– Rice farmer Krishandat Manickchand recalls ‘young days’

KRISHANDAT Manickchand has worked hard all his life. As a boy, he’d wake up at 04:00hrs each day to help his father milk the cows. He’d then take the animals to the backdam and help to sell the milk, all the while hurrying so that he could finish in time to attend school. Rain or shine, this was the daily routine.

From Governor’s Lyte, along the Mahaicony River where he lived, Mr. Manickchand would walk 30 to 45 minutes to get to the Karamat Primary School. “A boat to take me to school was a luxury in those days; people were poor,” he shared during an interview with Pepperpot Magazine, as he gestured to show how he’d instead have to run to school when he was late from his duties on the farm.

“We had to milk the cow so we would get money to buy food. My father and mother had to go in the fields after milking the cows. When you were late, you had to run to school. It was hard in those days, but it was fun,” the businessman, now 74, shared.

But the caring teachers back in the day made things so much easier for the children. They genuinely cared and were some of the best in the profession that Mr. Manickchand said he’d ever meet.

For instance, the teachers made uniforms for the children and kept them at the school so that any child who fell down in the mud on his/her way to school or got wet in the rain, would have been able to change into clean uniforms to attend classes. At the end of the school day, they would change back into their own uniforms, which had already been washed and dried. “You had wonderful headmasters in those days; people who had the children at heart.”

After primary school, Manickchand went to Georgetown to attend the Guyana Oriental College on Thomas Street. He’d eventually do some teaching after high school but returned to do what he knew best: rice farming.
“I taught for a while, got married, set up a house in Georgetown and then came back here and did rice farming. I love farming; it is what I was born and raised in,” he related. His children – Jaya, Priya and Anil – were all in town pursuing school and university. So it was a sacrifice for Manickchand to be away from his family for work, but one that was definitely worth it.

Over the years, things have gotten better, and there have been improvements in the community. “It would have been totally different when I was a little boy; no roads, all bushes, but it has developed quite a lot. People farm, and they get more money and do more clearing and now they are putting in roads,” he observed.

The area is still very remote, though, as the river continues to be used a lot. But in spite of the difficulties and limitations, Manickchand pointed out that quite a few notable personalities have come out of the communities along Mahaicony River.

“This area produced some doctors and lawyers as the parents were very interested in educating their children. Quite a number of us went to high school, and some of us came back here and did farming. The area has now become a skeleton area due to migration and other factors,” he said.

According to him, when there’s flooding, it’s very difficult to live in the area. “We get flooding twice a year and that makes it difficult; you lose everything. The area still produces rice and we have cattle but there’s a difficulty finding labour, but I think that’s something throughout the country.”

Proud Father
Mr. Manickchand endured the hardships of living and working in a remote area because he said he didn’t want his children to have to go through the same. “I went through some of the hard times and didn’t want my children to go through that, so I worked hard to educate them. I had to burn the midnight oil in the fields, sometimes through rain. I believe that nothing falls from the heaven; you have to work. If you want to get something in life or want to do something for your children, you have to work,” the proud father expressed.

When he looks at his children today, he feels that it was all worth it. “I feel fortunate to be their dad today. I remember when Priya [Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand] was going to the University of the West Indies, I had a little get-together right here and when she was leaving the afternoon, she said, ‘Dad I’m going to make you proud.’ She went and got her law degree, and she did make me proud.”
As much as he loves rice farming, Mr. Manickchand has handed over the business to his son. He’d still go to visit the animals in the backdam though.