The People’s Progressive Party/Civic on Sunday celebrated the life and legacy of Dr. Cheddi Jagan and Janet Jagan at Babu Jaan, Port Mourant where their daughter Nadira Jagan-Brancier underlined their simplicity and humility.
She said that she opted not to speak on her father as a politician since his history and legacy are well known throughout the country. She wanted to speak about them as parents whom she was honoured to have adding that even though they had busy lives they always found time to spend with her and her brother, Joey Jagan.
“I am really proud to have had such parents, not just because of who they were politically but who they were as human beings. Their moral values, their high values of integrity, and the way they lived their lives, not just their personal lives but their political lives”, she said.
Homing in on the generosity of her mother, Janet Jagan when she first came to Guyana, Nadira said, that her mother brought her father’s siblings to Georgetown to “give them an education and to help them further themselves…”
Recalling when they lived at Red House on High Street from 1961 – 1964, she said her father was under a lot of stress and pressure due to his political life but still ensured that he found time to do things with her.
She recalled that her father taught her to swim which was one of his main relaxation activities along with lawn tennis.
However, she said after the PPP/C lost government in 1964, her family moved to Camp Street where they lived until 1966. She said, when her mother travelled overseas, her father would take her to the cinema to watch Indian movies.
“It was a really special time for me and my dad just spending those times.”
In 1965 at Camp Street, she said, her father sat at his desk to write his famous West on Trial which was eventually published in 1966.
In 1966 they relocated to Plantation Bel Air where her parents bought a piece of property “and my father designed this house by himself and he was very proud of it.”
Stressing that this was the first home her parents owned, she said, that one of the good things for her father was having a large yard since her father enjoyed gardening.
She said as a child Cheddi Jagan worked in the kitchen garden with his mother helping her plant and then selling the produce. She said that his mother allowed him to keep some of the proceeds earned from selling and he learned the elements of finance and leadership qualities from his parents.
She added that her father was able to relax by himself gardening in their yard planting several fruit trees and flowering plants with one of his favourites being orchids which he started growing.
Recalling a special moment, she said, after she returned to Guyana her father’s orchids were blooming and it was what she used for her wedding bouquet. “He was really proud that I was using his orchids and not some foreign plant”, she said.
According to Nadira, one of the things they did as a family was to visit Bee Hive where the Jagans had a little house where her mother would make fried chicken, one of her staples.
She said they would visit the beach where her father would hang a hammock and rest for a bit while they played on the beach.
“You couldn’t think of Cheddi Jagan without having a hammock next to him”, she said, while noting that he had one at home and one at Freedom House as well. She said that he also had a hammock at the Office of the President and State House while he served as president.
She recalled that his grandchildren would sit and wait for him at State House while he worked and he would eventually come out of his office to play with them and rock them in his hammock.
“My mom and dad also used to enjoy in their spare time going to the seawall… Just a nice leisurely walk on the seawall.”
She recalled, that her mother also enjoyed visiting the zoo, adding that she wrote children’s stories for her grandchildren as their birthday gifts.
According to her, her mother was very instrumental in her becoming a goldsmith, as she had bought a kit with copper wire which she never had much time to use. But Nadira said she found it and made use of it. “Without the inspiration and backing of my mother I probably would never be able to do this”, she said.
In the US, she said her father worked in a pawn shop and mended clothing as he had learned to tailor while in Port Mourant, Corentyne. After returning to Guyana, he still enjoyed doing such and maintained a sewing machine that he taught her sewing on. The sewing machine she said remains at Red House.
She noted that her father was a very frugal man who didn’t believe in wasting money and there are a lot of instances showing such including that he opted to mend his clothes instead of purchasing new ones.
His way of conserving paper was that he wrote on the empty side of printed documents/papers/materials “and he would write on the back and he wrote all his articles like that.”
Stressing that her parents had a wonderful relationship, she said they loved each other tremendously which showed through in pictures.
“When my dad was President and lived at State House, my mother used to pack his lunch with a cup of coffee, fruits and a sandwich and he had his little lunch bag he took with him to (Office of the President) to work. She had been doing this her whole life with him, and as President he still carried this on and he carried his little bag. I don’t think you would find any other President doing this and it just goes to show again how humble he was”, Nadira added.
She said her father would exercise twice per day but after his days become busier and there was not much time for exercising he decided to start meeting his ministers at the National Park where they would “discuss while they walked.”
After leaving the government, she said, that they never had much help at home so her mother cooked, cleaned, and did all of the shopping while her dad’s job was to clear and wash the dishes and polish the floors.
Once she returned and noticed how nice the floors looked and one of their guards said to her that Cheddi Jagan was on his “hands and knees polishing these floors for you and I thought wow that was amazing.”
According to Nadira, her father always listened to the news as he always wanted to know what was going on in the world, “Guyanese news and overseas news, and one of the things he always had around him was a short wave radio. He had one in the study, one in the bedroom, one in the living room.”
She stressed that her father never liked expensive gifts and so the best gift one could get him was a short-wave radio.
After becoming grandparents, she said, that her dad enjoyed sitting on the floor and playing with his grandchildren and also taking them swimming. She noted, that on the way to swimming, he would pick up a lot of the comrades who had children and take them with him.
She said that the guards would attempt to shut down the pool to allow him to swim privately but that would upset him as he would say that it was a public pool and everyone must be allowed to swim “so people swam with him.”
She recalled, that one of the last times she spent with her father before he fell ill was when he visited her in Canada. She said he was on his way to the Middle East when one of his lieutenants asked her if she could purchase a suitcase for Dr. Jagan as the one he had was all broken up and embarrassing “and my father is like there is nothing wrong with the suitcase Nadira, just don’t worry about it.”
She said, the following day they went to a mall where they bought a red suitcase her father picked out. She recalled that his shoes were a bit tight for him and she encouraged them to go to the shoe store where after he looked at the prices he said they would not purchase any. “He said no, no, he was going through Italy on his tour and he would buy the shoes but I found out after he passed away when I came home that he never bought the shoes he was still wearing the shoes that were tight and uncomfortable.”
After her father passed away, she said, it was very difficult for her mother and she would often visit them in Canada. “Most people may not know, it was quite difficult for her, she was lonely but she carried on with the struggle”, Nadira said.