New Aanlegt is the longest of the villages in Canal Number Two with a population of approximately 2,500 people. The name is Dutch in origin and is often misspelt; it appears as ‘Annlegt’ on the village sign. Most of the residents are of East Indian descent.
The sun was barely peeking through the clouds and the wind blew through the trees on the day the World Beyond Georgetown visited New Aanlegt. Fish splished-splashed in the shallow drains. Many of the houses were tightly shut and there was abundant vegetation everywhere whether it was fruits or vegetables or weeds. A truck speeding by dropped into one of the many potholes along the way.
Seventy-nine-year-old Chaitnaraine Nohar seemingly bored sat at a table scratching on pieces of paper. The newspaper lying on the table seemed to have already been read from cover to cover. According to Nohar, his grandparents came from India as indentured servants in the late 1800s. They lived on the Leonora Estate. When indentureship ended, they settled in New Aanlegt. His parents were born there and so was he.
At the tender age of six Nohar lost his mother who died during childbirth. Canal Number Two, at that time, he said, was prone to flooding. “My grandparents planted coffee. They had bought acres of land with coffee on it from some Portuguese people,” he said.
Villagers who worked at the Wales Estate walked over ten miles to work, while the folks living on the Conservancy Dam at the end of Canal Number Two walked along the dam to the Leonora Estate, he said. In fact, he said, the distance was so vast that many persons started their journey on the weekends and camped all week at the Leonora Estate. When the week was up they took the long walk back just to spend a day with their families. Life was like that until the launch was introduced.
A seven-year-old boy today would cry out if he has to walk a mile, but as a seven-year-old Nohar walked miles double his age. On weekends, Nohar walked with his grandparents to Belle Vue so his grandfather could collect his pay before heading to the market.
He attended the Kawall Canadian Missionary School now called Kawall Primary. The school was built by missionaries who came from Canada. Like every normal boy Nohar looked forward to recreation time. The bigger boys he said played cricket while the smaller ones played hopscotch, rounders or merry-go-round with the girls.
By the time Nohar was grown and had joined the work force, he no longer needed to walk to the Booker Brothers’ estate as the lorry was already introduced.
Nohar recalled the canal being dug by a dragline, but said he was told, while still a boy, that before the draglines, it was first dug by slaves. He was also told that after slavery was abolished, the slaves were given first priority to live in Canal Number Two. Many of them bought land and settled there. But as time went by, they migrated to other villages. Some he said left before the rioting began in 1965 while others left during that period.
He recalls a bush-filled Canal as a little boy. They didn’t plant the backdams, he said, owing to the bushes. Many of the vacant lots had huge jamoon, guava and mango trees. His own yard, he said, had a really big mango tree that as it grew and got older began to get holes and being mischievous he used to poke pieces of wood into the holes and set them on fire.
Nohar said New Aanlegt has not changed much in terms of its personality over the years. The people living there are a reserved lot who live a peaceful way of life, even though now and again they would find some fruits or vegetables missing from their backdam farms.
Nowadays Nohar passes the time watching the television, reading the newspaper and singing Bhajans.
It is his hope to see the road properly fixed and not just patched up. He also wishes that something can be done about the double fares the villagers pay at nights. The fare, he said, not only doubles but sometimes triples; he has even paid five times the $100 fare to get home after dark.
In the drain near Nohar’s bridge, a snake lay in the shallow water among the ‘kreketehs’ (snails). Nohar walked out, looked at it, said it was a water snake and went back in.
A distance away Eastranie Sewnarine was relaxing in her hammock. Also born at New Aanlegt, she spoke of a time when there were many vacant lots, where she played hide and seek with friends. Decades later houses started to go up and the place began to look brighter.
Sewnarine, 60, lives with her husband and two grandchildren. Her grandson, she said, had been employed at the Wales Estate for a year, but owing to the recent situation he was laid off and is now looking for another job. Both she and her husband are pensioners, so making ends meet, she said is really hard. She has a small kitchen garden that was recently planted by her husband running at the side of her house. They used to farm in the backdam but were forced to stop after they were both diagnosed with diabetes.
What she does enjoy is the serenity of the village. A daily routine would see her doing chores in the house and enjoying the company of her grandchildren and parrot, Ricardo.
She too expressed concern about the state of the road.
Further down, Taran Kissoon having just returned from a hard day of work was enjoying the afternoon breeze under the shade of a shed by the roadside. He, like the other residents, was born at New Aanlegt.
Kissoon is a forklift operator at DSL. He leaves home every morning at six to reach for work at seven thirty and returns home at five.
As a little boy he attended the Endeavour Primary School situated in the village just opposite New Aanlegt. He was one of the top ranking athletes at his school and often placed first in track and field activities. According the man, coming last was never in his book.
Most people living in New Aanlegt, Kissoon said, are farmers, drivers and persons who rear livestock. Although he has his own vehicle, he takes public transportation to work but being a driver, the deteriorated condition of the road disgusts him. “Right now we need a road. It got some holes when you drop in it you tyre burst and you got to buy another one and with this new law it gets even more difficult. I would like to see a better road and the police patrolling more often. What would be even better is if we could have a police outpost here in Canal,” the resident said.
“But being a resident here benefits me since everything comes to me; groceries, water, gas, meat, fish, greens and clothes. You don’t need to travel to Georgetown. The environment is quiet. I enjoy the peaceful atmosphere.”
