The Cutlass

How does someone organize a campaign to fight for their freedom and overturn wrongful imprisonment while still in jail awaiting a fair trial?\r\n\r\nInterviewer Brian Ramcharan sits down with Prakash Churaman at his apartment in New York where the 21-year-old is looking forward to a second, more fair, trial to clear his name. Prakash was arrested in December of 2014 at the age of fifteen, sentenced to 9-years-to-life in prison, and denied bail. Despite all the odds, he launched a movement to advocate for his own justice while still imprisoned, refusing plea deals and maintaining his innocence. This past January he was finally released on bail after spending years at Rikers Island. \r\n\r\nWhile much is known about the circumstances of Prakash\'s case, little has been said about his life and who he is as a person, as well as his time in jail. This discussion is meant to give some insight into that side of him. Listen to Prakash\'s memories of growing up in Guyana, moving to Florida, and eventually coming to Queens, his various likes and hobbies, as well as his life after getting arrested. It is necessary to issue a trigger and content warning, as Prakash does detail some of the violence and abuse he encountered. The subject matter can be and is quite disturbing. \r\n\r\nPlease know that there are so many ways you can support Prakash. He is relying on your help to secure a better future for yourself. Follow him and his campaign @freeprakashalliance on Instagram and Twitter to share his story and build the movement. Prakash is currently surviving off donations so that he can have a place to stay while awaiting his trial and the ability to work. You can access his GoFundMe page through the link in his social media. That link also contains petitions you can sign and ways to contact individuals involved with Prakash\'s case. You can read more about him and his case via articles in Liberation News, The Indypendent, The West Indian Online, and The City. He has also been featured on an episode of the Working Class Heroes radio show (@workingclassheroesradio).\r\n\r\nYou can find Brian @bmr_sound and me @cutlasspodcast on Instagram. Brian is an award-winning producer at Penguin Random House Audio as well as a Grammy-nominated engineer and musician. We were both so honoured to have collaborated with Prakash on this project. Thank you to everyone for listening and joining the fight. Thank you to Prakash for sharing his story.\r\n\r\n#indocaribbean #indocaribbeanculture #indocaribbeanwomen #indocaribbeanhistory #indocaribbeanart #indocaribbeandiaspora #indotrini #indotrinidadian #indoguyanese #indosurinamese #indojamaican #indofijian #indomauritian #indenture #indentureship #indenturedlabour #indenturedservant #indenturedlabourers #indenturedservants #eastindian #indian #westindian #caribbean #westindies #desi #southasian #southasia #india #pakistan #bangladesh #nepal #srilanka #trinidad #trini #trinidadian #guyana #guyanese #suriname #surinamese #jamaica #jamaican #fiji #fijian #mauritius #mauritian #southafrica #southafrican #chutney #chutneymusic #soca #socamusic #chutneysoca #hinduism #hindu #hindi #urdu #hindiurdu #hindustani #bhojpuri #bollywood #criminaljustice #criminaljusticereform #criminalreform #justice #equality #freedom #equity #liberation #independence\r\n 

To what extent can descendants of Indian indentureship and members of the diaspora recreate history and culture through art and literature?  Vinay sits down with Krystal Ramroop to discuss why themes of identity resonate so deeply in her writing. They discuss her upbringing in the Bronx and feelings of oneness with, as well as sometimes alienation from, the Indo-Caribbean and South Asian communities. Krystal opens up about her childhood and journey to becoming a writer, detailing how a single trip to Guyana forever altered her perspective. She and Vinay chat about their mutual love of chutney music, which is currently in a precarious state, and equal admiration of Indo-Surinamese culture. Vinay mentions his own hesitations about incorporating tradition into his writing and they both begin to question the notion of authenticity. Krystal dives into including Indo-Caribbean folktales in her work, networking with other creatives, and how she has learned to accept a finished product. She gives valuable advice on starting to write, pitching ideas, and collaborating with other creative platforms.  Krystal M. Ramroop, better known as Krys, is an innovative American born Indo-Guyanese creative writer and aspiring film and television actress. A first-generation summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the City University of New York’s City College (CCNY), Krystal’s a music, film, and tea junkie at heart and hopes her curiosity and niche for cross-cultural writing will allow her to share her research and experiences and create a realm for readers to join her in. With upcoming releases in Caribbean anthologies, her writings have been featured in Promethean Literary Journal, Akashic Books’ Flash Fiction Duppy Series, Brown Girl Magazine, Avaaz Media, and Brown Sugar Literary Magazine, and her WordPress website, The Art of Storytelling. You can connect with her on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram @krys_mo_ram. #indocaribbean #indocaribbeanculture #indocaribbeanwomen #indocaribbeanhistory #indocaribbeanart #indocaribbeandiaspora #indotrini #indotrinidadian #indoguyanese #indosurinamese #indojamaican #indofijian #indomauritian #indenture #indentureship #indenturedlabour #indenturedservant #indenturedlabourers #indenturedservants #eastindian #indian #westindian #caribbean #westindies #desi #southasian #india #pakistan #bangladesh #nepal #srilanka #trinidad #trini #guyana #guyanese #suriname #surinamese #jamaica #jamaican #fiji #fijian #mauritius #mauritian #southafrica #southafrican #chutney #chutneymusic #soca #socamusic

