I did History, Government and Politics, and Sociology for my A’ Levels during the years 1994-1996. History was divided into two components- Caribbean and American- as was Government and Politics- British and American. It was during that time when reading about the 1981 election for the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party that I was introduced to Tony Benn. I was a 17 year old who identified with leftist politics and as I did more research on him, I became a fan. I again came across him shortly afterwards when I did a British politics course in my first year at LSE. His outspoken statements, his criticisms of New Labour and his leadership role in the anti-war movement continued to endear him to me over the years. Tony Benn was a man whose intellect I held in high regard and whose willingness to speak truth to power I respected a great deal. It was with great sadness that I woke up to the news of his death this morning. His loss is a huge one for the UK and the world, especially at a time when voices like his are rare to be heard. He was for me the best Prime Minister the UK never had.
Friday, 14 March 2014
Thursday, 6 March 2014
What Makes One a Bajan?
I was born and grew up in a working class neighbourhood in Bridgetown. I went to school with Bajans from all walks of life. I also interacted with Bajans in rural parts when I went out with my old man on his itinerant sales job (“coolie man” as Bajans of all ethnicities refer to it). I studied Barbadian and Caribbean History. I know more about Barbados, its history, culture, government, politics, economy, etc. than the average Bajan. However, to many Bajans, I am not a real Bajan because my ethnicity is Indian and added to that I am a Muslim.
When I was younger, I would be bothered by the various comments questioning my Bajanness, expressing shock at my Bajanness or insisting absolutely that I am not a Bajan. I was a patriotic Bajan and who were these people to question my Bajanness? One of my favourite ways to react to the ignorance displayed in these comments was to not only speak the rawest Bajan possible in my retorts but also to spice them up with a gigantic dose of Bajan “cussing”. The shock on the faces of those who dared to question my Bajanness was always worth it. You see, growing up in the heart of Bridgetown meant that I was exposed not only to everyday Bajan cuture like food, norms and language but also cussing and by cussing I mean cussing of the worst kind. I was known for having a potty mouth from a young age and it has only been about two years since I severely restricted my use of colourful language, to the disbelief and relief of many.
When I was younger, I would be bothered by the various comments questioning my Bajanness, expressing shock at my Bajanness or insisting absolutely that I am not a Bajan. I was a patriotic Bajan and who were these people to question my Bajanness? One of my favourite ways to react to the ignorance displayed in these comments was to not only speak the rawest Bajan possible in my retorts but also to spice them up with a gigantic dose of Bajan “cussing”. The shock on the faces of those who dared to question my Bajanness was always worth it. You see, growing up in the heart of Bridgetown meant that I was exposed not only to everyday Bajan cuture like food, norms and language but also cussing and by cussing I mean cussing of the worst kind. I was known for having a potty mouth from a young age and it has only been about two years since I severely restricted my use of colourful language, to the disbelief and relief of many.
Over the past five years though, my patriotism has increasingly waned to the extent that I find myself detached from Barbados and I no longer care whether Bajans accept me as a fellow countryman. I have always had a global outlook but this was alongside a fierce Barbadian patriotism. Working for the government and my mostly negative experiences with this, growing older and seeing things differently have made me realise that in reality, I don’t fit in in Barbados. There is much to unpack in this disconnect I feel with the country of my birth so I won’t delve into it now and will leave it for a future blog. Needless to say, when Bajans question my Bajanness because of how I look, it does not trouble me anymore and if I do counter, it is just to bother them as opposed to responding because I am upset.
This brings me to an incident that occurred this morning. I am attending a training course for public sector managers this week. Each day there are different sessions with different presenters. This morning we had a session on “Diversity in the Workplace”. The “instructor” in her introduction says she will be speaking in Bajan so that everyone can understand her. Then she proceeds to look at me and ask if I will be able to understand her. Needless to say, I blew my top and let her have it, albeit without the insertion of any cuss words! I did not lose it because she questioned my Bajanness. Nope. I lost it because it upset me that a retired senior civil servant was presenting on diversity in the workplace and had the bleeping audacity to question my Bajanness because I am not black! Then the idiot instead of recognising that what she did was wrong tried to make it seem as if I was the one who did not understand what was going on and again because I am an outsider to this group of Bajans. I therefore decided to have some fun and on a few occasions questioned what she was saying. I also made a point of expressing my absolute contempt for the silly personality exercises she wanted the class to partake in. I took great satisfaction in knowing that she did not at all enjoy my challenges to her supposed expertise on the subject of the session.
