EVER since Indians arrived in British Guiana in 1838, under an indenture contract labour system, they have been on the move. Specifically, Indians have migrated from India to British Guiana, from British Guiana to India, from the plantations to independent settlements, from rural to urban areas, from Guyana to other Caribbean islands, from Guyana to Europe and North America, and these places back to Guyana on a temporary or permanent basis. It is certain then that Indian migration to Guyana was not one-dimensional, restricted to the circular migration from India to the Caribbean during indenture. Moreover, Indians do not only constitute a significant population in Guyana. They have formed recognizable overseas branch communities, commonly known as diaspora. I will focus on the Guyanese Indian diaspora in North America. The movement of Guyanese Indians to North America was driven by economic and political instability. Indians from all walks of life saw their future outside of Guyana, using the legal immigration procedures and paying thousands of dollars to “backtrackers” to take them to North America.

The backtracking migration continued until the first decade of the twenty-first century. The size of the Guyanese Indian population is around 300,000 in the United States and about 200,000 in Canada. Most of them live in Queens, New York, Toronto, Jersey City, and Florida. It is impossible to cover all aspects of the Indian experience in North America, but some patterns are obvious, however. They have done well economically so much so that they have transformed, for example, sections of Queens into “Little Guyana.”  Success is also noted in educational achievement. First, but more so, second-generation Guyanese Indians have attended top universities in North America and have high-level jobs in law, medicine, and academia, although they have yet to make significant inroads into the political system in which they live, save for a few. The Guyanese Indian diaspora has contributed significantly to Guyana by way of remittances, which are not recorded by ethnicity. Remittances account for 20 percent of Guyana’s gross domestic product and continue to play an important role as a source of foreign exchange, reducing poverty as well as providing for household costs such as electricity, education, and health bills

There is absolutely no doubt that there is a distinctive Guyanese Indian culture in North America. How they have been able to retain their culture and customs in North America amid some changes in their social structure is remarkable when considering no government-initiated integration policies exist in North America. The continuous contact and cultural exchange through air travel and the Internet between the sending and receiving enclaves have allowed Guyanese Indians to retain their culture in North America. Likewise, bouts of discrimination and exclusion and the experience of being labelled as something other than their own Indian ethnicity in the host society have pushed them into restoring and retaining their own culture. What is most noticeable among them is that the longer they stay in North America the more aware of their position and treatment in the host society they become. They have been progressively active in asserting their new space.
Guyanese Indians have shown an enormous desire to preserve their culture around the elastic form of Caribbean Hinduism.  They have built temples in North America or have joined already established mosques, which can be described as their nerve center.

The mantra appears to be that wherever and whenever there is a sizable population of Caribbean Indians, there are temples. This desire is not restricted to New York and Toronto, which have large populations of Indians, but Indian temples can be seen in Minnesota, Georgia, Florida, and Schenectady. These temples provide the basis for the reconstruction and retention of Guyanese Indian culture in North America. This is where various festivals are planned and practised and then taken to the wider community. Thousands generally attend the yearly festivals of Phagwah, or Holi, and Diwali as well as chowtal singings in Queens, New York, as they do in Guyana. Guyana Indian culture is not only restricted to religion but is also expressed in the streets, such as on Liberty Avenue in Queens where Indian businesses excel sari stores, roti shops, bakeries, restaurants, Guyanese fish, and vegetable markets, as well as yearly regional and village reunions.

In sum, Guyanese Indians will continue to migrate because of inequities in the global system as well as political, economic, and social instabilities and tensions within Guyana. Migration will also continue because a culture of migration has now formed in that to grow and develop one must migrate. Half of the Indian population in Guyana lives outside of Guyana. Sentiments of and remittances to homeland will continue as well as the perception that Indians are better off in developed countries than in Guyana, despite the racism, marginalisation, loneliness, loss of culture, and unfavorable climate in developed countries. Nevertheless, a noticeable Guyanese has now been formed, and meaningful connection, communication, and collaboration will continue between the departed and new homeland to deal with nostalgia, to maintain family bonds, to escape the pressure-cooking lifestyle of North America, and to promote growth and development in Guyana. The Guyanese Indian diaspora in North America are here to stay. They are also Guyanese. A happy Indian Arrival Day.