‘Home is where the heart is’
IT would perhaps be wrong to claim Professor Brij Vilash Lal as one of us because he was exceptional; a gifted writer and thinker beyond the ordinary.
Such people are gifted for purpose and he fulfilled his purpose, leaving behind a nation in sorrow and a community in shock and grief.
Cruelly exiled to Australia in 2009 by the Fijian Government for being a threat to national security and peace, he spent the rest of his life struggling to understand the cruel dénouement of his right to return to the land of his birth.
In his meditations, he melancholically remembered the village of Tabia in his writings where he was born and to which he was inseparably rooted.
The childhood memories of the rustic village and its undulating hills perhaps drew him in its arms every day during the exilic years, as he confessed the cries of his longing heart, “home is where the heart is”.
The Tabia boy had left but Tabia in the boy could never be separated. The exilic years were cruel, inhumane and undeserving. Many of us now settled abroad, live with similar sentiments.
We left Fiji but Fiji in us lives but differs in intensity – some like Prof Lal, including me, departure from Fiji left became an enduring wound that time cannot heal.
In the recall, there is pleasure wrapped in pain. I recapture here my lamentation, as I described in my book, Tears in Paradise – Suffering and Struggles of Indians in Fiji 1879-2004:
“I fondly remember and relish those moments, the nostalgic smell of the dry earth receiving the first tropical rains, milking and grazing cows, riding horses, swimming in the river or fording the drains and creeks swollen with rain… It is deeply personal, historical and spiritual and in this mystical embrace with Fiji, my heart is torn apart.
“My mind is the victim of the torment of the heart, for it struggles to find expression in words to truly echo the sorrows and sentiments that constantly ravage it. And in this torment, there is a heartache I have been through every day of my life since leaving Fiji.
“In this, I find the unique bonding with the land of my birth grow stronger.”
Prof Lal perhaps lived with identical pain but his pain was greater, as his longing became greater and more painful because of the Fiji Government decision to prohibit his reentry indefinitely.
Because of it, his feelings and emotions became internalised and he agonised over it.
Its mental, psychological and physical consequences cannot be readily perceived, but the gravity of its consequences on any individual is always degenerative, which become contributory factors for other malaise to infiltrate, damage or destroy the victims. Indeed, once place of birth is an inseparable anchorage of every soul, which remains nostalgically and evocatively attached to every life.
For some, it is a shrine and for others an indelible memory. For Prof Lal, the village of Tabia was his shrine and his subconscious mind often defaulted to it, regaling him with an era lived amidst the rolling hills of his Tabia village.
Those addicted to meditative living, anchored to their past, derive pleasure that evokes nostalgia wherein is embedded soulful thoughts that cannot be shared, but pleasurably endured.
Prof Lal’s untimely passing has shocked and saddened Fijians everywhere. In every sense, he was one of Fiji’s most distinguished sons whose achievements as a writer, author and a member of the academia has few equals.
As an author, with over 40 books to his name, Prof Lal established the benchmark of excellence for writers to aspire to and his books will continue to inform and educate people of every generation, as most are either prescribed texts or recommended reading in schools and universities.
He had a precocious, insightful and thoughtful mind and with his mastery over the English language, he wove his thoughts with clinical precision that left the readers in awe and admiration.
If considered a scholar, as he was, he was not an ordinary scholar but something beyond and above it.
Prof Lal’s probe on Fiji’s Girmit history (1879-1920) was an epic work of history that truly disclosed not only his scholarship, but also his passion and determination in engaging in a task that others evaded or avoided.
To engage in it meant scratching the barrel, grabbing fragments of information to write cohesively on a subject, riddled with paucity of information, as both the victims and those who violated them weren’t keen for such probe. One out of shame for what and how they endured and the other to cover their bloody footprints.
In this regard, credit must go to Prof Lal for probing a taboo subject and remove the cover that hid the hideousness of indenture in Fiji.
Prof Lal’s first book, Girmitiyas – The Origins of the Fiji Indians, first published in 1983, was a bold attempt to reverse the tide of history and bring the girmitiya narrative in the public.
