I am from Malabar

"I am from Malabar. I am not a Hindustani. I served my indenture in Fiji in Navua. It is difficult for me to relate why I came. Everyone who enlisted as a labourer came here under somewhat strange circumstances.

I was enticed by a recruiter and I knew nothing about Fiji.

In the depot all one did was eat, drink and make merry. On board the ship we were well fed.

We were woken up at 3.am. to cook our food. The Australian Europeans who worked us were evil because, as my parents had told me, Australian whites were jail-birds. We knew this in India; that Sydney and Australia were jails.

They were like us, they too had contracted to work for five years. They too had a girmit to serve. They used to kick us and whip us."

-Personal account from Kanan, in the book, "The Indenture Experience in Fiji" by Ahmed Ali