| Username |
Post |
| Biswo |
Posted
on 11-Oct-01 12:38 PM
VS Naipaul's works are found everywhere. He is arguably the most selling writer
of English novel these days. I remember buying his books in Educational
Enterprises, and in a bookstore below Himalayan Bank in Tridevi Marg. They
provide insight to everything he was trying to describe. The writer has immense
power of writing what he experienced, what others living with him/talking to him
experienced. Reading books like "Area of Darkness", "A house for Mr Biswas"
and "India: A million mutinies now" gave me a lot of new sights on history of
countries like India, contemporary life in Trinidad and Tobago etc etc.
I have wrote about my encounter with a former professor of Princeton who gave
first break to Naipaul in BBC when he was struggling in London. The link is given
below, since it is already in a gbnc kurakani. There are not much things to read in
this thread, but this will be a pleasant reminiscence for this website also. I haven't
wrote a lot of stuffs about Sir Naipaul in the thread that the professor[ John
Carrew(surname is not sure!)] told at the moment. But I surely cherish the
moment talking to a man who was so close to Sir Naipaul once.
www.gbnc.org/FORUM/CFM/OpenThread.cfm?forum=2&ThreadID=728
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| VillageVoice |
Posted
on 11-Oct-01 01:58 PM
Biswoji and Ashu, I enjoyed your discussion on the Nepali-Caribbean families.
Never knew there were Nepalis among the boat people who set sail for the West Indies in the 1830s (?). During the spring semester early this year, I connected extensively with New York's Indo-Caribbean population -- people of Indian origin mostly from Guyana and Trinidad. It was part of my reporting assingment, but it ended up being a little more than that. I enjoyed greatl chemistry with these cricket-loving Hindus, who like me missed home.
There are thousands of them in New York City, and parts of Queens are flooded with Guyanese. Richmond Hill, near JFK, is in fact called Little Guyana. You will be surprised to know that there are more Guayanese in New York than in Georgetown, the capital of Guyana, and a campaign is afoot to include Guyana in "American Commonwealth."
Most Guyanese don't speak Hindi (are big fans of Hindi movies), but insist they are more Indian than Indians, another very tenacious ethnic group in America.
While New York's 10,000-odd Nepalis are still trying to establish a Hindu temple, and a chautrai, some 50-odd Indo-Caribbean temples have sprung in the last 10 years or so in New York City. What I found remarkable about the Caribbeans is that their temples put more emphasis on talking/tackling changing values and keeping their younsters focussed in the new set up. There is much less stress on rituals.
I used to visit Tri Murti Mandir (pronounced TRI-Murti MAANDEER) every second or third Sunday during the summer, where Pandit (PAAN-DIT) Gopal (?) keeps the parishoners captivated with his two-hour sermon, sprinkled with Hindi bhajans (he is a great singer), and practical tips. I also met Muslims and Christians during the bhajans. "It's different in the Caribbean," XXX Ali told me. "Indians won't understand it."
Hundreds of bhaktajans visit these temeples every Sunday in their best dhoti, sari, kurta-paijama, and salwar-kameez, and remember their villages, and towns, in Guyana. To my delight :), I was introduced as "a visiting scholar from Nepal who needs your help (in his reporting)," and was asked to join everybody for a free vegetarian lunch --dal-bhat, alu tamako jhol, haluwa and kheer.
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 11-Oct-01 02:51 PM
VillageVoiceji:
Great information. Thank you for the info. This has really been a great learning
opportunity.
In his 1960s book "Area of Darkness", Sir Naipaul describes his journey to his
ancestor's land. He goes to Northern India. Then he describes how his
grandparents moved to Carribean. 'As a Pundit of indentured people ferried to
those country to work in sugarcane firms by Britons'.
There was this nice movie "Papillon" of Dustin Huffman and Steve McQuinn, where
convicts are sent to an isolated island of Carribian (French Guyana). When I was
watching the movie, I saw the terror and license of local police, and imagined how
the indentured workers there might have lived. These people and their story
really test our own judgement on democracy. Without democracy, the life was
quite precarious for everybody.Then also. [Now also]. So unpredictable that those
who went from India or Nepal to those nations never returned back. They just
settled down there.
Nepal was basically immune to British pressure, and hiring Nepali for any thing
other than military purpose (by British force) was out of question then, as long as
I understand. That means, very few of our ancestors were forcefully separated
from their homeland unless they chose so willingly. That probably explains why
Nepali diaspora is not as numerous and widespread as Indians.
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| webmaster |
Posted
on 11-Oct-01 02:56 PM
Nepal and Naipaul?
http://www.chakrapath.com/discus
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| oohi_ashu |
Posted
on 11-Oct-01 08:46 PM
Hi all,
It is great that VS Naipaul has won ths year's literature ko Nobel Prize.
I am now dying to read Naipaul's protege-turned-friend-turned-enemy
Paul Thoreaux's reaction.
oohi
ashu
ktm,nepal
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 12-Oct-01 01:54 AM
In a twist of fate: The booker prize committee recently decided not to include
Sir Vidia's new book "half a life" in the shortlist.
Paul Theoreux's Sir Vidia's Shadow was a controversial book, but I haven't read
the book yet. Summery of the book was available everywhere though. It was
some kind of Naipaul bashing.
These both guys (Paul and Bookers) must be wondering what is happening
around!!
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| NK |
Posted
on 12-Oct-01 09:38 AM
Revenge is sweet isn't it Sir Naipaul? Especially when you have a Nobel Prize to stick it in your enemies face.
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| Somebody |
Posted
on 12-Oct-01 03:51 PM
>Nepal and Naipaul?
>
>http://www.chakrapath.com/discus
Hello webmaster of chakrapath.com you seem to be trying to copy this site. LOL Your voting sucks. That's not even voting. Give me a break!
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