If you're in the UK you wouldn't have been able to see my interview on BBC World TV. Sugar, Sugar Bittersweet Tales of Indian Migrant Workers goes Global!
On Episode Two of The Making of Sugar, Sugar Podcast I go back in time with my mentor Jamie Rhodes, author of Dead Men’s Teeth and the graphic novel A Castle in England to recall the highs and lows of writing my first collection of short stories. He was a delight to work with and always encouraged me to keep writing when my head felt hollowed out and empty of words. So, if you’re thinking of taking on a similar project as Sugar, Sugar consider taking on a mentor – if the partnership is right – I don’t think you’ll regret it. So here we go...
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I began writing Sugar, Sugar Bitter-sweet Tales of Indian Migrant Workers in September 2016. I had given myself four months to research and write the first draft. The plan was to deliver the manuscript to my publisher in January the following year so that we could meet the publication date of May 2017. I didn’t realise it then but I had set myself an almost impossible challenge. When the first week of January arrived I made a difficult call to my publisher, Rosemarie Hudson of HopeRoad Publishing. I explained that I needed more time and when I asked for three more weeks she gave me six. By mid March I handed the manuscript in. I am not too proud to say that those six months or so were the most gruelling and at times the most soul destroying moments of my professional life. But there are a couple of things you need to know about me as I share this journey with you - I don’t give up easily, second, I love a challenge and I had a lot of support.
Sugar, Sugar is a collection of short stories based on historical archive based at the British Library and the memories of the descendents of indentured Indians who live in London. Their ancestors, my own included left the Indian sub-continent between 1838 and 1917 to work on sugar plantations in British colonies around the world. Their labour was needed by British plantation owners in colonies such as British Guiana, Fiji, South Africa (Natal) Mauritius and Trinidad and Tobago. They were contracted to work for five years on the sugar plantations.
I chose to write historical fiction because of the lack of first-person narrative in the archives and so with the help of the Caribbean historian, Clem Seecharan and other members of this almost invisible community I set about creating fictional stories about their experiences. I had already presented a two-part series on my own family history for BBC Radio 4, Sugar, Saris and Green Bananas but now I wanted to extend the story to other communities who share this fascinating history.
But I’m jumping the gun. Let me go back to January 2016 when I first met Eva Lewin, Writer Development Manager from Spread the Word. I had approached her to help me get the much needed funding to write the collection. From her busy offices in South East London she recalls her first impressions of the project I put before her.
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Last August, I received a letter from Arts Council England informing me that I had successfully applied for funding to create a project called Sugar, Sugar. The first part of the year long project was to write and publish a collection of short stories based on historical archive at the British Library and the memories of the living descendents of Indentured Indian sugar workers.
They were contracted to work on sugar plantations in former British colonies like Guyana, Trinidad, South Africa, Fiji and Mauritius.
After I received the offer letter I set to work looking for inspiration for my stories. I sat for hours sifting through manuscripts, records and newspaper cuttings at the British Library. Eventually, I found a collection of letters written in 1884 by the Protector of Immigrants who was stationed in Natal, in what we now know as South Africa. It appeared to me that Mr L.A Mason was becoming more and more irritated by a troublesome Indian man who was trying to improve the lives of the sugar workers and their families.
The Complaint was inspired by these letters which can be found in a beautiful marble bound collection of records. Leafing through the thick paper it was still possible to smell the wood smoke, perhaps from a fire in the Protector of Immigrants parlour or from a pipe he would smoke as he contemplated the Indian man’s fate. It was this collection of letters inspired me to write, The Complaint.
A fascinating web of honey-coloured threads linking Indian migrant workers, who first left the Sub-Continent more than a hundred and fifty years ago, and their descendants now living in contemporary Britain.
When emancipated African slaves left their hard labour in the British Empire’s sugar cane fields, plantation owners set their sights on Indian workers.
So it was that in early 1838, the first ships set sail from Calcutta and Madras, full of men and women searching for new beginnings in Guyana, Trinidad, South Africa, Mauritius and Fiji.
This short story collection celebrates those people and uses real-life case histories to make the past come alive.
Amazon
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sugar-Bitter-Indian-Migrant-Workers/dp/1908446609
Waterstones
https://www.waterstones.com/book/sugar-sugar/lainy-malkani/sanjeev-bhaskar/9781908446602
Facebook: @sugarsugartales
Twitter: @lainymalkani #sugarsugartales
Instagram: @sugarsugartales
Lainy Malkani uncovers her family's roots on the sugar plantations of British Guiana
When you reach for the sugar bowl do you ever think where those sweet granules come from? In the first of two programmes, London-born journalist Lainy Malkani embarks on a quest to uncover her family's Indo-Guyanese roots on the sugar plantations of the Caribbean.
