Belle Vue Poem

Belle Vue

My name is Urmila and I was born during the 18th century in a place called Calcutta. I had a husband by the name of Manoj and a son Rahul. We were of the Harijan caste and so my husband being the sole bread winner, had to toil beneath the burning sun for countless monotonous days to provide the basic such as water and whatever little we could afford to eat. My son, who was only five at the time, had a very unstable childhood as some days we could not provide a mouthful of food. And so, being as little as it was I still ensured that he ate, now I can only hope that he get another meal.

I was one of the 396 labourers and one of the 22 women that came on the Hesperus because we were regarded as uneconomical. As a result, there was boundless

It appears as though they were signalling a truce of some sort. With several corpses of coolies being dragged in hand, they summoned us to pause our work. My only friend Anupa ran towards me with fear in her eyes. Some came out of the hut in a rush, others looking on with grave suspicions from where they were standing and the women and children that were weeding the fields, gathered around the white men in their horses. They then called upon several men to step forward and as they did, the white men fetched their whip. The African tribes that were previously enslaved were looking on as they themselves knew that the English men resorted to these dehumanizing forms of retribution when their labourers attempted to escape or their production level decreased. Seemingly, the coolies were found on Herstelling which was situated on the other side of the river (Guyana.org, 2003). They were stripped off their tattered shirts and were continuously beaten like animals in a hunter’s trap. As if as though they were heartless, they found grave pleasure in abusing human beings. Even though they were being the ones beaten, the sight inflicted equal amount of pain onto all of us. It was a sign of warning for us all, that affliction is close at

Although my tarnished face showing countless days and nights between cane roots and desiccated earth, I work through the wearied days facing the unsettling reality that I would not see my family again. Even as a woman, I knew off the sunburnt blisters and the aching limbs that are but fragments that only live to serve the English men. We were promised payments but only the minority received the full amount. And for a few shillings and rupees various tactics were executed, for instance, being paid according to task completion (Wakley, 1835). It was allocated in large amounts that we failed to complete. Consequently, we would not be compensated for that day since the assigned task was