Does being mixed race give you the freedom of shifting into multiple identities or restrict your ability to ever fully embody one culture? Vinay sits down with Jana Ally to discuss what it means to be mixed race and how the difficulties of hybrid identity are affected by belonging to a culture that is already multifaceted. Jana opens up about struggling to figure out who she was growing up and never being accepted as fully South Asian or West Indian. She talks about how her Indo-Guyanese grandmother and local mosque played enormous roles in her evolving sense of self. Jana goes into the circumstances of her own family's migration during the Windrush era and the current state of the Indo-Caribbean community in the United Kingdom. She and Vinay delve into their individual hopes for the future of the community and the variety of labels they use to encompass their different upbringings and experiences. This brings into focus the use of potentially divisive words like "coolie" and how the Indo-Caribbean community is finally starting to enter mainstream discourse. Jana shares how she incorporates her heritage into her work as a fashion designer and the way she chooses to remember and celebrate our ancestors. She notes the influence of Hinduism on the representation of Indo-Caribbean culture in media and the feeling of being disconnected to India and Indian culture by virtue of being Muslim. They end the conversation on her family's support for her endeavors to learn more about where they come from and what she aspires to accomplish in her journey as a Guyanese woman negotiating identity. Jana Ally is a fashion designer and graduate of the London College of Fashion. In addition to designing clothing and accessories, she hosts her own podcast SAE where she dives into a number of topics concerning diverse backgrounds and the uncomfortable discussions that result from them. SAE is available on iTunes, Spotify, and other platforms. You can reference Jana's work in Sukeban Magazine, Halu Halo, and Bruk Out Media's annual catalog. Follow her @jana and @thepodcastsae on Instagram, as well as @saewithjana on Twitter. 

How do you reconcile being part of a multi-hyphenated identity in a way that makes you feel like an accepted member of each sub-group? Vinay sits down with Bilal Ally to discuss what it means to be a British Muslim and Indo-Guyanese person. They chat about how being a multi-hyphenate gives you the opportunity to explore a very diverse background but also leaves you with the feeling of never being enough anything. The conversation touches on how Indo-Caribbean people are often rejected by both South Asians and West Indians. To South Asians, they are low caste and diluted people who chose to leave India and practice an illegitimate form of Indian-ness. To West Indians, Islam and Hinduism are often not acceptable parts of Caribbean culture due to the dominance of Christianity. Indian-ness is treated as alien, Hinduism and Islam viewed as lesser. Vinay brings his own experiences of being Hindu and taking for granted the carved out Indo-Caribbean spaces within the mandir and temple system. Bilal remarks on still having not met another Guyanese person outside of his family, as well as never having his Indo-Guyanese background recognized at the mosque. They both touch on the sliding scale of identity and the ever evolving journey to learning more about the history of indentureship. Bilal opens up about what lies ahead for him in his path to uncovering more about his roots, as well as how he incorporates that quest in the lyrics of his music. Both agree on how the current times have led to renewed interest in examining race and ethnicity. Thankfully, it is time for Indo-Caribbean people and other descendants of indenture to have much needed conversations about who they are, where they come from, and what direction they are moving in. Platforms like The Cutlass will continue to foster those new connections and dialogues. Bilal Ally is British, Muslim, Indian, and Guyanese. He is also an up-and-coming rapper and independent artist, with his work available on both Spotify and Apple Music. He goes by the moniker Wes Cindi, a play on his West Indian origins, and frequently collaborates with other young musicians exploring similar topics. You can find him, along with some of his visual artwork, @bilalally_ on Instagram. Please check out his appearance on his cousin Jana Ally's podcast "Sae" along with Chandani Persaud.

