EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
Your July cover story (Discovering West Indies) was timely. Indians in the Caribbean are truly the forgotten Indians. They have a deep desire to know their country of origin and feel the urge to trace their roots to those villages or towns from their forefathers came from. Many of them are still in the dark to which parts of India they belong. There are many in the Caribbean islands who say they would like to lay out a large map of India and place their finger somewhere and say, Hey I’m from here. Perhaps the visit of Vayalar Ravi will expedite the tracing of old departure records etc and facilitate it.
Ashook Kallicharan
New York
Hopefully, Vayalar Ravi’s visit will open up meaningful dialogues with the Caribbean Indian community, made up mostly of descendants of indentured workers who were taken to the islands from India on British ships in the 19th and early 20th century to work in the sugar plantations. Now the sugar economy has almost collapsed, and the Indians are finding newer avenues to make themselves economically relevant.
Jay Krishna
Amsterdam
The Caribbean is a region that India should not neglect. In fact, India should actively take part in the economic development of these islands, especially where there are large numbers of people of Indian origin. As India’s economy and military grow, it will seek to increase it’s influence too. For that it will need staging posts and bases — not necessarily military. For instance, it might need to establish a radio station for broadcasts aimed at the Indian population in the US. If you are aiming at super power status, behave like one.
Maya Singh
Singapore
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NO ESCAPING JUSTICE
Maninderpal Singh Kohli deserves the highest punishment and for once the case did not drag on forever. But it’s surprising that despite so many wanted Indian criminals are roaming free in the UK and India doesn’t bargain with the British authorities to get them back to India where they can be made to face justice. One of them, of course, is the notorious Nadeem. Legions of Sikh terrorists found safe sanctuary in London at the height of terrorism in Punjab. For a would be terror-leader, looking for praise among extremists, the path to glory was shoot a bus-load of Indians, escape to London and ask for refugee status, claiming persecution by India. India should have driven a hard bargain. We are so soft!
Lulu Gidwani
Ontario
GOPIO LIVES!
GOPIO is indeed doing a commendable job and thanks to you guys at INDIA EMPIRE, their message is being taken to various parts of the PIO world. Keep it up.
Jaya Malini
London
PARTING SHOT
I was travelling on a train from Paris to Nice and was pleasantly surprised to see a co-passenger reading INDIA EMPIRE. I walked up to his seat and introduced myself and showed him my copy. We both laughed at this coincidence and said that Indians and potatoes are found everywhere on the planet.
Sanjay Mehta
Paris
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