{"id":2703,"date":"2020-09-19T05:36:03","date_gmt":"2020-09-19T05:36:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girmitiya.girmit.org\/new\/?page_id=2703"},"modified":"2024-05-09T11:02:14","modified_gmt":"2024-05-09T11:02:14","slug":"chinsan","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/girmit.org\/index.php\/girmitiya-stories\/chinsan\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinsan"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Chinsan’s story” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]I came to Fiji through my own arrogance. There was trouble at home and I walked out. I met someone and asked him to give me work. He said he could find me a good job in Fiji. I was taken to a depot and registered. Once I got into the depot and ate the food provided for me I was caught in a net and could no longer leave.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text]

<\/p>\n

It was Indians not Europeans who ruined things; the\u00a0sardars <\/em>were Indians and they were responsible for all evil. We had for a time a foul-mouthed\u00a0sardar<\/em>\u00a0who was an ex-indentured man. He was subsequently dismissed by the Company. But it was the Europeans who gave us a beating, there was no redress from them.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>[vc_column_text css=””]Everyone, irrespective of religion, participated in the\u00a0tazia<\/em>. These occasions were sometimes characterised by widespread fighting among participants.<\/span><\/p>\n

I did fast in the month of Ramadhan while I was on\u00a0girmit<\/em>. Life was hard in those days. I know of women under\u00a0girmit<\/em>\u00a0who worked till 9pm or 10pm cutting and loading cane. It was Indians who created difficulties for other Indians. Was it a good thing to listen to Europeans and to take to them one\u2019s sister or daughter?<\/span><\/p>\n

All were united, doctors as well as the Company, against Indians who were like orphans.<\/span><\/p>\n

We did not get married in those days we merely came to an agreement. I had a year of my\u00a0girmit<\/em>\u00a0to serve when I met a Brahmin woman who had come from India with a child.<\/span><\/p>\n

She suffered much and one day she fell at my feet so I said to her: \u201cMaharajin why are you crying? If your girmit is finished I will keep you as my wife otherwise I will not. But you will have to give up your religion and become a Muslim. If you intend to remain a Brahmin then you must find someone your own kind.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She replied: \u201cI will do as you say.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I was able to arrange everything with the Company and so I married this woman and adopted her son. I had several children by her and I am staying with one of them at present.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Chinsan’s story” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]I came to Fiji through my own arrogance. There was trouble at home and I walked out. I met someone and asked him to give me work. He said he could find me a good job in Fiji. I was taken to a depot and registered. Once I got into…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":2759,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2703","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girmit.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girmit.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girmit.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girmit.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girmit.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2703"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/girmit.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2703\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4313,"href":"https:\/\/girmit.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2703\/revisions\/4313"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girmit.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girmit.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}