Prime Minister Panday’s Last Parlance – Final Fiery Journey Comes Full Circle to Reconnect with Ancestors
Dr Kris Rampersad 
Basdeo Panday Final Parlance Journey to Roots
When you came into the world, people laughed, and you cried.
Sant Kabir Das, Basdeo Panday’s favoured Poet & Philosopher
Go do something in life that when we die, the world weeps and we laugh.
Panday’s Last Parlance, his final fiery journey comes full circle to reconnect with his ancestors with a State Procession of compatriots from the at the Southern Academy of the Performing Arts to the Mosquito Creek Shore of Peace. (See Route to Cremation Below). His Antyesi/funeral rites will take place exactly 32 years since an earlier journey to roots, the lands of his ancestors when he made the first return since his ancestors departed India for the unknown Chinidad (land of sugar) .
The journey that began in 1908 when his maternal grandparents Ajodhia and Subshanti left their village in Lakshmanpur India for Trinidad and Tobago (- some details of which I share below) will conclude today in the ancestral fire.
First State Open Fire Cremation, IndoTrinidadian, Hindu Rites for Head of Government
The open fire cremation, part of his ancestral legacy, was banned under colonial rule which brought Indians to Trinidad in 1845 and did not receive official sanction until 1952.
Now, 72 years later, Panday’s is the first national State funeral under Hindu rites. Even in death, it continues his life’s struggles for acceptance and recognition of many of the cultural elements transposed by his ancestors who came to seek sweeter lives for their children in a far of distant land to chinni chale meaning ‘come let’s go to sift sugar’. The word Chinni, meaning sugar, replaced Trini in the Indian lexicon, as my Ma the Nonagenarian, whom Panday considered his sister, knew. Panday now joins two Queens, these nonagenarians.
Bitter Sweet Experiences
The experience has been one of bitter-sweet arrows for the Indian labourers who came. In no one is that bitter-sweet experience more representative than in the figure of Basdeo Panday, the boy from the canefields who took on all-comers, became Trinidad and Tobago’s first Prime Minister of Indian Descent and first Hindu Prime Minister as the country’s fifth Head of Government in 1995.
Through a long and tumultuous career, he continued to roar into his nineties. Panday passed away in full humor surrounded by his friends on New Year’s Day 2024. He would be sent off in a blaze of fire and glory today January 9, 2024.
Return Journey To Roots
His many journeys as Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, his first Ministerial portfolio included his journey to roots in his ancestral village in India, which followed the earlier journey returning to our hometown village of St Julien. They encompassed his journeying from his impoverished beginnings in the canefields to the seat of governance at the Twin Towers.
I captured the excitement of preparation by the people of India to receive him on his return as a journey to roots to reconnect with his relatives in India for the first time since his grandparents left the continent for the so-called New World in 1908 (See below). The excitement to receive him as a son of the soil who had left to return as the leader of his land, was exhilarating and infectious, as must be the excitement at the pending return of his body to the holy fire/Agni and the liberation of his soul in a life of struggle for freedom, justice and liberties of his people.
Stately Farewell
Hundreds flocked to say farewell as his body was carried to music of Frank Sinatra’s My Way before he was set down in honour at the Rotunda of the iconic seat of Parliament, the Red House in Port of Spain, on Friday January 5 2024.
On Monday January 8, Panday’s body was transported along the San Fernando Bypass onto the Cross Crossing Interchange, to Rienzi Kirton Highway – named for his mentor in the colonial labour struggles, Adrian Cola Rienzi – then onto Todd Street through and into SAPA where he lay in State.
Musical Sendoff with indigenous IndoCaribbean music
Scores from his home region paid tribute at SAPA and last night he was given a musical send off by the traditional home grown music and musicians in a night of singing. Today, January 9 2024,
This morning, Tuesday January 9, 2024, Panday’s body will journey under military escort, from the corner of Cipero Street and the Rienzi Kirton Highway, onto Todd Street and into SAPA for performance of funerary rites.
The cortege will then depart SAPA and proceed left onto Balisier Avenue, onto the San Fernando Bypass, onto South Trunk Road to Mosquito Creek Road.
A military procession will then escort Panday’s bodily remains from Mosquito Creek Road to the Shore of Peace Cremation Site.
As he shared with me as we discussed his struggles to turn his oratory to authorship and complete his autobiography, he shared with me among his favourite music and reading, Sant Kabir Das, among which gems of wisdom was this one:
When you came into the world, people laughed, and you cried.
Go do something in life that when we die, the world weeps and we laugh.
Tears for Panday
Today as Panday’s soul is released into the realm of eternal laughter, those of his world will weep copious tears.
I share here the anticipation I captured in this article of those on the otherside, anticipating his return to India as must be the timber and tone of the souls waiting to receive his in the great beyond.
