank Demerara; Leonora, WestCoast Demerara; and Suddie, Esse-quibo Coast . They should all becompleted this year. The four state-of-the-art health centres are beingconstructed as a result of a joint ini-tiative between the Guyana Govern-ment and Cuba .High quality health services will berendered from these centres that willbe staffed by Cuban specialists withsupport of qualified local medicalpersonnel. They would accommo-date modern equipment. The Ma-haicony Regional Hospital will beunder Cuban administration. Theteam is due in Guyana soon and liv-ing quarters have been renovated tocater for 28 Cuban doctors.Health Minister, Dr. Leslie Ram-

sammy, has identified the NationalPsychiatric Hospital at New Amster-day , Berbice, as a priority facility forreconstruction. “The Government ofGuyana is engaged in mobilisingfunds for the reconstruction of thehospital,” Ramsammy stated, ex-plaining that for many years, the hos-pital was neglected and had becomea national disgrace by 1990.The hospital currently facilitates

155 persons, of whom, 100 havebeen determined as persons whocould live at home. It is consideredto be seriously understaffed..

GUYANA NEWS Indo-Caribbean Times Page 8Guyana looks at threatof global warmingAS the effects of global warming becomeincreasingly evident, Government has madea commitment to continue working with re-sponsive Governments and internationalbodies and agencies in a spirit of advocacy.Cabinet Secretary Dr. Roger Luncheon saidat press briefing that since Guyana is belowsea level and could suffer from severeweather conditions and loss of freshwaterstores every effort will be made by the ad-ministration to join forces with like-mindedGovernments and those committed to en-suring that the effects of global warming isreversed.Cabine reviewed a report dealing with cli-mate change, it was revealed that globalwarming persists mainly as a result ofhuman activities.The use of fossil fuel andthe changes in land use were the main con-tributory factors to this situation.But local efforts are being made, accord-ing to the Cabinet Secretary, to address thissituation through the Natural ResourcesSector and the Hydromet Department.They are to work on the adaptation of

measures to deal with the impact of climatechanges. It is believed limate change willsignificant impact on Guyana, especiallysince rising sea levels coupled with an in-crease in destructive storms will threatenthe existence of small island-states and lowlying coastal communities.Over 90 percent of Guyana 's populationand a vast majority of its agricultural andeconomic activities are located on thecoastal plain which is below current sealevel.

Alarm as youth commit more suicide: Indians top with 68%AN increase in suicide in Santa Rosa,

Moruca in the last two months hasprompted the relevant authorities to exploreways of curbing this disturbing new trend.Three adults have taken their lives betweenlast December to present, and another 10persons have attempted to do the same. With the exception of one, the persons

who took their lives as well as those that at-tempted, were all men. What was surpris-ing is that all of the men were young,between the ages of 21-30, gainfully em-ployed and respectable members of thecommunity. Suicide has become a major public healthchallenge in Guyana and is among the 10leading causes of death, locally.Worldwide, one million people die as a re-sult of suicide each year and it ranked as the3rd leading cause of death among juvenileand young adults. Globally, death due tosuicide has increased by 60% in the last 4-5 years. The highest incidence has shiftedfrom the elderly towards younger personsof productive age.Autopsies- 950 in total- conducted at theGeorgetown Public Hospital Corporation in1999 revealed that suicide was responsiblefor 10% of the deaths. Surveys have re-vealed that suicide is responsible for 20%of all deaths of persons between 15-24 yrs.67% of the persons who commit suicidein Guyana each year are males, while 32%of them are persons between the ages of 15-24 years. Persons of East Indian descentrank highest among suicide victims with68%.Suicide by poison is ranked highest inGuyana with 59%.

Kidnaps gone but notall crimes vs Indians Some recent incidents in Guyana show

that crimes against Indians continue to be aproblem. These are just a few examples.

$20 MILLION ROBBERYLinman Sookdeo, a 54-year-old cambiodealer, was robbed at gunpoint outside hishome at Lot 93 Collingsworth Avenue,Nandy Park . Three men with handgunsstole $20M in foreign and local currencyfrom a bag in his car.

Berbice robbery victims Raywattie, Lak-eram Baburam and Reshma Ramoutar

GUNMEN WITH AK-47sSIX masked gunmen stormed a home at

Number Two Village, West Coast Berbiceand carted off nearly $300,000 worth ofgold jewellery, $15,000, sneakers valued at$7,000 and a landline telephone. Lakeram Baburam, 32, said it was around11.05 pm a few nights ago while he waspreparing to accompany an overseas-baseduncle to the airport that he was confrontedby the men. Two of the men carried long guns whichhe thought were AK-47s, while anotherbandit was armed with a cutlass. Baburamrecalled that he was sitting on a chair in thelower flat of the building eating. He had leftthe top half of the door open and the banditsseized the opportunity to enter the house.

ARMED MASKED BANDITSA Non Pareil businessman and his familywere beaten and terrorised when threearmed, masked bandits invaded their homeat Lot 78 First Street Non Pareil and es-caped with an undisclosed sum of cash andother valuables. Ramotar Ramsaroop, 49,his reputed wife Nazmoon Allie, 46, andtheir daughter Indira, 17, were beaten intheir heads with a gun and as a result sus-tained lacerations.

GOLDSMITH SHOTBandits shot a Non Pareil goldsmith in arobbery attempt. Kemraj, called ‘Suga', wastaken to the Intensive Care Unit of theGeorgetown Public Hospital in an uncon-scious state.

MAN AND DOG SHOTFarouk Azeez, 28, of Lot 55 Stanleytownand his dog are recuperating after beingshot by two bandits during a robbery at aNew Amsterdam grocery.The men, who posed as customers, enteredthe shop and grabbed Farouk when he wentto sell them kerosene.When his mother screamed and distractedthe bandits Farouk tried to flee but one ofthe robbers followed him and shot him onthe leg. The dog was shot when the banditsescaped through the back door to avoid an

angry crowd coming down the street.

‘Dead' woman delivers baby in tomb IN a truly bizarre incident, a 38 year oldNorth West District woman who was buriedwhile she was eight months' pregnant wasfound to have delivered her baby in thegrave.The child and his mother, Florence CarolJohn, were both found dead in the coffin,when the body was exhumed for a postmortem examination.Florence John,of Kariabo River, was pro-nounced dead, on January 26, at theMabaruma Hospital, hours before she wasscheduled to be air-dashed to the city fol-lowing complications with her pregnancy.She had fallen at the family farm and in-jured herself. Before she could be airlifted to the the city,she collapsed and was pronounced dead byan attending nurse. John was buried on Sunday, January 28,at Wauna, some five miles fromMabaruma.Three days later, Police informed thewoman's husband, and her father that theyshould make themselves available at theplace of burial for an exhumation of thebody.When the coffin containing John's remainswas opened, all present were horrified todiscover a newborn baby boy. The familyis convinced that the woman was prema-turely buried and that she was not reallydead when the nurse pronounced on hercondition.“As far as I am concerned, a dead womancannot deliver a baby. She neck, nothing,wasn't stiff when dey bury she,” John's sis-ter Genevieve Joseph reasoned.Relatives are not satisfied that John re-

ceived the best treatment, and are planningto go directly to President Jagdeo if noth-ing is done. They feel the hospital was neg-ligent in releasing the body for burialwithout conducting the post mortem that isa normal practice for deaths in hospitals. A medical doctor said that it would be im-possible for a woman to deliver a baby afterdeath. After death, the contractions to stim-ulate delivery would be nonexistent, he ex-plained.Health Minister Dr. Leslie Ramsammy

said the incident sounded strange and con-firmed he that he would launch an investi-gation.

BUSINESS DROPS DUE TO 16% VAT Some Georgetown businesses have com-plained of a drop in business sales becauseof the Value Added Tax (VAT) which hastacked on 16% to prices in the majority ofcases. Cousumers who listened to the Guyana

Revenue Authority's (GRA) media cam-paign expected VAT to bring decreasedprices. Instead many items that were nottaxed before showed higher price tags."A lot of customers complaining," said su-pervisor Natasha Arjun of Singh's Elec-tronic World and Variety Store at 136Regent Street. "Business is very, very slow," she said,

putting sales at a 90% decline in compari-son to last January. The normal slowdown in January has beenworsened by VAT, and there’s no evidenceyet of the normal February recovery. It appears that many customers and busi-ness people are confused by the VAT sys-tem or have unrealistic expectations of howit should affect prices.They have closedtheir wallets until the situation is clearer.

No plan to close sugarestates says MinisterSPECULATION about the dissolution ofthe Demerara sugar estates has been cate-gorically dispelled by Agriculture Minister,Robert Persaud, when he met with sugarworkers at the Uitvlugt Estate, West CoastDemerara.According to the Minister, there has beenincessant murmuring about Government'sintention to close down the estates, but henoted that this can only be regarded as“empty rumours”.Persaud stressed that Government, againstall recommendations from the World Bankand other relevant groups, made a decisionnot to close down any estate, despite nu-merous challenges.The Minister noted that Government's ob-jective is to make the estates more viable bytransforming them into profit units.This, according to Persaud, will see effortsbeing made to increase sugar production tosome 450,000 tonnes annually while bring-ing down its cost to US$11 per pound. Andin order to see the industry thrive, the Min-ister revealed that Government has investedbillions of dollars in Guysuco to ensure thatplans and proposed works critical to theeconomy and workers can be activated.As efforts are heightened to guarantee thesugar industry's survival, Minister Persaudasserted that there is the ever-increasingneed to look towards diversification.He outlined the ability to produce biogasand ethanol as sources of energy, as well asthe establishment of a refinery to producewhite sugar, as some of the ways the sectorcan be expanded profitably.He noted, however, that Government's

plans to establish a distillery, also using theby-products of cane, were met with oppos-ing court action from a local entity.Minister Persaud gave assurances that

Government will not deny the sugar indus-try a chance at survival, and is committedto doing everything possible to see that itremains profitable.Though Government has already injectedsubstantial funds into the sugar industry,Persaud emphasised that it has also abol-ished the sugar levy from Guysuco, whichhas served to improve the well-being ofworkers.This, he explained, now allows some 52per cent of Guysuco's total earnings to bechannelled back into sugar workers' wages.The Minister admitted that though Gov-ernment only has the best intentions for thesugar industry, there are some delicate is-sues which must be addressed in order toachieve the desired results. These he notedwould be tackled at the managerial level.

HINDU SCHOOL GRADS EXCELTWENTY eight graduands of the SaraswatiVidya Niketan School on the West CoastDemerara, who excelled at the recentCaribbean Secondary Examinations Coun-cil (CSEC) exams, were yesterday encour-aged by President Bharrat Jagdeo to makelearning a lifelong pursuit.At the graduation ceremony, Mr. Jagdeosaid, “I hope that you heed the lessons thatwere taught here to make learning a lifelongpursuit.”. He said, “You’re going to have toughchoices to make in your lives; this is just thebeginning of a journey.” Kamini Singh, Best Graduating Student,who achieved eight grade ones at the CSECexams, was presented with the President’sAward of Excellence by Mr. Jagdeo.

EDUCATION Indo-Caribbean Times M arch 2007 Page 9Help your child be successful in high school …and be proud.By Joe Singh

NEW statistics from the Ministry of Ed-ucation show that over 30 percent of ourstudent population in Ontario are droppingout of school before graduation. Many ofthem are of West Indian backgrounds andare our children. What can you do as a WestIndian Parent to excite your child/childrenabout school and to take advantage of theopportunities available to them at school?There are no statistics to go on for West

Indian students of Indian backgroundclearly showing the drop out rates. Theschool boards do not collect this data and ifthey did it is not an easy thing to get (Pri-vacy Act). What I can tell you is that many of the

Indo Caribbean students I know and dealwith are having problems in schools. Andif you talk to some of our communitylawyers they would also tell you our chil-dren are in the courts everyday for one rea-son or the other. Why is this happening?

TOO FEW MINORITY STAFF

First of all there are too few Administra-tive Staff (Principal, Vice-Principals, Guid-ance Councellors) of visible minoritybackground that they can identify with andconsequently form a bond like a role modelor a mentor. If there are some administra-tive staff they are too few and far betweento make a difference. As a result, parentsmust advocate for the hiring of more visibleminority leaders in the school system. Talkto your MP and your MPP and schoolBoard Trustees.Tell them that our schoolneeds teaching staff and administrative staffof your child's heritage so that the childrencan bond with and act as a role model forthem. If you were to look at the student popu-

lations in your child's school you would geta good idea of the diversity of the school.When you look at the staff of the school doyou see the same diversity? If you do, you are a very lucky person so

give yourself a pat on the back. If you donot, well you have some homework to do.Do not get me wrong, I am not saying thatvisible minority teachers are better thanother teachers, but what I am saying is thatone has to educate the whole child and seekout all the opportunities for learning in theschool. One of the many options available is to

have a few visible minority teachers and ad-ministrators at your child's school so that

they too can feel valued. They will see ed-ucation as being important and that they toocan aspire to be educated and be teachers.You may say well it is not the adminis-

tration's fault that our children are not grad-uating from high school. Our children haveit better that us. We went to school bare-footed, and got hand me down books andschool uniforms. And look, we did not turnout too bad. I am a mechanic, and my wifeis a caregiver for elderly people and weboth make good money. But how aboutthem? What are they going to do? Nomatter how much money the governmentputs into education they still will not begraduating with a diploma. They choose todrop out of school, instead. Is it the friendsthey are hanging out with? Is it the badcompany they are keeping?

DID WE FAIL THEM?

Why do they drop out? Did we do some-thing wrong, as parents? Where did we failthem? We gave them everything themwanted. We provided for them a roof overtheir heads. We dropped them off at schoolevery day, even got to work late because ofthem. They were doing good until grade 7or grade 8, then they entered high schooland something happened. What happened?Well, your guess is as good as mine.This is why the Ontario Ministry of Ed-

ucation is piloting this 6 WAYS TO HELPyour child graduate from HIGH SCHOOLprogram. Every student is an individual.Each has unique interests, goals, andstrengths. And each should be given thesame opportunity to succeed in high school.

HELPING THEM GRADUATE

One such way is to find out as much aspossible about the new Government of On-tario program: 6 WAYS TO HELP yourchild graduate from HIGH SCHOOL.These six innovative new programs are atthe heart of our Student Success initiative.They give Ontario high school studentsmore ways to accumulate credits to gradu-ate, while improving the quality of a highschool education in this province.Students can customize their high school

experience around learning that’s relevantto them. And that can make all the differ-ence to their individual success.

Here are some of the highlights of the ini-tiative:

SIX WAYS TO HELP STUDENTS GRADUATE

Student Success Teams Every high school student now has accessto a dedicated team that provides extra at-tention and support when needed. The teamis made up of a principal, a Student SuccessTeacher and a guidance counselor. Thisteam helps identify and support studentswho need extra help, provides options forlearning and monitors the student progress.

Expanded Co-op Credit Students can now earn two compulsory

high school credits towards their core 18through hands-on work experience. Theycan earn credits for their diploma whilethey are learning life long skills at busi-nesses in the community. Many times theemployers may keep the student on as a parttime employee or have them back as a sum-mer employee.

Specialist High Skills Major This new program lets students “bundle”

courses to prepare for specific academic orskilled careers. The students can then focuson a career path that matches individualskills and interests. Majors include con-struction, hospitality and tourism, manu-facturing, primary industries and arts andculture

Dual Credit Program Students can earn credits and put them

towards both their high school diploma andtheir postsecondary diploma, degree, or ap-prenticeship certification.

Lighthouse Projects Innovative local programs help students

stay in school by providing guidance, sup-port, and alternative learning environments.They also encourage youth to return toschool and graduate with a diploma. Eng-lish as a Second Language training, collegeconnections, special needs programs, andmore.