She learns how her ancestors were among the tens of thousands of poor indentured labourers shipped from India to work on the British-owned sugar estates - a practice that began after slavery was abolished in 1838 and continued well into the 20th century. They lived and laboured on plantations with quintessentially English names like Rose Hall and Albion.
When Jock Campbell, the Eton-educated son of the owners of Albion, first visited in 1932 he was shocked by the conditions he found. He asked the fearsome Scottish manager James Bee why the workers' lodgings were so much worse than those of the mules. He was told "Because mules cost money to replace."
Lainy hears firsthand accounts of life on the sugar plantations and the intense nostalgia workers felt for their Indian homeland. She also learns how some of the most famous West Indies cricketers, such as Clive Lloyd and Rohan Kanhai, began their careers on the cricket grounds of the Guyanese sugar estates.
And in a south London suburb, she joins numerous other Indo-Guyanese families as they commemorate the first generation of indentured labourers who went to the Caribbean.
She says, "It was sugar that brought my Indian ancestors to the Caribbean. It was the sugar plantations that defined their daily lives. And eventually it was what drove so many of my parents' generation to seek better lives abroad, such as here in Britain."
Presenter Lainy Malkani
Producer Mukti Jain Campion
A Culture Wise production for BBC Radio 4.
Take a look at my blog to mark 50th anniversary of Guyana's independence today. http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/untoldlives/2016/05/wanted-100-hogshead-of-sugar.html
When an old friend of mine, Peter Herbert, contacted me about the sad passing of a close friend and colleague, I was curious to find out more about her. During my research I discovered that Tanoo Mylvaganam was a determined woman with a strong commitment to social justice and equality. She was also one of the first black or Asian women to be called to the Bar. The year was 1983, when you couldn’t count on one hand other lawyers with her background. Listen to the full story.
Rare images of the 'people's champion'
There's an excellent exhibition of images of Muhammad Ali this week at Proud Camden. The Champ: My Year With Muhammad Ali is a rare collection of photographs taken by Michael Gaffney, an American photojournalist who was invited to spend a year with the champion and gained a unique insight into Muhammad Ali's life between 1977 and 1978.
I'm researching the story of William Dallas, a printer in British Guiana in the 1850's. He printed newspapers amongst other things along with a Mr Baum from Pennsylvania in a post office in Georgetown.
There is little to go on except that he was described as a 'light mulatto', and was trained in Scotland. Who was he? I'm hoping the British Library can shed some more light.
Sugar, Saris and Green Bananas Episode 2 of 2
A cutlass once used for chopping sugar cane, a collection of old Indian music albums and a pair of shiny red stiletto shoes. Can these objects help a daughter better understand her mother's past?
Since her mother died, London-born journalist Lainy Malkani has been trying to make sense of her family's history of double migration. In the first programme she uncovered the epic story of her ancestors who came from India to work as indentured labourers on the sugar plantations of British Guyana in the 19th and early 20th century. In this programme she discovers how difficult it was to forge an Indo-Guyanese identity for the migrants who came to build new lives in Britain during the 1960s.
"No-one knew what to make of us when we came to England. We looked Indian but we didn't speak any Indian language or dress in Indian clothes. If we said we were from the Caribbean people didn't understand because, to most British people, Caribbean just meant being black. So we became sort of invisible."
When her parents were alive they didn't speak much about the past. But by going through her mum's belongings with her siblings and speaking to other immigrants of that period Lainy has begun to reconnect with her Indo-Guyanese heritage. And as she reflects on the life her mother created for herself and her children in north London, Lainy learns that migration can be motivated by many things other than money.
Presenter Lainy Malkani
Producer Mukti Jain Campion
A Culture Wise production for BBC Radio 4.
Sugar, Saris and Green Bananas Episode 2 of 2
This programme will be available shortly after broadcast
A cutlass once used for chopping sugar cane, a collection of old Indian music albums and a pair of shiny red stiletto shoes. Can these objects help a daughter better understand her mother's past?
Since her mother died, London-born journalist Lainy Malkani has been trying to make sense of her family's history of double migration. In the first programme she uncovered the epic story of her ancestors who came from India to work as indentured labourers on the sugar plantations of British Guyana in the 19th and early 20th century. In this programme she discovers how difficult it was to forge an Indo-Guyanese identity for the migrants who came to build new lives in Britain during the 1960s.
