Dear Editor,
The bowing to the feet of the Indian President Pratibha Patil by TT’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar during her recent Pravasi Samman honour in Jaipur has evoked much controversy in Trinidad (SN, Jan 19, 20). Contrary to what the TT Opposition leader, Dr Keith Rowley, and critics suggested, the PM did not kowtow to the Indian President. A bow or touching the feet of an older person is a time-honoured tradition in Indian culture and Kamla-ji showed her utmost respect for Pratibha-ji.
The touching of the feet is similar to aarteing (in a puja) an elderly person or a pandit and was never intended to reflect a subservient position or subordination to a leader but an act of respect (for the person or the title) – nothing more. The gesture won the hearts of 3000 delegates at the Pravasi conclave (Indian diaspora conference) as well as the hundreds of millions who watched the President confer an award on Kamla-ji (that preceded the award) and 14 other outstanding Indians in the diaspora. The PM did not bow to the President on behalf of the people of T&T but on her own behalf in keeping with the respect she has for elders and for her pandit. Also, the PM offered a traditional ‘Namaste‘ to Pratibha-ji and to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh – also not an act of subservience but of respect.
As someone penned in a memo, bowing to an Indian person represents the highest honour that one can bestow on him or her and is reserved to mark moments of great appreciation and high inspiration. The Indian President holds an important title as the head of state. In addition, she is an elderly person and a Hindu. So Kamla was quite in order to touch her feet. That custom is very common among Indians and I do it routinely in India as well as in Guyana and in the Indian diaspora. The touching of the feet is an act seeking the blessings or admiration of the elderly person. Nothing more should be read into it any more than the Namaste sign that the PM also used to greet and thank the President and so many others. The PM’s behaviour was most courteous showing humility and pride in her action. The Indian President welcomed Kamla and she showed the President her appreciation by displaying her tradition, culture and values that are still maintained some 170 years later in the Caribbean.
She paid heed to a tradition that was respectful and reverent. She represented TT with elegance and she charmed her hosts and the 100,000 villagers who showed up to welcome a descendant. She was not there in terms of status. And at any rate, she was not the equal of the President. Her equal was the PM and she did not bow or kowtow to the PM but gave a humble Namaste as is the norm.
Dr Rowley and others critics may not be familiar with the practice which accounts for their criticism of the PM’s honorific act. There is absolutely nothing about the bowing or a Namaste greeting that should be condemned.
Indo-Trinis are very proud of the honour Kamla received in India as well as her visit to the village of her ancestor in Bihar and her bowing to the President. Kamla’s bowing to the President is a non-issue. There are more pressing issues on which the Opposition Leader could have focused.
I think those from the African diaspora should also be proud if a person of that diaspora were to express cultural behaviour recognized by their ancestral country. And as India has been doing, I think African countries should recognize outstanding personalities of their diaspora. This would undoubtedly lead to honours for African-Guyanese.
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram
