DIASPORA CRICKET AND LANGUAGE

 DIASPORA CRICKET AND LANGUAGE


THE DUTCH AND DIASPORA CRICKET

Netherlands has a fairly good cricket team
South Africa(Dutch/Afrikaner) with a large Indian diaspora and Namibia(Dutch/Afrikaner) also play cricket
Surname(former Dutch Guiana) with a large Indian diaspora dont play cricket. No Surinamese players in the Dutch cricket team either though Surinamese have right to residence and citizenship in Netherlands.
Guyana(former British) with a large Indian diaspora play as part of West Indies.

Though Guyana and Suriname are neighbours on the South American mainland, Guyana and Suriname are part of the CARICOM (Caribbean Community) BUT Suriname is NOT part of the West Indies Cricket

CARICOM (Caribbean Community): This is a political and economic union of 15 full members. It is a government-level organization that deals with trade, health, and diplomacy.

West Indies: In modern terms, this refers almost exclusively to the West Indies Cricket Team. It is a sporting confederation rather than a political one.

Essentially, the political leaders of CARICOM nations (like the Prime Ministers of Barbados or Guyana) act as the "guardians" of the West Indies team, even though the team itself is a separate sporting body.

THE INDIAN DIASPORA

Even though the Indian diaspora of both Guyana and Suriname are from the same "Girmitiya" (indentured labourer) stock Bhojpuri (UP/Bihari) and South Indian, they dont speak the same language. Guyanese speak English while the Surinamese speak Dutch. Though the Surinamese Hindi "Sarnami" and the Guyanese Hindi(Caribbean Hindustani)/Bhojpuri("Aili Gaili"/'ऐली गैली') are somewhat similar and mutually intelligible.

The phrase "ऐली गैली" (Aili Gaili) perfectly captures the essence of Guyanese Bhojpuri. In Standard Hindi, you would say "Aayi Gayi" (She came, she went). The "L" sound is a hallmark of the Bhojpuri influence.

Sarnami (Suriname) version remains the most "alive." It is the third most spoken language in Suriname. The proponents of Sarnami are reclaiming their Indian heritage in a big way. Though majority remain quite disgusted by the deterioration of Bhojpuri culture (cinema and music) in the mainstream in India.

Guyanese Hindustani: Unlike Sarnami, which is still a primary tongue for many, the Guyanese version has largely been "absorbed" into Guyanese English Creole. Today, most Indo-Guyanese speak English Creole but use Bhojpuri words for food (baigan, bhaji), family relations (nana, dadi), and religious contexts.

If a Sarnami speaker from Paramaribo(Suriname) meets an old Bhojpuri speaker from Berbice (Guyana), they can understand each other with relative ease.

The Berbice-Nickerie Connection: There is a specific dialect called Nickerian-Berbician Hindustani. Because the Nickerie district in Suriname sits right across the river from the Berbice region in Guyana, the Hindustani spoken there is almost identical, acting as a bridge between the two national variants.

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