"No-one knew what to make of us when we came to England. We looked Indian but we didn't speak any Indian language or dress in Indian clothes. If we said we were from the Caribbean people didn't understand because, to most British people, Caribbean just meant being black. So we became sort of invisible."
When her parents were alive they didn't speak much about the past. But by going through her mum's belongings with her siblings and speaking to other immigrants of that period Lainy has begun to reconnect with her Indo-Guyanese heritage. And as she reflects on the life her mother created for herself and her children in north London, Lainy learns that migration can be motivated by many things other than money.
Presenter Lainy Malkani
Producer Mukti Jain Campion
A Culture Wise production for BBC Radio 4.
Sugar, Saris and Green Bananas has been so warmly received by listeners and contributors, it really has taken me by surprise. Over the last week, I have been contacted by people all over the world fascinated by the story of Indian indentured sugar workers who migrated in the 19th century to Guyana, then known as British Guiana. The story was told through the memories of their descendants living and working in London, including my own.
On Saturday I was interviewed by Robert Elms, on BBC London 94.9 where I talked to him about Demerara, a region in Guyana where the story of Indo-Caribbean migration began.
This programme will be available shortly after broadcast
When you reach for the sugar bowl do you ever think where those sweet granules come from? In the first of two programmes, London-born journalist Lainy Malkani embarks on a quest to uncover her family's Indo-Guyanese roots on the sugar plantations of the Caribbean.
She learns how her ancestors were among the tens of thousands of poor indentured labourers shipped from India to work on the British-owned sugar estates - a practice that began after slavery was abolished in 1838 and continued well into the 20th century. They lived and laboured on plantations with quintessentially English names like Rose Hall and Albion.
When Jock Campbell, the Eton-educated son of the owners of Albion, first visited in 1932 he was shocked by the conditions he found. He asked the fearsome Scottish manager James Bee why the workers' lodgings were so much worse than those of the mules. He was told "Because mules cost money to replace."
Lainy hears firsthand accounts of life on the sugar plantations and the intense nostalgia workers felt for their Indian homeland. She also learns how some of the most famous West Indies cricketers, such as Clive Lloyd and Rohan Kanhai, began their careers on the cricket grounds of the Guyanese sugar estates.
And in a south London suburb, she joins numerous other Indo-Guyanese families as they commemorate the first generation of indentured labourers who went to the Caribbean.
She says, "It was sugar that brought my Indian ancestors to the Caribbean. It was the sugar plantations that defined their daily lives. And eventually it was what drove so many of my parents' generation to seek better lives abroad, such as here in Britain."
Presenter Lainy Malkani
Producer Mukti Jain Campion
A Culture Wise production for BBC Radio 4.
Please add this date to your diary and share with your networks....
11am Fridays 18th and 25th September and on iPlayer for 30 days
Two documentaries in which I unover the history of the indentured Indian labourers who were brought to work on British sugar plantations in the Caribbean and whose descendants, later came to settle in Britain
The first series of the Social History Hub podcast has just come to an end with ten great stories from individuals who are helping to redefine the way in which we live our lives.
True lives have always been a fascination to me. The stories that emerge when you take some time to listen to people are amazing and you never know what you will find out. Take, the Battle of Waterloo, a memorial is unveiled today and some of the descendents of the soldiers who fought on the battlefield will be telling their personal stories, perhaps for the first time.
I’ve just read an article telling the story of dentures made from the teeth of dead soldiers on the battlefield. It’s a grim true story and the pictures are equally unsavoury, but if you can stomach it, the article is worth a read. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-33085031
It reminds me of my podcast interview with the author Jamie Rhodes, who created a fictional world around the lives of those who might have collected those teeth on the battlefield. His collection of stories called, ‘Dead Men’s Teeth’, recreates lives dating back four hundred years and enables us to put ourselves in the shoes of those who never had the time, nor money to record their own lives, no matter how grim.
Thankfully, that isn’t the case anymore and we are able to access information about the lives, struggles and achievements of people around the world relatively easily but of course someone needs to write them down or document them for future generations.
With that in mind I want to thank all the contributors to the first series of the Social History Hub podcast. Without their willingness to talk about their personal lives, the experiences they share with others would be lost. I won’t name them asthey’re all amazing but go to http://www.socialhistoryhub.com/podcasts/ and see who you identify with the most. Or indeed, just enjoy their story.
I’ll be back in a few months with a Summer Festivals special series, talking to the founders about the trials and tribulations of getting a festival off the ground.
Lainy
