Arrivals and Departures

It is all well to arrive at a conclusion based on evidence of some sort, or arrive at a decision, or arrive at the function, but what of culture? It seems to be the one elusive destination. From year to year the question comes up in some form when people discuss this idea of Arrival Day.

For Indo-Trinidadians May 30 is still Indian Arrival Day, the day on which the first shipload of Indians arrived on the island to begin work on sugar plantations where they would eventually morph into the recalcitrant minority and then recalcitrant majority by 2010.

It has been a significant journey, creatively to politically.

This year the East Indian community celebrates 100 years since indentureship was declared illegal and the shipping of Indians to these shores was stopped. And so this year, we have two occasions on which to reflect on the travels through time.

Such occasions that mark significant events in the nation’s history are also occasions to reflect on just how far we have journeyed from one point to the other as a community and as a nation. It is an opportune time to rethink strategies for development, and for those involved in social activism and education, to step back and think about relevance.

Relevance is always a key whether it relates to marketing or culture.

Today we debate marriage laws, tomorrow we debate property taxes and I cringed when the Minister of Finance stated on a television interview two weeks ago, that property taxes are a part of the nation’s history since 1818.

“Dear Lord!” I exclaimed, “the man is quoting history now as if it means that it’s the reason we should accept his decisions.” But history is not an excuse for accepting the way that things are.

It’s a living, breathing concept with twists and turns that cause events to unfold in particular ways, or not.

And that’s why we must recognize it as a moving force. We are constantly making and re-shaping histories — personal, community, national, international.

They are all intertwined in ways that we cannot see sometimes.

The concept is everywhere.

We see history at work in the attitudes to land, to property, to women, to success and yes, to arrival and so too, there are ways in which attitudes can be changed.

But the idea of arrival as a definite point, that we sometimes hear, seems to be rooted, I imagine, in the way in which we define success. As if success is based on one formula. As if, to be successful means x and y, where x and y are constants. And therefore “to arrive at”, seems to have taken on the form of having accomplished and therefore keeping it that way, with little consideration for changes in circumstances and the passage of time.

But arrivals also presuppose points of departure. It’s a notion that I particularly like. When one learnt to improvise, the teacher said, “Find a new place from which to begin. If you did the first improvisation from point a, think point b next time. That has to come naturally. Practice, practice. When it becomes a part of your entire psyche, it will flow.” I find this idea of becoming a part of psyche essential to understanding of our identities. When on each arrival day we lament the loss of culture even as we celebrate achievements, it might be more useful to think about preserving what is already still alive and perhaps re-shaping the existing into a form that is palatable for a generation that has moved along. Essentially it is sifting out that which is relevant.

It is often a difficult battle — the pull and tug between tradition and change. But it is simple if we know that there is no one identity. That notion of homogeneity is somewhat of an illusion.

How do I as an individual define myself as Indian or African, or Hindu or Muslim or perhaps nothing at all? There are many entry points as there are exit points.

When do I choose to depart from this point, to branch into the other section of a continued identity, is I believe what signifies a point of arrival. “There are many branches in the tree of life” says one Hindu leader, and so too, there are many branches in that which we term our identity. How we find the balance is the next step of the journey.