As Guyana observes 177 years since East Indian Immigrants arrived in Guyana, businessman and religious personality/patriot, Roshan Khan, said it is with great pride that he will celebrate this anniversary, underscoring that he is proud to be Indian and as such he tries his best to uphold his culture.
Mr. Khan whose origin is from the ancient Aryan/Sanskriti Nation of India, also tries to instil this same pride in his family, as he thinks one must always be proud of where they came from. As such the family’s efforts to preserve their culture is practiced in a variety of ways. For instance, he ensures his family prepares at least some Indian dishes whenever they host functions. They also wear traditional Indian outfits when pertinent and enjoy doing so since it makes them feel connected to their history, with the added bonus that the outfits are usually beautiful. He stresses that Indian outfits are always colourful and majestic, well pleasing to the eyes, and has inspired non-Indians to wear them.
He is very involved in cultural traditions such as Indian music and songs, and will even sponsor such programmes and decent shows. The businessman and his family have even made visits to India to experience their cultural connection and to identify with their background. “I teach my family about Indian History, which in most part is very exciting and dynamic, with great scientific achievements,” he stated.
The entrepreneur’s religion is Islam. However, he has a multi-religious respect and has always portrayed this. Hence, he would usually visit Mosques, Hindu Temples, Synagogues, Churches, and wherever people may meet to reflect on God and Humanity, and of course peace.
He has had a number of Indian role models who have played a pivotal part in helping to make him the man he is today. One such person is Arnold Omar an Ustad (Islamic Teacher) who taught him almost everything about the Islamic prayers and rituals and opened his thoughts in Islam.
Imam Mohamed Rasheed of the Masjid Al-Munawar also inspired him in the propagation of the Islam faith. Amazingly, Indian movies have been a great role model and inspiration to the development of Mr. Roshan Khan’s personality, dress and decorum. Watching these movies taught him that good always triumphs, regardless of the ferocity of the evil.
The business man who also enjoys acting said, he learned acting styles and techniques from Indian movie stars and hence, Indian movies were like his acting training school.
His advice to Indian youths is that the preservation of their Indian cultural traditions should be an important factor in their personality and character development. He said, “It must be a sense of pride that their ancestors came from India, as India is a land of great Indian civilizations, which at one time had spread its wisdom and sciences to most countries of the world and in a way, conquered the world by love, peace, and harmony,” as Gautama Buddha.
He emphasized that Indian youth should understand that their Indian culture is not about the excessively noisy chutney and the unfortunate vulgar gyrations which are usually accompanied by alcoholic consumption and misbehavior. In the same breath, he encouraged them to be ambitious in advancing themselves in the computer sciences, technologies, engineering, medicine, poetry, and also for those who cannot reach those heights to always specialize in a valuable trade.
“Even for those who must be laborers, shop stewards, office assistants, they must always perform with elegance and eloquence to preserve respects of the Indian culture (indo guyanese youths), ourselves, and our ancestors.” Then he emphasizes to the youths not to be inspired by negative persons, who may tend to mislead. As this could cause them to commit crimes, be suicidal, misbehave, be imprisoned or hurt and disgrace their parents, and the legacy of their ancestors who struggled for them to have a better life in the New World.
He states that the hallmark of Indian Culture is that mothers and fathers are gods and goddesses on earth, and you can reach God by worshipping them first. He cheered them to always be a positive role model, not only to fellow Indians of Guyana, but to all the people of the land, “Do not be puffed up with pride for having originated from the great land of India, but to walk with humility and respect for all the people. As we live in a cosmopolitan society, we must build bridges in Guyana with other ethnicities.”