Mahabir
I
was about 16 and used to work as a lohar.
Then I met a man who asked me whether I was looking for a job. When
I answered that I was, he took me to a house and gave me something
to do. He left me there.
Somebody else came and I complained and was told not to
worry.
I was given foodstuff and asked to cook and eat for the next
day all would be remedied. While there a
man who had been to Demerara, came and told us that we could all get
work for 12 annas a day working where we were going. He added that
we could all go to Fiji where we could accumulate money. Having left
my own village I decided to make this trip.
And after some days people gathered
there and I was told that we would all have to go to Calcutta. Once
there we spent our days eating, drinking and sleeping, and others
were singing and dancing. A European then asked us if we were
willing to go to Fiji and I said “yes”. I was a-ain told that I
would get 12 annas a day and would have to work in Fiji for five
years. There I would get food for six months and then after I would
have to earn my own livelihood.
I had come to the Ganges but when the
doctor examined me he found I had a fever and he told me that I
should not travel. I remained in Calcutta for another twelve weeks
before embarking on a later ship.
During my journey I felt sick all the
time. For fifteen days I did not know what was happening. I became
aware of things after that time. The boat tossed from one side to
the other and everything on board rattled. In the day time we stayed
outside and at night we had to go inside.
The trip took a month and we arrived
at Nukulau. From there I went to Lautoka with ten others. When our
boat arrived in Lautoka the European to whom we had been allocated
took us to a shop where he gave us utensils like pots and spoons and
then he put us in a carriage that brought us to Nadi. On our arrival
we cleaned the place. It took us two days and. on the second day we
were given knives, hoes, etc. for our work.
At 3am the sardar awoke everyone of us and told us to cook and be ready to
leave for work by 5am. We were paired off, one old hand with a
newcomer. This was so that the newcomer could learn the work. Some
labourers used to finish their work by 4 or 5pm. Others could not
complete theirs and had to be given leave by the sardar.
The work was hard but we were paid 5/6 a week.
There was a difference between the work in Fiji and that in
India. In India we could finish when we wanted to, sometimes by ten
o'clock or mid-day.
This was not possible here. Here it was work from 5am to 5pm.
I was taught how to handle horses and for the next couple of
years I used horses for ploughing. I worked fairly hard so I was
neither scolded nor punished by any overseer. But there were others
who were lazy, who did not work well, they were given a beating.
Normally, we were not hit but if we created trouble then the whip
was used. There were some people from India who were rogues as well.
In Malolo, a European was beaten up
but in the estate where I worked the European overseer was very
good. He looked after us well and even helped those who had a wife
and children. Because my work was good during the girmit
days I became a sardar. As
a sardar sometimes I used to quieten Europeans. There was no conflict
on my estate but there were other places where there was a great
deal of strife and there were occasions when women were chopped up.
During indenture one could sometimes
obtain land on lease from Europeans and acquire cows and sell milk
or grow vegetables for sale at the market. There were many Indians
who banked their money with shop-keepers in those days, but once the
shopkeepers, like Pillay, became bankrupt then these Indians lost
all their savings.
There was no conflict with Fijians in
those days. If you gave them something they reciprocated. During
indenture days some Indians used to run away from work and go to a
Fijian village, they were often given shelter there, as well as
provided with food. If one took yagona into a village then all there
would share what they had with you. In the very early days they used
to smell the roti first and then throw it away. It was later that
they learnt to eat it. Fijians were not fussy but there were some
Indians who claimed to be Brahmins or other high castes who tended
to be fastidious about certain matters.
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