A special day or me

EID-UL-FITR is a special holiday for me. Every year it brings a sense of wonder and immeasurable gratitude for the opportunity I have had to live in a country that appreciates and honours religious diversity. We do not merely tolerate each other’s religion in this country. We celebrate religious diversity and benefit from the sense of spirituality that we all bring to this country. I never take that for granted.

I am always mindful of the life-defining experiences that I have had living in this country. Muslim and Christian inmates in my English classes and debate programme demonstrate that religiously speaking we can have differing points of view, but we share the same values.

In the second year of my debate programme in Port of Spain Prison, my English class argued the topic, “Should people be judged by their religion?” The affirmative side won with a brilliant argument that examined the role of religion in our lives and how it defines us from birth to death. The debate turned out to be one of the most thought-provoking and exciting debates we ever had in prison.

There have been so many memorable moments that I think of every Eid. I once studied Urdu at the Islamic Academy across the street from Ellerslie Plaza in Maraval. I had learned a dialect of Hindustani, a mixture of Urdu and Hindi, when I lived in India, and I wanted to learn how to write in Arabic script. I have never felt more welcome in a class.

The instructor provided a snack every week and gave us our textbooks. When we asked how much the classes and textbooks cost, he said, “Just give some money – whatever you feel to give – to the first beggar who asks you for help.”

Those Urdu classes turned out to be an invaluable lesson in giving that I have never forgotten.

My list of memories is long, but up there at the top is a phone call about 15 years ago from Cindy Khan, who was vice principal of ASJA Girls in San Fernando. She had called to ask me about delivering a speech at the girls’ graduation. I said I don’t accept speaking engagements because I am terrified of addressing a crowd.

“I get debilitating migraines that keep me in bed for a week,” I said.

Cindy Khan kept saying, “I know you can do this.”

The week after that phone call, I went to the Police Canine Section in Caroni to do research for a book I was writing. I told Sgt Larry Millette about the conversation.

Instead of sympathising with me, Sgt Millette said, “I will drive you to the school.”

There seemed to be no way to escape. Something about Cindy Khan’s faith in me eventually convinced me to take a chance. I had gained some confidence from other people’s faith in me.

Still, I struggled. My library assistant, Nicha Cassiram, constantly encouraged me. Eventually, I wrote a speech inspired by an essay US historian David McCullough had written about novelist Harriet Beecher Stowe in his book Brave Companions: Portraits in History.

I told the story of a Christian woman who wrote the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Her life and work were far different from their history and their experiences, but I wanted these girls to see the lessons we can learn from people who are different from us.

The speech felt like a gamble. I wasn’t sure that it would go over well, and I still feared waking up on that day with a migraine. I tried to put everything out of my mind.

Nicha left nothing to chance. She took me to the empty theatre at school, pulled a podium to the middle of the stage, sat down in the audience and had me practise my speech with all the emotion I could muster.

Sgt Millette lived up to his promise. When I arrived at ASJA Girls,’ San Fernando, principal Khan never left my side. She asked if I would mind saying as-salaam alaikum at the beginning of my speech.

I said, “No, I don’t mind.”

So that is how I started my speech. I stood before that audience petrified from fear and said, “As-salaam alaikum.”

The audience replied in unison, “Wa-alaikum-salaam.” In that moment, I felt a surge of confidence.

After that day, I never had a fear of speaking again.

These are the stories of belief and togetherness that I remember every Eid. There is no doubt that religious diversity enriches our lives.