Grade 8–9 Transition This high school transition plan was

launched in June 2006 to help over 20,000struggling Grade 8 and 9 students. Thesestudents have difficulty transitioning fromelementary school to high school will getthe help they need. The Ministry have putin place more teachers, intensive profes-sional development, and improved trackingof students to help make the transition eas-ier for them. To learn more about these programs, visit

the website: www.ontario.ca/6ways

HOW INDIAN ARRIVALAND SOUTH ASIAN HERITAGE MONTH BEGAN IN CANADAIndo-Caribbeans first came to Canada as

far back as 1908, but the first celebrationsof our presence did not start until the eight-ies as Indo-Caribbean Heritage Day. The earliest celebrations of the Indian

presence in Canada started with the Torontogroup called OSSICC (Ontario Society forServices to Indo-Caribbean Canadians) in1988, when they marked the 150th an-niversary of the coming of Indians to thenew world (on May 5, 1838 in Guyana)with a series of events. For many years laterOSSICC carried on an annual event calledIndo Caribbean Heritage Day. This cele-bration was limited to the Indo Caribbeancommunity. In April 1997 the Indo Trinidad CanadianAssociation was formed and immediatelystarted Indian Arrival Day celebrations thatyear. In that year too , community activistAsha Maharaj organized a display of Indianartifacts, the Trinidad and Tobago Associa-tion of Ottawa held its first celebration, andan Indian radio host organized a small In-dian Arrival celebration. By 1998 ITCA had decided to celebratethe event as Indian Arrival and HeritageDay, and held a huge show/display/dance atthe Etobicoke Olympium. It was never anIndo-Caribbean for ITCA but always In-dian, meaning all people with roots in theIndian subcontinent. By 1999 ITCA had moved to celebrate themonth of May as IndianArrival and Her-itage Month. At this stage only ITCA, OS-SICC and the Trinidad and TobaogAssociation of Ottawa were organizingevents but the number would expandgreatly in later years. From the year 2000 a Council for IndianArrival and Heritage Month was set up,composed of people from ITCA, OSSICC,the Guyanese group GEAC, the Hamiltongroup CICA and several individuals. Thecatch line from the letterhead for the Coun-cil in 2000 was "Commemorating the162nd anniversary of the arrival in theAmericas of the people and heritage of theIndian subcontinent". The groups was marking the arrival of In-dians in the West as 1838 when the firstlanded in Guyana, and 1897 as the year thefirst Indians (Punjabi Sikhs actually) ar-rived in Canada.By that time the number ofevents for Indian Arrival and HeritageMonth had gone up to 11, and the councilhad support from the over 20 groups. It must be said that since 1997 ITCA andlater the Councilfor Indian Arrival and Her-itage Month had decided not to make thisan Indo Caribbean event. There were prob-lems attracting support from non-CaribbeanIndians.So when the Council held their 2001launch in Toronto and the onlySouth Asianmember of parliament Raminder Gill saidhe would introduce a bill in parliament tolegitimise the event, they were happy.When he told us that the legislature wouldnot accept Indian Arrival and HeritageMonth because it would cause confusionwith the Indian Act and other laws relatingto native Indians, the Council had no greatproblems with South Asian HeritageMonth.There was never any intention of making itthe Indo Caribbean Heritage Month festi-val. Some people from the group were un-happy about the South Asian tag and at leastone left the group, but the majority weresupportive.

The Council told the Indo Caribbeangroups that they could continue to celebrateIndian Arrival Day, as part of South AsianHeritage Month, and some like the SatyaJyoti Cultural Sabha still do so.Once it became South Asian Heritage

Month, the other groups have picked up theevent big time. It's gone like a rocket, andnow there are events in parliament, in uni-versities, in business places, in schools,events organized by the Sri Lankans, Pak-istanis, Indians, and all over.There could be as much as 100 SouthAsian Heritage Month events in Ontarioalone.It's true that some of the non Indo

Caribbeans don't acknowledge the IndoCaribbean contribution, and some of themdon't know about it.

But the Council didn’t want that, becauseshoving ownership of the event in theirfaces is the surest way to kill their interest.For the Council for Indian Arrival and

Heritage Month, later renamed Council forSouth Asian Canadians, it's enough thatSouth Asians celebrate their month inCanada. They think it's foolish andself defeating to tie them down to the "In-dian" tag, which they see as nationality andnot ethnicity. They are content to call themselves Indo-Caribbeans, one segment of the SouthAsian community in Canada.Changing the name has enhanced the

event tremendously, and the Council hashave hopes that in time South Asian Her-itage Month will become an accepted eventfor the 33 million Canadians and not just

the 12 million in Ontario at present.The renaming has not destroyed any IndoCaribbean celebrations. Some organizationshave gone dormant, and one or two havejust stopped doing Indian Arrival events forinternal organizational reasons.Caribbean based groups still doing eventsinclude Satya Jyoti Cultural Sabha,Trinidad and Tobago 50 Plus and SeniorsAssociation, West Indians United Televi-sion, Canadian Indo Caribbean Association,Guyanese Association of Manitoba,Trinidad and Tobago Association ofOttawa, Toronto Arya Samaj (at the VedicCultural Centre) and a few others. Somegroups in the United States and Britain havestarted holding Indian Arrival Day celebra-tions, but not South Asian Heritage Monthevents.

PICTURE GALLERY Indo-Caribbean Times M arch 2007 Page 10Colour photographs of Caribbean Indians in the indureship period (1838-1917)

Indian girl, Martinique East Indian hut Harvesting cane, Trinidad

Group of Indians, Trinidad Indian sadhu, Trinidad Suriname Paramaribo girl Suriname Indian couple

St Lucia native hut Guyana punts with cane Jamaica Indians at worship Carting cane in Trinidad

ACHIEVERS Indo-Caribbean Times M arch 2007 Page 11

WITH an indomitable spirit and the heartof a lion, Ria Ramnarine has been able toachieve success against all odds. Born on12 October 1978 in a very humble home,Ria was the last of four children to Naradand Dulcie. Nowadays Ria looks back on achildhood that was very difficult but oneshe isn’t ashamed of. “Things were reallyhard and my family had to work together tomake a living” says Ria . The long daystoiling in the garden or selling fruits andvegetables by the roadside built her re-silience. The hours trekking through themosquito-infested mangroves in search ofoysters made her strong, mentally andstudying under the flickering flames of akerosene lamp or a flambeau made her de-termined. Determined to excel in school,get a good job and be successful, successfulenough to give back something to her par-ents.In 1995, Ria graduated from Holy FaithConvent with eight passes in the field ofscience, which included three distinctions.Enrolling in a private school, in 1998 shecopped two more distinctions in Businessand in 2000 earned her Process Plant Oper-ations diploma from the John DonaldsonTechnical Institute and was immediately re-cruited as an “On The Job Trainee” by Na-tional Flour Mills Ltd. She worked her wayup to Plant Operator 1 after two and a halfyears. But during that time, Ria had her sights seton other goals too. August 1995 she joinedFine Line Fight Club, paying her first feeswith one dollar bills and coins. To avoid herfather’s fury, she didn’t tell her parentsabout the gym. Weight-lifting was her mainobjective but she soon started aerobics andkarate as well. With classes going later andlater, Ria was forced to tell her parents andas expected she met with a wall of disap-proval. “Mom almost freaked out and Dadranted and raved” she recalls. Of course sherefused to stop, disregarding the continuousarguments and threats from her father. By that time she’d graded for her yellowbelt and was successfully competing inkarate tournaments. But now her heart wasset on something else, she wanted to kick-box. The full contact scenario of kickbox-ing beckoned strongly but it took two yearsbefore her father agreed with some persua-sion from Sensei Bharrath Ramoutar, ownerand instructor of the gym. Today, Mr. Ra-moutar continues to be Ria’s coach, man-ager and promoter. Being the only female in the class wasn’ta problem. “Actually I think that worked forme because I had to train as hard as theguys, or even harder to be able to keep upwith them. Soon enough I was neck to neckwith them and even left a few behind in thephysical workouts, that way I learned totrain hard and smart from the beginning”. Ramnarine made her kickboxing debut in1998 and did not lose heart when the fightwhich most thought she’d won, was ruledas a draw. Instead she trained harder and inher next outing to the ring, knocked out heropponent. Some months later with just twofights under her belt, she journeyed to Cal-gary, Canada and weighed in thirteenpounds less than the World Champion,Vanessa Bellegarde. Standing toe to toewith the champ, Ria lost the fight, but wonthe admiration and more importantly the re-spect of the pro-Vanessa crowd. Less than two weeks later, Coach Ra-

moutar signed Ria on for her pro boxingdebut, which she won by third round knockout. She went straight to the professionalranks without the benefit of any amateur

in to the spotlight and “Ria Ramnarine” wasstarting to become a household name. Shealso broke into the top ten rankings in theworld in both boxing and kick-boxing. Despite their intentions not to accept mis-matches, Ria and her coach journeyed oncemore to Calgary. This time in November2003 to match fist and feet with WorldMuay Thai Champion, Erin Linley. “Atleast, we were the same weight,” Riaquipped. Fighting Muay Thai for the firsttime was not an easy task against a worldchamp and although Linley won the bout,Ria again won the hearts of the people forher courageous performance.In 2004, Ria changed jobs again. Althoughshe had no accounting experience she wasoffered a job as an Accounts Clerk and al-ways one to explore new territory, she ac-cepted the offer. Within a few days shedemonstrated her capability and was an im-mediate success in the company. After an-other cancelled bout because of a lack ofsponsorship, Ria and her manager desper-ately sent out more packages in hope of

finding a sponsor. Ma Pau Members Club,a private gaming establishment, came to therescue and exclusively sponsored Ramnar-ine’s next bout against the gritty Japanese-American Deidre Hamaguchi. The Women’s International Boxing Asso-ciation (WIBA) Mini-Flyweight Iberian-American title was at stake and accordingto reports the two women fought likeRoman Gladiators, throwing everythingthey had at each other. In the end, theTrinidadian’s clean combinations and soliddefense won her a unanimous decision andthe title. Later on that year, when her origi-nal Puerto Rican opponent had problemswith her boxing license, Ria stepped intothe ring with an opponent who was thirtypounds heavier and emerged victorious.Holding the number three spot in the

WIBA rankings, Ria was eligible to contestfor a world title. Ironically the opponentmandated by the WIBA was none otherthan southpaw American Yvonne Caples, aformer world champion who had a solidamateur background and seventeen profights, six of which were world title bouts.Ria had never encountered a southpaw norhad she ever gone ten rounds in any of herten fights. Hardly one to be fazed, Ramnar-ine handled the tough training regimemeted out to her. “I am thankful for the waySensei (Ramoutar) trained me, both men-tally and physically. Although my othercoach, Mr. Vidale was no longer at FineLine, Sensei assured I was totally preparedand with all the long, hard hours I trained Ifelt quietly confident. “ On May 28th 2005, Mr. Ramoutar pro-

moted the first ever female world title boutin Trinidad and Tobago and Ria became thequeen of the mini-flyweights when she out-pointed the slick and crafty Caples to winthe WIBA Mni-Flyweight World Title.Being first female Trinidadian to win aworld boxing title, Ria reveled in the mo-ment. But her joy was tainted with the on-slaught of uninformed criticism.

experience “Since then there’s been nolooking back. I’m glad that I have a goodcoach who allows me to explore my optionsin the different fields of Martial Arts”, men-tions Ramnarine.

But there have been moments and dayswhen it would have been easy to give up.Having to train, study and work was drain-ing her energy. Ria admits, “I would be sotired sometimes that I’d fall asleep in taxisor lie behind the gym counter for a tenminute nap before training started”. Then there was the problem of sponsor-ship. Ria and her manager prepared severalpackages which were sent to different com-panies but these would go unanswered until2004. Because of the lack of funding, shewas faced with the problem of inadequatefights. To compensate for this, Ria acceptedseveral fights where she was mismatchedeither by weight or experience or in mostcases, both. One particular fight that stood out was

against world featherweight championLeona Brown in 2001. Ria looked almosttiny to the big and brawny New York na-tive. After four rounds the referee stoppedthe contest in favor of Brown. She (Ria)was fortunate to come out of the fight un-scathed. That was something of a turningpoint. Was it really worth fighting girls whowere so much bigger and experienced?Thereafter Ria tried to stay at least withinher own weight class.In 2001, Ramoutar accepted a new boxingcoach, Darren Vidale, into his gym. Withboth coaches in her corner, Ria scaled an-other level and went on to knock out an-other kickboxing opponent and thenoutpoint Guyanese Shondell Thomas inGuyana. However 2002 proved a slow yearas there was only one fight, a rematch withThomas that ended in a no-contest. March 2003 saw Ria resigning from herjob at National Flour Mills. Not only wasshe a female in a male dominated industry,she was the only female in her department,and a very successful one as well. Insteadof being proud of their co-worker, they de-spised Ria for her ability to learn and adaptquickly to the demands of the job; she hadmastered both operations of the plant in lessthan three months. The mental stress com-bined with the night shifts and exhaustingwork began to take its toll, hence her resig-nation.Through his kindness, Mr. Ramoutar al-lowed Ria to manage the gym. To supple-ment her income, she offered private tuitionto schoolchildren. Though it turned out tobe a hectic schedule, Ria had enough timeto train and in July 2003, she unanimouslyout-pointed a game Vicki Boodram to wintheir six round contest. Her classic boxingdisplay that night somewhat propelled her

Professional jealousy reared its ugly headand those who couldn’t bear the thought ofthe petite, 105lb Ramnarine being the firstwomen in the country to win such a titlewagged their tongues mercilessly, referringto the victory as a ‘very controversial deci-sion’. Needless to say, Ria handled the sit-uation with the savvy and aplomb of a trueworld champion. “I know I won the fight without a doubtbut certain entities couldn’t handle the truthof me being a world champion. They hadcome expecting me to lose and I ‘d disap-pointed them. I never ask for favors fromanyone, in or out the ring. And certainly notfrom judges or referees, in fact, as far as Ihave observed I am given a harder timefrom certain officials in my own country. Iwas also to learn that a certain notoriousmatchmaker had put out a hit on me, just toprevent me from creating that piece of his-tory.Despite the efforts to discredit her, Ram-narine was honoured by the President of theRepublic of Trinidad and Tobago, Profes-sor George Maxwell Richards, at the 2005National Independence Day Awards.She now has HBM attatched to her name

to represent the Humming Bird Medal thatshe received. Additionally she has beenrecognised and awarded for her achieve-ments and contribution towards sports byvarious organisations that include, theGlobal Organisation of People of IndianOrigin (GOPIO) Trinidad Ltd, the NationalYouth Action Committee, the Couva Cham-ber Sugar and Energy Festival Committee,the Hindi Nidhi Foundation and the T&TKick Boxing Federation. She emerged as one of the First CitizensSports Foundation top ten sports personal-ties for 2005, although many sporting affe-cionados thought that Ria’saccomplishments was more than enough towin her the coveted Sportswoman of theYear award. For her first world title de-fence, the opponent ‘ran away’ mere min-utes before the fight. Many were confusedas to why Marianne Chubirka opted not tofight since she was seven pounds heavierthan Ria!Nothing was enough to distract the deter-mined Ramnarine and she religiously con-tinued her training. 2006 was to be awhirlwind year for Ria. Travelling to Hun-gary in April to face another world cham-pion, Ria and her coach were stranded inEngland due to the lack of proper travelarrangements made by the promotion teamin Hungary. ‘That really hurt because I’dprepared so hard for the fight. I knewKristina Belinzsky would have been a goodtest and I cried my eyes out in the airportwhen we got stranded”. The next stop was her title defence in July,which she won by unanimous decision,again creating history by being the firstTrinidadian, male or female, to make a suc-cessful world title defence in boxing. Thenin September she was given the opportunityof a lifetime to fight Europe’s boxingqueen, the legendary Regina Halmich. AGerman with a record of fifty wins, fifteenknockouts, one loss and one draw whofought at 112lbs. (Ria had less fights thanRegina had knockouts).“The purse was the highest ever offered tome and with no other fight in immediatesight, I accepted the offer. Besides, Reginawas someone I admired and saw as a greatambassador for women’s boxing since thebeginning of my career. To step into thering with her was almost unreal”. (CONTINUED ON PAGE 21)

Meet Ria Ramnarine, first Indo-Caribbean Boxing Champion of the WorldLittle giant battles the odds, government indifference to become Trinidad’s women boxing hero and kickboxing title contender

“Don’t ever be ashamed ofyour ancestry and culturalbackground. Do not be afraidto step into areas where peo-ple think Indians have no rightto step into. . And most impor-tantly, believe in yourself andthe strenght and greatness ofyour people”. Ria’s advice

SEXUAL REVENGE AGAINST IN-DIAN WOMEN (CONTINUED FROMPAGE 4)

In his book, Hitler’s Willing Execution-ers, Daniel Goldhagen argues that whatmade Hitler’s programme possible were themany ordinary people became fascinated byHitler, snared by his propaganda, and enmasse, became his willing accomplices.(The same was true in Serbia and Bosnia).These were sometimes people who had in-termarried with the Jews, had Jewishfriends, and associates, and all that won-derful stuff. Who were convinced in a veryfew years to put them on trains and sendthem to be exterminated.The near-dead silence of AfroTrinidad

about the war being perpetrated upon its In-dian half is a disgrace. And this disgrace iscompounded by the fact that Selwyn Ryanargued, to get the PNM back in power, thatIndians should be ‘ashamed’ at the UNCand vote PNM to ‘rehabilitate’ their image.

Well, how do Ryan et co feel now?Ashamed? Disgusted? Sick to their stom-achs? Or was it just another craven lie to getthe PNM back in power? And disguiseracial appeals in the cloak of mindless civicarsed-ness? AfroTrinidad is involved inthis. Doing nothing, saying nothing, andlooking away make all who live in it ac-complices.There is another, equally likely possibil-

ity: the suffering of the IndoTrinidadiancommunity is actually a form of entertain-ment for the black under and middleclasses, and especially the brown elites whocomprise the core of the PNM. I’ll continuewith this in another installment.

INTERNATIONAL Indo-Caribbean Times M arch 2007 Page 12A MOTHER’S PAIN(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5)

One day her son got into a fight at anightclub and the protagonist told him ‘Yuhsista geh kidnap and doh worry, you next in(expletive) line’. His father sent him abroadimmediately. Her daughter cut off the beau-tiful hair which her father loved so muchand now sports a ‘boy cut’. She is supposedto go for counseling but always has an ex-cuse. She no longer prays and hates the gospel

music she once loved. She wants no bible inher room and wants no priest to come andpray for her. She has turned vegetarian andhas a robotic existence with predictable rit-ualistic routines. Rhyme, rhythm and rea-son have disappeared from her life.As a mother, she is collapsing inside. She

feels as if her insides are being ripped apart‘with pliers’. Her family has been fracturedand destroyed by these kidnappers. A per-fect marriage had come to naught. She sawher daughter eavesdropping while shespoke with her husband on the phone oncewith a frown and speaks with him in secretnow. She has stopped him from calling heras he often did so when he was drunk to askabout his ‘baby girl’. In total isolation,mother clings to the shadow that is left ofher daughter nursing the memories of hap-pier times. She wanted the world to know her story

because she has heard many people say thatthe families should not pay the ransom. Ifshe had it her way, she would have gladlygiven them a little extra, she said.

