This month, we are highlighting 17-year-old Julia Balkaran, who has been involved with ICA for the past three years as both a volunteer and a student in our tutoring and SAT prep programs. 

Julia initially learned about ICA from a family friend. She attributes ICA with helping her connecting to her heritage, stating: "I have gained a better view on my cultural background and encouragement to keep pushing for my goals in life. I feel more connected with my community." Julia also credits our programs with helping with her academics. She said, "I am a better student because [ICA] showed me different ways to open my mind to learning. I read more, I actually study, and I retain information and can understand things at a difficult level."

Julia said she feels hopeful for what's to come because of what she has learned at ICA. "ICA has helped me set up goals for the future because they showed me I am not limited to all these other opportunities. I am able to believe in myself more and outline how I want to accomplish everything in a certain time frame." We wish Julia the very best as she starts her first year at John Jay College of Criminal Justice!

If you are interested in supporting students like Julia through our ICA programs, consider coming to our Gala 2016!

With summer 2016 underway, the Indo Caribbean Special Collection at the Lefferts Branch of Queens Library has over 200 titles in all genres to complement your day at the beach or in the backyard.  I personally recommend all of the books in the collection, but I will attempt to narrow that list with these recommendations:

​​First on the list is Cereus Blooms at Midnight by Shani Mootoo.  Mootoo is a brilliant, deeply talented writer who draws from her life and experiences to write, with dignity, about those who are not fully accepted by society.  Without revealing too much of the plot, Mala Ramchandin supposedly takes revenge on her father for his abuse of her and her sister. Her story is told via her nurse at the home where she now resides, after being declared unfit to stand trial.  The characters in the story, who in many ways live on the fringe of society, will draw you in and keep you connected to the narrative.

​The collection also hosts Ms. Mootoo's other novels, He Drown She in Sea and Valmiki's Daughter, which are highly recommended.
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​No Pain Like This Body by Harold Sonny Ladoo is another tragic novel featuring Indian immigrants in Trinidad.  It is raw, real, and captures the essence of early Indian existence in Trinidad. Much like Cereus, the theme of alcoholism, illness, and death are repeated in this novel.

Ladoo, a young writer who was hailed for this classic masterpiece, was tragically and mysteriously found dead while in Trinidad doing research for his follow-up novel.

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Buxton Spice by Oonya Kempadoo refers to a type of mango found in Guyana, the tree of which was in constant view of the protagonist of the story, Lula.  Kempadoo gives the experience of growing up in a Guyanese village flair with her witty descriptions. She does not hold back when it comes to incorporating the oppressive political world of young Lula and her family. It reads, in many ways, like an autobiography of Kempadoo and will rekindle memories for anyone who grew up in the 1980s in Guyana. 

Her father Peter Kempadoo’s book Guyana Boy is also in the collection and that, too, is recommended.

​For a more intense read on Indian immigration and indentureship, I always recommend Bechu by Clem Seecharran.  A view of the history of Indian indentureship in Guyana through the eyes of an indentured immigrant, Bechu establishes the bearing of immigrants in Guyana in the late 18th century and is a must read for all Indo-Caribbeans. 

Dr. Basdeo Mangru's works, especially Benevolent Neutrality, also adds perspective on our history, as does Peter Ruhoman’s Centenary History of the East Indians in British Guiana.
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​Last but not least: one of my favorite writers, Samuel Selvon, has a book entitled A Brighter Sun, which features a young Indian man, Tiger, in Trinidad who gets married and ventures out into the world to find out what life is all about. While in many ways typical, the novel deals with the issues facing immigrants in the Caribbean and the coping skills--or lack thereof--employed. 

Selvon's Those Who Eat the Cascadura is also in the collection. He is one of the few writers who capture the authentic transitional language of Indians and his novels should also be valued for this reason.

If you love poetry, Rajiv Mohabir's na mash me bone stands out for its lyrical translation from Bhojpuri to “Guyanese” to English.  A collection of folksongs, this book is a unique take on translation and interpretation and scores highly for cultural preservation in a literary form. Rajiv's latest book of poetry, The Taxidermist's Cut is also in the collection and on my reading list.

For those interested in the occult, Dr. Kumar Mohabir's work, Indian Caribbean Folklore Spirits will be of interest to you.  Of children’s books, Janet Jagan’s When Grandpa Cheddi was a Boy stands out.  Written for her grandchildren, it describes the idyllic life of the late President and his upbringing in Berbice.  A few others that are on my reading list are former Ambassador Dr. Odeen Ishmael's The Guyana Story, Deborah Barocas' cookbook Guyana's Tasty Exotic, and The Flour Convoy by Chaitram Singh.  If you’re a movie aficionado, The Mystic Masseur, based on the book by V.S. Naipaul, is also at the library.  

Grab your swank (or coconut water) and your doubles and head on over to the library to get a copy of one of our movies or any of the suggested books here. Feel free to browse the collection for anything else that might pique your interest, be it cooking, politics, history, cricket, or Indian immigration. Happy reading!

By Kaveeta Ramchal

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