16 October 2011

Off the beaten track: Sounds of Surinam

Surinam is a country in South America with a large East Indian population, the history of which dates back to a few centuries when indentured labourers from the subcontinent were recruited to work in sugar plantations in the country, after slavery was abolished in the US and neighbouring countries in the West Indies.


A very interesting dialect of Hindi known as `Sarnami Hindi' is spoken widely by people of Indian origin.  Dutch is the official language as the country was a Dutch colony before independence. (Just like in many other countries, young people of Indian origin are not as fluent in Hindi or their ancestral languages as they are in their national language).

There are many radio and TV stations catering to East Indian community. This evening I had the pleasure of listening to Radio Rasonic, one of the FM stations in the country. It caters to local Indian community on 105.3 MHz from Nickeri. I had the joy of listening to Hanumaan Chaalisa. Hope you too enjoy listening to the broadcast.

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About Me

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Chennai, Tamilnadu, India
I am a retired K-12 Education Management Professional. I have worked at different levels in K-12 school systems, textbook publishing, elearning and Education NGOs. I have held memberships in The Association for Science Education (UK), American Association of Physics Teachers and The Malaysian Institute of Physics. I hold a 1st class B Sc Degree in Physics followed by B Ed [English and Physical Science] and M A [Childcare and Education] degrees. My published works include 59 articles in teacher development magazines in India and the US and a book entitled `Creative Classrooms and Child Friendly Schools' (listed in Amazon). This book is almost an anecdotal account of my professional experience in six countries (including Cambodia where I worked as Technical Adviser to the Ministry of Education, Youth And Sports). I served as mentor in the Certificate of Teaching Mastery Program offered by Teachers Without Borders.