International Events.qxd

YATRA (The Journey)
Vol. 3, Issue 1
January - February, 2011
Bimonthly Journal of the
High Commission of India,
Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago.
Editor-in-Chief
Malay Mishra
Editor
Sunita Pahuja
Support team
P.K. Sharma
Jayashree Suresh
Contributors
Sayantan Chakravarty
Sunita Pahuja
Abid Hussain
Prof. Tsuyoshi Nara
Ashook Ramsaran
Tasha Kavita Ramnarine
Shreyasi Singh
Joydeep Gupta
Tony Musai
Sumati Kareem
Cover Design & Layout
INDIA EMPIRE Publication
Printed by:
INDIA EMPIRE Publication
N 126, Level 3, Greater Kailash I
New Delhi 110048, India
M: +91.9899117477
Yatra is a bi-monthly journal published
by the information Wing of the High
Commission of India, Port of Spain,
Trinidad & Tobago. It is also available
Online on the Mission’s Website.
The views expressed are those of the
author and not necessarily of the High
Commission of India, Port of Spain.
Reproduction in any manner without
prior permission of the High
Commission is prohibited.
2 | YATRA | JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2011
From the High
Commissioner’s desk
Dear Reader,
One more year has surfaced on the global calendar, a year of optimism and resurgence,
of addressing the hopes of the multitudes on both sides of the Caribbean.
As we assembled to pay homage to the noble soul who had perceived all humanity
through the tribulations of the human being, we were humbled. At the feet of the austere,
simple, walking stick holding slender persona to whom revolting against an unjust repressive
system had come easy with the shibboleths of peace and non-violence, the currencies of
struggle over the broad canvas of India as also any place in the world yearning for freedom,
it was a moment of questioning. Questioning the very basis of survival and the values that
entails, rationalizing at great cost the inhuman manner in which the flow of civilization has
deluged all ethics into the cauldron of globalization.
Yet we are children of destiny, determined to forge our way forward in this maudlin
world of materialistic pursuits and reveling in our high growth success. The luminate which
pervaded the Gandhi Peace Park could not have been more bedazzling. Standing tall was
Makandal Daaga, more Chief Servant than His Excellency, the Cultural Ambassador to
CARICOM, in the likeness of great leaders such as Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King
Jr., drawing perennial inspiration from the Mahatma, having brought about seminal changes
to their respective societies.
Recalling the assassin’s bullets and the faint murmur of ‘Hey Ram’ when the light had
gone out of a nation’s midst, the decibels of “Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram…” played out in
the environs of Port of Spain and San Fernando and we paid homage to the memory of the
scores of freedom fighters, those martyrs who had fallen so that we get up free and stand tall
in the society.
Just a few weeks back, Delhi had reverberated to the strings of the well heeled diaspora,
commemorating the return of India’s most venerated Pravasi, Mohandas Karamchand
Gandhi to her shores on the 9th of January, 1915. The 9th edition of the Pravasi Bharatiya
Divas had been celebrated with vigour and on the sidelines, the Port of Kolkata, from where
the story of modern day diasporic emigration had begun, commemorated the installation of
the site and inscription paying yet another homage to those indentured workers who had left
Indian shores to be part of the diaspora forever. It was indeed a heart rending sight to see
scores of present day pravasis, their descendants assembled from all over the world to be part
of that historic moment, feel and sense the agonies of history gone by and find their echoes
in the present to drive themselves towards a better future.
And in between came India’s 62nd Republic Day, consummation of an enduring
democracy, the world’s largest and the most boisterous, leapfrogging into one of the most
exciting decades. And thereby will come about a major realignment of forces that would
define global politics for the foreseeable future, driven by emerging economies, notably India.
The High Commission amidst all this excitement has played its role in bridging relations
with Trinidad & Tobago as also neighbouring islands in the Caribbean in a multitude of ways.
Many events are to shape destinies of our peoples over this year and beyond as we consolidate
our strengths getting to know each other better, drawing sheafs from each other’s lives
and the myriad experiences therein.
Happy New Year,
The High Commission of India in Trinidad and Tobago, Port of Spain