MY BIRTH PLACE
This chapter of my journey of life has become a bit longer than others because the aspects of my birth place and my family have always been the central events of my life. I had to go deeper and further back in my life to collect the vital pieces of information to make this episode more meaningful and valid.
Every happy person I have recognised becomes even happier when they have not got any tension about anything. A happy individual will work happily with good conduct and behaviour to complete various responsibilities towards the family, society and the nation. My ancestors had these goals in life and even if they were uprooted from their roots in Tamil Nadu they continued to work with determination and confidence because they wanted to be successful in life.
The assignments in Taveuni were completed and it was time for the family of my grandparents to make a move to greener pastures. They chose Wailevu in Rakiraki for their next home. So my father Ayakannu Goundar although was married at birth to my mother Almelamma, their family life did not begin until they moved to Wailevu in Rakiraki in Vitilevu when my mother was eleven years old. Then they were traditionally married and began working as independent sugarcane farmers on their own farm. After almost ten years of living together my parents began to have their own children.
Having established themselves well at Wailevu, the joint family of my grandparents (Munsami Pillay and Dhanbhagiyum) and my parents then decided to live separately because the small farmstead could not adequately meet the increasing needs of the two extended families. Consequently, my grandparents moved to Yalandro in Tavua with their five sons and two daughters but the three daughters remained with my father and mother in Wailevu. Since my mother was the eldest daughter of my grandparents she was expected to look after her own family plus her sisters as well. She performed this motherly responsibility with honour and pride with the help of her three sisters.
Our Farm - Wailevu Village in Rakiraki
Too many times today, we read in the papers about families where parents abuse their children, verbally and physically. What these parents don't realize is that they are either beginning or involving themselves in a vicious circle of hate in families. When parents abuse their children, they are telling their children that that is not the way to raise children. I was lucky, I was treated and raised differently and learned to love and care for the family. This was only because my family cared about me and I cared about them. That is why I have often said that love and tender loving care are the essential ingredients of good family life.
In this world of doubt, insecurity and fear, my family was always there for me holding their arms open to me with love. On the first day of first grade, I did not want to go to school, I had butterflies in my stomach and I found it difficult to walk because I was so nervous. The only reason that I finally went into the classroom is because my mom walked in with me up to the main road and promised me that as soon as school was over and I came back she would be there waiting for me ready to bring me back to where I felt most comfortable, my home and my family.
I remember telling my brothers and sisters, “When I think of our family today and every day after that, I do not let the busy world of today keep me from showing how much I love and appreciate our family.”
I now understand fully well that the family is the great part of every human life so for me every person is incomplete without a good, reliable and loving family. Family plays a significant role in human life. A family is like a tree; there are many stems in the tree. Same as our human life, there are so many relations in a family such as our parents, our loved ones such as our children who are living together with us.
Family members share all their things and equal parts of all responsibilities within the family. It makes the members triumph and make an entire family. In the society, there is much requirement of the best family because the real family makes a good community and good society makes a good country.
Everyone wants the good family where all family members can easily and better understand each other for anything and anybody. Even if any problems do arise with anyone member, the other family members should take it for granted and support each other and make a united family. I am proud to say that our family did these and a lot more. The reason for the harmony in the family was their good understanding and proper care for each other at all the times. A lot of the family values were transplanted by our parents.
My Brothers Parasram and Ponnan Goundar
My parents raised two sons and seven daughters in their married life. Their children were Patamma, Tanjamma, Parasram, Ponnan, Parvati, Govindamma, Kamachi, Gangamma and Mariamma. They were all born while my parents lived on their farm in Wailevu, Rakiraki.
My father named two of his children, namely Ponnan and Patamma in memory of his parents who he left in Rayampuram and was never going to see them again. The others were named after his brothers and sisters that were left in Tamil Nadu.
As the family grew in numbers my parents had to acquire another farm in Vunikavikaloa where one of my brothers Ponnan Goundar and his wife Padma with their two children had to move with their family.