(Anand Ramlogan has written several otherhard hitting exposes on the kidnappingbeing perpetrated on Indians in Trinidad,which have blown the cover of secrecy thatkidnappers enjoyed for several years. Thehead of the Anti Kidnapping Squad was re-cently removed from his position.)

Roti Festival ahit in Jamaica

A woman makes roti at 2006 Roti Festival

They’re expecting huge crowds when the National Council for Indian Culture in Ja-maica hosts its second Roti Festival thisweekend. The festival will be held at theClub India, Lady Musgrave Road, St. An-drew, on Sunday. Eager crowed can expect to sample eightdifferent rotis, curried goat, curried mango,curried potatoes, dhal, curried chicken,ackee and saltfish, aloo choka (mashed po-tato), as well as authentic North Indiandishes that will be showcased at the FoodFestival.The organisers have promised that this

year's festival will be better organised andthat there will be ample helpings of roti."Last year we ran out of food but this yearwe are better prepared. There will be atleast eight to 10 persons making rotis, onspot, against the two who were present lastyear," says Vishu Tolan, chairman ofthe Roti Festival and vice-chairman of theNCICJ. The organisers are hoping to pro-vide approximately 5,000 rotis by noon.Food stalls with a variety of Indian dishesfor sale will also be a new addition at thisyear's staging. Other activities planned forthe festival are roti-making demonstrations,roti-eating contests and entertainment suchas henna painting..

INDO SURINAMESE HONORED IN HOLLAND

TV personality Reshma Roopram, musi-calstar Anil Jagdewsing, dance guru Sand-hya Manniesingh, singer Oemar WagidHosain, newsreporter Perdiep Ramesar,taekwondo champion Soebhaash Dihal, DjPrako and businessman Virindra Kalika arechosen to be the “Hindustanis of the year”in Holland.This was the choice of more than 6000 vis-itors who voted on the website of SanojaEntertainment Magazine. There were 40nominees divided over 8 categories. Maingoal of the election was to enlarge the per-ceptible of the Hindustanis in the media, tostimulate new talent and to force acknowl-edgement of Dutch Surinamese community. The organization decided to cancel thisyear’s event. At the end of 2007 there willbe a new election in The Hague, the presi-dential capital of the Netherlands where thelargest group Dutch Indians are residential:approximately 65,000. According to the or-ganizers, “Dutch Indians”, especially thenew generation are suffering of a mentalitycrisis that goes deep down to their roots inIndia and Surinam.“Most of them are fans of amateur actors

somewhere in India, then of stars and iconsfrom the country where they live in. Thishas to be changed,” said Shashi Bharos,CEO of Sanoja Networks.The community of Hindustanis are based

in Surinam and the Netherlands with theirroots in South Asia. They came in 1873from British India to live and work in Suri-name.When Suriname became independent, a lotof Hindustanis came to the Netherlands.This project also supports the Dutch Vrin-davan foundation. At the moment the foun-dation tries to build a shelter for youngwomen and girls in Vrindavan.

HILLARY NAMES INDIANAMERICAN POLICY ADVISOR

Indian-American Neera Tanden has beenasked to head 2008 Presidential frontrunnerHillary Clinton's think tank as campaignpolicy director. Tanden has worked with theClintons on and off for nearly a decade andfor the Democratic Party much before that.After graduating from Yale in 1996, sheworked on the Clinton- Gore presidentialcampaign in California. The 37-year-oldwoman has been a top aide to Hillary Clin-ton for nearly 15years. She worked with theClintons during the presidential campaignof Bill Clinton and as Hillary Clinton's leg-islative aide in Washington. Tanden hasbeen the senior vice-president, academic af-fairs, at the Centre for Responsive Politics,a Democratic think tank in Washington. Sheworked on Hillary's 'Listening tour' beforeshe ran for the Senate seat from New YorkState, and was in charge of all of Clinton'sbriefings and talking points.Neera Tanden grew up with a divorced

mother who was on welfare for two yearsand received food stamps before sheworked her way through school and gradu-ated from Yale law school.

The annual Rath Yatra will be held in Leicester,UK in August

CONSUMER WATCH Indo-Caribbean Times M arch 2007 Page 13

By Reynold Ramdial

We’ve all heard the phrase “the customer isalways right”! As consumers, how many ofus can say that they have experienced thisto any degree? I can’t remember the lasttime I felt that my business was valued. Ifanything, I feel underappreciated and ma-nipulated and the impression I get is thateveryone thinks that they are doing us con-sumer a big favor. This attitude is found everywhere from

banks and big box stores to car dealershipsand specialty stores. We are their lifebloodand their very existence depends on theconsumer yet the proverbial king is beingtreated as the pauper. The message needs tobe sent out clearly that we are indeed thekings and demand to be treated as such.Take banks and credit cards companies,we entrust them with out most cherishedand guarded possession, our money, whichbecomes there assets yet there is no greaterscorn for customers that form these institu-tions. I deal with 3 different banks and 2 creditcard companies ant there is absolutely nodifference in the way that any one dealswith and treats customers. Tellers, I must admit, are the only pleasantbank employees. Most others, whom youcome in contact with, will display the mostarrogant attitude that you are likely to en-counter. Just so that this piece does not onlyreflect my opinion, I have surveyed dozensof individuals, and not one disagreed withthese opinions.

Companies should be working to get thetrust of consumers instead I find that this isnot the case. Take banks and credit cardcompanies for example, can we say that wetrust them or that we feel appreciated bythem? This is he subject for a lot of futurediscussions, which I am sure we will have.How about the housing industry and mar-ket, do we feel that the present state of thehousing market is justified? Are we and themarket not manipulated by those in that in-dustry who has manipulated the public andmarket to create the conditions that now ex-ists? Add to this the criteria for finances thatour governments have approved to enableownership or a sense of ownership adds tothat manipulation.What about the price of gas, cable TV andtelephones, are they fair or even reason-able?At every level, the consumer is on the re-ceiving end of the proverbial stick. Is thereany recourse? Should we expect businessesto be fair to us? Can we expect govern-ments to do anything for us? There are con-sumer agencies but can we engage themany profit, non-profit and funded agen-cies into acting on our behalf?What is for sure is that we cannot staysilent and expect things to get better. Let usfind the mechanism for getting our com-plaints heard. Send your thoughts and con-cerns to the Indo Caribbean Times atictimes@rogers.com.

CONSUMER MANIPULATION“ I applied for a credit card with a 5.9%interest rate. A few months later, the creditcard company changed the rate to 21%!They told me that even though I’ve nevermissed a payment to them, they changedmy rate because I was one day late payinganother company.”“I’m trying to pay down my credit carddebt. I got an offer to transfer my balancesto another card at zero percent interest. Ithought that was great until I got my firststatement. There was $178 in fees. Theycharged a“balance transfer fee” of $90, anannual fee of $59, and on top of that a $29fee for exceeding the credit limit–whichhappened because the first two fees put meover the limit.”The offers fill your mailbox: pre-approvedcredit cards, low interest rates, 0% interestbalance transfer offers, frequent flier milesor rebates, and more. They sound good, butmany consumers apply for new credit cardsonly to find that the low interest rate does-n’t last or that the card comes with unex-pected fees.

READ THE FINE PRINT

To protect yourself: Read the details of thecredit card offer before you apply for thecard, and make sure you fully understandthe terms being offered. The details are usu-ally in small print. You might be surprisedat what you find.Below are some things to consider whenreviewing a credit card offer:

Low interest rate?Many cards offer a lowAnnual Percentage Rate–but only for ashort time. The introductory rate might onlylast a few months and then jump to an ex-tremely high rate. If you want to use a new,low-interest rate card to consolidate andpay off your higher interest rate debt, findthe card with the longest time period for thelow-interest offer. Credit card companiesshould disclose how long the low-interestoffer will last and what the interest rate willbe once the low rate ends.Also, check the offer to see if the low ratewill be revoked for any reason. Many cardsspecify that the interest rate will rise if youmake a late payment, if you make a latepayment to any other creditor, or if yourbalance ever exceeds the credit limit. Thecredit card company will monitor yourcredit report to see if you miss making apayment to other creditors.

Balance transfer fee: Some cards, even ifthey offer zero-percent interest on balancetransfers, charge a fee to transfer the bal-ance from one credit card to another. Forexample, a 4% balance transfer fee on a$2,000 transfer would cost you $80. And becareful–if you transfer the maximumamount allowed on the new card, and thereis a balance transfer fee, you will then beover the credit limit and will probably becharged an over-the-limit fee.

You’re pre-approved: Don't count on it.Credit card companies get your name fromcredit reporting agencies by paying theagencies for lists of consumers that meetcertain criteria. Once you call to accept theoffer or send in the form, the credit cardcompany will seek your full credit reportand determine if you qualify. You mightnot. The company might decline to issueyou a card, or send you a card with a lowercredit limit or a higher interest rate than ad-vertised.

Credit line: The amount of credit offeredmay not be available to you. If you lookclosely, you'll probably see the words "upto" before the number. Depending on yourcredit history, you might receive a card witha lower credit limit than you were expect-ing.

Cash advance fees and rates:Many cardscharge a fee for cash advances, or the inter-est rate for cash advances is much higherthan for credit purchases. If you're likely touse the card to get cash advances, be sureyou know what it will cost you.

No annual fee?Many promotions promiseyou won’t have to pay an annual fee. Butsome cards are free only for the first year.

User bonuses: Some cards offer perks suchas frequent flier miles or cash back forusing the card. Often, these cards charge an-nual fees or have a higher interest rate thanother cards. If you carry a balance, youmight be better off choosing a lower-inter-est-rate card even if it offers no bonuses.

Over-the-limit fee: Some consumers as-sume that if they make a charge that wouldput them over their credit limit, the cardwould simply refuse the charge. Instead, thecredit card company will often allow thetransaction to go through but charge theconsumer a fee, as much as $39, for ex-ceeding the credit limit.

Card guaranteed in exchange for a fee:Never pay a fee in advance for a card. Thisis a scam. Many people have paid up to$200 for a “major credit card” only to re-ceive nothing, or they received a merchan-dise catalog and a card that was only goodfor purchases from that catalog.

When You Receive Your New Card

Once you receive a new credit card, readthe accompanying credit card agreement tobe sure you understand and accept theterms. If you receive a card that was notwhat you wanted–for example, it has alower credit limit or a higher interest rate–you should notify the company that you de-cline the card. You should read theaccompanying card agreement or ask thecompany for any specific directions on howto refuse the card.

Even if you plan to keep the card, read theagreement carefully. Note what it saysabout your interest rate and what eventsmight trigger a rate increase; how long thegrace period is before interest is charged;when a late charge will be applied and howmuch the late fee is; and what happens if acharge causes your balance to exceed thecredit limit.

Watch Out for Changes in Terms

Even if you shopped carefully for a creditcard and are happy with the one you chose,there is no guarantee its terms will stay thesame. Most credit cards reserve the right tochange their terms, including the interestrate, at any time as long as they give theircustomers notice. Your credit card companymight send you the notice of the change interms as a separate notice, or with (or on)your monthly statement. Therefore, it’s agood idea to look carefully at your state-ment each month and any inserts that mightcome with it.

Credit Card Offers: What’s the Catch?

Buying on E-Bay can be riskyInternet Auction Cautions

A man was the winning bidder for a set ofgolf clubs on an online auction site. He sentthe seller $600, but the clubs never arrived.The seller said that he had shipped them,but, suspiciously, he couldn't produce a re-ceipt or tracking number.Several auction bidders paid high pricesfor what they believed was an out-of-printmovie soundtrack. What they received wasa brand-new reissue CD, worth only $15.When they complained, the seller claimedhe never said it was the original issue, just"the real thing."Online auctions can be a way to find bar-gains and unusual items from all over thecountry. However, some buyers never re-ceive the items they paid for, or receiveitems that are not as they were represented.To avoid problems buying through an on-line auction, you should take these precau-tions:Understand the risks of dealing with indi-viduals in cyberspace. In one kind of onlineauction, the auction site sells merchandiseand accepts payments from buyers. Manyof the most popular online auctions, how-ever, simply provide a place where individ-uals or other companies list items they wantto sell. The auction doesn't verify that themerchandise actually exists or is describedaccurately, and your transaction will bewith the individual seller, not the auction.Agreeing to buy something from anotherindividual, about whom you know nothingbut an e-mail address, is riskier than pur-chasing from an established company.Many consumer protection laws don't coverprivate sales between individuals.Check out the seller. Most auction sitesoffer feedback sections on sellers. If a sellerhas many or serious negative comments,don't do business with that seller.

Get the seller's telephone number andphysical street address if possible. Testthe number to confirm that you'll have someway other than by e-mail to reach the sellerif you have a problem.

Know what you are buying. Shop aroundto be sure you know what a good price foran item is. Read the item description care-fully. When buying electronic items, lookout for words such as "refurbished," "dis-continued" or "off-brand." Is something"brand new" or "like new"? Is the item an"original" or an "original reproduction?"Be careful when considering an expensivecollectible, since you can't physically in-spect the item or have it appraised beforebuying. The same caution applies to otheritems you would normally test yourself,such as a car, a mattress, or a musical in-strument.

Ask the seller about returns, warranty orservice. If you buy items such as electronicequipment at a retail store, you usually cango back to the store if the item doesn't workproperly. It is less likely that an online auc-tion seller will offer returns, warranty orservice, but ask.

Pay the safest way. Paying by check ormoney order may make it impossible to re-cover your money if the seller doesn't de-liver the item as promised. Pay by creditcard if you can, because you have the rightto seek a credit from your card issuer formerchandise that is not delivered or wasmisrepresented.

Find out what protection the auction of-fers buyers. Many online auctions offer alimited amount of "fraud protection" insur-ance to reimburse buyers who didn't receivewhat they purchased. Report problems tothe auction, who will ban cheaters.

BUSINESS AND FINANCE Indo-Caribbean Times M arch 2007 Page 14

RISE IN HOUSE PRICES TO EASE UP IN 2007

By Peter Seepersad

HOME buyers across the country willl breathe a sigh of relief in 2007, thanks to a na-tionwide influx of new listings that is expected to slow price appreciation in major Cana-dian centres.The RE/MAX Housing Market Outlook 2007 found that while a number of homes listedfor sale is set to climb, demand will remain strong in the 17 markets surveyed, includingToronto,Ottawa, Montreal, Vancouver, Victoria, Kelowna, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipegand several others. With few exceptions, projections for sales voumes in 2007 match or fallshort of peak performance reported in 2005 and 2006, with more balanced conditions ex-pected to emerge. These conditions should include healthy inventories of houses andapartments, and less urgency in the market.Nationally, about 462,000 properties are forecast to change hands in 2007, making it thethird best year on record. Average house prices are predicted to climb by a modest fivepercent this year to $290,000 by December 2007.Strong economic fundamentals continue to fuel healthy residential real estate activity inmarkets across the country, despiten what is happening in the United Sates. The countryis heading into another year of economic growth. Consumer confidence levels are strong.Unemployment levels are forecast to remain low. Oil prices are expeced to hover at $60per barrel. The Canadian dollar continues to climbl The Bank of Canada is holding the lineon interest rate hikes.Affordability is one of the more serious issues facing today’s real estate consumer, yetpurchasers remain steadfast. Buyers are simply getting more creative in their approach tohomeownership, considering alternatives to single-detached homes such as semi and rowhousing, town houses, and condominium apartments. They’re also looking at peripheralareas located close to the city centre that provide a better bang for the buck. New mort-gage products that extend the traditional 25-year mortgage amortization period to 30 and35 years may also help them realize their goal of owning a home sooner than later.

Peter Seepersad is a realtor attached to RE/MAX Rouge RiverRealty Brokerage,tele-phone 416-286-3993

Check taxes onGuyana property beforeany actionBy Gulcharan Mohabir C.G.A.

Question: When I left Guyana to come toCanada I left behind our large family homeand a fair amount of cash in the bank,which I use when I go visiting. I also ownseveral lots of land suitable for house build-ing. Everything remains as it was ten yearsago, and one of my relatives is occupyingthe house rent free with my permission. Iam wondering if I am doing the right thingin leaving my valuables in Guyana? Whatwould you advise? K. Singh, Toronto

Gulcharan’s advice:Before you look at what to do with yourproperty left in Guyana, you have to checkon your Canadian tax liabilities. Canadiantax laws say that every Canadian residentmust report his or her world income foreach tax year. Also, if you own foreignproperty, say in Guyana,valued at over$100,000 Canadian you must make thatdeclaration every year.If you are earning income abroad from

rental of houses or land, interest from bankaccounts, stocks and shares, then you haveto declare that on your tax returns. IfCanada has a tax treaty with the countrywhere you earn this income, you can get atax credit for any taxes paid there. If you sell any houses, land or other prop-erty abroad for more than you paid for it,then you probably have a capital gain. Youmust declare that on your income tax returnin Canada. You can get in serious troublefor failing to declare income from overseas.The best way to manage your overseas as-sets depends on your short term and longterm goals. If your short term plan is to es-tablish yourself quickly in Canada whereyou now live, then it makes sense to sellyour property in Guyana and bring themoney here to help you with things likebuying a house, investing or opening a busi-ness. If you have a long term goal of buildingwealth in Canada and then resettling backin the old country, then it makes sense tokeep the properties abroad. You should notethat although nearly all of us come toCanada with the intention of returning tothe old country, most change their mindsafter a few years.

