POEMS CONNECT US TO GIRMITS, FIJI’S PAST
AN EXAMINATION OF ‘GIRMIT: EPIC LIVES IN SMALL LINES’ BY SATENDRA NANDAN These poems are not only about the girmit people though. Many of them reflect life in our beloved Fiji in both the past and present. Its themes include hope against the backdrop of hardships, a longing for one’s ancestral home and embracing our island homes.
Poetry, like all forms of art, is subjective. I have heard it said that art is not about the art piece, the artist, or the price of the art piece itself; all that matters is how the work of art makes you feel.
In reading Satendra Nandan’s latest book one can certainly feel the writer’s passion toward the home he grew up in and towards the hardships, hopes and perseverance of the girmit people. Let us not forget that Professor Nandan himself, like the majority of our Indo-Fijian population, is a descendant of the girmit people.
His book ‘ Girmit: Epic Lives in Small Lines’ is a collection of poems he has written over the years. And while I was moved by the passion and writing of his verses, I did mention that art is subjective.
While many of these poems I personally found to be inspiring, with a sense of longing, some other readers may find other feelings stirring within as they read the poems.
I have to remind myself that as the reviewer of his book, I, myself, am not a descendent of the girmit people. Therefore I do not know what it is like to grow up with the knowledge that my ancestors were brought to this country as indentured labourers; adding to all the sufferings they endured
in their voyage to these islands and working in indentured servitude.
One of poems that may be moving for me, may stir feelings of sadness or heartfelt sorrow for another reader; or perhaps of kinship, bringing the reader closer to the girmit people and what they went through.
These poems are not only about the girmit people though. Many of them reflect life in our beloved Fiji in both the past and present. Its themes include hope against the backdrop of hardships, a longing for one’s ancestral home and embracing our island homes.
Personally, I would recommend this book of poems not only as a passionate read for poetry lovers, but also as a tool for students in our secondary schools. Poetry is art in the form of words, which I believe would be immensely helpful in teaching our high school students to express themselves in this unique way.
Of Professor Nandan’s poems, my favourite has to be ‘ The Ghost’.
Here are a few lines that moved me greatly.
In the shadow of a tamarind tree In the cawcaw of a crow Like a scarecrow
Lay an old, old man…
From his eyes I saw a ghost rise se And walk beside me As a scar on the soul. The voice deafened my ears: Young man, you see me skin in and bones
Like ike a sugar sack full ll of stones
But ut once…
Youth I lost here
Grace race I gave
To o this island place. What more than a man’s an’s age Can an one give to the history’s y’s outrage? With the faith I lived, I fashioned a new world With bits from the old. Under nder that stringy tree Is buried my woman Who ho was once as free of blame me As s Sita in vanvas, vas, till Ravana vana came. me. Who ho knew how w to love and live
And also to forgive. Of her seven children The first four are part Of this very earth On which you crawl So much like a crab.
We fought with death and won:
It’s life that’s left me undone.
These fateful hands have uprooted trees,
Broken volcanic stones
Axed fires in buried steel
And touched tenderness in a breast In love’s perpetual quest.
In the blind eyeball’s swollen veins I’ve carried the Ganges;
My sight is dim, my vision clear.
As the poem goes on, it ends with a photo of the ship ‘ Syria’, one of the vessels that brought the indentured labourers to Fiji, which eventually ran aground on the Nasilai Reef in 1884.
Each poem attempts to present a strong connection to its reader and is well worth a read, especially as a moving way to connect its reader to the girmit people of Fiji’s past.
Copies of Professor Nandan’s book will be available in local stores.