Indian Cuckoo Birds in Trinidad

Fatel Razack, a ship made of Indian teak carrying more than two hundred bewildered Indians, completely uncertain of their fate but harbouring hope in their hearts, landed at the island of Trinidad on 30th May 1845, exactly 180 years ago.

- (Anuj Tyagi) Deputy General Manager, Food Corporation of India, Hqr, New Delhi.

The ordeal endured by these brave passengers during their ten-thousand-nautical-mile long journey across vast oceans to a land where no one from the Indian sub-continent had set foot before is difficult to comprehend, even in the wildest imaginations.

The inhabitants of Oudh and adjoining areas Bihar in British India, an area where most of the passengers belonged, an inland hinterland-historically had little to no exposure to sea travel or maritime migration.

This contrasted sharply with populations from coastal regions like Gujarat, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and even Sindh, who had for centuries engaged in sea trade and occasional migration by sea. As evident from the pattern of seafaring migration, particularly in the medieval period, had largely been the domain of coastal peoples-whether Dutch, Spanish, Irish, British, Italian, or Asian and African communities-who were culturally and psychologically more attuned to the challenges of long sea voyages.