We used to spend our holidays on that farm and helped the family with the chores and activities on the farm whenever we got the opportunity to do so. Thus share and care became part and partial of the family. However, my brother Ponnan Goundar passed away and his wife Padma now lives in Melbourne in Australia. We may be scattered all over the world but we still keep in touch through Messenger and other phone calls or Facebook messaging.
Six of the seven Sisters
Parasram Goundar, who was the eldest, got married to Kamla and became the greatest assistant to my parents on the farm in Wailevu. They remained loyal together with their seven children all their life to the farm and my parents. Slowly when their children got married they left the nest to live and work for their respective families. However, both Parasram and Kamla passed away.
My Brother Parasram and his wife Kamla
Yengtesh and my sister Tajamma
My eldest sister passed away very early in life and the second eldest Tanjamma got married to Yengtesh in Wairuku and they had seven children of their own to enjoy their family life. They too have left this world leaving the children to prosper in various places in Fiji.
The next sister Parvati got married to Peri Vedi Goundar of Lautoka and they had three children. They are no more but their children Asha and Dhan Pal Goundar are living and working well in Fiji and Usha is working well in Sydney Australia. I could not find the photo of Peri Vedi Goundar so here is Parvati with her daughter Usha.
Govindamma the next sister got married to Perisami Mandri, our neighbour’s son. The marriage was arranged because both my parents and the parents of Perisami Mandri were good friends. They have four children and are now living in Palmerston North New Zealand. Their children are living in New Zealand, Australia and Fiji. They keep in touch with us and support us whenever any need arises. That is the code of a good family and we appreciate it very much.
Perisami Mandri and Govindamma
My next sister Kamachi married Shiu Narayan Naidu of Galau Rakiraki. She has five children but her husband passed away and she lives on the farm with her two sons. The other children are married and are living in Fiji as well.
As mentioned before, I was born on 15th April, 1952 as the second youngest of the Goundar family. My birth, my sign and my name, all relate to the way I live and act today. It was Tuesday, under the sign of Aries. As an Aries woman I am supposed to be typically confident, fiery, bold, spontaneous and independent.
I agree that I am modern enough to be self-reliant and often have been an inspiration to other women to be motivated and ambitious but I do not know fully well that I match such characteristics but despite all the elegance, I tried to remain a child at heart. I am independent and outgoing, surprisingly naïve and trusting. This openness often led me to some disappointments in life but I tried to quickly bounce back.
Many people may not see this connection for themselves but it takes a little bit of research and thinking to come to realize why people are the way they are. I am told that every day and every action that a child experiences can influence their actions as an adult. In fact I am convinced that my life was influenced by the place, time and early growing up as well as the love and care of my parents.
I got married to Veera Swamy Naidu of Suva on 31st March 1972. This was an arranged marriage. My husband was the third in the Naidu clan. My father in law Krishna Swamy Naidu and my mother in law Latchmi were living in Kaba Street Tamavua after moving from Belo Street, Samabula. My father in law was a lab technician at Colonial War Memorial Hospital until he retired around 1974. My husband was also a lab technician at Koronivia Research Station of Agriculture Department. We lived and raised our two children at Kaba Street, Tamavua. We all have some very fond memories about this special place and our Holden car M471 WAS always parked proudly in the garage of this home.
Veera Swamy Naidu Gangamma Naidu
The Naidu Family
The youngest sister Mariamma married Krishna Velaidan of Lomawai Sigatoka and they are living on their own farm with their son but their twin daughter is married and lives in Cuvu Sigatoka. The wife and husband team is an asset to the nearby schools because they serve them as canteen operators for the benefit of the children at those schools.
My mother was always very kind and considerate woman and became the mother of the village, so to speak, because of her willingness to assist everyone who came for help. She believed that a visitor at home was like a Saint and had to be welcomed and respected as such. She had not seen the door of a formal school but her wisdom in matters pertaining to life and living filled us with talents and skills needed to subsist and grow up with dignity. We were learning from her at every step of our life. In short, we were taught to live and maintain a healthy and sustainable living.