Before this, Kenneth Gillion’s books, Fiji’s Indian Migrants – A history to the end of indenture in 1920 (1962) and The Fiji Indians – Challenge to European Dominance 1920-1946, (1977),
comprised the most prominent literature on Fiji Indian history.
What is most noteworthy in these enlightening books is that the words ‘girmit’ and ‘girmitiya’ were not used, as they seemed buried under the infamy of indenture in Fiji.
The word girmit was deeply detested by the girmitiyas and yet they were coined in the sugarcane fields of Fiji. Once out of it, they placed a taboo on the words and embargoed discussions on it or about it in public forums.
For them, the words evoked painful memories of their servitude and best left to dissolve in the past, rendering it beyond recall.
For as long as they were alive and dominant, the code of silence prevailed, but by the 1980s such was not the case as most had passed on and those few around and in advance age, could no longer care, leave alone defend the code. At this point of transition, Professor Lal boldly entitled his debut book, Girmitiyas – The Origins of the Fiji Indians (1983), which opened a new vista of probe into that era, wrapped in mystery.
He assertively filled his text with ‘girmit’ and ‘girmitiyas’, referring to the indenture and Indian indentured immigrants, which marked a massive turnaround, leading to the rejected and reviled words not only being accepted, but adopted and embraced as treasured gems of Girmit history.
The words girmit and girmitiyas have now entered the vocabulary, as writers use it as if it was always there when referring to Fiji’s indenture history. For this, credit must go to Prof Lal who retrieved the discarded words and reintroduced them, giving respect, honor and dignity to them.
Interestingly, the two words have now gained international consonance and the descendants of Indian indentured immigrants in other countries too refer to indenture as girmit and their indentured ancestors as girmitiyas.
The words are likely to infiltrate, endure and become the international terms to refer to indenture and indentured laborers following the abolition of slavery in 1833.
Prof Lal’s passion and devotion to girmit
and Fiji’s colonial and contemporary history echoed across Fiji, including an active Fijian diaspora, as he wrote and spoke eloquently to draw attention, introspection and discussion.
Even those who disagreed with his views could not ignore him because he spoke with reason, courage and conviction.
He was aware that not everyone agreed with him, but it did not lead to him softening or diluting his writings that were of public interest.
When he wrote, he echoed his thoughts and views with rationale and validation, not seeking political correctness or the middle cause to prevent or deflect backlash.
Indeed, such writers and commentators represent a dying breed, which works well with the modern-day politicians to spin their webs, using deceit, distortions and lies unashamedly, slashing their way to attain political power and occupy their seats at the table of democracy.
On Fiji’s 1987 coup, he said: “We may have been blinded by our idealism and our dreams for a free and fair society, but the coup of 1987 came as a deep shock to us, to see armed soldiers turn on their own innocent civilians.
“That was something we associated with developing countries in Africa and Latin America. Disillusioned, many left Fiji altogether, taking with them skills and talent the country could ill-afford to lose.
“The haemorrhage continues unabated as Fiji’s best and brightest seek their future in foreign lands. This, too, is something people of my generation had never contemplated.”
Grahame Leung, a distinguished Fijian lawyer, in his tribute to Professor Lal, said: “Brij was in many respects the moral conscience of the nation, and was unafraid to call out prejudice, illegality and wrongdoing by Fiji’s leaders, whatever their political persuasion.
It takes courage and principle to stand up and oppose those who would violate human rights and the rule of law.”
I reiterate such people are not born but gifted for purpose to make the difference and Prof Lal knew his purpose and he loyally carried out his obligations. May his soul rest in peace.
RAJENDRA PRASAD is the former town clerk of Ba and author of books, Tears in Paradise – Suffering and Struggles of Indians in Fiji 1879-2004 (2004) and Enslaved in Paradise – A History of Mammoth Betrayals of Fijians by the British, Chiefs and Leaders of Fiji (18762006). The views expressed are that of the author and not necessarily of this publication.