Every Day as Epitome of Trauma and Memory: Lives of Indentured Indians across the 'Kala Pani'

Indian Diaspora is often conceived as a fascinating migration with the images of a sophisticated and luxurious life in a foreign nation. Consequently, many ignorantly associate the Indian diaspora as a recent activity which happened/s mostly for education or a well-paid job. However, many were not aware that before the beginning of the Modern Indian diaspora, a mass migration of Indians to the European colonies happened, which is known as the Indenture Indian diaspora. Indian Indenture Diaspora, also called ‘a new system of slavery’, shattered the happiness of the people with low incomes and the middle-class Indians. More than twenty lakh Indians were transported to the British colonies either willingly or forcefully from 1837 to 1920. Sense of trauma and the pain of memory became a happening of every day in the lives of the indentures but its intensity differed based on every day. They experienced tragedy under the cruelty of the plantation system like the false promises of return (in some cases), kidnapping, voyage for more than three months on a lonely sea without proper food and space to sleep, more than eighteen hours of work in the plantation, scarcity of food, cruel punishments, sexual violence and the truth of never returning the home country. The paper aims to present the trauma and pain experienced by innocent Indian labourers in a foreign nation by using autobiographical and biographical works, testimonials and historical records. In addition, the paper also aims to present the transformation of the pitiable Indians into powerful ones by establishing their culture and identity in those colonies.