THE BEGINNING
Since my belief has always been to live simply, behave humbly, give generously, dress modestly, pray faithfully, think wisely, worship religiously, act kindly, smile honestly, speak truthfully and love sincerely, I developed a life and living that not only gave me a lot of pride and peace but it provided me great opportunities and friends and family members to interact and share. I am glad that life and all those loved ones treated me with dignity.
My humble life and living have been blessed by my teachers, the God Almighty and my parents so to make this blessing worthy and rewarding I would like to venture on expressing some of the events, episodes and truths about my family, my work, my friends and the institutions that gave me the needed guidance and strength to move forward in life.
My life began on 15th April, 1952 WHen I was born in a small village of Vaileka in the province of Rakiraki called Wailevu on a farm on which my extended family subsisted with pride and pleasure for almost a century. My parents were Ayakannu Goundar and Almeluamma. While my father migrated from Tamil Nadu in Andra Pradesh in India around 1916 as indentured worker, my mother was the daughter of the indentured workers Munsamy Pillay and Dhanbhagium from Tamil Nadu but she was born in Taveuni in Fiji.
My father came from a village in the district of Ariyalur in Tamil Nadu known as Rayampuram in India. He was the youngest of a family of ten people who lived in an extended structure doing their own farm work. He used to narrate his past events of India to us whenever we sat and discussed things of importance to the family. These led us to develop an exchange of ideas as father and daughter.
My parents on their farm in Wailevu
He was a man of great belief in God because his family in Rayampuram lived next to the temple and they were regular worshippers there so he always trusted his instinct to do the right things at the right time. He loved his family in Fiji and worked hard to support everyone and guided them to success. Nothing was impossible for him as he used to say because as he put it if we tried hard enough we would be enjoying this short life given to us by Almighty God to prosper and progress at our own pace. He was determined to do his best to ensure that his lost family members in India would feel elated.
There are a lot of things that come to my mind when I reflect on his teachings. Firstly, I admired his courage and tenacity to work for his family. Secondly, he was a person who moved around his farm with special love and liking for the mother earth because he said if you respect the earth then you will enjoy the fruits and crops from the land. Thirdly, he never gave up even if his first attempt at any activity was not giving him the expected benefits so he tried harder the next time round and succeeded in his ventures.
Then the whole family admired his habit of encouraging everyone to be truthful, beautiful and good in their words, actions and habits. He said that these were the great pillars of strength for all human beings. Maybe this was the reason why he would regularly go to the nearby temple in Wailevu in the evening to light the lamp. Of course, he always had high hopes for things to come to his favour and encouraged all of us to have faith in God thus our own faith in us will enlarge and magnify.
He arrived in Fiji in 1916 on the steam ship called Sutlej II but he said he had lost count of the days and times and wanted to make a fresh start. The journey from Calcutta to Suva and then to Nukulau Island for quarantine purposes was difficult and extremely dangerous but they made it and reached their workplace on the island of Taveuni.
If ever any news of anyone who visited Fiji from India was given to him he became excited, thrilled and deeply interested and wanted to meet the visitor. This was the reason why when Indira Gandhi visited Fiji in 1981 he urged his local leaders to give him the opportunity to meet her and touch her hands. His wish was granted.
Indira Gandhi visiting Fiji
He always prayed and begged God to give him eyes that saw the best in people, a heart that forgave the worst, a mind that forgot the bad events and a soul that never lost faith in God. His wish was granted and upon shaking hands with Indira Gandhi he felt enthusiastic and was greatly honoured because with tears of joy in his eyes he said he got a lot of pleasure and was thrilled to renew his loyalty to his mother land. As a coincidence when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Fiji in 2014, I had the opportunity to meet him personally.
My father was always a great motivator for all of us at all time because he believed that when we do something we should always do it with deeper interest and faith. Thus he used to say that we would succeed in all our genuine efforts, come what may.
I have learnt the hard way that I cannot always count on other people to respect my feelings and ways of life even if I tried to respect theirs. Therefore I realized early in my life that being a good person did not give me any guarantee that all people who interacted with me would be good people too. I only had control over myself and how I choose to be a normal human being. As for others, I had the choice to either accept them or walk away from them. I accepted many as my true friends but I had to walk away from some who caused me headaches and problems.
Life was never meant to make me wait for the storm to pass or notice the junction ahead and stop but for learning to keep dancing and moving on with added vigour whether it rained, thundered or there was bright sunshine. So I made up my mind and thought that it was better to keep going because difficult roads often lead to interesting and rewarding destinations.
The feeling to get published is great because it makes me get into the heart and soul of people who cared and worked, played and studied with me and so I would love to have them as the readers of this Journey of My Life.
This Journey of my life became possible because before I prayed I learnt to believe in Him; before I spoke I listened carefully, before I spent on anything I earned enough to do so, before I started writing I had to think hard and before I thought of quitting I tried again. Before my journey finishes I will learn to love with more compassion and live a lot better life. My life has given me a lot of things but the greatest asset and treasure are my family members who have given me the opportunity to narrate this journey. I thank God Almighty for this.
