Ramin Ganeshram is the author of Sweet Hands: Island Cooking from Trinidad & Tobago (Hippocrene Books, 2006; 2nd edition Spring 2010) and The Curry Chronicles, (Scholastic 2010) a young adult culinary novel, set in the Indo-Caribbean community of Richmond Hill, Queens.
Throughout my childhood in the 1970s and '80s, culinary life with my Indo-Caribbean father was one of substitutions and sometimes-haves. The foods particular to his Trinidad upbringing were hard to procure, even in New York City where we lived and where the relatively limited number of West Indians lived jumbled together in small areas of Brooklyn or the Bronx, island upon island, their differences forgotten through their common bond of longing for home.
In our house, aloo pie, a spicy potato turnover, was approximated with a knish slathered with pepper sauce. Blackstrap molasses replaced the burn sugar syrup that blackened our Christmas fruitcakes. Common string beans became the core ingredient in aloo talkari, a potato curry that normally featured bodi, the long Indian string bean.
For my father Krisnaram, never was his longing so great as during the days and weeks approaching the Hindu festival of Diwali in the fall. A celebration of the triumph of good over evil represented by light outshining the darkness, Diwali is marked in India, and in heavily Indian communities such as Trinidad, with elaborate light displays of small clay lamps, burning ghee or coconut oil. Intricate sculptures made from shaped green bamboo sticks, host these diyas, and, in modern times, electric string lights complement the show.
For us, surrounded by few Indians from the subcontinent or Trinidad, my father's favorite holiday passed yearly without ceremony. Sometimes, he would make jalebi--the sweetened fritter so popular during the holiday--or some kind of vegetarian curry, with powder he brought from his last trip home. But they were a far cry from the elaborate Indian sweets called mithai or curried chataigne (jackfruit) or pomme cythere, served on his island where Diwali is a national holiday. This year, 15 years after my father's death, I celebrated Diwali in the Indo-Caribbean section of Richmond Hill, Queens. Often called "Little Guyana" or "Little Trinidad," roti shops and Indian stores selling saris, jewelry, sweets and every "home" ingredient my father remembered, abound.
In our house, aloo pie, a spicy potato turnover, was approximated with a knish slathered with pepper sauce. Blackstrap molasses replaced the burn sugar syrup that blackened our Christmas fruitcakes. Common string beans became the core ingredient in aloo talkari, a potato curry that normally featured bodi, the long Indian string bean.
For my father Krisnaram, never was his longing so great as during the days and weeks approaching the Hindu festival of Diwali in the fall. A celebration of the triumph of good over evil represented by light outshining the darkness, Diwali is marked in India, and in heavily Indian communities such as Trinidad, with elaborate light displays of small clay lamps, burning ghee or coconut oil. Intricate sculptures made from shaped green bamboo sticks, host these diyas, and, in modern times, electric string lights complement the show. For us, surrounded by few Indians from the subcontinent or Trinidad, my father's favorite holiday passed yearly without ceremony. Sometimes, he would make jalebi--the sweetened fritter so popular during the holiday--or some kind of vegetarian curry, with powder he brought from his last trip home. But they were a far cry from the elaborate Indian sweets called mithai or curried chataigne (jackfruit) or pomme cythere, served on his island where Diwali is a national holiday. This year, 15 years after my father's death, I celebrated Diwali in the Indo-Caribbean section of Richmond Hill, Queens. Often called "Little Guyana" or "Little Trinidad," roti shops and Indian stores selling saris, jewelry, sweets and every "home" ingredient my father remembered, abound.
One week before Diwali (this year October 17) the annual parade,
complete with cars and trucks draped in Christmas lights, kept shining by portable generators, Hindu holy men chanting Hare Rama, Hare Krishna
and drummers beating the tassa, a uniquely Indo-Caribbean clay drum,
marched 10 city blocks along Liberty Avenue, the area's main drag. The
route winds around to 103rd Street and back again, in a long rectangle,
led by New York Police Department cars, a contingent of Indo-Caribbean
police officers walking with a banner behind. By the time the actual holiday draws closer, later this week, neighborhood homes and merchants will put on their own light displays and local stores and restaurants will be rich with Diwali fare.
As the parade got
going, at first I walked on the pavement, alongside the marchers,
holding my four-year-old daughter Sophia's hand, but as we rounded the
corner, the parade seemed to loosen and relax and passersby joined the
ranks. We leapt into the fray, the tassa drumbeat resounding in our
chests, my child, twirling to the contagious rhythm. Around us people held lit diyas: simple clay ones and elaborately painted ones, and they use one another's lit lamps to light new ones. Watching my child, I wanted to weep with sorrow for my father who, for all of his years here, lived a life apart. Arriving in 1954, he was before his time, paving the way so a community of his fellows could later thrive. But, as I looked down at my daughter, I instead chose to cry out with joy that we are here, in a different island, finally celebrating the rites of home.
You can visit Richmond Hills, Queens for Diwali on Oct 17th. Stores and homes are usually well decorated and services held at local mandirs. Take the A subway train to Liberty Avenue.
Coming Up: Ramin shares traditional Diwali recipes.
Photos: JP Vellotti
Photos: JP Vellotti
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What fun! I wish I had been there!
any suggestions on where to take a girl for a dae during Diwali?
When I first arrived in NYC there was no
Diwali parade, now its also celebrated in Jackson Heights and at Pier 17 downtown Manhattan with culrural programs. With 2nd
and 3rd generation Indo-caribbeans now
living throughout New York, New Jersey & Connecticut, Little Guyana/Trinidad comes
alive with returning shoppers wanting to
get their hands on everything from back
'home'.
Loved the article!! WOuld love to go to the parade next year!
Wow! Its a good news that Diwali is celebrated in several other foreign cities. We celebrated Diwali here in India only. Hope I will able to see the parade there too!!