Only a very small number actually returnto live in the old country, in this caseGuyana.Your money in bank accounts in Guyanaor elsewhere is usually safe and easy to

transfer to Canada when you need to do so. Bank accounts abroad usually earn inter-est at higher rates than in Canada, so yourforeign based cash is making money foryou. But if that country’s currency is con-tinually losing strength against the Cana-dian dollar, then you have to consider yourcash deposits abroad may really be a de-clining asset in spite of earning bank inter-est. In such a case it would make sense tomove that money to Canada rather thanleave it abroad.Houses and land are a tricky propositionthat tends to be hard to manage from thou-sands of miles away. If you leave relativesto live in your house rent free they will takecare of the property for you. But be warned.Sometimes they feel after a few years thatthe house is theirs and will resent you tryingto take it back or sell it. They may try toclaim it under squatting legislation. I knowa lot of people who have serious legal prob-lems with relatives living in their housesabroad. Of course you can charge your rel-atives a small rent, and then squatting nolonger applies.You can rent out your house to strangers,but then you have the big problem of beinga landlord six thousand miles away. It does-n’t work unless you have a reliable relativeor friend back home to deal with tenant is-sues.You can sell the house, but note that somany Guyanese have migrated that there isa surplus of housing property on the mar-ket. You may not get much for it, and somepeople have found they got not offers at all.Finally, you can leave the house empty. Inthat condition it will decay rapidly. Squat-ters may come and live in it, and claim itfor their own. It’s hard to get them out whenyou are living in Canada.Land doesn’t deteriorate, but empty landattracts squatters as much as empty houses.There are no easy answers when it comesto property abroad, and you might find ituseful to talk to somebody with expertknowledge and experience of the Guyanasituation.

Readers with specific problems related toproperty are advised to seek advice from atax accountant who will take a detailedlook at their special circumstances.

Gulcharan Mohabir is a tax specialist basedin Toronto, Ontario.

RECORD JANUARY HOUSE SALESSales of houses in Toronto this January beat all the records, as 5,173homes changed hands in the first month of winter. This figure was 13%higher than January 2002, which was the previous record for the month,according to Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) president DorothyMason.Not surprisingly, the western side of the GTA had the highest sales of1,975 homes in 28 West districts, with home prices averaging $335,116.The Mississauga area alone recorded 667 sales, 10 per cent over the 2006January total, with the average prices of $335,252 also being 10 per centover last January. Included in the list were sales of 219 detached houses,which averaged $478,889 in price.East Toronto also did well, recording 1,238 sales in 21 East districts, atan average cost of $280,178. The North registered 1,082 sales in 23 North districts, at an average price of $383,806. Central Toronto had thefewest sales, with 878 in its 14 Central districts, but home prices were thehighest, at an average of $462,211.“While one shouldn’t read too much into a single month’s result,” thePresident said. “January’s record breaking performance is an encouragingsign for the year ahead.”

Some estate planningnow can save a lot of fighting laterBy Donna Green

When my grandfather died last year, hiswill left everything he owned to his daugh-ters. For his two sons, the hurt was swiftand deep. My grandfather had never dis-cussed his estate plan with his male off-spring and they are still trying to figure outwhat the family patriarch meant by cuttingthem out of their inheritance. Did he think his sons wouldn't need hismoney because they're wealthy while hisdaughters are not? Or was he signaling thathe valued his daughters more than his sons?It's a mystery that can never be solved andit has left behind a bitter residue.

Compared to what occurs in many similarsituations, my family has actually beenquite civilized. "I hear the word 'hate' a lot,"says Les Kotzer, a Toronto lawyer and au-thor specializing in wills and estate plan-ning. "Brothers spitting on brothers. Sisterswho never speak to each other again. Allbecause of wills that were never done orthat were incomplete."It doesn't take much to set off a family

feud. Badly worded clauses, incompletelyexpressed intentions, or out-of-date provi-sions can ignite brawls that last for decades.Sometimes the argument is about which songets his father's war medals. Sometimes it's because the daughter whospent years caring for an elderly parentthinks she's not getting enough money —or she's getting too much, in the opinion ofthe other siblings. Whatever the specifics,the problem always comes back to the pow-erful emotions that are vented when a loved

one dies. "Canadians are hung up on savinga few bucks in probate fees or taxes," saysKotzer. "The far more important and poi-sonous issue is the hurt feelings that can beleft behind."Most of the pain can easily be avoided. Ifyou're willing to spend eight to 12 hourspreparing a plan, you can take a giant steptoward ensuring that you leave behind aloving, united family rather than a squab-bling clan at odds with one another. Apply a little bit of expert advice and youcan simultaneously save your heirs a bundleof money and enjoy the peace of mind thatcomes with knowing you're doing the bestfor the people you value the most.On paper, an estate plan consists of fourdocuments. The first is a will that detailshow your property will be divided. The nexttwo documents are powers of attorney —one for property, one for personal care —that spell out who can make decisions for

you if you're incapacitated by illness. Thefinal piece of paper is an insurance policy.This isn't required, but it is a good idea ifyou're leaving behind young children or asubstantial tax bill.What should unite all of these documentsis an understanding of your family's feel-ings. Experts can advise you on tax andlegal matters, but no one knows your lovedones better than you do. A small amount oftime spent communicating your intentionsnow can avoid leaving your kin with aneternity of questions. Just ask my family.

(From the article “Estate planning madeeasy” by Donna GreenFrom the February/March 2003 issue ofMoneySense magazine)

COMMUNITY Indo-Caribbean Times M arch 2007 Page 15ANNOUNCEMENTS

THE TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO 50Plus and Seniors Association celebrateBlack History Month and the 11th an-niversary of the group at their monthlymeeting Sunday February 25 at 1.30p.m. at the Birkdale Community Centre,1299 Ellesmere Road, Scarborough. Thegroup was founded 11 years ago on Feb11, 1996 by Rasheed Sultan Khan andother TT seniors. There will be a guestspeaker for Black History Month, whichis celebrated every February in Canada.For info contact Public Rellations OfficerRasheed Sultan Khan at 416-281-5264.

HOLI CELEBRATIONS

DEVI MANDIR celebrates Holi with aHoli Mela on Saturday March 3 at 7.00p.m. at the mandir on 4590 Brock Road,Pickering. Holi is also known as Phagwain the Caribbean.. The event will featurechowtal singing, bhangra dancing,, filmsongs and other entertainment. Admis-sion is $10. For info call 905-686-8534.

RAM MANDIR at 270 Export Blvd,Mississauga holds its Holi Puja onMarch 3 at 6.00 p.m. On Sunday March 4 there is a Holi Melafrom 1.00 p.m at the Versailled BanquetHall, 6721 Edwards Boulevard, Missis-sauga. The mela features rangoli,karaoke singing, a cultural program andreading the results of an essay competi-tion. Admission is $5 per person. Forinfo on both events call the mandir at905-696-0384.

CANADIAN INDO CARIBBEAN ASSOCIATION CICA) of Hamiltonhas an old fashioned Phagwa on SundayMarch 4 at the Old Ancaster Town Hall,Wilson Road, Ancaster from 2.p.m. Thelocal chowtaal group will be performing,along with other singers and musicians.

VISHNU MANDIR of Richmond Hillmarks Holi with a Holika Dahan on Sat-urday March 3 at 6.30 p.m and a HoliMela on Sunday March from 1.00 p.m. atthe temple at 8640 Yonge Street, Rich-mond Hill. For info call 905-886-1724.

TORONTO ARYA SAMAJ holds itsAnnual Concert In Celebration of Phag-wah (Holi, on Saturday 10th March, 2007at 7:00 PM at the The Vedic Cul-tural Centre(VCC), #4345 14th Avenue.Markham, Ontario. Sur Sangeet Band ledby Bibi Rupchand and talented artisteswill entertain. Admission: adults $10,children 6-12 $5.For further informationplease contactn 416-494-3864 or 416-663-4037

EID CELEBRATIONSCICA celebrates Eid Ul Fitr on March 17,upstairs Fortinos at Mall Road, Hamiltonfrom 2.30 p.m Mr Amar Hamnoudi willtalk on the teachings of Islam and on theSunni and Shiite sects in Islam. For infocall Mahendra Deonarie at 905-662-9719.

It’s the real thing- karate in the Vedic temple in Markham

Many martial arts clubs talk about templekung-fu or Shaolin style of fighting thatstarted in a Buddhist temple.But the Shorin Ryu Dhyaan Karate Dojo isprobably the only one that actually prac-tices in a genuine functioning temple. Every Monday and Thursday members ofthe dojo gather in the Hindu temple run bythe Vedic Cultural Centre on Kennedy and14th Avenue in Markham, to work out withSensei Harry Persaud. Harry, who holds a third degree black beltin the Matsubayashi style of Shorin Ryualong with a PhD, has been training stu-dents for the last five years, and is comingclose to graduating his first black belts fromthe dojo.He says it’s a particular pleasure to prac-

tice in a temple, as his style of karate em-phasizes spirituality and mental develop-ment in the martial arts.A temple is an appropriate place to workout because karate was started in theShaolin Buddhist monastery in China bythe Indian Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. Several of the karate students are Hinduswho belong to the Vedic temple, amongthem the president of the Toronto AryaSamaj, Adit Kumar. Practice starts withmeditation, sometimes in front of the altar.It’s been going very well, according to

Harry. There is a stable core of studentswho come out regularly and learn this styleof karate that focuses on knowledge andspiritual strength.Harry says the point of the karate is not

fighting but on developing inner strengthand character that will discourage attackersand allow a smaller person to deal with theoften larger bully.Almost half the class is female, two ofwhom are brown belts, the rank just belowblack. One of Harry’s teachers is a femaleblack belt. Several of the men are in theirfifties or older, and there is a large group ofteens and pre-teens.The message is that anybody can practicekarate. It is a system for the weaker orsmaller person to overcome challengesfrom larger and stronger people using min-imal force and strength.Harry is hoping to see more temples andreligions groups embrace karate as part ofthe development of their members.

Shades of Brown conference looksat South Asians in EducationA major conference on South Asians andthe education system is coming up fast asYork University prepares to host “Shadesof Brown:Challenges,Myths and Promises”educational conference on July 8-12.Sponsors include the South Asian Teach-ers Organization, All Indian Teachers forEducational Research, York University,Peel Multicultural Council, Council ofAgencies Serving South Asians, SimonFraser University, Toronto, Peel and YorkRegion school boards, and the Ontario Sec-ondary School Teachers Federation andB.C. Teachers Federation.The conference deals with South Asian is-sues with a focus on education and will fea-ture experts in many disciplines as well ascommunity organizations taking a hardlook at how the million strong South Asiancommunity in Canada is making out in theeducatipn system.“This conference would begin to fill the gapand develop a sound understanding of thechallenges and myths around the lived re-alities of the South Asian diaspora locallyand internationally.“The growth of the South Asian populationsaround the world has dramatically in-creased, yet there is little reflection on whothe South Asians are, where they are fromand what their experiences are.“The South Asian contributions in educa-tion have not been acknowledged across thecurriculum.“In an attempt to integrate the South Asianexperience across the curriculum this con-ference will pull human resources, rolemodels, research, images, visual resources,books and experiences. It will provide edu-

cators, youth and the community withstrategies to integrate these resources andexperiences into the curriculum, class-rooms, policies, administration and leader-ship challenges.Issues facing South Asian Youth include:Gangs/violence: Identified recent SA vio-lence in mediaRacism: from teachers and administrationDisconnect from families: Families as un-familiar or intimidated by educational sys-temIdentity conflict: Students leaving their

SA ontologies/epistemologies and taking onthe mainstreams’ persona.Depression: Parents/admin/teachers not

being able to identify or handle it in SA stu-dents.Systemic Barriers: i.e. Lack of access toschools by non English speaking parents.Institutional Racism: Lack of support forSA students- i.e. mentoring, counseling,workshops.Science Careers outside of having to at-tend university/ Non-Traditional Careers

Among the issues facing South Asian Ad-ministrators and Teachers:Access to information: i.e. numbers of

South Asian students and teachers in Peel-How can we help these populations if wedo not even know the representation ofthem?Covert Racism: Hiring/mentor circlesRacism/discrimination: hiring policies; ac-cess to information.Human rights: difficulties of making com-plaints, the intimidation and treatment suf-fered by teachers lodging complaints.

The power dynamics between SouthAsians and the mainstream’Hardship faced by those entering teachingand wanting mobility.South Asians as a powerful group: successin every area of society (business/ educa-tion/ government / social services etc.) andneed the support of all these groups to rec-tify the hurdles our students and educa-tional practitioners are facingWorkshops and papers will examine issueslike Discipline and Behaviour, the Role ofS.A. fathers in their child’s education, Iden-tifying the gap in the S.A. community, TheSouth Asian Experiences, Advocating foryour child in the Canadian EducationSysytem, Overcoming Language Barriers,and Managing your teenSessions will look at ESL resources forSouth Asian students, Strategies to in-volvement new students in schools,Eras-ing Prejudice, Curriculum EducationFor Parents,Identifying behaviours: Pre-venting a criminal teen, Drug Use, SouthAsian gangs, and Parenting Skills to helpcurb failure and nurture success.Statistics shown that half of Canada's

South Asians are living in Toronto, with30% Sikhs, 28% Hindu, 23% Muslim and8% Catholic. English and Punjabi are themost common languages. The conference is looking forward to richcommunity participation, and welcomesvolunteers, conference papers, workshoppresentations and appropriate artwork.Contact them at www.shadesofbrown.orgor through any of the sponsoring organiza-tions.

Basic Principles of AyurvedaBy Dr Rakesh Modi

Everything in this universe is composedof five elements. The human body is alsomade up of the five elements and the soul.These five elements are:

1. Prithvi or earth2. Apa or water3. Tejas or fire4. Vayu or air5. Akash or space

What does it mean? The body is a muddypond with a fire in the middle, with cloudson top and a wind blowing across! No, itdoesn't mean that. It means that these fiveelements are the basic constituents andeverything can be explained in terms ofthese five elements. For example, the bulkyand solid part is earth, the digestive en-zymes which are responsible for cooking or digesting is fire, the hollow, empty partsand the big beer belly is space.These five elements in their biological

form in the living body are of three differ-ent kinds. These are three primary lifeforces or three biological humors. TheAyurvedic term for these forces is Dosha.As they are three in number they are calledas Tridosha (Tri means Three). In Sanskritthey are known as : Vata, Pitta and Kapha.As these are specific terms or names of thethree types of humors in the body it is notpossible to translate them into English.They can be understood, experienced or feltonly from their qualities, behavior and actions in the body. The nearest translation,meaning or comparative of these terms de-pending upon their qualities, actions andbehavior are:Vata is compared to air, Pitta is comparedto fire and Kapha is compared to mucus andwater.This was amazing! You never knew theconstruction of the body is so natural. Thenext part will make you friendlier with yourbody.

Ayurveda heals the whole body Dhatus - These are the basic tissues whichmaintain and nourishthe body. They areseven in number,namely - chyle,blood, muscles, fattytissues, bone, mar-row and semen.Proper amount ofeach dhatu and itsbalanced function isvery important for good health.

Mala - These are the waste materials pro-duced as a result of various metabolic ac-tivities in the body. They are mainly urine,feces, sweat, etc. Proper elimination of themalas is equally important for good health. Accumulation of malas cause many dis-eases in the body.

Srotas - These are different types of chan-nels which are responsible for transporta-tion of food, dhatus, malas and doshas.Proper function of srotas cause many dis-eases.

Agni - These are different types of enzymesresponsible for digestion and transformingone material to other.