I have always relished making life difficult for teachers, presenters, trainers, religious folk, bosses and persons in authority when they make ridiculous claims and are unable to defend them. Inevitably, they make fools of themselves because people who issue asinine pronouncements are generally the type that are incapable of offering solid arguments and hate being challenged. They will get riled up and dig an even bigger hole for themselves when you tear their weak cases apart. They expose themselves rather easily. I guess I am getting old because I don’t usually do this anymore. However, there are times like this when “hard ears” Mohammed does cahn help he self and he does gots to have some fun 😎
People like this woman occupy large swathes of the civil service, many in senior positions. It is persons of this ilk that ensure my refusal to buy into this farce called public sector reform. Big loud stupz! But no Rs and other such vivid words : )
Wednesday, 26 February 2014
New York City and Multilateral Diplomacy
I travelled to NYC on Sunday and am due to leave tomorrow. This is a work trip so nothing much to be excited about. Not to mention, the weather, which had been relatively well-behaved for a stretch of days before I arrived, decided to return to sub-zero levels. I have experienced many winters, both in the UK (London and Durham) and the US (NYC), but I don’t think I will ever become acclimatised to cold weather. I am a mild weather person. I love spring and autumn and am not a fan of extreme summer heat.
I have been back a few times to NYC since leaving the last day of December 2009 but this was the first time I had returned to go to a meeting at the UN. It was like déjà vu. The UN may have undergone some physical changes but substantively it remains the bureaucratic talk shop it has always been. It was a painful few days.
On a positive note, it was nice to see some old colleagues, eat some food that I don’t have access to in Barbados and be able to purchase a few items that are either unavailable in Barbados or priced exorbitantly.
I have been back a few times to NYC since leaving the last day of December 2009 but this was the first time I had returned to go to a meeting at the UN. It was like déjà vu. The UN may have undergone some physical changes but substantively it remains the bureaucratic talk shop it has always been. It was a painful few days.
On a positive note, it was nice to see some old colleagues, eat some food that I don’t have access to in Barbados and be able to purchase a few items that are either unavailable in Barbados or priced exorbitantly.
Tuesday, 18 February 2014
Of Fads, Followers and Moringa
A lot of people are inherently shallow. They buy into the latest fad with utmost ease, spending freely and acting as if the newest craze is the best discovery in the history of man. Of course, issues of suitability, cost, consequences, etc. are rarely considered. We see evidence of this mostly in fashion (clothes, hairstyles, make up, beauty products) but it also extends to foods, diets, exercise and entertainment choices. Something that is particularly noticeable now is the manner in which the “new craze” phenomenon has successfully cut across the exercise/food/diet sectors. From quinoa and Brazilian drink to Zumba and the Atkins diet, people have embraced what corporations and clever marketing gimmicks have sold them.
Barbadians are enthusiastic about any new fad that emerges whether it is a diet, an exercise programme, a hairstyle or a fashion. What is ironic is that Barbadians are generally conservative when it comes to change and are resistant to anything outside of their comfort zone. It is almost as if they reject anything different unless it is superficial, dangerous or ridiculous. One therefore finds that weaves, fake eyelashes, fake nails, ugly chemical laden make up, processed foods, fast foods, hairstyles like the Mohawk, unhealthy diet fads and SUVS and other large vehicles are all embraced. Last year I popped into a popular beauty product store with my wife who had been told that a specific natural hair product was sold there. I saw half of an aisle filled with skin lightening creams. Unsurprisingly, the store is owned by non-blacks, in this case Arabs. I would not be in the least bit surprised if the skin lightening self-hate trend catches on here very soon. It is after all very popular in Jamaica and Jamaican dancehall music is a favourite of a large section of the Barbadian populace.
Which brings me to Moringa. Moringa is the new craze in Barbados. Almost everyone you speak to is touting the health benefits of the Moringa. People are spending large sums of money to purchase different parts of the Moringa tree, Moringa products and on seedlings to grow. The demand for Moringa has even led to the increasing problem of theft of Moringa plants!