What else can I say about my mother? I can keep talking about so many positive characteristics of my dear mother because I have not found or remember any negative ones. There are so many great traits I loved and admired about my mother that these would be difficult and unfair to write about just one. Being strong, generous and optimistic are all some great personality traits which my mother possessed and passed on to me.
Ever since I can remember, my mother has been a strong individual. She with the assistance of my loving father raised my two brothers and seven sisters financially, emotionally, physically and spiritually. My mother gave her all, by that I mean, she worked in the field with my father and made sure her children were fed, clothed and sheltered properly and that they had the essential amenities to grow happily and successfully. Another way she supported us was with love and tender loving care.
My mother would encourage us by simply saying, "complaining is a useless way to solve problems, but becoming active on the issue is a great way to conquer it.” My mother has always had strong faith and views in her religion. When I was younger, every day and night, she would bring prayer time to our attention. She instilled the ethics of hard work and sincerity in us.
Thus she was certain to display the seriousness of spirituality. Through these acts she expressed her faith in us at an early age that prayer time was not the time to make jokes or to complain about having to partake in it. One lesson she taught us the best was how seriousness about our spiritual beliefs could provide us with a substantial, stable and structural lifestyle later in life.
My mother's heart was at its purest when giving. I witnessed my mother give food, fruits and even clothes to the poor and needy. Although my mother's intentions were good, occasionally, her generosity was taken advantage of but she never gave up and encouraged others to give, whether it was a donation, or volunteering your time in your community. She loved to chew specially prepared Fiji tobacco that was finely cut, mixed with molasses, dried in the sun and rolled into small balls.
My Dear Mother
My father was no less in domestic and field engineering. His knowledge of a variety of cultural activities was very deep and wide. He acted as the priest or pujari at the village temple teaching youths about religious issues and traditional aspects such as dances (trikutu), bhajans and prayers in Tamil. As a result of their heavy societal and community involvement and healthy living they both lived to be centurions.
I have some very fond memories of my parents and other siblings while I was growing in Wailevu. My father used to ask me to help him make the costumes and paper hats as well as other decorative things for his dance group. While doing these things he would teach us a lot of things about our culture and tradition and also narrate his stories of leaving India.
The best part was when he asked us to join him in the dancing sessions that we called Trikutu. We enjoyed that kind of upbringing which gave us good and firm foundation for the future cultural and traditional continuation. He used to smoke Fiji tobacco (sookhi) rolled with dried pandanus leaf (keola) and even at times chewed the tobacco as well.
My Dear Father
On the other hand my mother was more my friend than mother and we used to sleep in one bed for a long time. She gave me a lot of ideas to live a happy life and gave me many recipes of specific South Indian dishes so that I could become a good culinary artist in my married life. She was always there for me to guide and love me. We used to have a lot of fun and fuss with our brothers and sisters and that made us develop a strong bond among us. We used to go to the farm together to work with our parents and often went to wash clothes, bathe and swim in the nearby Wailevu River.
Our errands to the nearby mountain were a luxury because we collected firewood, fruits and caught prawns and fish from the river. The best part was when we sat around on the floor of our thatched house to have our dinner together. All these activities enabled us to develop deep feelings for each other and co-exist as a happy family on our farm in Wailevu, Ra.
From my early childhood and my school days I knew well that there were many other people around me who knew a lot more than I did and I was ignorant in a lot of things in my life. As a result of this notion I activated my antenna and kept my discovery and research moving to get the best knowledge, skills and talents from whomever, whenever or from wherever I could. I interacted with the wise as well as all others in my life in order to get the better of the two worlds, the good and not so good.
Thus I kept improving my ideas and using them to the best of my ability. These institutions of learning from family, friends, acquaintances and colleagues became my own intelligentsia and I always reaped the best benefits from this practice. It was a lot later in life that I read Mark Twain who said the same thing but used different words. He said, “We all are ignorant, but in different things.”
I collected a few photos of my family members from my album and wish to insert them here for family memories.