Can you revitalize and rebirth a language for new generations while the older native speakers are all but gone? Vinay sits down with Dr. Visham Bhimull to apply this question to the case of Trinidad Bhojpuri and Caribbean Hindustani. They talk about the arrival of South Asian languages alongside indentured labourers in the mid-1800s, as well as the emergence of Bhojpuri as a lingua franca on the sugar estates in Trinidad and Guyana. Meanwhile in Suriname and Fiji, due to slightly different migration patterns, Awadhi would come to heavily influence Sarnami Hindustani and Fiji Hindi respectively. Bhimull describes the impact of Dutch and French on Caribbean Hindustani as well as the Indian words and phrases loaned to the various Creole dialects in each Caribbean nation. This conversation veers into the mid-1900s when language death was apparent in Trinidad and Guyana, now starting to arise in Suriname in the twenty-first century. He delves into his childhood and adolescence, reflecting on the roles Bhojpuri and Hindi played in his relationship with his grandparents as well as his university classmates. Today Dr. Bhimull's interests have coalesced into the formation of the Caribbean Hindustani page on Facebook and YouTube. On this social media platform he translates the history, culture, and language that were almost at the point of extinction. He has been integral to preserving the integrity of the language and helping it to take new, innovative forms. Bhimull highlights the issues with the approaches to teaching Hindi undertaken by current Indian organizations in the Caribbean as well as the uniquely South Asian obstacles to the survival of Hindi as a language of utility. This episode marks the beginning of a long-standing partnership between The Cutlass and Caribbean Hindustani to further promote the language in the form of audio lessons that are easily understandable and also applicable to the lifestyles of Indo-Caribbean people.  Dr. Visham Bhimull is a primary care physician and cultural activist. He is also a language enthusiast and independent researcher of linguistics. A fluent speaker of Bhojpuri and Hindi, he is the creator and administrator of the Caribbean Hindustani Facebook page and YouTube channel. Bhimull makes numerous appearances on Trinidadian news programs and radio stations to promote the study and teaching of Caribbean Hindustani.

Are East Indian women better off in the Caribbean now than they would have been had their ancestors remained in South Asia? Vinay sits down with Patricia Mohammed to answer, or at least make sense of, this very complex question. They begin with the circumstances prompting the arrival of Indian women in the Caribbean from India. It turns out that while indentureship certainly oppressed women, it gave them some unprecedented freedoms. These allowances would shape female identity both on and off the plantations, especially with how they navigated their positions as wives and daughters. Discussions on how gender roles would take root in Trinidad and Guyana would not be complete with considering the emerging class and religious differences after indenture ended. As both nations barreled towards independence, women would inevitably have to negotiate and renegotiate their standing in society. While formation of national identities would undoubtedly suppress certain aspects of Indian culture, women would find themselves in public discourse through vehicles like chutney music. Sexuality and income, apparently, would chart a new course for Indo-Caribbean women. Such conversations cannot be had without acknowledging the growing feminist organizations and emergence of icons like Drupatee Ramgoonai and Professor Mohammed herself. All of these developments would have significant impacts on Indo-Caribbean femininity, an identity that is rapidly changing still to this day. Professor Mohammed is an example of the strides women in the community have been able to take. Her exceptional educational profile and recent work as a filmmaker illustrate how wide the generational gaps in progress are between Indo-Caribbean women. Professor Mohammed is an Emeritus Professor at the University of West Indies and a key thinker in feminist theory, particularly in the Caribbean. Full Professor of Gender and Cultural Studies since 2005, she has supervised and taught on gender and development, and devoted decades of service to the University, including the development of educational courses and programmes, and serving as Director and Chair of the Campus Committee of the School for Graduate Studies and Research. Her scholarly contributions include over 100 publications in journals, edited books and media, including self-authored books Imaging the Caribbean: Culture and Visual Translation (2010; Macmillan Education), and Gender Negotiations Among Indians in Trinidad: 1917-1947 (2001; Palgrave). Forthcoming works include a collection of essays co-edited with Cheryl Ann Boodram (Connecting the Dots: Life. Work. Balance. Ageing, Ian Randle Publishers) and Writing Gender in the Caribbean: Selected Essays 1988-2019 (Hansib Publications). Since 1986, Professor Mohammed has also been involved in the production of films and other media on gender and women’s issues. In 2019, she was awarded a National Gold Medal from the President of Trinidad and Tobago for her contribution to the country on Women and Development Issues, and in 2018, she was recognised as one of the University of the West Indies 70+ Outstanding Women graduates of UWI in its 70th anniversary.

Welcome to The Cutlass, a platform and podcast dedicated solely to the Indo-Caribbean community and other descendants of Indian indentureship.