My Incredible Journey: Autobiography of My Life

By DIANAND DENNY BHAGWANDIN

I came from a poor family, but was afforded all the opportunities to make myself a better person than my parents, who did not have those opportunities. My childhood days were hard living on a farm, getting up early in the morning, doing my chores and then walking two miles to school.
My high school days was not as good as expected and I put that to the conditions under which I had to deal with, living away from home, sometimes under unpleasant situations, and then getting up at 5:00 am to travel by train to Georgetown to get to school. I remember reading that Abraham Lincoln had to walk six miles per day to go to school, and he became one of the best President of the United States of America.
My studies were cut short to assist my family when they were faced with major problems. I realized that the experience I gained by joining the SSU made me a better person. As I began my life anew I was determined to be successful in whatever my endeavors were.
Success comes with hard work and perseverance and I took advantage of all the windows of opportunities that came my way, like forming Patrician Phone Corporation and South Jamaica Services, and running for Congress.
To the readers of my autobiography, especially the younger generation, I want to tell you that the sky is not the limit. There are many opportunities out there, you have to take the time to look for what interests you.
If I had to live my life over again, I would probably do the same things all over again, but I think with less mistakes. I have no regrets because I did it my all way.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Aug 23, 2014
• ISBN: 9781496929334

DIANAND DENNY BHAGWANDIN

I came from a poor family, but was afforded all the opportunities to make myself a better person than my parents, who did not have those opportunities. My childhood days were hard living on a farm, getting up early in the morning, doing my chores and then walking two miles to school. My high school days was not as good as expected and I put that to the conditions under which I had to deal with, living away from home, sometimes under unpleasant situations, and then getting up at 5:00 am to travel by train to Georgetown to get to school. I remember reading that Abraham Lincoln had to walk six miles per day to go to school, and he became one of the best President of the United States of America. My studies were cut short to assist my family when they were faced with major problems. I realized that the experience I gained by joining the SSU made me a better person. As I began my life anew I was determined to be successful in whatever my endeavors were. Success comes with hard work and perseverance and I took advantage of all the windows of opportunities that came my way, like forming Patrician Phone Corporation and South Jamaica Services, and running for Congress. To the readers of my autobiography, especially the younger generation, I want to tell you that the sky is not the limit. There are many opportunities out there, you have to take the time to look for what interests you. If I had to live my life over again, I would probably do the same things all over again, but I think with less mistakes. I have no regrets because I did it my all way.

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© 2014 Dianand Denny Bhagwandin. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 08/22/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4969-2934-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-2933-4 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Contents

Acknowledgments

Preface

Early Childhood

My Education

A Second Beginning

New York, Here I Come

The Bronx to Florida to Guyana to Grenada to the USA

My Second Return to Guyana

Guyana to Grenada

Grenada to South Carolina via New York

Window of Opportunity

My Second Window of Opportunity

My Travels

Summary

About the book

My mother was denied the opportunity to go to school.

My mother could not read or write, but she made sacrifices so that her children would not be denied the opportunity of getting an education. Mom, thank you for the sacrifices you made for all of us.

Acknowledgments

The material in this book is from my own personal experiences and belongings. Do not inquire about to who said these things, but pay attention to what is said.

Preface

I grew up on a rice farm in the 1940s and 1950s. As the sun rose and set, my chores were very hard to get done. I got up early in the morning and went to bed early. Then I got up and did it again. We had no electricity or running water, but my father constructed a windmill that generated power to charge up the battery for our Grundig radio. In the 1950s, my favorite songs were country and western songs by Hank Snow, Hank Williams, Jean Shepard, and others.

I have had many conversations with my grandchildren, but there are still many things I have not told them. I was always busy doing things, and I have not taken the time to sit down and talk to them about my life. I am writing this book so they can read about my childhood, my education, and even the people who influenced my thinking. They would be able to understand how I became the parent and grandparent I am today.

I assisted my eldest brother with rounding up the cows for milking and getting the milk to the milk truck all before breakfast, and then I got ready to walk two miles to school. Sometimes I got wet in the rain and was sent back home by the headmaster.

I attended primary school in an old, one-room church building that was used as the school from Monday to Friday. It was used for religious activities on weekends.

