KOCHI: A love for this country is engraved in his psyche.
Born in Guyana, David Dabydeen, ambassador of Guyana to UNESCO, lived most of his life in England. And what is it that binds him to India? David puts an end to our quizzical looks by pointing to Moses, his cute six-year-old son with blue eyes and brown hair. “I took him to Hoogly before coming here. That’s the place where his greatgrandfathers boarded the ship to West Indies a century ago. I want to introduce him to his roots,” he says. The sense of belonging is so strong that at times he calls the little one Krishna.
“That’s the name we chose for him at the Thirumala Devi temple.” David says.
A professor at the Warwick University in London, David is here with a mission. “Kerala has a great literary presence. I want my present work to be based here,” says the writer about ‘The Rakes Progress’, the book that he is working on now. Based on the famous paintings of William Hogarth by the same name, the book will give an insight into the lives of the African community.
Renowned for his writings on colonisation, David says the place his ancestors made their home years ago is still a dark continent. “People in this part of the world have limited knowledge of Africa. A great continent, it has been plundered for centuries and is now marred by corruption and genocide.” Some of David’s interesting works are ‘Slave Song’, ‘The Intended’, ‘Harlot’s Progress’ and ‘Lady of Demerara’. Dabydeen’s own progress is a story that would test the imagination of any artist or writer.
Born in a one-room house on a sugar plantation in 1955, David won a scholarship to Queen’s College, Georgetown, at the age of 10. His parents moved from Guyana to England in the 60s and David won a rare scholarship to the Cambridge University. This coupled with a doctorate in English Literature from the London University started his journey into the literary world.
His repertoire of works reflect the sense of displacement and disappointment in a foreign land and the turmoil faced by many of his people.
An interesting aspect of his work is the use of the language Creole, a mixture of English, Spanish and African. “Your own experiences are reflected in writing. But you don’t necessarily have to be a black to write about blacks. It’s the quality of writing, texture and metaphoric intensity juxtaposed with a great imagination that make a great work,” explains the 52-yearold who has won many awards including the Cambridge University Quiller-Couch Award, Commonwealth Poetry Prize and Guyana Prize for Literature.
About the present Guyana he says, “It’s one of the poorest countries but politicians are not as corrupt as those here. Poverty in India is a result of corruption.” He is accompanied by his British wife, Rachel, and sister Elly Nilanda who is also a poet.
This is Elly’s first visit to India, and she is full of awe. “I’ve lived in England all my life but I feel at home here,” says 42-year-old Elly who is presently working on her poem ‘Lifelines’.
“Le me tell yuh something," says Elly as she gives us a peep into her Creole accent. "We are a huge family of scribblers and lawyers. I write in Creole because of the richness of the sound.
The words are musical,” says the poet. “Good poetry should be easily understood.” Elly’s collection of poems, ‘Corner Stones’, won her the Guyana Prize for Literature in 2004.
Apart from giving wings to her imagination, Elly helped the inmates of Divine Providence, 35 tiny tots, with their daily chores during her short stay in the city.
“Children are our future. You should treat them as precious little things,” says the bubbly woman waiting for yet another visit to the land of her ancestors.
jijicherian@epmltd.com