All these factors need to function in aproper balance for good health. They areinter-related and are directly or indirectlyresponsible for maintaining equilibrium ofthe TRIDOSHA._____________________________RAKESH R. MODI, B.A.M.S., D.Ac.,Dr.Ac., M.Ac., M.Ac.F., C.A.H.P., is anAyurvedic Physician & Lecturer, CertifiedHolistic Practitioner, and PanchaKarmaSpecialist. He is , Director of Research &Development and Event Management for International Council of Ayurvedic Physi-cians (ICAP) Inc., and Director of Interna-tional Institute of Ayurveda &Complimentary Medicines (IIACM) Inc.www.AyurvedToronto.com416-778-9341

HEALTH AND WELLNESS Indo-Caribbean Times M arch 2007 Page16LIVING NEAR A MAINHIGHWAY CAN HURTCHILDREN’S LUNGSLIVING within 500 metres of a major

highway can damages children's lungs, ac-cording to a new eight-year study of morethan 3,600 children in Los Angeles. Ten-year olds growing to adulthood within 500meters of a freeway were far more likely tohave stunted lung development than othersliving an additional 1000 meters distant, ateam of American researchers led by W.James Gauderman of the University ofSouthern California. The children near the highways showedmuch greater risk of lung disease rangingfrom increased rates of asthma to more se-rious, potentially fatal illnesses. And it was-n't only children with frail lungs who wereaffected.Otherwise-healthy children who were non-asthmatic and non-smokers also showed amarked decrease in lung function from traf-fic pollution.The study was based on the yearly testingof 3,677 children, from 12 Los Angelescommunities, over an eight-year period be-ginning from the age of ten. Lung functionwas measured by seeing how much air eachchild could exhale -- and how quickly --after taking a deep breath, along withother tests.The children were divided into three

groups depending on how close they livedto a major highway (or freeway as they arecalled in California), less than 500 meters,between 500 and 1000 meters, and between1000 and 1500 meters.Several elements in vehicle exhaust candamage lung tissue, but the most harmfulare nanoparticles with organic hydrocarboncomponents on the surface, present in farhigher concentrations near freeways. The study suggests that there may be

something in particular about primary emis-sions -- fresh emissions -- that are particu-larly dangerous" as compared to settledpollution. Also of special interest is thestudy's conclusion that diesel fuel is espe-cially hazardous because of its high con-centration of particulate-matter.

Rakesh Modi

NALINI NEEDSA KIDNEY

NALINI Maharaj really, really needs akidney sometime soon if she is to surviveto see her two children grow up. She’s hop-ing that somewhere out there is that supergenerous person who will give her one.The 36 year old Mississauga woman is

running out of time. Her own kidneysbegan failing ten years ago and stoppedworking completely in 2003. She now goesto the hospital three times weekly for fourhour dialysis sessions that clean her bloodof toxins and impurities. But she is still sickmuch of the time and finding it difficult towork or to maintain the home with husbandPuran and 16 year old son Amit and 20 yearold daughte Gaitri.Normally, people like Nalini would finddonors within the family. Her relatives inher home country Trinidad share a familyhistory of high blood pressure and kidneydisease that eliminates them as donors. Herhusband Puran offered to donate a kidneybut he was ruled out because of high bloodpressure. She has no close relatives inCanada.She has two options- getting an organ do-nation from someone who has died aftersigning a donor card, or getting a kidneyfrom a living donor. Nalini is urging Canadians to become

more aware of the organ donation programand to sign the card. It can be obtained fromany doctor or from the Ministry of Trans-portation. Organ donation allows a personto give a gift of life after he or she has gone.Nalini is high on the waiting list for kidneydonations but there is no certainty if orwhen she can get a donated kidney. Secondly, she wants to ask any personswilling to help her to come forward to betested for compatibility. “I believe thare arepeople out there who are willing to give akidney to a perfect stranger. I am thatstranger and I need it,” she said.Nalini is blood type AB, which means sheis a universal donor/receiver, so anyone candonate a kidney once there is a closematch between her and the donor. All the person has to do is contact St.

Michael’s Hospital Transplant Office (416-867-3665) and say they are interested inhelping Nalini Maharaj. Mary Anne at theHospital (416-867-7460 ext. 8179) willtake care of the rest. There is minimal risk to the donor, whomust be healthy and free from high bloodpressure or diabetes. of the kidneys. Doc-tors make a very small incision usingnbvkeyhole surgery to remove the kidney, andrecovery time is usually two to threeweeks. For more information you can contact

Nalini or her husband Puran at 905-568-4699.

ITS OFFICIAL: TURMERIC IS GOOD FOR ARTHRITIS

Extract of turmeric commonly used incurry could help prevent rheumatoid arthri-tis and osteoporosis, according to US re-searchers.Turmeric has been used for centuries inAsian medicine to treat inflammatory dis-orders and its extract can be found in west-ern dietary supplements.Now lab work byUniversity of Arizona researchers, inArthritis & Rheumatism, shows just howthe spice's curcuminoid extracts have atherapeutic effect.Earlier work by the University of Arizonateam showed turmeric could prevent jointinflammation in rats.A version of turmericextract that was free of essential oils wasfound to most closely match the composi-tion of the commercial supplements.And itwas this extract, containing curcumin, thatwas most effective at blocking the onset ofrheumatoid arthritis in the rats.The extract appears to work by preventinga protein that controls when genes areswitched on or off from being activated inthe joint.Once the protein known as NF-KBis activated, it binds to genes and increasesthe production of inflammatory proteins,which attack the joints. The team believesturmeric extract could treat other inflam-matory disorders, including asthma, multi-ple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel and

osteoporisis. Professor Robert Moots, pro-fessor of rheumatology at Liverpool Uni-versity and spokesman for the ArthritisResearch Campaign, said people witharthritis will have to wait to see if the studyresults in new treatments."It will come as no surprise if naturally oc-curring compounds have a drug-like ef-fect," he said."I do not think there is anyevidence that countries that eat a lot ofturmeric have a lower frequency of rheuma-toid arthritis. So simply eating more spicesis not likely to be effective clinically."

Meditation: Good for the Arteries

Learning to relax and reduce stressthrough the practice of TranscendentalMeditation (TM) may reduce atherosclero-sis — and risk of heart attack and stroke —according to findings published in theMarch 2000 issue of the American HeartAssociation journal STROKE.This is the first controlled study to suggestthat stress reduction by itself can reduceatherosclerosis without changes in diet andexercise, according to a team of researchersfrom UCLA, Charles R. Drew Universityof Medicine and Science in Los Angeles,and Maharishi University of ManagementCollege of Maharishi Vedic Medicine in

Fairfield, Iowa.“This finding that the disease process inthe arteries can be reduced through the TMprogram may have vast implications for thecurrent management of cardiovascular dis-ease and health care costs,” says AmparoCastillo-Richmond, M.D., lead author ofthe study and assistant professor of medi-cine at the College of Maharishi VedicMedicine.In the study, hypertensive African-Ameri-cans who were at risk for cardiovasculardisease were randomly assigned to eitherthe TM program or to a health educationcontrol group. Sixty men and women vol-unteers completed pretests and post-testsover an average intervention period ofabout seven months. Subjects practicing theTM program showed an approximate 11percent decrease in risk of heart attack anda 7-15 percent reduction in risk of stroke.Robert Schneider, M.D., another author ofthe study and director of the NIH-sponsoredCenter for Natural Medicine and Preventionat the College of Maharishi Vedic Medi-cine, says, “Cardiovascular disease is asso-ciated with psychological stress. Previousresearch has found that the TM program de-creases coronary heart disease risk factors,including hypertension, oxidized lipids,stress hormones and psychological stress,and is associated with reduced cardiovas-cular disease and death in African-Ameri-cans and the general population.”

WOMEN Indo-Caribbean Times M arch 2007 Page 17

SHE was already a well known Bolly-wood film star when she came to Britainlast year to take part in the reality showCelebrity Big Brother. But since she wonthe show and outlasting the racism of someof the English contestants, Shilpa Shettyhas become one of the best known and ad-mired Indians in Britian, and according tothe Bombay Times, was the "most recog-nised Indian face in the world". She could soon be one of the richest aswell. Shilpa has received more than 200 of-fers of work - commercials, modelling, pre-senting, book deals, film roles, even a partin Andrew Lloyd Webber's revival of WestEnd musical Bombay Dreams - totalling£10 million or $22 million Canadian.Shilpa was the only Indian celebrity in theBig Brother show, living under constant tel-evision surveillance with other British“celebrities”.The barely hidden racism of some of theBritish celebrities was soon visible to mil-lions who watched the show. Shilpa waswas called "Shilpa Poppadom" and the "In-dian" in the Big Brother house. One ofthem, Jane Goody, deliberately mispro-nounced her name Shetty. She was often re-duced to tears by rude and hostile remarks,but but did not respond in kind. By the timeshe emerged, Jade Goody had become apariah, pop star Jo O'Meara was on suicidewatch, model Danielle Lloyd had beenditched by her soccer star boyfriend. Shewon the contest because of huge supportand sympathy from the voting public, andcame out to find herself more famous thanwhen she went in.Shilpa caused a sensation when she vis-ited the House of Commons and had a pri-vate audience with Prime Minister TonyBlair. Invitations to appear on televisiontalk shows poured in. Now she has an invi-tation to celebrate Commonwealth Daywith Her Majesty the Queen.A service at Westminster Abbey will be fol-lowed by a reception for select dignitaries(of which the 31-year-old actress is one). Her one-month stint and an out-of-the-bluewin in the reality TV show opened up morevistas for Shilpa Shetty with internationalfilm offers and endorsements, than her tenyears in Bollywood ever did."Shilpa has certainly hit a jackpot. She

participated in the Celebrity Big Brother ata time when there was a lull in her career.Now she has mega deals, endorsementbrands and even a possible Hollywood ca-reer lying at her feet," said trade analysts.While Shilpa's last release in India wasShaadi Kar Ke Phas Gaya Yaar , the actresshas not had any major hits since the 2000romance flick Dhadkan to her credit.However her stint in "Celebrity BigBrother", which catapulted her to UK's na-tional consciousness after being allegedlysubjected to racist comments by fellowhousemate Jane Goody, has now placedShilpa on the threshold of an internationalcareer that even she may not have contem-plated otherwise."She is now on the verge of a booming ca-reer internationally. She does not need toconcentrate on Bollywood as of now. Sheis getting much bigger exposure," saystrade analyst Taran Adarsh. Most analysts feel the actress will now

focus on getting her foot in the door intoHollywood and cash in on endorsementdeals and other offers that have come herway, rather than look at resurrecting her ca-reer in Bollywood.

By J. Jagessar

If you are in an abusive relationship andyour spouse is abusive towards you, thereare ways to see the violence coming thatwould allow you to take steps to protectyourself.People have studied the behaviour of vi-olence and have observed what they call a“cycle of violence”. It starts with yourspouse beginning to find fault with every-thing you do around the house. Example:He complains the food is not tasty, supper isnot ready on time, the house is a mess, thelaundry is not done etc. He gets angrier and starts raising his voice,pointing his finger, brushing the food aside.He may start picking on the children aswell. All this could happen after he had hada few drinks.The logical thing to do at this time to de-fend yourself, argue with him- big mistake!What you should do is to recognize the risein temper and move out of his way. Do notstart an argument or get pulled into an ar-gument that he wants to make with you. Ifnecessary, go to a relative's home for a dayor two until he calms down. If you havechildren, get them out of his way as well.Remember that the abuse starts with anemotional outburst and ends with physicalviolence. In our culture we deny things and feel weare socially and religiously dependent on

our spouses. We may even feel that we areeconomically dependent on our husbandsand we have to make sacrifices for our fam-ily and children. We think there is somedeep tie with our spouses that is so sacred,that we deny the violence. We tend to ac-cept it submissively and even try to hide itfrom our relatives and friends. If your partner does get out of control andhurts you physically in any way, then call911 immediately. Within recent years thepolice have changed their attitudes and ap-proaches to violence in the home. Gone arethe days when the police took a hands-offattitude towards violence against women.They no longer take the approach this is aprivaet matter between husband and wife.Nowadays, the law has been changed so ifa spouse is violent towards his partner andshe has reported it, the police would arrestthe violent partner without any questionsasked.Many women have been known to fleetheir homes due to spousal abuse and whatthey have discovered is that had lost all fi-nancial and legal benefits and privileges.By recognizing the cycle of violence andgetting out in the early stages of anger andcomplaints before the violence could hap-pen, you can save your marriage, seek helpand counselling and get the financial ad-vantages that are due to you.

Dealing with wife abuse:Recognizing the cycle of violence

Shilpa Shetty scores big in BritainMillions in job offers, marriage proposals, meeting with PM, Queen

"Shilpa currently has two films on thefloor, Anurag Basu 's Metro , produced byUTV, and Anil Sharma 's Apne , both ofwhich are set to release this year."While she will complete her two remain-ing projects, she may not have much timeor the inclination to do any more films asof now."Bollywood will, however, bewatching very closely her progress in theWestern world, because it can show whatIndian stars can do," Adarsh added.Shilpa entered the Hindi film industry asthe long-legged beauty in a film that alsomarked the stardom of Shah Rukh Khan -'Baazigar', in 1993. Since then, she hasworked on close to 50 films but except fora few stray hits has not been able to hit thetop.Last year, she also tried her hand at tel-evision, appearing as a judge on the danceshow ‘Jhalak Dikhla Jaa’. Meanwhile, Shilpa has been approachedto front a cricketing version of Pop Idol thatits producers say could unearth new youngtalent and boost interest in cricket in theUK.Simon Hughes, the former Channel 4cricket analyst, said he was in discussionswith four mainstream broadcasters to bring'Cricket Star' series to the UK.Huges said he was in talks with well-

known former cricketers to take on thejudging roles filled in India by Kapil Devand Sanjay Manjrekar. Darren Gough, PhilTuffnel and Ian Botham were among thepossible candidates. Shetty could not be more different from theway the toxic trio in the Big Brother househave painted her. Jackiey Budden, JadeGoody's mother, asked her if she lives in ahouse or a shack. Neither. She lives on theentire seventh floor of an apartment build-ing in one of Bombay's most exclusiveneighbourhoods. And before Buddenprotests that's only in India, rents in expen-sive parts of Bombay are as high as they arein London.She was born into a wealthy family, herfather runs a successful chemical business.She lives a life of luxury that is beyondeven the millions Goody has made off herBig Brother stints. She is also a black belt inkarate.To be rich in India is never to have to lifta finger. Shetty is constantly attended by aretinue of servants, including a full-timehairdresser. If that seems excessive, it'sworth pointing out she cannot so much asset foot outside her home without beingmobbed. Budden may snipily call her"Princess" but the truth is Bollywood starsare royalty in India.She was educated atprestigious schools: St Anthony's Girls'High School in Chembur, and Podar Col-lege. She was famous in India first as amodel - she got her break from Limca, asoft drink company. To this day she isknown as "the best body in Bollywood",and is considered a style icon for the clothesshe wears.

POST-INDENTURE ANDPOST-INDEPENDENCE

In the early part of the twentieth century,women on the whole were relegated to thehome, apart from those who were out work-ing to help their families. The majority ofIndian women worked and resided in therural areas and often were the primary or-ganizers of social customs. Undoubtedly, the retention of Indian cul-ture was owed “much to these industrious,resilient women on the plantations and inthe villages while at the same time exertingmuch energy on their many children.” Because of their direct involvement in

preparations religious and social functionssuch as pujas, jhandis, weddings, Eid, Di-wali and other social customs, they formeda strong foundation for their cultural reten-tion. Mothers not only organized elaboratefunctions, but their daughters also werecompletely involved in the arrangementsfor social activities. Many of these women were not part of anestablished organization with leadershipopportunities, but they formed the pulse ofthe nation’s cultural development and pro-gression. Further, not only was it a socialtaboo for Indian women to join social or-ganizations and carry the banners but alsothey received little or no respect.However, a small group of middle-classIndian women in the urban areas were be-ginning to participate in public circles. Infact, after indentureship, in the 1920s theywere contributing to the “visible Hindu andMuslim culture festival” especially inGeorgetown and New Amsterdam wherethey provided forms of entertainment, but

primarily associated with religious func-tions.One of the first known women to demon-strate resistance against the injustices ofcolonialism was Esther Saywack Mahadeo(born in 1872) who was widowed at the ageof 28 with 4 children. Having inherited a small shop, she refusedher parents’ offer to return home. Instead,she became one of the leading merchants inNew Amsterdam. As a young girl, she learned business skillswhile her father went to work selling oil ona donkey cart. With determination, shelooked after her children and never remar-ried. She became very involved in the businessand community, and became the firstwoman President of the Berbice Chamberof Commerce. Recognizing the injusticesagainst plantation workers, she took a peti-tion, signed by hundreds, to the Governorin Georgetown, protesting the shooting ofinnocent workers who participated in a riotat Plantation Rosehall, Canje where Indianswere shot and some killed in 1913. At this time, it was unthinkable for a

woman to have done this, especially an In-dian woman and a widow. She died in 1948,leaving a legacy of an Indian woman’s earlyvoice against oppression. She took part insocial work and was the first woman Pres-ident of the Berbice Turf Club. To have achieved this singular position inthis time in a colonial environment showeda tremendous clout, resilience and courage.

(Janet Naidu’s full paper can be found onthe Guyana Journal website athttp://www.guyanajournal.com/women_gy.html)

Indian women in Guyana after indenture and independenceFrom a paper “Indian Women of Guyana” by Janet Naidu

Their aim is to educate Canadian andCaribbean people about Hinduism, their in-strument is an education program based onthe Holy Bhagwad Gita, and they want yourhelp to do it.Toronto lawyer and Hindu activist Ram

Sahadeo represents a group of CaribbbeanHindus who want to expand an ambitiousprogram to educate Canadian Hindus andother Canadians about the Hindu faith, andto do the same for Hindus and others in theCaribbean. They are currently out of copiesof the book and would welcome donorswho would contribute funds for buyingmore Gitas to carry on the program.In an interview with the Indo-Caribbean

Times, Sahadeo explained that the " ABHAGAVAD GITA FOR EACH HOME"project had the simple aim of distributinga simple English pocket sized version of theGita so that this universal knowledge canbe made available to all, particularly theyoung who have not yet been introduced tothe philosophy.

