I read with great interest Raymond Ramcharitar's recent piece in the commentary page of the Guardian titled Divali in the Creole world and I am tempted to write my view, not as a reaction, for Raymond's writing is immaculate and I admire his style, but as a complement to where he left off in the intellectual narrative.
Ramcharitar's prose is compelling; very few Indo-writers in this country provoke you. No wonder his was the only book-The Island Quintet-that I picked up from a local bookstore from among the scant collection of Trinbagonian writing.
When I presented the 11-volume collection of the Encyclopedia of Hinduism to the Prime Minister as a Divali gift at the Diplomatic Centre, it was meant to spur the interest of the population in being educated, nay aware, of the finer nuances of Hinduism in its loftiest sense.
Seventy thousand entries contributed by a thousand scholars from all over the world (T&T has one entry: Ramleela in the Caribbean), painstakingly researched, edited and brought out in fine print (the exercise took over 20 years) is by itself a significant addition to the corpus of codified knowledge on Hinduism, the first time that such an audacious task has been accomplished.
I was drawn to make the unique gift to this land where I have been living for a considerable period of time, and have thus come to understand the ontological nuances of an intricate society in evolution-political, social, cultural, even spiritual. I only wish the symbolism is not lost in the fawning over rituals.
This leads me to think that the time has come for a regeneration of values arising out of a reassessment of religious practices and where they all lead to. If the discourse for a proper understanding does not begin now, for which intellectuals like Raymond Ramcharitar should lend their pen and presence in ample measure, an evolving society boasting of a confluence of cultures may have a uni-dimensional growth.
Hinduism, inarguably the oldest living presence of spiritual and cultural values, embedded firmly by force of an all-pervasive religiosity and its attendant manifestations (a trifle commercialised maybe, as Raymond is wont to say) needs a nation-wide awareness, appreciation and embrace. A way of life which has prided itself on its inclusiveness through millenia should occupy centre stage of an enduring discourse and form part of a civilisational journey specific to this land.
This is therefore time to pause and reflect, take stock of all the cultural influences which have come in with the history of a set of people over a century and six decades and forge an alternative world view. That would signal the strength of a nation in this cacophony of conceived conflicts.
Divali is an important barometer of socio-cultural behaviour no doubt, but has to seek a deeper epistemological foundation, symbiotically linked as customs and traditions are to philosophy. The narrative to reach for a unitary whole would then begin. (Malay Mishra is the High Commissioner of India in Trinidad & Tobago. The views expressed are his own).
Malay Mishra