Parmanand Maraj: Mahaica Creek’s oldest resident plants garden, speaks Hindi, recalls ‘ole’ days
The community of De Hoop, Mahaica, is located just over 40 miles east of the city, with its rolling rice fields running parallel to the Mahaica River and the De Hoop Branch Road.
It is a totally different world. Many of the homes are without electricity from Government. And it is quiet. Handsome Tree, located halfway along the creek, is home to one of Guyana’s treasures. Getting ready to celebrate his 90th birthday this year, Parmanand Maraj, more popularly known as Bantay Maraj, cannot by any stretch of the imagination be considered just another Guyanese. He is a treasure as far as keeping the Indian tradition alive is concerned.
He is still planting his garden, reaping boulangers and bora. His hearing is incredible. He can still thread a needle without any visual aid. He has no ailment that he is aware of. But perhaps the most amazing thing is the clarity of his memory and the fact that he can speak Hindi.
Ever too often, he would break out a Hindi quote and then explain its meaning. And he can sing too! His father came from India as an indentured worker while his mother hailed from Chateau Margot, East Coast Demerara.
When it comes to Guyanese Indians and the keeping up of traditions, Maraj is the epitome of what perceptions should be. He still reads voraciously his Bhagavad Gita, Bhagwat Puran, Mahabharat and Ramayana. He still takes his couple shots of rum daily and has two ‘fire sides’ to cook his meals.
Maraj is the oldest person along the Mahaica Creek area, or so he has been told; he smiles.
Born September 17, 1925, Maraj hails from a family of Pandits, but a hard, early life and with seven children to feed, forced him to concentrate on ensuring that they receive what he did not get…a good education.
Today, it has all paid off. His children, five boys and two girls, have done well- one of them is a neuro-surgeon in Trinidad and Tobago and another, a former manager of Royal Bank of Canada. Still, another is an accountant with a daughter married into a prominent family of Pandits.
He has handed over control of the farms to his eldest son, who has managed to maintain the lands as one of the biggest rice producers in the area.
Maraj has even travelled to India to trace his roots. His eyes light up talking about his hard life and then sweet success.
His community is filled with big names of the likes of Prakash Gossai and even Mahadeo Shivraj, renowned actor and his nephew.
When he was just nine years old, his father died in an accident. The times were hard. The last of nine children, he was forced to do odd jobs to raise money.
De Hoop, back in the last century was known for its share of big floods with lost crops, a way of life for the farmers.
He recalls when De Hoop had no road and the only way into the community was by boats along the Mahaica Creek. He learnt to pilot the vessels owned by his brothers, at an early age.
From an early age also, Maraj recalls his family being highly religious, attending functions and conducting Puja/Jandhi.
But the life was not for him. He had a wife and toiled the family lands he inherited from his father, planting rice and cash crops and even raising cattle.
Maraj still insists on calling his daughter-in-law “dulahin” (bride), a tradition that he keeps alive today, guarding it jealously.
He recalls that school was not a big item on the agenda,as there was a need to raise money to survive. Maraj stuck with his duties. He played his cricket, and knew what it was to use a bull plow when there were no tractors. As a matter of fact, he was the first to own a tractor in the area and taught other farmers to use it.
The hardships were many…the floods would come and then the droughts. His family was from the Brahmin Lineage/Kul in the area. When it came time to choose, Maraj opted to work. But he never forgot his teachings.
Life in the area was anything but routine. One time to dig an irrigation canal, 40 men dug a 600-rod length that was about two shovel sticks deep. Today, that canal is named after his eldest son on the MMA/ADA map of the area – the Geenarine Canal.
The tractor made a huge difference in the life of the struggling farmer. He started to move up.
Soon, the family was able to acquire more lands. One of his sons was fortunate to be offered an opportunity to study in India. He would later start practising as a neuro-surgeon in Trinidad and Tobago.
There were other stories that Maraj can recall. Like the time when a close relative was grabbed and eaten by an alligator while she was at a nearby trench washing clothes.
A good player of the jaal, Maraj, who is serious when he described himself as a “polite young man”, disclosed that his wife passed away in 1990.
His children insist that he travel to the US twice yearly where he is now a senior citizen. He hardly likes it. He misses his home which is now equipped with solar power.
He remembers when paddy was selling for eight cents per bag and the sights of Old Delhi, India with the rickshaws, trains, scooters and temples.
While the life of Maraj is a routine one now of reading his holy books, with his son and daughter-in-law keeping him company and taking care of the home he built, he regrets not having anyone to converse with him in Hindi.
He has been written about and his legacy is also similar to that of countless Guyanese whose fore parents came from India but who refused to lose their values and forget their customs and traditions.