Keeping India alive in TT

THE well-respected president of the National Council for Indian Culture (NCIC), Deokienanan Sharma, has accomplished many feats in life, but he is aiming at one more: the construction of a restaurant at the Divali Nagar site. His plan is for the restaurant to serve authentic East Indian dishes as well as many of the “Indian” dishes that were born in TT. He is also aiming at expanding the current library into a modern facility at the Nagar. Sharma is kept busy throughout the year with the NCIC’s many projects. “I have been working forever to promote East Indian culture in Trinidad and Tobago. It has been an ongoing struggle to upkeep the culture in this country,” he said.

His hard work has paid off with the establishment of the Nagar and other projects that have now found roots in the country. Sharma, who grew up in Debe, has been actively involved in religious work since his childhood days. His father, Pundit Jankie Persad Sharma, came directly from India. He was the second Dharmachar (religious leader) of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha and he worked closely with the founder, Bhadase Sagan Maraj. It is no wonder, therefore, to see the son of the Dharmachar doing so much to promote the religious and non-religious aspects of East Indian culture. Jankie and Maraj worked together with a host of other cultural workers to plant the seeds for the Maha Sabha. The organisation has 42 primary schools, five colleges and more than 376 temples.

Sharma attained his Bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in India in 1956, and his Masters three years later. The struggle to push East Indian culture as part of the culture of TT started in 1964, when he joined with other leaders and pundits to conduct a national YAGYA (prayer meeting) in Gopaul Lands, Marabella. The YAGYA lasted nine nights and it was a huge success, attracting thousands of people from  South Trinidad on a nightly basis. “I remember back then, Archbishop Pantin wanted to attend but because of the traffic, he could not reach the venue. This will give an indication of how big this event was.” In the years that followed, many of the temples located in the rural districts went on to improve on the Ram Leela and Krishen Leela presentations. “The YAGYA of 1964 really did a lot for the East Indians in TT. They were no longer afraid to host public programmes and functions. Even the Hindu weddings became a popular event in the many villages,” he said. In the line of foods, he said that doubles became more popular and vendors were seen in every town in the country and people began to order roti and other East Indian dishes. In 1964, the NCIC was formed by another cultural icons, Bisram Gopie and Nasaloo Ramaya.

Under Sharma’s presidency, there has been a lot of improvement at the Nagar and, over the past five years, huge Divali programmes were staged. Commenting on the growth of Soca Chutney in TT, he voiced his disappointment in the manner in which local artistes exploited the arts and traditions of the East Indian people who settled here 159 years ago. “I am not against chutney music. But the upsurge of smutty chutney lyrics is now cause for concern from the many artistes, and moreso the promoters in this country. In the early days, the art brought the people together. Family members could have enjoyed an evening of classical music. Today we have to turn off the radio because of the obscene lyrics coming out of these artistes,” he said. “The artistes are looking for more and more outrageous lyrics to get the attention of people everywhere,” he added. Chutney and Soca Chutney are a spin-offs from the classical tumree and gazals that came from India.

These artforms have served to entertain generations of people through the years,” he pointed out. Sharma noted that his most memorable moment in life came when he met his distant cousins in India. “My first cousin has my complexion and he runs a glass factory in Uttar Pradesh. I was so overwhelmed to see him that I cried tears of joy. The Sharma family in India is huge, but everyone has a sort of genuine kindness about them that is missing in families in Trinidad and other developed countries,” he said. Families who live in rural India maintained a high level of respect for each other, he added. His father, Jankie, kept in contact with his family through letters for many years, so it was not difficult to find his uncles and cousins in India. Sharma has been married to Sati Sharma for 40 years and they have two sons — Pravin, a dentist by profession, and Ashvin who is an Orthodontist in the UK.