"TheBhagwadGita isour inher-itance andour con-tributionto worldphi loso-phy. It isour dutyto learnabout itand shareit with the

rest of mankind. We cannot be proud thatso few have so little knowledge of the Gitawhich is over 5000 years old, and whichhave been the guiding light for so many in-ternational personalities like MahatmaGandhi, Henry David Thoreau, and SwamiVivekananda," he said. "We learnt from our ancestors who could

not read nor write and who inhabited placeslike Guyana and Trinidad since May 5,1838 why can’t we continue to teach ourchildren in the same manner? We now livein very fast technological societies all overthe world and many of our professionals,community and political leaders still havelittle or no knowledge of the wisdom of theGita. "Even in our native countries the villages

and plantations are no longer the moraltraining grounds they used to be. In addi-tion we have lost the generation who taughtand lived by example therefore we mustmake a concerted effort to teach this knowl-edge about the universal text that enabledour fore parents to survive and flourish de-spite deplorable conditions of living," Sa-hadeo noted.

The Gita program started when Sahadeoand other Canada based Hindus helpedSwami Aksharananda of Guyana in con-structing a the Saraswati Vidya Niketan sec-ondary Hindu school in Guyana, and hetravelled through Guyana, " This experi-ence opened my eyes to the fact that Hindusknow very little about their own religionand their energies over the years seemed tohave been usurped by other activities in-consistent with their own interests. Therewas little or no leadership and very littleteaching about one of the greatest and ear-liest philosophy on earth. This must havecontributed to the moral decay, general il-literacy, alcohol and spousal abuse, andeven the spread of aids virus , prevalentamong Hindus."He learned about the India based Inter-

national Gita Society and with some friendsstarted a small scale program of buyingcopies of the Gita at $1 each, and distribut-ing in Canada and the Caribbean. TheHindu Seva Sangh in Toronto and its pres-ident Omesh Sharma have picked up ship-ping costs so far. Believing that there aremany who would share and participate inthe vision, the group has set up a systemwhereby the books can be available in bulkfor any person or organization anywhere. "We ask Hindus in particular to examine

their lifestyles and pledge that our homeswill have as many gitas as we have shoesor clothing. This may be a good startingpoint. We must recognize that knowledge issuperior to materialism and follow Arjuna’schoice to have the wisdom of Lord Krishnaon the battlefield of daily life."Many of us have friends and neighbors

who would like to know more about us andwe can help them understand our heritageby donating the Gita to every guest orneighbour. Those who join in celebratingour birthdays, anniversaries, and weddingsshould likewise be rewarded. “Wakes and Funerals which are often at-

tended by people of every race, religion ornationality is an ideal time for friends or rel-atives of the deceased to give something tothose who come to sympathise and paytheir respects. The inside front page of theGitas is intentionally left blank so that theycan even be endorsed to commemorate aspecial event or individual.“Every mandir can have someone pay for

and distribute the book every time there isa religious service. In fact we have to startthe practice of taking our Gita to the tem-ple and read it every week. The officiatingpriest should not be the only one with abook," Sahadeo suggested.He notes that since a donation of $1.00

can finance one book even the poorest per-son can afford about 20. Those attached totheir village/district either through birth,work or otherwise and would like to see a

copy of the Gita in each home can purchasein bulk and distribute it free of cost to eachhome. $500 may be enough to cover mostvillages. If a village is too large for one person or

family then several families can cooperateto finance books for the area. Every villageor district have some prominent Hindu fam-ilies whose contribution ought to be im-mortalized and there is no better way to

honor them to distribute Gitas in theirnames. Sahadeo is certain that in Canada, USA,

or England, there are many persons wholeft the Caribbean with a few dollars butwho can now finance Gitas for every singlehome in the country. He feels it is prefer-able for many individuals to play a role andassist their own area. "When we send bar-rels or gifts back home we should ensurethat a few hundred Gitas are enclosed be-cause knowledge is the best gift and it out-lasts all the other material gifts," Sahadeoinsisted.The long term objective is to have Gita

Societies established so that youths and oth-ers can discuss and debate Gita principlesand apply them daily. This has alreadystarted in Guyana with Saraswati VidyaNiketanschool, and the group is makingarrangements for distribution to secondaryschool students in Trindad. In Canada dis-tribution of Gitas has started and they arein the process of registering a charitable or-ganization with the objective of fosteringsimilar knowledge, and are hoping thatknowledgeable volunteers, particularly re-tired or semi-retired individuals, can act asinstructors or facilitators. To reach the project please contact Ram

Sahadeo at 905 671 9233, (ramji-hindu@rogers.com), R.S. Omesh Sharmaat 905 678 7997 (Omesh@flexomark.com),Omo Persaud C/o Vishnu Mandir(Omo@globalspectruminc.com), orKishori at 905 794 4952(kishoriee@yahoo.ca). Those out ofProvince can obtain Gitas from AjodhyaMahadeo in Winnipegat 204-661 643 orArvind Singh in Vancouver atarvind.email@gmail.com

THEIR GOAL IS A GITA IN EVERY HOME MUSLIMS CELEBRATEEID UL-FITR IN MARCH

This March will see end of the monthlong fast during the holy month of Ra-madan and the beginning of Shawwal -- thetenth month of the Islamic calendar. It is onthe first day of Shawwal that Muslims cel-ebrate Eid, which means “festivity” in Ara-bic. Eid is celebrated after the sighting ofthe new crescent on the previous evening. Itis on this day that the world’s 1.2 billionMuslims celebrate the joyous holiday calledEid ul-Fitr, “the Festival of Fast Breaking”.On this day Muslims celebrate a month-long achievement which was performed forthe sole purpose of pleasing and servingAllah.For one month, during the time betweensunrise and sunset, Muslims do not eat ordrink, and abstain from sensual pleasure.The practice is designed to teach self-con-trol, and renew a Muslim's spiritual life.For a Muslim, Eid is a day of thanksgiv-ing. On the day of Eid, fasting is forbiddensince this day marks the end of the month-long fast. In the morning of Eid, Muslimsare encouraged to enjoy a sweet snack suchas dates. Other practices on this special dayinclude bathing and adorning oneself innew or one’s best clothes. Muslims cele-brate Eid by expressing thanks to Allah bymeans of distributing alms among the poorand needy and offering special prayers. Onthis day, gifts are also given to children andloved onesEid Ul-Fitr is confirmed by the appearanceof the new crescent moon. The holiday laststhree days. The Statistics Canada Census 2001 re-ported Canadian Muslims at 579,640 (2 %of Canadian Population, increasing by128.9% since 1999. Ontario Muslims morethan doubled to 352,500, and Muslims inQuebec went up by 141.8%The unofficial estimate for today is about600,000 Muslims; about 300,000 of whomlive in Southwestern Ontario. There aremore than 80 mosques in Canada, four ofwhich are located in Ottawa. In addition tomosques there are numerous locations inmost major cities where space (known asmusallah) is set aside for prayer purposes. The Muslim community in Canada has itsfoundation in the West, where Al-Rashid,the first mosque in North America was builtin Edmonton, Alberta, in 1938. The earliest record of Muslim presence inCanada dates back to 1871, when the Cana-dian census recorded 13 Muslim residents.According to the 1981 census there were98,165 Muslims, accounting for less thanhalf of one per cent of all Canadians.

HINDU IDOL OR ICON?By Dr Anantand Rambachan

Among the many problems faced by Hin-dus is finding appropriate English termi-nology for Sanskrit terms. This is importantfor those who seek to understand, practiceand transmit their tradition outside of India.This is not always an easy matter, and ap-propriate substitutes are often difficult tofind. Sometimes one has to be content withselecting from a number of imperfect alter-natives, and careful thought has to be exer-cised when all the choices are inadequate.Some English terms are more advantageousthan others. They become the means bywhich our beliefs are represented to peopleoutside our tradition as well as to a newgeneration of English-speaking Hindus.The term murti is familiar to all Hindus

and is used to indicate the various repre-sentations of God in our temples andhomes. Perhaps the most widely used Eng-lish term to translate murti is idol. I oftenshudder when I hear a Hindu guide, givinga temple tour to a visitor, describing themurtis on the altar or in the sanctum asidols. The problem is that this term is com-monly used today to indicate somethingwhich is false and untrue. In the West, stilldeeply influenced by the views of theJudeo-Christian tradition, the term has aspecific religious connotation. An idol is afalse God, and idolatry is a term of rebukeand moral disapproval. We cannot ignorethat Hindus have been and continue to becondemned by many for so-called "idola-trous practices." How strange it is for us toappropriate a term to describe ourselveswhich others use to condemn us! Perhaps

there should be a serious and concerted ef-fort to avoid its use.The word statue is also frequently used torefer to a murti, but this has its own draw-backs. It describes a sculptured, cast ormolded figure, human being or an animal.Usually it approximates to the original sizeof the person or animal it represents.Theterm image is also used in place of murtiand is an accurate indication of the formwhich it represents. Murtis are meant tofocus our minds on God. Unlike the wordimage, the viewer is not asked to believethat the murti is actually how God ap-pears.The search for a suitable English ren-dering of murti, however, is not fruitless. Irecommend the adoption of the term icon.While there is some broad usage, it is em-ployed primarily to denote a religious rep-

Students at Saraswati Vidya Niketan

RELIGION Indo-Caribbean Times M arch 2007 Page 18

Gita is a dialogue betweenLord Krishna and Arjuna

resentation or figure. Icons are treated withrespect because they represent that which issacred. In the popular culture of the West,the term does not resonate negatively. Fromicon is derived the term iconography, whichliterally means "writing with icons."Iconography describes one of the centralpurposes of murtis in the Hindu tradition.Each murti is a nonverbal statement aboutthe nature of God. Like a scripture con-sistingof words, a murti communicatesknowledge about the Divine, and theviewer must be equipped with the necessaryskills to "read" the meaning of the murti.For example, the symbolic gestures of themurti, among others, are a visual text ortheology.It is necessary to be spiritually creative infinding new words and symbols to expressourselves confidently in order to transmitour tradition to new generations.(Anant is a Professor of Religion at SaintOlaf College, Northfield, Minnesota)

YOUTH Indo-Caribbean Times M arch 2007 Page 19

How I can help with global warmingEVERYBODYis talking about global

warming these days. We are all looking forways to reduce the amount of energy weuse and carbon we put into the air. But it isnot only big factories and motor car com-panies that have to take action. All of ushave to do our part.

These are 20 things we can all do, no mat-ter how old we are.

1.Turn off the bedroom lights when I amnot using them.

2.Turn off the television set when I leavethe room.

3.Do not keep the refrigerator door open fora long time while I look around for some-thing to eat. This wastes energy as the re-frigerator tries harder to keep cool with anopen door.

4.Do not keep the refrigerator door openwhen I am making a sandwich and gettingthe butter out, then the mayo etc. I shouldget everything out and make the sandwichand return everything at the same timewhen I am finished.

5.Do not wash dishes with the dishwasherhalf full. It takes the same energy to wash afull load as a half full load. Wait until thedishwasher is full and then wash at nightwhen the demand for power is lower.

6.Do the laundry at night, for the same rea-son.

7.Pull the drapes shut in the summer to keepthe house cool and raise the temperature by1 degree higher than last year.

8.Have the house sealed up properly so thatcool air does not escape in summer whenyou use the air conditioner. A sealed offhouse will also prevent cold air getting induring winter , overworking the furnaceand wasting energy.

9.Get somebody capable to program thethermostat so that you are not heating up orcooling down the house at times when no-body is at home. It is not good to waste en-ergy on an empty house.

10.Find more ways to reduce, re-use and re-cycle things like cardboard, cans, glass,wrappings and food waste. It costs moneyand puts more carbon in the air when truckshave to take garbage to the dump.

11.Try not to waste food. It takes energy togrow it and bring it to where you live.

12.Turn off the computer monitor whenwhen I am done using the computer.

13.Do not watch more than one hour of tel-evision a day.

14.Do not sit and play video games forthree hours or more. Video games and mon-itors use a lot of electricity. Get physicallyactive and work out more often.

15.Plant more things in the garden in thesummer. Leaves and grass absorb energyand help cut down warming of the earth.

16.Cut down on using plastic bags andwrap and metal packaging like aluminiumfoil. They take energy to prepare, and re-main for centuries in the garbage dumpswhen they are thrown out.

17.Use more fresh foods which give bio-de-gradeable waste.

18.If possible, travel by a bus that takesmany people rather than driving in a carthat takes a few.

19.Consider eating more vegetarian foodand less or no meat. It takes much more en-ergy, water, chemicals and land to producemeat than to produce vegetables.

20.If you have to use a car, try getting anenergy efficient vehicle rather than a biggas guzzler.

GLOBAL WARMINGOPENS DOORS FORTROPICAL PROBLEMS

Canadian winters can be an effective de-fence against the spread of tropical diseasesand pests, but experts say that couldchange with global warming. "Either the geographical distribution canbecome more extensive for diseases ... orthe duration of the season of risk can in-crease," said Dr. Neil Rau, an infectious dis-eases expert. "Or even more unusually, someone can

import a new disease, the way West Nilecame to North America." Mosquitoes carry West Nile to humans

after consuming the blood of infected birds,and warmer winters mean more mosquitoescarrying the disease. "That dramatically increases the chancethat a human will be bitten by one of thoseinfected mosquitoes towards the end of thesummer," said Dr. Brian Ward, a tropicaldiseases expert at the University of McGill. Another concern is ticks that carry lymedisease. They're usually found only in thewarmest parts of Canada, like southernB.C. and the shoreline of Ontario's LakeErie. "But much of Canada is appropriate tickhabitat, and so if there were to be globalwarming it seems very reasonable that wemight see the ticks extend their range into amuch larger part of Canada," said Ward. Lyme disease is already the fastest-grow-ing infectious disease in the U.S., and ap-peared in Nova Scotia for the first time justtwo years ago. It can be very painful anddifficult to treat. "It is going to be very important that notonly the public is made aware of this, butthat the medical profession knows what tolook for," said Dr. Paul Sockett of Canada'sPublic Health Agency. CTV's David Akin reported that there areseveral other ways that global warmingcould contribute to the spread of disease. "When there are extreme weather eventslike flooding, researchers are finding newstrains of E. coli," he said. "And with soilswarming up on the west coast, researchershave found some funguses that are carryingdiseases."

MANY people do not know that Indianswent to the French colonies in theCaribbean, while others went to places likeGuyana, Trinidad and Jamaica.Descendants of those who went to Guade-loupe are still there, and they have startedto celebrate Indian Arrival Day. Three yearsago the people of Guadeloupe in the FrenchWest Indies had a whole year of commem-oration of the 150th anniversary of the ar-rival of the first indentured Indian workersin 1854.They also put up a First Day monument inthe business capital, Pointe-a-Pitre, near thesea-side spot where the indentured Indiansalighted between 1854 and 1889.The plaque on the monument reads:"On December 24, 1854, the sailing ship"Aurelie", after a dreadful three-month pas-sage, disembarked on this spot 314 East In-dians, requested by the Colony to cope withthe loss of labour resulting from the aboli-tion of slavery in 1848.Thus began a long period of transplanta-tion that brought 42,326 East Indians toGuadeloupe, of which 24,891 were to per-ish, particularly because of the ill-treatmentthey received, and 9,460 returned to India.In memory and homage to the contribu-tion of those from India who founded themulticultural Guadeloupe of yesterday andtoday, the Regional Council, the GeneralCouncil, the City of Pointe-a-Pitre, in ac-cord with the Bharat Gua Federation, haveerected this First Day monument, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the ar-

rival of the first Indians in Guadeloupe."The more than 600-kilogram bronze mon-ument by Indrajeet Sahadev, an Indian-bornsculptor residing in France, is a combina-tion of symbolic representations of the longKalapani journey, a boat with Lord Gane-sha's figure at the prow, masts with LordSiva's trident and damaru engraved in goldobliquely sectioned at the top to form agolden OM.

The art piece stands on a circular lotus man-dala base, the whole monument resting on amarble yantra. On the four sides of the rec-tangular base block are figures of a conch,a golden sun with the date 1854 in the mid-dle, and sugar cane shoots - the bitter reasonthat brought the Indians to the island. Theauspicious Indian symbol for water alsoturns out to be the letter G, representing theUniversal Master, the initial of Lord Gane-sha, and that of Guadeloupe. Guadeloupewas called Kalaoukera, meaning "island ofbeautiful waters" by the original, now dec-imated, Amerindian inhabitants.

As Dr. Henry Bangou, Mayor of Pointe-�-Pitre and a renowned historian, and all theofficial speakers said, the contributions ofthe Indians to the evolution of Guadeloupe

and its population is incalculable. Today Indians in Guadeloupe are to be

found in all sectors of society, from agri-culture to politics. Their painful integration,in spite of all the hardships and persecu-tions, is considered today a success. This isdue to their non-violent attitudes and deter-mination in the work place, since the timeof the sugarcane fields.Their integration was achieved at great ex-pense - the almost total loss of their originallanguages from South and North India, re-placed by French and Creole, the forcedabandonment of their religion to Catholi-cism, and the transformation of their cus-toms and culture to becomingEuropeanized. However, in the crucible ofchange, they have managed to do muchmore than just influence the local cuisine,costume and folklore.

