Indian Cuckoo birds in Trinidad -II

Like most Indian children in the 1980s, I grew up playing cricket and reading about it obsessively.

- Anuj Tyagi

One story that always puzzled me was how, despite being fierce sporting rivals, the West Indies created a joyful Calypso song to celebrate Sunil Gavaskar after India’s first-ever Test win against their team in 1971 at Queens Park, Port of Spain comprising legendary Sir Garry Sobers, Clive Lloyd, Rohan Kanhai, a test series we also went on to win. I could never quite understand this generous gesture, until I visited Trinidad & Tobago.

Migration, despite its romantic connotations, is rarely a first choice. Most people, given the opportunity, would prefer to live and grow in their homeland rather than leave it for uncertain prospects. Yet history has shown us that migration, voluntary or forced, has shaped civilizations. The journey of Indians to the Caribbean as indentured labourers is one such chapter, full of quiet courage and unimaginable resilience.

In 1845, Bharat and his fellow passengers boarded the Fatel Razack to undertake a perilous voyage to a land they had never heard of, with no ancestral or cultural reference to draw from. They were brought in as substitutes for enslaved Africans following the abolition of slavery - expected to work hard, keep quiet, and assimilate.