Rich tribute paid to cultural icon Lachmee Kallicharran

By Miranda La Rose

January 31, 2002

Lachmee Kallicharran

The national chutney competition, now an official part of the national cultural agenda has been dedicated to the memory of late culturalist and media personality Lachmee Kallicharran and the winning trophy will be awarded in her name.

Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Gail Teixeira, made the announcement in a tribute during a service to celebrate the life of the late Kallicharran at the Umana Yana in Kingston yesterday. Kallicharran died in a fire which gutted her home on Pike Street, Kitty last Saturday. She was cremated at the Good Hope crematorium yesterday afternoon.

Kallicharran's tragic death, Teixeira said, shocked everyone. Then, as if that were not enough, the news of the death of former Commonwealth welterweight champion Andrew Murray was another shock. "Guyana in one day was robbed of two outstanding people who in their own way contributed to the cultural upliftment of the country and the people. Both lost their lives in the prime of their lives when they both had so much more to give and so much more to benefit."

Among those present at the service were Kallicharran's father, Harry and mother, Rani, her brothers and sisters and other relatives most of whom reside overseas and travelled to Guyana for the funeral service. Prime Minister Sam Hinds, ministers of the government, a number of high-ranking officials from both the private and public sectors and friends of Kallicharran were there to pay tribute.

Among her close friends and colleagues paying tribute in poems and music were Phyllis Jackson, Roopnandan Singh, Raj Kumar, Pandit Dilip Jaigopaul, Vanda Radzik, Al Creighton, Moses Nagamootoo, Parvati Persaud-Edwards, Anande Trotman, Aruni Singh who read a poem on behalf of close friend Paloma Mohamed, Winston Benn and Keith Booker. Most of the pieces they recited were philosophical in nature and were their own creations done just for the occasion.

Also paying tribute were Kallicharran's youngest brother Dr Krishna Kallicharran and a sister. In the brief tribute Dr Kallicharran noted that his late sister touched the lives of many through her work and beliefs and asked on behalf of the family that Guyanese keep the momentum of her cultural works going. A sister who held the brief when Dr Kallicharran was overcome by grief noted that her late sister's effort transcended Guyana's borders. This was made apparent by the expressions of sympathy through telephone and courtesy calls which the family had been receiving, both at home and overseas.

The local chutney competition, sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport since 1998, Teixeira said, was an effort Kallicharran revived as she had wanted the chutney art form - specific to Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago -- to be officially recognised, preserved and passed on to the next generation.

Teixeira said, "Neither of us wanted to be dependent on the Trinidad chutney and we wanted ours to flourish. Thus was born the first competition sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport with Lachmee coordinating and managing it."

She recalled that when she became minister that year Kallicharran spoke with her of chutney and the village folklore and traditions and how she, Teixeira could use her portfolio to bring these on the official cultural agenda. At present, the chutney competition, which at one time was held during the Mashramani celebrations but was gradually phased out, forms part of the national cultural agenda and is an integral component of the Indian arrival celebrations during the month of May.

Speaking about the many facets of the life of Kallicharran and her achievements, Teixeira said that they did not come easily especially since she "was a woman. More so, a woman from the countryside and more so an Indian, Hindu woman." She added that "in her heart she was a rebel with a cause and her weapons were knowledge, information and artistry."

Expressing condolences on her own behalf and the government of Guyana, she described Kallicharran as a genuine daughter of Guyana who fought many of the demons of the past and present which bedevil us in the post independence construction of a nation. She was, Teixeira said, "passionate about her love for Guyana with all its complexities -- good, bad and ugly. Guyana was her home. She was in transit everywhere else."

According to the minister, she was driven by the belief that Guyanese culture was not one of division but one of unifying through a process of enlightenment and removing ignorance about each other's culture and tradition. She believed this was her mission in life.

Her gift to the country, Teixeira said, was in the most complex of area of culture in which one confronts traditions, prejudices centuries old, second class, geography, religions, colour and gender. Her boldness and courage in confronting the situation, undaunted in the face of adversary were all part of the armour with which she had girded herself to meet the challenges.

She recalled that Kallicharran became a public figure mainly for her work in culture and in bringing Indo-Guyanese culture to the public's attention. "In a period when a sense of alienation was strong she helped in her own way to make people of Indian descent have a sense of pride and dignity and identity."

The one-woman exhibition Kallicharran held in 1980 on Indian indentureship, Teixeira said, signalled the first regional presentation on the realities of that period and the contribution made by those who endured it.

A fashion designer and trendsetter in her own right, Kallicharran had a sense of style, class and grace, Teixeira said. She wore eastern and western clothes with equal grace and dignity. They were in fact, she said, not so much the fashion of the day but in fact declarations of cultural identity and independence. Teixeira credited Kallicharran with raising eastern fashion to levels of acceptability where Guyanese wear them regardless of ethnic origin. Though small, she said, these were symbolic gestures of Lachmee's rebellion years ago and the Guyanese society's receptivity to cultural diversity in more recent times.

Stabroek News has been asked why Kallicharran's first name was being spelt in this newspaper as L-a-c-h-m-e-e and not L-a-x-h-m-i-e. In the Stabroek News New Year's Day feature this month "A look into the crystal ball," which featured Lachmee along with other prominent Guyanese, she submitted her piece with her name spelt Lachmee. When asked why, she said it was easy to spell and people always spelt her name wrong anyway.