It's not just Guyana that has a large population of Indians. Next door, in Suriname, around half the population are descended from those who came from India. In fact, there are 170,000 Hindus here (37% of the population) plus 18,000 'Indian' Muslims. It's not uncommon to hear the greeting 'Salaam alay-kum!'
The Indians arrived here much later than the Guyanese Indians. In Suriname, the Dutch only finally abolished slavery in 1873, and that's when the recruiting began. The Indians were enticed here in the belief they were coming to Shri Ram, the Land of Ram. Mohandas Gandhi regarded this traffic in people as ‘a new slave trade’, and agitated for its abolition, which finally happened in 1916. At that point, the Dutch brought in the Javanese.
Meanwhile, they’re 'Hindustaten' (as they're known) had produced large families, initially to provide labour. Later, large families were about political survival. ‘We were told to make a lot of children,' one Indian told, 'so we wouldn't be swamped.’
Today, Indian culture is kept alive with help of Indian Embassy – and there’s even a revival. But there's no real sign of their 'Indianess' failing. The Hindustaten have their own newspapers, te,ples (see photo), TV stations (like Natraj TV) and political parties (e.g the United Indian Party). They even have their own dialect, Sarnami, a local version of Hindi, a form of Bihari.
But, make no mistake, the Surinamese Indians are fully part of this country and its culture. Just like the Afro-Surinamese, they know where the water mamma lives, and where it’s dangerous to swim ...