Many cultural associations, under the fed-erative banner of Bharat-Gua ("From Indiato Guadeloupe") are reawakening the In-dian awareness. Rituals secretly kept acrosstime are being revived, scholars are re-searching and documenting the past. Inter-estingly enough, people of all culturalheritage, Indian or mixed ethnic back-grounds, are attracted and are participatingin these activities. People of all origins alsotook part in the year long commemorationevents.Originally scheduled for December 23rd,2004, the inauguration of the monumenttook place on January 23rd, 2005, due to anearthquake in Guadeloupe in December2004. After the official discourses and theunveiling of the monument at the sound ofthe "tapu" (a flat Indian tambourine drum),flower petals were thrown by Guadelou-peans of mixed ancestral heritage, onto thenearby sea.This homage was accompanied by mov-ing prayers that the offering may reach an-cient ancestors, across the sea of time.

(Information courtesy Jean. S.Sahai, aprominent researcher on Indo-Caribbeanlife in Guadeloupe and Martinique.)

Indians in Guadeloupe celebrateIndian Arrival Day Dec 24, 1854

Guadeloupe monument to Indians

Indo-Guadeloupe girls at the 150th anniversary event

ARTS AND LITERATURE Indo-Caribbean Times M arch 2007 Page 20

Mystery Woman Behind the VeilA Short Story by Roop Misir

Some years ago, I visited what was then billed the Annual “South Asian”Fair in Markham, just north of Ontario, Canada. As it turned out, this fairwas mainly a Pakistani affair, showcasing a Muslim version of South Asianculture. There were only smatterings of Indian (Bollywood) and Indo-Caribbean pop culture. Interaction at this fair was an obvious reflection ofthe increasing respect and harmony of Pakistani Canadians with other mem-bers of the South Asian immigrants living in Toronto. I was heartened to notethat a group of Indo-Caribbean performers was an instant hit.Not bad, I thought. It was refreshing to find our people intermingling andenjoying themselves, as we of the Indian Diaspora could showcase aspects ofour common culture with other members of the Canadian family.In mid-afternoon, I went the fashion show pavilion. I was anxious to learnof the latest in men's and women's fashion to be modelled. But imagine mysurprise when I received a tap on my right shoulder from a figure clad in ablack veil? Clearly startled, I gazed in bewilderment at the unseen womanwhose sparkling blue green eyes peered penetratingly through the meshedscreen. Almost instantly, I was taken aback some quarter of a century back!"Are you one of the models here?" I asked.“No. I like to speak to you. Could you follow me?” said the veiled voice.We wended our way to a less crowded area. Then she lifted the veil to re-veal a strangely familiar face.“Do you remember me now”?After some hesitation, I answered in a perplexed manner: “Are you Mee--Meena-kshi” ?“Yes”, was the reply in her once convivial voice.“Well Meena, there was no way anyone could recognize ever you behindthis black burqa.”For a few brief moments, we exchanged pleasantries.Then I reminisced: “Don’t you remember how you were such an outgoinggirl during our days at Indian Trust College? And how you went later on towin the Miss Swimsuit Queen contest? ”Yes, vividly. Quite vividly,” she muttered.“When have you come to Canada from Guyana? And since when have youstarted covering up?”“In 1975. I came without the necessary immigration papers here. With allthat racial discrimination that was going on in Guyana, who in their rightmind wouldn’t want to get away? I didn’t want to be another call girl of theKabaka! Remember dem daze, Professor?”“So?”, I nodded.“Shortly thereafter, I got married in Toronto. Not that I was particularly inlove with the guy. But in this game of survival that is life, you gotta do whayou gotta do”.Then she protested:Where the devil were you all these years? I looked for you all over in Torontofor you. Then one day, our friend Toby mentioned that you were living some-where in Winnipeg. But where? But really, I had no clue about your where-abouts! I had lost touch with you.”Gazing at me from head to shoe, she resisted the urge to give me a hug.Then Meena revealed:“Things were OK at first, but increasingly, my husband claimed he saw avision of some kind. Gradually, he became more and more of a devout Mus-lim man. A few years ago, he insisted that I observe a strict Arabian dresscode”. Waddya think?“This sort of outfit even in cosmopolitan…secular…Canada, eh?” I re-sponded involuntarily.“He tells me that secularism and decadent moral values in Canada are fer-tile ground for propagation of the religion of peace. He is obsessed with pray-ing and reading.” she declared unabashedly.Hmmm....For fear of upsetting her, I refrained from the temptation of asking her ifshe was the favourite wife.But baffled by this chance meeting, I inquired: “Where is your husbandnow?”“Somewhere in the crowd”, she replied.Then Meenakshi insisted, “I must be going, Professor”, as she hurriedlyconcealed her face behind the veil, and melted mysteriously into the swellingcrowd and the sweltering summer heat.

Was I daydreaming? Or are times really changing?

Harry say the family phone back homeNot working rightThe phone only calling himwhen they want moneywhen they want advicewhen they want something.Sometimes they calling collectjust to collect serious changefrom Harry.Send it right away HarryWestern UnionDon’t forget now.

Boysie need false teeththey calling Harryto pay the dentist.Car get in accident Call Harry to help out the situationChildren want copy book and pencilHarry will send from CanadaWhat they think,Harry have a gold mineor a money tree up here?

And they always singing this songWhen you coming down Harry?Coming for Christmas?Coming for Divali?Coming for Carnival?Coming for your vacation?Bring down something nice for weWhen you coming.Ah go send you a list.

If anything will kill Harryis that listThey want IPod and DVDdesigner jeansHarry can’t buy for heselfHundred dollar basketball shoeFancy sari from Gerrard StreetMaybe a nice digital cameraNot less than 5 megapixelsGifts for about fifty people90 year old aji

and Mohan five nephewHarry never see before.

And they waiting in the airportwith mini van to pick upall them box Harry have to pay overweight for.

Harry don’t get no vacationwhen he go back homeEvery little problem waiting since last yeardrop in Harry lapBig brother from Canada will fix it.Harry paying for everything tooHe have to treat the familyWhen you have you must spend Not so?

Harry say he need a family breakA break from the familyWhen the phone ringuse the call displayLet the machine take a messageDon’t answer for a weekWas out of town you know.Let Boysie buy he own false teethor else enjoy some serious porridge.

Next vacation HarryHeading for Cayo Largo, CubaSecond honeymoon in the sunCome back relaxed Feeling good. Them Spanish people reallyappreciate your hard currency.

Now Harry have nothing against familyFamily is everything He might call them from Cuba to say soBut the phone system not so goodin Cayo Largo.

(From an upcoming collection of 30 poems on Indo-Caribbean Life)

Family is everythingBy Ram Jagessar

Maharaj writes a masterpieceIF you haven’t sat down with a good bookfrom the Caribbean lately, the masterpiece“A Perfect Pledge” from Trinidadian Ra-bindranath Maharaj may be the medicineyou need.The book is described as a “Best Book” inCanada for the year 2005 by the Globe andMail, a masterpiece by the Toronto Sun,while the Winnipeg Free Press praises Ma-haraj as a writer at the height of his powerswith a strong and sure hand.A reviewer for the Toronto Star says, “Theonly truly serious and successful Canadiannovel I have read so far this year is set en-tirely on the island of Trinidad and has nota single Canadian character.”It does have Narpat, a figure in the mouldof V.S. Naipaul’s Mr Biswas, battling theelements and the world in the tiny villageof Lengua.Trinidad in 1961 is a country inching to-ward independence, bur village life is hard,and Narpat, a sugarcane farmer, is sickenedby the corruption he sees all around him. Hescorns his neighbours as greedy, shiftlessand enslaved to the rumshop, and sets out toimprove life for his family and contempo-raries, much to their dismay. It’s up to hisadoring son Jeeves, to save Narpat from hisever wilder “futurist” plans. Toronto reviewer Ron Charles says, ”Thisis a rich, expansive tale about a poor, com-pressed place that Maharaj loves enough to

celebrate but knows well enough to recreatein all its stifling corruption and ignorance. Itbegins with the birth of the fourth child andonly son of Narpat, an eccentric sugar-cane

farmer in 1955 For the 400 people ofthis isolated village, Narpat is impossibleto ignore; for us, he'simpossible to forget.A man of unflappableconviction, he knowsexactly what's wrong

with the way everybody else eats, prays,works and gardens. Poor Jeeves must sleepon a mattress of twigs (improves circula-tion) and subsist on his father's barely di-gestible diet, which leaves him feelingnauseated and flatulent much of the time.Complaints only call down long haranguesabout their neighbors' foolish taste forsweets and alcohol. "Toxins," Narpat in-sists. "Look at how much bloat-up peopleit have in this crowd. Diabetes and strokejust waiting to happen." His wife enduresunending labor in their decrepit house, butNarpat thunders away every night about thedanger of sloth and ease. "What is the pointof this electricity nonsense," he harasses hisbored children, "when you could get thebrightest light from any gas lamp? No out-age, no blackout, no monthly bill."What more can one say? Read it.

SPORTS Indo-Caribbean Times M arch 2007 Page 21RIA RAMNARINE

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11Barely making the minimum weight of 110pounds, Ria was at one of the worst disad-vantages she’d ever been at in the ring. Yetshe was undisturbed and gallantly matchedgloves with the Box-Queen. Though Regina was stronger, Ria was giv-ing a good account of herself when the ref-eree stopped the fight in the sixth round.Ria was furious. The headbutt she had re-ceived earlier caused a nosebleed but shewas fine and more than able to continue. “Itwas bizarre. I saw the tape and we won’teven in a clinch when the ref stopped it. Ofcourse, they gave their own account andnow it’s water under the bridge. But I mustsay that like in all the other countries Ifought, I gained respect. The fight fans sup-ported their girl 200% but they also ap-plauded my efforts. It was certainly aprivilege to travel to Germany and fight theBoxing Goddess herself and I even got tomeet my German penpal of over twelveyears, Nina”.In October Ria retired from her job, citingpersonal reasons. Hardly had she dealt withthis, when she gave up her world title onNovember 7th. The glaring inequality intreatment to the female boxers in Trinidadproved too much. The Sport Company ofT&T said she was not qualified for assis-tance; the same company that pumped overa quarter million dollars into other womens’bouts. The Ministry of Sports meted out very

meagre amounts, ten to twelve thousand,for her fights whereas they fully supportedcertain other womens’ bouts. Ria is stillawaiting (as of Feb 2007) a mere twelvethousand dollars from the Ministry of Cul-ture and Gender Affairs that was promisedsince December 2005. This is the very sameministry that gave another female boxersixty thousand dollars overnight after con-tinuously supporting the very said boxer inall of her fights. (It is certain Ria is of theright gender, maybe she doesn’t have theright culture). Emphatically stating her fustrations, Rialiterally threw her world title belt in thegarbage can. Needless to say, it sparkedheavy controversy. For the next month, in-terviews through all media avenues weretaking place. While some condemned heractions, most applauded it. She finally gotto meet with the Minister of Sport, a yearand a half after winning her world title. Ittook this sacrifice to get a hearing from theMinister. After talks that were described as“fruitful” she is still awaiting answer on herprojections for 2007. Also taking place in 2006 was fulfillmentof a different kind. In the latter part of 2004and 2005, Ria was pooling her resources to-gether with her parents to build a newhome. For the past fifteen years, they livedin a wooden house without running waterand electricity. Her siblings were now mar-ried with families of their own so basicallyit was up to Ria to help her parents. Taking a loan (which she and her father isstill paying), she kickstarted plans for thehouse. In January 2006, although it was in-complete, Ria and her parents moved intotheir new home. Whatever earnings shemade, either from boxing or work, she putit all into finishing the house. After theHalmich bout, Ria was able to cover thecost of the electrical wiring, pay off thehardware bills and pay some money on theland. She had made good on her promise asa child.At present, the little giant is preparing fora kickboxing world title bout that still has tobe confirmed. She prefers to be ready for afight that doesn’t take place rather than beunprepared for one which does take place.

As far as boxing goes, she waits on wordfrom the Ministry of Sports.It is too costly now for her and her man-

ager to finance the bouts. Her new job in aMetal Export Company as a Field Managertakes up a lot of time, but she juggles it withher training. “My job is paying my bills atthe moment and though it can be difficultat times, Iw i l l i n g l ymake thesacrifice. Allthe yearsinto mysport haspaid off toan extent butnot to the fi-nancial ex-tent”! Thea t h l e t i cRamnarineis an Hon-orary Mem-ber of theSixth Trinidad Sea Scouts, Angel Fish Pa-trol and is a member of the KFC Angel andSaints Dragon Boat Racing Team. She goesto the swimming pool whenever time per-mits and has started participating in 5 Kmruns. (Though she jokingly admits she isn’ttoo much of a runner).Ria is often called upon to give motiva-tional speeches at community events andparticularly at Sports days. She receivedthe Vocational Award from the Rotary Clubof Penal in 2006 and was nominated by theWIBA for fighter of the year in 2006 aswell. Because of her assertiveness and reliabil-ity, she is the Secretary of Fine Line FightClub (where she trains) and is the InterimAssistant Secretary for the Trinidad and To-bago Kick Boxing Federation. Additionally,Ria is trying to find the time to completeher course in Freelance Journalism, a dis-tance learning option from The Writer’s Bu-reau in England. Her dream is to win a kickboxing worldtitle, her only elusive goal. She believes shehas made her mark in boxing and is satis-fied with her black belt in Karate. As for ahusband and children, Ria doesn’t plan toget married soon, if ever at all. “I don’tthink I can get a guy to treat me the way mymother does, and no I am not spoilt, I justearned the right to be pampered”, she smil-ingly quips. She loves kids but isn’t too in-clined to have any of her own, not yet anyway.This young lady has certainly come a longway and has achieved what some others canonly dream of. She is an intelligent personwhose outgoing yet quiet and humble de-meanour makes her the people’s championthat she is. Her ethics and aptitude to faceall challenges openly makes her a trainer’sdream, a family’s idol and a people’s hero.Her advice to Indian women and girls issimple. “Don’t ever be ashamed of your an-cestry and cultural background. Do not beafraid to step into areas where people thinkIndians have no right to step into. Whateveryou venture into, be it sports, music, aca-demics or any other area, know that youhave the right to do so. When you set yourgoals, pursue it wholeheartedly, without thefear that others will condemn or criticiseyou. And most importantly, believe in your-self and the strenght and greatness of yourpeople.Generally, men respect Ria. Of course,

there are those that heckle her about beingin a man’s sport. Indian men however areextremely proud of her, she has done whatno other Indian has been able to do inTrinidad and Tobago, take boxing to a nextlevel on an international stage and win aworld title. She is their champion.

Reyad EmritChris GayleRyan HindsWavell HindsSylvester JosephRawl LewisDave MohammedRunako MortonDaren PowellKieron PollardDenesh RamdinDarren SammyMarlon Samuels

Ramnaresh SarwanLendl SimmonsDevon SmithDwayne SmithJerome TaylorGavin Tonge

MATCH SCHEDULE

Tue 13 Mar West Indies vs Pakistan

Wed 14 Mar Australia vs Scotland Kenya vs Canada

Thu 15 Mar Sri Lanka vs Bermuda Zimbabwe vs Ireland

Fri 16 Mar South Africa vs Netherlands England vs New Zealand

Sat 17 Mar India vs Bangladesh Pakistan vs Ireland

Sun 18 Mar Australia vs The Netherlands England vs Canada

Mon 19 Mar India vs Bermuda West Indies vs Zimbabwe

Tue 20 Mar South Africa vs Scotland New Zealand vs Kenya

Wed 21 Mar Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh Zimbabwe vs Pakistan

Thu 22 Mar Scotland vs Netherlands New Zealand vs Canada

Fri 23 Mar India vs Sri Lanka West Indies vs Ireland

Sat 24 Mar Australia vs South Africa England vs Kenya

Sun 25 Mar Bermuda vs Bangladesh

After the first rounds two teams from eachgroup advance to the Second Stage, theSuper Eight round. These will be placed in Antigua, Barbuda, Grenada, Guyana and Barbados from Tue 27 Mar -April 21.

The Semi - Final Round goes on Tue 24Apr with the playoffs between the secondand third teams in the final four.

On Wed 25 Apr the last semifinal matchtakes place betwen the forst and fourthteams.

The Grand Final comes down in Barbadoson Sat 28 April.

