<p class="ql-block">Travel the World — United Kingdom (London)</p><p class="ql-block">October, Autumn 2012</p><p class="ql-block">by Shirley Sue-a-Quan （Cao Xiaoli） </p><p class="ql-block">From drizzly Vancouver to drizzly London,</p><p class="ql-block">in the golden month of October,</p><p class="ql-block">it doesn’t feel like changing to another country—</p><p class="ql-block">there isn’t even a time difference.</p><p class="ql-block">We just arrived last night,</p><p class="ql-block">and today we came beneath Big Ben to meet friends.</p> <p class="ql-block"><br></p><p class="ql-block">On our second day in London, we were invited by an Indian scholar in his seventies to have a meal together and take a walk along the River Thames. He is a well-known architecture professor and expert in London. A collection of prominent overseas figures of Guyana that he edited was included in the Who’s Who also including my husband Trev </p><p class="ql-block"><br></p><p class="ql-block">He is a third-generation descendant of Indian indentured labourers . During his university years in the 1950s, his parents sent him back to India to seek his roots and study. As an overseas student from the Caribbean, he was invited to attend a famous conference, where he saw Zhou Enlai, Premier of China </p><p class="ql-block"><br></p><p class="ql-block">At the time, Indians at the venue were shouting,</p><p class="ql-block">“China! Brothers! China! Brothers!”</p><p class="ql-block"><br></p><p class="ql-block">It was very friendly. Zhou left him with the impression of a gracious and dignified gentleman. He remembers it were 1956.</p> <p class="ql-block"><br></p><p class="ql-block">Unfortunately, he could not adapt to the customs and way of life of his “motherland,” India. He was regarded as someone returning from overseas who had become Westernized and could not speak his mother tongue fluently. At the same time, he could not accept the caste system and the sharp divide between rich and poor.</p><p class="ql-block"><br></p><p class="ql-block">He said that many wealthy Indians seemed even more Westernized than he was, but it was only a superficial imitation. Having grown up in British colonial Guyana , he believed that Guyana had long been a multicultural country. His education was British in style, and at the very least it emphasized “FAIRNESS” (justice).</p><p class="ql-block"><br></p><p class="ql-block">Later, his parents sent him to London. This seemed to be a common path for young people of Indian, Chinese, Portuguese, African, and European descent from then British Guyana . He and Trev took a photo together in the drizzling rain, with Big Ben behind them. He has already lived in this city for half a century.</p><p class="ql-block"><br></p><p class="ql-block">When I asked him how he felt about his life, he said he felt very fortunate and happy. He is grateful to Britain, which once governed Guyana for cultivating so many talented people and for giving several generations of his family peace and stability.</p><p class="ql-block"><br></p><p class="ql-block">When asked why he left the place where three generations of his family had lived, he explained that Indians made up nearly half of Guyana’s population. After independence, the ruling party was Indian dominated, while Chinese made up only about one percent, it was understandable that many chose to emigrate. He said political struggles between the Indian and African business communities were intense, and prejudices ran deep.</p><p class="ql-block"><br></p><p class="ql-block"><br></p><p class="ql-block">my husband Trev recalled an incident from his middle school days when he participated in an opera performance. A Black leader greeted the students and shook hands with everyone—except for one white student, whom he deliberately ignored. In fact, that boy had also been born and raised locally and felt quite wronged.</p><p class="ql-block"><br></p><p class="ql-block">Later, they all went to university in Britain. Today, that white student is a senior engineer and government official in Vancouver. Sometimes, when we meet while walking in a nearby park, he will sing an opera aria; opera remains his lifelong passion.</p><p class="ql-block"><br></p><p class="ql-block">As the two of them talked about these past events, they were filled with emotion. Politics may seem distant from ordinary people, yet it deeply influences the crucial decisions people make about staying or leaving. They sighed over the loss of elite talent from Guyana . The collection of notable figures compiled by this professor is proof of that—most of them now live in Britain, Canada, or the United States including both of them .</p> <p class="ql-block">The Waterloo bridge became became a family known name because the Hollywood World-famous film was named after this bridge — “Waterloo Bridge.” Chinese people translated it as “The Blue Bridge of Broken Souls.” Spanning the River Thames, the bilingual translation is so elegant that it complements Vivien Leigh’s timeless beauty. But when you actually walk onto the bridge, it is nothing extraordinary — just one of the many bridges over the Thames.</p><p class="ql-block"><br></p><p class="ql-block">At the time of parting, this old professor said to Trev : Never forget that for more than a hundred years this peaceful land Guyana in South America has sheltered our two peoples — the hardworking Indians and Chinese laborers. It enabled several generations of us to escape first and second world wars ,India’s and China’s turmoil , poverty , war and death. And because it is an English-speaking country, it allowed us to move without difficulty to some of the world’s freest and most democratic English-speaking nations to live and develop. We are a fortunate and successful group of people.</p>