Connecting to Your Roots: Explore the Country of Your Ancestors

8/7/2019 Connecting to Your Roots: Explore the Country of Your Ancestors

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Connecting to Your Roots: Explore the Country of

Your Ancestors

We have moved out of our hometowns in search of education or livelihood, or have just been forced

to relocate because of some factors that we havent been able to control. And for most of us, life has

been a tsunami ever since, from where we have been moving from city to city, from one country to

the other. As I was browsing through a group in Facebook formed by my batchmates in school, I was

awed by the wide diversity of our present locations. Until a few years ago, we used to sit next to

each other; meet up at lunchtime and after school; growing up gradually.

This has been the story of our parents and

forefathers. Someone, somehow, moved out

somewhere in pursuit of something that seemed

lucrative enough. With him, came his family. His

children studied in the new town, and with time,

had families of their own. As children, some of us

have been told, we are from this and that place,

but we could not relate as we had no memories of

our own. Well, perhaps, we are the lucky ones as

some of us would not even be aware of our origins; having lost touch with even our mother tongues.

India has always been a land of emigrants and an Indian can be found in practically every corner ofthe world. A UNDP report has estimated The Non-Resident Indian (NRI) and Person of Indian Origin

(PIO) population across the world is estimated as over 30 million.

The Indian diaspora has grown out of many causes and several crossings. Large proportions have

migrated to British colonies like the West Indies, British Guyana and Mauritius in the early years of

indenture system. After 1860, Government of India allowed movement of migrants to other British

colonies in Asia (Ceylon, Burma and Malaya), Oceania (the Fiji islands) and Africa (South Africa and

Kenya). Many of them came back to home country, but large portion of the migrants opted to stay

back. The next generations have learnt British history, European history, Ancient history, but hardly

ever heard about the indenture system and have any idea about how their parents arrived in a

foreign land.


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Indians around the world, 2009

(Figures in Million)

With the development of communication systems and technology, opportunity has opened for one

to find their roots, and know about the history and culture of a race one belongs to. Many people

have come back to India, centuries after their forefathers left for other shores.

If you wish to rediscover your roots, and taste a flavor of the life you have heard so much about,

come back to India. You can find out details of your ancestors through digitized records in Indian

offices. Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) launched a new scheme called Tracing the

Roots in October 2008. Under this scheme, the Ministry facilitates Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) in

tracing their roots in India. For this purpose, the Ministry has signed an MOU with an organization

called Indiroots. An applicant is required to fill up a form and deposit it with the Indian mission

concerned along with a fee of $500. In case of a failed attempt, 50% of the fee is refunded to theapplicant.

The process of locating ancestral villages is a not a simple search on the map; it entails a good deal of

field work. Village addresses are usually obtained from the indenture documents of migrants. Many

villages have grown larger over the years and been bifurcated, others have had their names changed

and even the districts have changed. To make the task even more difficult, the old documents used

archaic spellings that bear little resemblance to present-day names. We, at The Other Home,

promise to help you to the best of our ability to assist you in identification of your belonging.
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God forbidding, even if your forefathers cannot be traced, you can still connect with the culture and

its heritage through visiting the town and staying in the comfortable and homely atmosphere of a

homestay. Enjoy traditional food, cultural programmes and visit the popular and not so well known

tourist destinations to capture the spirit of the town that defines your soul. Check out the homestay

locations brought to you by The Other Home inHimachal Pradesh,Delhi,Gujarat,Kerala,KarnatakaandGoa.

Some of the inspiring stories are:

Shobha Rae, a Canadian yoga teacher: Shobha migrated to Canada in 1970 from Fiji Islands, where

her grandfather Bhairon Rae and father Ram Naresh Rae spent their whole lives. In 2004, when she

wished to revisit her roots, she contacted a social organisation in Canada, who helped her hire a

researcher in India to search the family's village in Uttar Pradesh. The researcher located Baijudhia

village and sent her the address for another relative in Gorakhpur, Banwari Rae. The family reunion

was indeed a great affair.

Basdeo Pandey, Ex-prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago: Basdeo

Pandey was born in St. Julien Village, Trinidad where his parents,

Harry "Chhote" Sookchand and Kissoondaye Pandey, had arrived

when they missed the boat going back to Fiji during their younger

days. Fate brought him to India as the chief guest at the Republic

Day parade in 1997 and he managed to trace his roots to Azamgarh

district in Uttar Pradesh.

Mattias Hoebeke, a Belgium constitutional law teacher: Mattias was adopted by Belgian couple in

1978 from the Missionaries of Charity in North Delhi, where he had grown up after being abandoned

as a newborn outside an orphanage in Uttar Pradesh. He grew up in Bierbeek and currently workingas a constitutional law teacher living in Louvain, Belgium. He had been contemplating to find out his

biological parents but could manage to visit India in 2008. Although he could not trace his family, he

met Sister Alfonsa, who had handed him over to his adoptive parents.

Balliram and Leela Maharaj, Trinidad and Tobago :

Balliram Maharaj and his wife, Leela, came to India in

2010 to discover their roots. Leelas grandfather, Paltu

Prasad left India in 1910 to work on the sugarcane

plantations in Trinidad as an indentured worker where

he became friends with Changa Maharaj, Ballirams

grand father who had come to Trinidad from Channauli.The common link was that they hailed from the same
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district in Uttar Pradesh. Leela and Ballirams families had lost touch with the relatives in India, and

they had very little information about their ancestors. So, they hired a prominent genealogist,

Shamshu Deen, who carried out searches from Trinidad and helped Leela and Balliram to contact

their relatives in India.

Shazeda Amzad, United States: Shjazedas great-great grandfather Amir Amzad, his wife and two

sons moved from Parsa village, Basti (Uttar Pradesh) to Guyana in 1889 to work as indentured

labour. Shazedas grandfather Mohamed Amzad had migrated to New York from Guyana. In 2007,

Shazeda started the mission to find out her roots and got the passes that were issued to her great-

great grandfather the Guyanese authorities. However, it was not easy for her to locate Basti in India.

However, with the help ofIndiroots, she finally reunited with the family in the Parsa village in Basti.

Evelyn Swamy, Canada: Born in Guyana, Evelyn Swamy had shifted to Canada. She had always

wanted to visit her ancestors home and to meet her relatives. Evelyn came to India in 2009 to

search her ancestors and family members. Through ancestral search programme, she managed to

find out the ancestral village of Jamuni from where her maternal great-grandmother had made thejourney to Guyana. Part of the family has now moved out of the village and one distant cousin lives

in Panipat, Haryana. She visited him as well.

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@theotherhome. You can plan your dream holiday with us, visitThe Other Home.
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Documents

Connecting to Your Roots: Explore the Country of Your Ancestors