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Port of Spain, March 1971. India had just beaten the West Indies 1-0 in a cricket Test, and would go on to wrap up the series. Some of the craziest applause and blaring at the Queen's Park Oval was from the local Indians in Trinidad. Nothing has changed. Indians still root for India, they still want to connect with a country to which they are tied with an invisible umbilical cord. In some ways you could extend that feeling for the entire Indian community in the Caribbean. Minister Vayalar Ravi and his team witnessed this brazen, almost defiant passion for India. It couldn't get more palpable, even though we are talking passion in remote islands that are over 10,000 miles away, and of descendants of indentured workers who were almost entirely cut off from their India roots due to not just geographical distance, but great pressures to emulate western lifestyles. But somehow, and desperately, they held on to their Indian-ness, somehow despite all odds. And now, more than ever before, the Indian diaspora needs India. They want the big brother to guide them, hold their collective hands, if you like. The sugar economy has collapsed, and economically the Indians (PIOs) are desperately looking for alternatives. Politically, they want to have a greater say. They want to re-establish their links with India, want far more participation in trade and business. Trinidad, it turns out, could play a lead role, positioned as it is to be a good hub for investments for the rest of the Caribbean and Latin American countries, and even North America and Europe. The delegation led by Minister Ravi has plenty of thinking to do. It’s a challenge that will test the very mettle of the Overseas Indian Affairs Ministry.
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