There are many stories written by researchers and academics about the girmitya journey from India to Fiji in the 19th century.
While the detailed articles try their best, nothing quite captures the tale though than the intimate narratives passed down from one generation to the next.
Those stories express emotions and experiences that scholarly articles can’t quite capture and re-tell.
And Utkutar Naiker chose to preserve the memory of his girmitiya grandparents and parents in his book Echoes from Fiji: Global footprints of a girmit.
He and his son were recently in the country to attend the International Conference on Indentureship in Fiji to mark the 144th anniversary of girmit in the country.
Mr Naiker said his book was a tribute to the girmitiya, the Indian indentured labourers brought to Fiji by the British government from 1879 to provide labour for establishing an economy in Fiji after the Chiefs ceded the country to the British Crown in 1874.
“Apart from being of interest to members of my extended family and friends in Fiji as well as in the Fiji-Indian diaspora, it could be a source of information to those interested in the life of a Fiji Indian of the third generation,” he said.
“My life, in Fiji and globally, I owe it all to the girmitya.
“I unconsciously developed my life habits by observing and learning from the actions of my grandparents and parents as they went about addressing small and big issues and overcame adversity as much as they could.”
In his book, that was published in Australia on January 23, 2022, Mr Naiker revisits his family’s history and talks about his late grandparents’ journey from the motherland in India to Fiji.
It also covers the story of his life extending over 80 years, where he lived in Fiji, Bangkok, Nairobi and Australia. According to the book, he talks about his humble upbringing as a third-generation Fiji Indian growing up in the sugar cane farming settlements of Lovu and Vatamai located on the outskirts of Lautoka City.
“It is also a tribute to the many girmitiya of Lovu, Vitogo, Drasa and Lautoka.
“My grandparents were transported, together with many others from India to Fiji by the British Empire’s colonial administration as indentured labourers to establish Fiji’s economy by working in the sugar plantations.”
Mr Naiker grew up a country boy and assisted his elders with farm work, converting virgin bracken-covered hills to new farming patches for growing rice and later sugar.
In the book, he shared the story of how his grandparents worked in the sugar plantations of the Australian Colonial Sugar Refining Company.
“My tata (grandfather) experienced a life that was like the game of snakes and ladders.
“He migrated from his village in North Arcot District of India to work in the city of Madras, indentured to Fiji and served his indenture at Drumasi in Tavua.
“They were bound by an agreement locally called girmit and after completing their contract they, like many other girmitiya, responded to Fiji Government’s desire for them to remain and contribute further to the colony’s economy.
“He embarked on his post-girmit life in Levuka, moved to Vitogo to become a cane farmer, later to Lovu where he had his farm declared native reserve and finally settled in hilly Vatamai.
“Tata was known in Lovu as Sirdar, at home he usually dressed in a shirt and a dhoti (traditional garment wrapped around the waist and legs). “But always wore trousers and a white cotton pagdi (turban) when working in the farms or going to meetings.”
Mr Naiker said as he learned about different countries at school, he would ask his tata about his life in India.
“He talked about Saidapet and Arcot, the area from where he came, other cities, great temples, fast railways and some of the great kings.”
He said he was encouraged to write about his family’s history by prominent thinkers and writers Professor Brij V Lal and Professor Satendra Nandan who urged descendants of girmitiya to put on record what they could recall about the lives of their girmitiya forebearers.
“My friends whom I consulted during its drafting suggested that I not delete any part of the story as different parts of my life could be of interest to different audiences.
“I was moved to write this memoir to record not only recollections of my life in Fiji and other places, but also my remembrance of the lives of my girmitiya grandparents and parents at a difficult time when they were establishing a base for our growing family.
“They lived a life of sink or swim, making use of every available resource during the postgirmit period when the colonial government left them on their own and the Australian company exploited them as bonded sugar cane farmers.”
These included his early recollections at Lovu, being trained to be a farmer, a brief exposure to the American army during World War II and obstacles he faced in Fiji – from issues concerning land policies and housing affordability.
The farm in Lovu was located on native land, owned by landowning unit the mataqali based in Vitogo Village where Indian girmitiya were issued over 10-acre parcels to operate as independent farmers.
The family later moved to Vatamai, Ba where Mr Naiker described in the book as a “memorable part” of his life.
His amma (mother) and auwa (paternal grandmother) did their best to make their new home comfortable for their growing family.
“Amma and auwa (paternal grandmother) made a tremendous effort to use all available resources to create a home to replace the one that was left in Lovu.
“Amma was slim but fit active lady and her time was completely taken up with homemaking.
“There was no stove, dishwasher, washing machine, dryer, vacuum cleaner or floor polisher as she did all the dishes by hand, using coconut husk and the multi-purpose soap before attending to the laundry.”
He said together with his brothers, they spent a lot of time working in the rice growing patches and grazing cattle in the general area of the terraces.
“When I was 12 years old, auwa gave me the first lesson in planting rice, in the patch between our house.
“As my brothers Balram, Lakshman and Perumal grew they also began to take an active role in the rice cultivation work – this was part of the green revolution of our part of Vatamai.”
