KAPIL'S JOURNEY

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Reports on the region circa 1888 by British officials are equally grim. The Commissioner of Fyzabad: " It is not till he has gone into these subjects in detail that a man can fully appreciate how thin the line is which divides large masses of people from absolute nakedness and starvation. I believe this remark is true of every district of Oudh". Another Collector writes: "The united earnings of a man, his wife, and two children cannot be put at more than 3 rupees or 4 shillings a month. When prices of food grains are low or moderate, work regular and the health of the household good, this income will enable the family to have one fairly good meal a day, to keep a thatched roof over their heads, and to buy cheap clothing". Famine and poor harvests were not uncommon - a famine being recorded in U.P. in the 1890's.*The starvation and indebtedness of the poorer classes were undoubtedly consequences of a harsh, exploitative British regime and depressed economic and social conditions.
The impetus to migrate was a direct consequence of these oppressive living conditions*. Over 50% of the indentured labourers who came to Trinidad between 1874 and 1917 came from Uttar Pradesh*. The flight from such oppression in India to the West led to a pattern that would be traced and re-traced by the Indians and their descendants throughout history.
When Kapil in 1894, at the age of 21, left his village on foot for the holy city of Benares, he was part of a new movement of Indian people under the British Raj. In the past when conditions in their villages were grave, Indian peasants moved from one region of India to another. This is what Kapil set out to do. But the vastness of the British empire and the Raj's sugar lust, permitted Kapil to journey much further into the world beyond his village than he previously had intended.
One can only speculate what his reasons were for leaving Mahadevadubey. Perhaps more than suffering the plight of disparaging economic conditions, Kapil yearned to be set free from the constraints of the dusty village, from the sight of flat brown horizons and endless blue sky*. Benares beckoned. The home of Hindu spirituality, the great Hindu university, Benares would provide greater opportunities for education - possibly even wealth and a more comfortable life. It was in this city an arkatia or recruiter pounced on him and persuaded him to migrate to the West Indies. The arkatia could have said: "In Trinidad they need pundits, they need teachers, you will make much money - wages are good and I will arrange a free passage for you."* Kapil would have been young and naive. His desire for wealth and freedom from the constraints of village life would have made him vulnerable to the guiles of the recruiter. Life in Benares would not have been what Kapil would have expected. Benares in the 1890's would have been teeming with many people: many pundits, sadhus, seers. It is doubtful Kapil would have had sufficient money to support himself. And even more dubious that he, a young village boy, would have found a place as a pundit in a city already so heavily populated by pundits, sadhus, seers and saints. So he decided to migrate to Trinidad in pursuit of his desires. Whether his decision was born of impulse, desperation or the result of careful deliberation is unknown. But it is common knowledge that like Kapil and his descendants, many Indians and their descendants would make a succession of journeys across various dark seas* around the globe in search of a better life.

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P. Capildeo July 2003.
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