Unutterable experience and memory: narratives of being and belonging of the girmitiyas of North-India

The narratives of indentured labourers from India are not just their memoirs of pain, anguish, trauma, and betrayal; they are also their accounts of courage, belongingness to their roots, and rage against Western imperialism. This representation of the Girmitiyas has not found enough space in academia, and their connection to literature has been marginal. Therefore, the paper attempts to analyze the available accounts of their experiences and memories as Girmitiyas documented by the Girmit Organization. This paper is an attempt to trace the representation of Girmitiya in literature and their experience, culture, identity, and trauma caused by the forced immigration and torture at the hands of whites in the name of agreement. It also evaluates the collective consciousness of the indentured labourers and their belonging to their homeland. For the study, the paper considers the narratives of the Girimitiyas available on the website of Girmitya. These narratives are the recallings of their experiences during the Girmit, the corrupted word for ‘Agreement’. The paper relies on the post-colonial discourse of being and belonging.