CANADA A LONG SHOT TOWIN CRICKET WORLD CUP CANADA is bravely sending down a

young team to the ICC Cricket World CupWest Indies 2007 that begins in theCaribbean on March 11. But our chancesare not very good against the cricketing gi-ants of the world.Thad includes the West Indies teamthatonce ruled the cricket world, and is nowaiming to become the first host country towin the World Cup. Nine countries are in the battle for the Cupgiven to the best cricket team in the world. The action starts with several warm upmatches from March 5-9 in several West In-dian stadiums. After the opening ceremonyon March 11 the battles begin in ernest.In Group A the two top rated teams areAustralia and South Africa, followed byScotland and the NetherlandsGroup B has two powerhouses Sri Lankaand India, plus Bangladesh and BermudaGroup C has New Zealand and England asthe seeds, along with Kenya and CanadaGroup D has the powerful Pakistan team,up and coming Zimbabwe, the West Indiesand Ireland

Canada’s Provisional Squad includes atleast one Indo-Caribbean player, SurendraSeeraj, and several South Asians. The fullsquad is JM Davison (Captain)IS BillcliffDR ChumneyAshish BagaiAustin CodringtonO HenryGR CodringtonSunil DhaniramKT SandherDES MaxwellPB DassanayakeHS DhillonUmar BhattiGeoffrey BarnettSurendra SeerajSteven WelshDurand SoraineBrian RajaduraiNaresh PratelTrevin BistiampillaiOrson ThedoreKendon OttleyGavin BistiampilaiJason PratajSandeep JyotiQaiser AliAbdool SamadAnderson CummingsAshif MullaAshishkumar Pa

The West Indies Provisional Squadincludes five Indo-Caribbeans, includingthe ever dependable Chanderpaul,

Chanderpaul

The full squad is Brian Lara (Captain)Omari BanksCarlton BaughIan BradshawDwayne BravoPatrick BrowneShivnarine ChanderpaulCorey CollymoreNarsingh DeonarineTravis DowlinFidel Edwards

SPORTS

Marker, All Fours by 100 in Scarborough!OPEN the door of the Sugar Lounge anySunday after 1.00 pm and you are suddenlyno longer in cold Scarborough, Ontario.You could be in Scarborough, Tobago, orin any club in Chaguanas, Trinidad watch-ing a hot All Fours tournament A hundred familiar looking card players(including up to 20 women) from the MetroAll Fours League are plunked down in deadearnest around 25 tables . Most are fromTrinidad and Tobago but a few Guyanese,Grenadians and St Lucians are in thecrowd. All Fours Caribbean style is aliveand well and kicking up its heels inToronto.League president Mahadeo Sankar, knownas “Duce”to one and all, explains that AllFours is an ideal game for Canada, where itis played during the fall,winter and springeach year. It’s full of competitive excite-ment, requiring skill and intelligence rather

than just plain luck, andprovides plenty of social-izing with friends fromthe Caribbean. There’s nobetter way to spend a Sun-day afternoon than this,not even Superbowl Sun-day when the Leagueplays its championship

tournament with another All Fours leaguefrom western Toronto.The Metro All Fours League has come

through overwhelming odds and problemsto experience dramatic growth over the lastseven years. Sankar believes this is becauseof their zero tolerance policy, high level ofdiscipline, working effectively together, im-plementing the rules and their suspensionpolicy. The games are highly organized,with strict rules, and no tolerance for swear-ing and unsporstmanlike behaviour. "We have done the foundation work to

make sure our league is a destination forour members to play All Fours in a con-genial and safe environment, and a destina-tion for competing in elite championshipgames. The best is yet to come." Starting with four clubs, the Metro Leaguehas expanded to the present 12 clubs, eachwith around 15 players. It competes withthe slightly smaller Toronto All Fours As-sociation (with eight clubs mostly in thewest of the city) in the Greater TorontoArea for the Pride All Fours championshipof Toronto. The League entered into that competitionstarting in 2002 and held the title GTA AllFours Champions for three years. Sankarsays one of its main tasks today is the de-velopment of young players wishing to pro-mote this Caribbean game in NorthAmerica. There are All Fours players in Manitobaand Alberta, and some years ago there wastalk of a western tour but it never material-ized. For now, The Toronto leagues are con-sidering fielding a team to tackle the best ofthe Trinidad players. Guyanese do not playmuch competitive All Fours, though thereis a similar game called “turupcharle” For the future they are looking at owningtheir own Club House, expanding theirweb site www.metroallfours.com to be-come an electronic communications centre,and acquiring IT equipment to provide ef-fective and efficient administrative work.Metro also hosts an Annual Children'sChristmas Party, banquets, All-star Game,and an Awards Presentation and Dance.They usually take part in a tournemnt at theannual TrinifestThe seven member executive headed bySankar is busy scouting out sponsors tohelp expand the game to more Torontoni-

ans who are interested. The possibilities aregreat, since more than three quarters of theestimated 100,000 Trinis in Canada live inor around the GTA.To reach them contact Mahadeo Sankar at647-299-3823 (cell) 416-298-9444 (work),or Secretary Ramesh Chand at 416-473-8730, by e-mail at metroallfours@hot-mail.com

tricks. The points are as follows:High 1 point, This point is won by the

team of the player who had the highesttrump.Low 1 point. This point is won by the

team of the player who held the lowesttrump that was dealt. It does not matter whowins the trick containing this trump - thepoint is for the original holders.Jack 1 or 3 points. If the jack of trumps

wins a trick, or is won in a trick by the part-ner of the holder, the team with the jacksscores 1 point. If the jack is captured in atrick won by the opponents of the holder,the team capturing the jack scores 3 pointsfor hang jack. If the jack of trumps was notdealt, then of course neither team scores forit.Game 1 point. This point goes to the teamthat wins the more valuable cards in tricks.For this purpose only, the top five cards ineach suit have the following values: ace = 4,king = 3, queen = 2, jack = 1, ten = 10;other cards (2-9) have no value. Each teamadds up the total value of the cards in theirtricks, and whichever team has more scoresthe game point. If both teams have the samevalue of cards, no one gets the game point.Each team keeps a cumulative total of

points they have won, and the first team toreach a total of 14 or more points over how-ever many hands it takes wins the overallgame. When nearing the end of a game, the

points are counted strictly in the order high,low, jack, game to determine who hasreached 14 first, so a tie is impossible. Forexample, suppose that at the start of a handboth teams have 13 points, that no pointsare scored for the turned up trump, and thetrump suit is accepted. If team A has thehighest trump, but team B win low, jack andgame, then team A will win, because theirpoint for high takes them to 14 before theother team can score.

IrregularitiesMisdeal

If the dealer gives the wrong number ofcards to the players, the opponents scoreone point for a misdeal, and the cardsmust be thrown in and shuffled and dealtagain.

Revoking - also called RenegingThis is playing a card of a non-trumpcard of a different suit from the card thatwas led when you could have followedsuit.

Metro All Fours League players battle it out at the Sunday tournament

SPORTS Indo-Caribbean Times M arch 2007 Page 22

Sankar

If the dealer decides to keep the trumps asturned up, he says, "Take one"; the oppo-nents of the dealer receive one point andplay begins. 1.If the dealer agrees to change the trump

suit, he sets aside the turned up card, dealsthree more cards to each player, and thenturns up the next card to determine thetrump suit, scoring for it as above if it is anace, jack or six. 2.If this new turn up is of a different suitthan the first turn up, play begins with thisnew suit as trumps. 3.If the new turn up is the same suit as be-fore, the dealer gives another three cards toeach player and turns up another card, scor-ing again if it is an ace, jack or six. Thisprocedure is repeated until the turn up pro-duces a new trump suit. 4.If the deck is exhausted before a newtrump suit is found, the entire deck isreshuffled and redealt. The dealer's teamnevertheless keeps any points they havescored for turned up cards.

PlayThe player on the dealer's right has the firstlead, and the winner of the trick leads to thenext trick. Any card can be led, but theother players are subject to the followingrules: 5.If a trump is led, the other players mustplay a trump if they can; anyone who hasno trumps left can play any card. 6.If a card of a non-trump suit is led, thenany player who has a card of that suit musteither follow suit, by playing a card of thesuit led, or play a trump. A player who hasno card of the suit led can play any card(there is no obligation to play a trump inthis case). 7.The trick is won by the highest trumpcard played to it; if no trumps are played itis won by the highest card of the suit led. Note that the effect of these rules is that isis always legal to play a trump. The onlyplay that is prohibited is to throw a non-trump card of a different suit from the leadwhen you could have followed suit. Thatwould be a revoke or renege, and is pe-nalised as explained below.Play continues until all players have

played all their cards. If the original trumpsuit was accepted there will be six tricks,but if a change of trump suit was begged forand allowed, the players will have largerhands and there will be 9 or 12 tricks, orpossibly even more in a two-player game.ScoringAt the end of the play, points are scoredfor the cards that were dealt or taken in

THE RULES OF ALL FOURSPlayers, cards and objective

Normally there are four players, in twofixed partnerships, partners sitting oppositeeach other. A standard 52 card pack is used.In each suit, the cards rank from high tolow: A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2.The object of the game is to score pointsby winning tricks with valuable cards inthem. The player or team that takes morevaluable cards in tricks will score one pointfor "game". In addition, there are points fortaking the jack of trumps in a trick, and forthe holders of the highest and lowest trumpsdealt. It is also possible for the dealer's teamto score points for the card turned up fortrumps during the deal.DealPlayers cut for the deal, and whoever cutsthe highest card becomes the first dealer.Deal and play are anticlockwise, and theturn to deal passes to the right after eachhand. Each player is dealt six cards. Thedealer can choose whether to deal the cardsone at a time or in batches of three, but hav-ing chosen must stick to the same methodfor the whole game.When everyone has six cards, the dealerturns the next card face up to indicate thetrump suit. If this turned up card is an ace,six or jack, the dealer's team immediatelyscores for it as follows: Ace turned up 1 point, Six turned up 2points, Jack turned up 3 pointsIf the player on the dealer's right is happywith the trump suit that is shown by the turnup, he says "Stand" and play begins. If theplayer on the dealer's right would prefer adifferent trump suit, he says, "I beg". Thedealer then has the option to change trumpsor to keep the suit of the turned up card astrumps.

Origin of All FoursAll Fours originated in England in the 17thcentury and continues to be played in placeslike Kent, and Lancashire. It was taken tothe USA by English settlers, and also toCaribbean countries like Trinidad, theGrenadines, and St Lucia where it waspicked up in the late 19th century. The is-landers made some modification to thegame as the rule differs in each island. Inthe early 20th century, the locals in Trinidaddeveloped a huge appetite for the game andit spread through the island like wild fire.Since then it has become the national cardgame of Trinidad.

All Fours in TorontoCaribbean students from Trinidad, St

Lucia, and Grenada who were attending theUniversity of Toronto introduced the gameto Toronto somewhere around 1960. Astime went by, the Caribbean populationgrew and so did the game. A demand forbetter organization and adequate facilitiesbecame a priority, and gave rise to twowell-known Leagues, The Cutty”s AllFours League and the Toronto All foursLeague. In the late1980’s, the Ontario AllFours league was formed, followed by theMetro All Fours League in 1994.

COMMENTARY Indo-Caribbean Times M arch 2007 Page 23

Best Wishes and a Pledge of Support

to the Indo-Caribbean Timesfrom the

Indo-Trinidad Canadian Association

Congratulations on the launch of the

Indo-Caribbean TimesGulcharan Mohabir, C.G.A.Copies of the Bhagwad Gita may be ontained by calling 416-481-5777

AKAASH MAHARAJFROM PAGE 1

Starting just two years ago, Akaash hasmade it to the top tier of one of the world'smost obscure and challenging sports, ac-cording to a story by Peter Cheney in theGlobe and Mail. Although it sounds like a camping com-petition, tent pegging is actually based onthe ancient military skill of skewering op-ponents (both elephants and humans) “I took up the sport in 2005 as a memberof the Governor General's Horse Guards. InSeptember 2006, two friends from theHorse Guards and I recklessly entered theUS National Cavalry Competition in Ken-tucky. “Against all rationality, I took a red and ablue ribbon in Mounted Sabre III and Mil-itary Field Jumping II, respectively.“Following results of the US games, I wasinvited to represent Canada at the 2007 In-ternational Tent Pegging Championships, tobe held in the Sultanate of Oman, 02-06March.“With tent pegging dominated by nationswith cavalry cultures, I will likely be theonly New World athlete at the champi-onships, and I am conscious that I am anovice in an ancient sport. Nevertheless, Ican imagine no higher athletic honour thanto carry the maple leaf in competition, andI will embark for Oman parrying my deficitof skill with a surplus of enthusiastic aban-don, “ he says.

Many believe tent pegging was invented inthe ancient Indian Empire, where war ele-phants ruled the battlefield. Cavalry officerscame up with a bold tactic to neutralize theelephants: By stabbing them in their sensi-tive feet, the officers could make the ele-phants fall, or rear up on their hind legs,spilling off the humans from their backs.How the art of precision stabbing becameknown as "tent pegging" is a matter of de-bate. Some believe it's because Indian cav-aliers rode into enemy encampments atnight and collapsed the opposing army'stents by slashing the support ropes.Tent pegging has been practised at leastsince the fourth century BC, but became acompetitive international sport only in the20th century. Tent peggers compete on an800-metre course, and must smite a seriesof targets. There are three elements: GroundTarget, Suspended Target and QuintainCharging, where competitors attack a bob-bing mannequin. In Suspended Target, rid-ers must skewer rings hanging atapproximately the height of a man's eye. InGround Target, they stab small foam bull's-eyes set on the earth.There are serious risks, as you might expectwith a sport that consists of riding a horsewhile carrying deadly cutting instruments.The swords and lances are razor-sharp:"They're designed to inflict wounds thatdon't heal," Mr. Maharaj notes. The lance event presents its own fiendishchallenge. Stabbing a ground target with apointed steel rod nearly three metres longcalls for perfect control -- the slightestbounce or miscalculation can result in thelance jabbing into the earth and stopping

the rider dead as the horse gallops on, in acatastrophe that looks like pole-vaultingfrom horseback.India is the world's reigning superpower oftent pegging, with a cadre of professionalriders who dominate the internationalscene. The Indian pros that Mr. Maharajwill face next month in Oman enjoy bene-fits that a Canadian tent pegger can onlydream of: They practise the sport full time,as members of elite Indian Army cavalryregiments. They also get corporate spon-sorship -- many ride with the logos of firmssuch as Rolex on banners attached to theirsaddles.Akaash pays for his own equipment and

Akaash learned tent pegging while servingwith the Governor General’s HorseGuards Cavalry Squadron

horses. Instead of sponsorships, he hasgiven the side of his horse over to UNICEF,and serves as a spokesman in the agency'sfight against child labour.He will have one special touch in the

championship. His equerry, or horse assis-tant, will be Hal Jackman, former lieutenantgovernor of Ontario. He is not deterred by his lack of experi-ence and sponsorship. "I don't have as manyresources," he says. "But that doesn't meanI can't do well. I'm going to give it my verybest."Military cavaliers have practiced tent peg-ging for more than two-and-a-half millen-nia, and it is one of only ten disciplinesofficially recognised by the FEI, the globalgoverning body for Olympic and interna-tional equestrianism. In March, I will rep-resent Canada at the International TentPegging Championships.The most broadly accepted account of tentpegging's birth is as battle drill in the IndianEmpire. The sport prepared horse cavaliersto charge and fell war elephants throughfinely placed lance strikes to the ponderousbeasts' vulnerable feet.The mainstay of tent pegging remains

lancing ground targets. However, the sportalso includes: ring jousting (threading ablade through suspended rings); lemonsticking (slicing suspended targets); quin-tain tilting (charging swivelling man-nequins); Parthian (mounted) archery; andcavalry revolver. All events are conductedat a full gallop.Akaash , has dedicated his team’s namingrights to UNICEF . This is the first time aCanadian is competing at this event. .

Want To Move Into That Dream Home Now?

CALL Peter SeepersadPeter Seepersad(416-) 286-3993 Toll free: 1.800.663.7119

RE/MAX Rouge River Realty Ltd Brokerage

6758 Kingston Road, Unit 1, Toronto, Ontario M1B 1G8GET 20 YEARS EXPERIENCE WORKING FOR YOUPeter Seepersad

Sales RepresentativeResidential, Commercial& Investments

$268,000Detached Home. Stunning Renovation,Modern Kitchen, Breakfast Bar Ce-ramic Floors In Kitchen & Foyer. Fin-ished Basement With Huge Bedroom,Freshly Painted, Interlock Walkway.Walk To School(Public/High School),Church, Park, Close To 401, U Of T,Centennial College.All Elf's, All Win-dow Coverings, Gb&E, Fridge, Stove,B/I Dishwasher, Washer, Dryer

$524,000Huge Executive Home In Court NearPrivate And Public Schools. BasementHas Sep. Entrance And W/O To HugeB a c k y a r d , 2 n dKitchen(14.5X11.5Ft)2nd Drm & 2ndL v r m C o m b . ( 2 3 . 5 X 1 4 . 5 ) 6 t hBdrm(11X11)7th Bdrm(11X10.5)8thBdrm(10.5X9) Crown Mouldings 9FtCeilings 1st Floor.Main Flr B/IOven/Microwave Range Top. & more.

$299,000Excellent 3 Bdrm Bungalow With 2Bdrm Bsmt Apartment Seperate En-trance,Custom Built Kitchen Cabinets,Lots Of Hwd/Flrs And Ceramics, BathsRenovated,Roof 4 Yrs New,SomeNewer Windows,Bdrm Has Hwd/FlUnder Carpet.Walk To T.T.C. Fridge,2Stove,Washer,Dryer,C/A,Gb&E,AllElfs,Wood Burning Stove,Brdlm/Wl.

$158,900End Unit A Buyers Dream. Steps ToFrenchmans Bay And Ravine. Close ToShopping, Go Transit And Public Tran-sit. Huge Rooms, Hardwood FloorsThru Out. All Appliances Negoitable-Furance2005, All Existing WindowCoverings, Broadloom Where Laid,Windows Replaced 1998, Includes AllElectric Light Fixtures