Excerpt from Panday’s Journey to Roots
From GLoCAl Knowledge Pot Archives
Red carpet welcome for Pandåy in India
By KRIS RAMPERSAD ,
Sunday January 21,1992
A RED carpet welcome awaits Prime Minister Basdeo Panday when he sets foot on Indian soil on Tuesday January 21,1992. And his ancestral village of Lakshmanpur, in the State of Uttar Pradesh, is preparing its own surprise for Mr Panday who will arrive in the village by helicopter on January 28 (1992).
Already the villagers — among them descendants of his maternal grandparents Ajodhia and Subshanti who left Calcutta for Trinidad as indentured immigrants in 1908 — have written Mr Panday, informing him that they were looking forward to his visit as a great honour.
The Prime Minister’s visit to India will be a far different welcome than was accorded returning immigrants from Trinidad and Tobago to India a century ago. Then returning immigrants were considered as being defiled crossing the kala pani — the dark waters of the Indian Ocean — and were not welcomed back into the fold until they had performed severe sacrifices.
But Mr Panday’s visit to India is not as a dharti ke lal (son of the soil). Rather, it is as an Indo-Trinidadian and product of the New World that he would accept the Honorary Doctor of Laws degree to be conferred on him by the Banaras Hindu University on January 27 (1992) and will be reunited with long-lost relatives.
Force of new island culture
The Prime Minister is taking to India the force of a culture that is uniquely Trinidad and Tobago’s, among them, tassa and chutney which came from India, but which have evolved their own rhythms and styles; the wholly indigenous steelband, calypso, traditional carnival costumes, and a multi-ethnic mix of dances.
“The beauty of the culture is in its mixture,” Indian High Commissioner Inder Vir Chopra told the Sunday Guardian.
“It is an opportunity to show Indians how the cultural forms that originated in India have been mixed in its contact with other peoples to produce something new. And by inviting Mr Panday to be the special guest of our Republic Day celebrations, we are paying tribute to all Indians who went out of India, in very difficult circumstances, and came out of that to be at the top.
About Dr Kris Rampersad
Dr Kris Rampersad is an independent scholar, journalist and development specialist . She has served as former Vice President of the Commonwealth Journalists’ Association, President of UNESCO Education Commission, Vice President of UNESCO Programme and External Relations Commission and Vice President of the Consultative Body of UNESCO InterGovernmental Committee on Intangible Cultural Heritage and Media Specialist/Adviser to the Commonwealth Foundation.
Dr Kris Rampersad is global thought leader and consultant who straddles spheres of media, culture and education as an expert on integrated sustainable developmental issues of the Caribbean, SIDS, Developing World and the Global South. A Commonwealth Professional Fellow, Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge, Indian Institute of Mass Communication and Foreign Press Centre of Japan with a PhD in Pre and Post Colonial Literature, she invented the world’s newest creative genre, the MultiMedia MicroEpic that adopts and adapts the long-form classical epic for short-form new media which she piloted to the Commonwealth Scholars Forum at the height of the Covid-19 Pandemic.
Her web platform, the GloCaL Knowledge Pot features her developing multimedia expositions of CEIBA-EDUtainment, novel creations that blend education and entertainment for all ages and sectors from pre-school to policy-making through traditional, conventional and new media forms. Dr Rampersad is a National Geographic Educator, UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Facilitator, Global Woman Techmakers’ Ambassador, Google Digital Skills Ambassador and Small Island Innovators’ Ambassador. Internationally, she has served variously as President of the UNESCO Education Commission, Vice President of UNESCO Programme and External Relations Commission, Vice President and Independent Member of the Consultative Body to the InterGovernmental Committee on Intangible Cultural Heritage and Vice President of the Commonwealth Journalists’ Association.
More at https://krisrampersad.com/explore-our-world/who-we-are/dr-kris-rampersad-connecting-glocal-cultures/ To support, sponsor or collaborate on developing online resources in the GloCal Knowledge Pot as CEIBA-EDUtainment and MultiMedia MicroEpic interactive initiatives, new investigative research, multimedia publications and productions and digitisation of journalistic, academic and socio-cultural archives and development of online resource base You can make contact and connect through her web portal GloCaL Knowledge Pot,www.krisrampersad.com; as KrisRampersad on LinkedIn,Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest, KrisRampersad1 on Facebook and @Krisramp on X/Twitter
- Confronting The Colonial Mindset & Systemised Bias With BBC Gone Who Goin Tek Over Town II Happy Girls In ICT Day!
With escalating evidence of the persistent colonial mindset inhibiting the development agenda introducing a new Demokrissy Series to confront the Colonial Mindset, media bias and bias in tech Happy International Girls In ICT Day - Cover Story Dr Kris Changing The World With Ideas Impact the Future IWD Reflections
Reflecting the Journey to Impact the Future called Wonder Woman Reflections on International Women’s Day Cover Story Changing the World With Ideas - Creating From Chaos Arresting the Tears for Us and the Haitian Earth
Creating from Chaos insights into the Haitian democratic dilemma rooted in an atrocious Colonial past and what artistry may be needed healing and recovery Eye … Haiti …Cries…Everywhere - Dirty Lyrics CARICOM@50 Guyana President jams on opaque data culture-Impact the Future Women Techmakers Happy IWD!
