Kolkata: Bhawanipore Depot in Kolkata was where almost a million intrepid travellers spent the last few days in their homeland. They left India and were taken abroad as indentured workers in the 19th and early 20th century. Now, a group of private individuals will set up a memorial there to commemorate those who left for the Caribbean, Mauritius, Fiji and South Africa.

The memorial will be the first commemoration of what was one of the biggest assisted migrations of that time. The host countries such as Mauritius, Trinidad, Suriname and Guyana (earlier British Guiana) have built memorials to commemorate the arrival of the Indians and a number of them hold official functions to mark Indian Arrival Day annually.

The initiative to build a memorial was originally a private effort spearheaded by British Guiana-born Ashook Ramsaran, executive vice-president of the Global Organisation of the People of Indian Origin (GOPIO). Later Mauritius and Trinidad and Tobago also expressed support for the project. Since then, the West Bengal government has shown an interest.

Ramsaran qualified as an engineer and now manages his electronics manufacturing company in New York. His great grandfather was one of those indentured workers taken to British Guiana in 1853, but Ramsaran added: "I don't know where my great grandfather came from in India."

He is trying to gather more information about his ancestor, but the lack of detailed records in Guyana have hampered his search.

A delegation comprising representatives of GOPIO and the Kolkata-based Global Indian Diaspora Heritage Society have met director of Archaeology and Museums Gautam Sengupta in Kolkata.

‘Emotional significance'

"We had detailed discussions on the plans for the memorial project," Ramsaran said.

Kolkata was the main port for the indentured workers to embark on the ships; later the ports of Chennai and Mumbai also began handling emigrant ships.

"The depot at Bhawanipore was set up in 1845; it was the main depot for the indentured migrants," Ramsaran said.

Bhawanipore Depot was the place where a plethora of indentured workers waited, sometimes for months, for the ships that would take them to the colonies. Later as the number of indentured migrants increased, individual colonies set up their own depots for Trinidad, Fiji and Suriname. In 1889, the depot was moved to the Garden Reach area.

"The depot held a special emotional significance for the indentured workers," Ramsaran said.