The Moringa or Hikta nee Heeng as we called it when we were growing up was not well known in Barbados. There were 2-3 trees and the Gujaratis would take the pods to cook and eat. I therefore grew up eating Moringa. I remember Barbadians would scorn us and many would say that the Indians did “baku” or obeah with the Moringa. So it is rather ironic that this same tree is now touted as a savior because some American or European has said so. I actually find it annoying when people who I know are the type that would have turned their noses up at us for eating Moringa now come sermonising about the tree as if we know nothing about it.
I guess one can argue as one of my sister’s Hanifa does, that the best thing about this latest trend to be adopted by Bajans is that there will soon be an abundance of Moringa plants around the place that no one wants and which we can take advantage of.
Barbadians are enthusiastic about any new fad that emerges whether it is a diet, an exercise programme, a hairstyle or a fashion. What is ironic is that Barbadians are generally conservative when it comes to change and are resistant to anything outside of their comfort zone. It is almost as if they reject anything different unless it is superficial, dangerous or ridiculous. One therefore finds that weaves, fake eyelashes, fake nails, ugly chemical laden make up, processed foods, fast foods, hairstyles like the Mohawk, unhealthy diet fads and SUVS and other large vehicles are all embraced. Last year I popped into a popular beauty product store with my wife who had been told that a specific natural hair product was sold there. I saw half of an aisle filled with skin lightening creams. Unsurprisingly, the store is owned by non-blacks, in this case Arabs. I would not be in the least bit surprised if the skin lightening self-hate trend catches on here very soon. It is after all very popular in Jamaica and Jamaican dancehall music is a favourite of a large section of the Barbadian populace.
Which brings me to Moringa. Moringa is the new craze in Barbados. Almost everyone you speak to is touting the health benefits of the Moringa. People are spending large sums of money to purchase different parts of the Moringa tree, Moringa products and on seedlings to grow. The demand for Moringa has even led to the increasing problem of theft of Moringa plants!
The Moringa or Hikta nee Heeng as we called it when we were growing up was not well known in Barbados. There were 2-3 trees and the Gujaratis would take the pods to cook and eat. I therefore grew up eating Moringa. I remember Barbadians would scorn us and many would say that the Indians did “baku” or obeah with the Moringa. So it is rather ironic that this same tree is now touted as a savior because some American or European has said so. I actually find it annoying when people who I know are the type that would have turned their noses up at us for eating Moringa now come sermonising about the tree as if we know nothing about it.
I guess one can argue as one of my sister’s Hanifa does, that the best thing about this latest trend to be adopted by Bajans is that there will soon be an abundance of Moringa plants around the place that no one wants and which we can take advantage of.
Friday, 14 February 2014
A Passion for Imparting Knowledge
I wrote about the wife taking one of my sister’s cooking classes in a previous entry. All of my sisters are excellent cooks. I like to think that I am also. My mom was amazing in the kitchen and I believe we all inherited that from her. My sister has been able to take that talent to another level through her unique idea to teach Indian cooking classes. Her classes have proved to be very popular and having attended quite a few to take photos for her, it is clear that one of the main reasons is her ability to teach a complex subject quite easily to people unfamiliar with it. I remember my mother demonstrating her techniques and passing on various tips to us and I am reminded of her when my sister does the same thing while teaching her cooking class. A lot of it also has to do with passion for the topic at hand. I think people who are teaching a subject they care deeply about, who possess significant expertise in it and who are able to connect with their students do a much better job in conveying knowledge. Students in such an environment are much more willing to learn and feel much more satisfied. I have seen my sister Hajra, who has been teaching for thirteen years, lecture to a class and she is similar to Hanifa not only in mannerisms but in her passion for the subject. She has a comprehensive grasp of what she teaches, is an expert in the field, is able to relate to her students and extracts the best out of them. This love for teaching seems to run in our family because another sister of mine loves teaching young children and she had taken a course in early childhood development although she did not pursue teaching as a career. I love standing in front of a class, speaking about a topic I am passionate about and engaging in discussions with students. I can see myself doing this permanently at a university at some point in the future. I think that this desire to pass on knowledge stems from our mother and the way she would always relate secular and religious stories to us, teach us prayers and interact with us while she cooked.