This startling disclosure by Chair of CARICOM, Guyana President Dr Irfaan Ali has repercussions for culture of governance, Data Driven Development, cultural actions for change and gender empowerment Happy International Women’s Day from this Woman Techmakers’ Ambassador - In the News Digital Dilemma in Caribbean Education Culture New Directions Needed for ICT Planning
How internet and the technological advancements are causing us to loosen our grip on cultural traditions and heritage, critical to our national and cultural identities and what we can do about it! - A Carnival Memoire Jus call me Cooligan! Bois and Bacchanal in meh blood One Fine J’Ouvert Morn
A Carnival expose of the hidden gems of the multicultural mosaic of the Caribbean as we enter the bacchanalia of the season - Pokney From the Pyre PM Panday Patni/Wife Progeny Poke Patriarchy
Presence of Panday’s Patni/wife and Progeny at Hindu pyre cremation implications for cultural practice, discrimination and violence against women and boys’ education - Prime Minister Panday’s Last Parlance – Final Fiery Journey Comes Full Circle to Reconnect with Ancestors
Former Prime Minister Basdeo Panday’s final journey to cremation pyre recalls other journeys to root and anticipated welcome on the other side – Dr Kris Rampersad reflects on his journeys - People’s Prime Minister Panday’s Parting Punch in prep for Tell-All Memoire – mutating orator into author In Remembrance
Behind the scenes confessions on honing the authorial skills of the Silver Fox the orator Prime Minister Basdeo Panday - Silver Fox Who Dared Lions – former Prime Minister Basdeo Panday – Passes On
Silver Fox who dared Lions Prime Minister Basdeo Panday passes on News Year’s Day farewell - When Your World View is the World’s View! Happy New Year!
Spread the love When You World View is the World’s View! Happy New Year! As we say goodbye - Peace Talks to Change LAC Agenda – Region Poised For New Era of Development?
Promise of change of course for development in Latin America and Caribbean as feuding leaders Guyana’s President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali and Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro meet for peace talks around border controversy more details on Boredr Wars www.krisrampersad.com - A New Agenda for Guyana-Venezuela Talks – Open Letter to Comrade Gonsalves & Peace Brokers from Limboing to Parranda-ing & Junkanooing on the Borderline
An open letter to Peace Broker Dr Gonsalves et al addressing talks between Venezuela and Guyana Border Wars III with a revised agenda and a unique perspective on the ongoing conflict and actionable steps to foster peace and understanding. More at www.KrisRampersad.com - Prompt Action Needed as UN Security Council, CARICOM hold Emergency Meet on Venezuela; Maduro’s Land Grab threat to Guyana may escalate 8m refugee crisis in LAC – the Border Wars II
Prompt Action needed from Region as Repercussions set in from threats by Venezuelan President Maduro to Guyana, defiance of the ICJ provisional order and growing repercussions for Venezuela Refugee and displacement crises, regional insecurity in Latin America and the Caribbean. - ICJ to pronounce on provisional request by Guyana Dec 1 2023International Court of Justice
- Brokering the Border Wars – LAC limbo on barbed lines of demarcation as Venezuela-Guyana dispute heightens
Political stability and peace in Latin America and the Caribbean sits on a fine filigree of loosely-knotted territorial disputes. What are the implications to the wider region of the Venezuela-Guyana Dispute Dr Kris Rampersad takes a broader and deeper view of fermenting feuds…www.krisrampersad.com - When Kerry Met Kris – Negotiating Caribbean Development with US Secretary of State
he USA rejoining UNESCO and its significance for bilateral and multilateral arrangements with Caribbean countries. - UNESCO actions and funding under scrutiny, says Trinidad representativeSpread the love Providing focus to centering the agenda needs and agendas of the developing world, Global South
- SIDS education culture agenda before UNESCO Executive Board
Understanding the mechanisms of global governance and how to use the instruments to effect change is one of the challenges facing the region and ways to redress with Dr Kris Rampersad - T&T Offers Multicultural Experience To UNESCO’s New Humanism Thrust – In the News
Spread the love Positioning small islands, the developing world and the Global South on the international agenda requires - Critical Creative Triggers to social and economic development
Why we are failing the next generations and sending them into trigger-hapy youth and street gangs - Exclusives with Miss World! Behind the Glamour Glitter & Glow! Beauty in Gender Empowerment
ehind the Scenes on the world of glamour, glitter and glow of representing Trinidad and Tobago. Anecdotes with the First Miss World from Trinidad and Tobago, Giselle La Ronde, the first woman of colour to win the Miss Universe Competition, Janelle-Penny and the second Miss Universe from Trinidad and Tobago, Wendy Fitzwilliam. more at www.krisrampersad.com .
1 thought on “Prime Minister Panday’s Last Parlance – Final Fiery Journey Comes Full Circle to Reconnect with Ancestors”