My grandparents, both paternal and maternal, were brought from India to British Guiana by the plantation owners as indentured laborers to work on the sugar plantations for five years. During the early months of 1960, the Indian Indentured Immigration Association searched for the oldest living Indian indentured laborer in British Guiana to lay a cornerstone for the building of a Hindu temple. After a thorough search across the country, my paternal grandfather was determined to be the oldest surviving indentured immigrant at 106. He laid the cornerstone on August 21, 1960, and passed away two months later.

I have some of the traits of my paternal grandfather. He was a transient; after his indentureship, he moved from one sugar estate to another until he settled at Cape Clear, Mahaicony. In 1950, he traveled back to India in search of his roots. He could not find any surviving family; however, strangers pretended to be his family and robbed him. He was able to escape and returned to British Guiana.

My mother got married at the age of twelve and never had the opportunity to go to school. She could not read or write, but she was good at calculating her purchases in shillings and pence even before I was able to do so with pencil and paper. My mother made sacrifices in her life to ensure that her children would not be denied the opportunity to get an education.

Many children and grandchildren of indentured laborers went on to become famous lawyers and doctors. Some were knighted by the King of England, and others became prime ministers and heads of government before British Guiana became the independent country of Guyana in 1966.

My education continued from primary school through high school, polytechnic colleges in London, England, and finally a master’s degree from St. Thomas University in Miami, Florida.

I tried my hand in business and politics. I thoroughly enjoyed my political adventures with the knowledge that I created awareness for the immigrant population to get involved rather than being armchair philosophers and grandstand spectators. Being the first Guyanese American to run for public office in the United States of America, I opened up doors for others to follow.

1.jpg

"The author’s Paternal Grand Parents on the left &

Maternal Grand Parents on the right, his mother sitting in the middle

and his father behind them."

Early Childhood

I am the fourth of ten children. I was born on Burma Road in Cape Clear, Mahaicony, British Guiana. My parents’ names were Mahadeo and Gobindi Bhagwandin. My father, Mahadeo, passed away on May 2, 2007, at the age of ninety. My mother, Gobindi, is ninety-three and lives with one of my sisters.

There was a deep pond in our yard. My father installed a hand pump, and my siblings and I had to pump water up to the water tank for use in the kitchen and bathing. The water was exceedingly cold in the morning. Sometimes I would just wash my face, hands, and feet—and tell my mother that I had taken a shower. I let the water ran from the shower pipe, and I would make noises as though I was having a shower, but my mother knew better.

While I was rounding up cows one afternoon, I found a little puppy in the rice field. He was very hungry and shivering. I took him home, fed him, washed him, and wrapped him in an old rice bag to get warm. I named him Pablo, and he stayed with me until I left British Guiana in 1961.

I spent a lot of time with my paternal grandparents because my grandmother always cooked the things I liked, such as sweet rotie and sweet mango gurumba. My maternal grandparents were living at Windsor Forest, West Coast Demerara. I always looked forward to visiting them during the school breaks.

I received my primary education at Catherineville Primary School. I walked two miles to school on a dirt road and two miles coming back home. During the rainy season, the road became a muddy walkway. I washed the dirt off my feet at a water stand in front of the schoolyard before entering the school. I had no shoes, but that made no difference because none of the other children walking to school had shoes.

Mr. Manoo Mathura, the shopkeeper at Catherineville, allowed all the children coming from my area to leave our changing clothes and lunch bags in a corner of his shop. We would all gather there to have lunch during the break.

An old Methodist church was used as the school. The school had six teachers and a headmaster. During my eight years at Catherineville Primary School, one teacher had the greatest influence in my early development. Miss Philadelphia did the same for my elder siblings. She taught me reading, writing, and arithmetic and how to develop good character and discipline, how to be humble, and how to be punctual—by emphasizing the importance of being at school when the opening bell rang, despite my two-mile walk to get there. Later in life, I came to understand what Miss Philadelphia meant when she said, The early bird catches the worm.

The teachers taught all classes from Prep A to Six Standard, which was better known as School Leaving Standard. I remembered Miss Philadelphia for two things she did to the entire second standard class. After being greeted and seated in the morning, Miss Philadelphia would leave the class, go out the front door, and then come back to the class. On her