The “About Me” section of Mircha’s facebook page speaks about the influence of my mom’s culinary skills and teaching on Hanifa’s cooking. I have cut and pasted it below:
"Hanifa Nakhuda is an Indo-Barbadian cook with deeply embedded roots in traditional Indian cuisine. Born in Barbados to parents of Gujarati Indian origin, she learnt how to cook Gujarati food at a young age at the feet of her mother, Hawwa Degia.
Hawwa, an extraordinary cook, would have polished her culinary skills in her village of Kaphletha before moving to Barbados. In a Barbados of the late 1960s/early 1970s, she was faced with constraints in locating certain spices and ingredients, leading her to develop the art of improvisation. As her children grew older and demanded Barbadian and Western food, she began to experiment with those cuisines as well as fuse Indian and Western cooking. The increasing number of Gujarati immigrants in the late 1970s and early 1980s was accompanied by a more expansive availability of Indian spices. Therefore, Hawwa took advantage of this to showcase fully her talent in cooking a wide array of Indian dishes and desserts.
It was no wonder that growing up in this type of environment, Hanifa and her siblings emerged as master cooks in their own right. Hanifa began cooking Indian, Bajan and various Indo-Bajan fusion dishes for her immediate family before graduating to extended family, friends, neighbours and colleagues. Widespread encouragement from family and friends to take her skills to another level led her to enter a few local cooking competitions all of which she won. She also started a small catering business, focusing on authentic Gujarati food. Her burgeoning popularity resulted in her being asked to fill a serious dearth that existed in Barbados- the teaching of authentic Indian cuisine to Barbadians. Her cooking courses proved to be an immediate hit with classes being constantly oversubscribed.
Hanifa’s latest venture, Mircha, is aimed at bringing her expertise and experience as the standard-bearer of Indian cuisine in Barbados to a wider cross-section of Barbadian society."
The “About Me” section of Mircha’s facebook page speaks about the influence of my mom’s culinary skills and teaching on Hanifa’s cooking. I have cut and pasted it below:
"Hanifa Nakhuda is an Indo-Barbadian cook with deeply embedded roots in traditional Indian cuisine. Born in Barbados to parents of Gujarati Indian origin, she learnt how to cook Gujarati food at a young age at the feet of her mother, Hawwa Degia.
Hawwa, an extraordinary cook, would have polished her culinary skills in her village of Kaphletha before moving to Barbados. In a Barbados of the late 1960s/early 1970s, she was faced with constraints in locating certain spices and ingredients, leading her to develop the art of improvisation. As her children grew older and demanded Barbadian and Western food, she began to experiment with those cuisines as well as fuse Indian and Western cooking. The increasing number of Gujarati immigrants in the late 1970s and early 1980s was accompanied by a more expansive availability of Indian spices. Therefore, Hawwa took advantage of this to showcase fully her talent in cooking a wide array of Indian dishes and desserts.
It was no wonder that growing up in this type of environment, Hanifa and her siblings emerged as master cooks in their own right. Hanifa began cooking Indian, Bajan and various Indo-Bajan fusion dishes for her immediate family before graduating to extended family, friends, neighbours and colleagues. Widespread encouragement from family and friends to take her skills to another level led her to enter a few local cooking competitions all of which she won. She also started a small catering business, focusing on authentic Gujarati food. Her burgeoning popularity resulted in her being asked to fill a serious dearth that existed in Barbados- the teaching of authentic Indian cuisine to Barbadians. Her cooking courses proved to be an immediate hit with classes being constantly oversubscribed.
Hanifa’s latest venture, Mircha, is aimed at bringing her expertise and experience as the standard-bearer of Indian cuisine in Barbados to a wider cross-section of Barbadian society."
Wednesday, 12 February 2014
A Special Barbadian Woman - Haajima (Hajra) Degia
I mentioned my sister Haajima (Hajra) Degia a
few days ago in an entry on World Hijab Day.
Barbados Faces, an online magazine that highlights Barbadian women, did
a feature on her recently. The article
focuses on the severe obstacles she faced and overcame in her quest to live a
life outside of the norms of her Gujarati community and the significant
achievements, academic and professional, that she has attained with the help of
the Almighty.
I had penned a much longer entry that delves into the internal dynamics of the Gujarati community but decided to save it for another entry in the future. The entry is hard hitting and I know that Gujaratis here would find it offensive. Of course, what they feel or think is of no concern to me but I decided that it would be best to leave this mention of the Barbados Faces article as a standalone and present my commentary on Gujaratis in Barbados later. You can therefore look out for that at some point soon.
I had penned a much longer entry that delves into the internal dynamics of the Gujarati community but decided to save it for another entry in the future. The entry is hard hitting and I know that Gujaratis here would find it offensive. Of course, what they feel or think is of no concern to me but I decided that it would be best to leave this mention of the Barbados Faces article as a standalone and present my commentary on Gujaratis in Barbados later. You can therefore look out for that at some point soon.
Monday, 10 February 2014
Stuart Hall, February 3, 1932 - February 10, 2014
I first came across the name Stuart Hall when I did A Level Sociology. Reading him at age 16/17 was somewhat challenging but the manner in which he contextualised colonialism, race, politics, identity and British society, all with a leftist slant, made a lasting impression. I did not study Hall’s work closely as an undergraduate but over the years I would see mentions of his name periodically in the media and while I was unable to read his work in depth I did manage to peruse some chapters and articles from time to time.
When I was doing my Masters in 2011/2012, I took some courses that were inter-disciplinary in nature and which provided me with the opportunity to revisit some of Hall’s work as well as study some which I had not been exposed to. Reading Hall at the age of 34 allowed me to recognise how important his nuanced thinking on issues of race, identity, media, culture and society as a whole had been in shaping my own ideas. As a teenager wrestling with issues of marginalisation and identity, I tended to see a world of neat linear divisions functioning solely in the interests of power and with the masses possessing no agency at all. Economic determinism was central to my world view at that point Of course, as Hall demonstrated, while the forces of neo-liberalism do wield significant power which is reinforced by the output of a media allied to them, the economy alone is insufficient in explaining how society functions.
I started my Masters with eleven years of diplomacy behind me, eleven years of my brain being dulled by the Foreign Service. It is difficult to describe the sort of intellectual stimulation I felt and the intellectual liberty I experienced in my one year sabbatical. Stuart Hall’s writings, although a small part of the vast amount of academic reading I did in one year, are for some reason associated indelibly with my year in Durham. I had a very good friend when I was there who did a paper on Hall and who formed a close bond with Hall through his work. When I emailed him to inform him of Hall’s death he spoke about this bond and how affected he was by Hall’s death. Hall had that ability to resonate with you because he so ably described the dynamics of our lives.
This morning when I read about his death, it occurred to me that whenever I think of West Indians who have made their mark in the UK, the first name that comes to mind is not a Trevor McDonald, a John Barnes, a George Lamming, a Gus Young, a C.L.R.James or a Darcus Howe. It is always Stuart Hall.
The following are some articles which pay tribute to Hall:
When I was doing my Masters in 2011/2012, I took some courses that were inter-disciplinary in nature and which provided me with the opportunity to revisit some of Hall’s work as well as study some which I had not been exposed to. Reading Hall at the age of 34 allowed me to recognise how important his nuanced thinking on issues of race, identity, media, culture and society as a whole had been in shaping my own ideas. As a teenager wrestling with issues of marginalisation and identity, I tended to see a world of neat linear divisions functioning solely in the interests of power and with the masses possessing no agency at all. Economic determinism was central to my world view at that point Of course, as Hall demonstrated, while the forces of neo-liberalism do wield significant power which is reinforced by the output of a media allied to them, the economy alone is insufficient in explaining how society functions.
I started my Masters with eleven years of diplomacy behind me, eleven years of my brain being dulled by the Foreign Service. It is difficult to describe the sort of intellectual stimulation I felt and the intellectual liberty I experienced in my one year sabbatical. Stuart Hall’s writings, although a small part of the vast amount of academic reading I did in one year, are for some reason associated indelibly with my year in Durham. I had a very good friend when I was there who did a paper on Hall and who formed a close bond with Hall through his work. When I emailed him to inform him of Hall’s death he spoke about this bond and how affected he was by Hall’s death. Hall had that ability to resonate with you because he so ably described the dynamics of our lives.
This morning when I read about his death, it occurred to me that whenever I think of West Indians who have made their mark in the UK, the first name that comes to mind is not a Trevor McDonald, a John Barnes, a George Lamming, a Gus Young, a C.L.R.James or a Darcus Howe. It is always Stuart Hall.
The following are some articles which pay tribute to Hall:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)