The estate camp is disappearing, first, the window frames were removed – perhaps by the previous occupants – then the doors, and now the trees that have grown wild are being pulled down with rage. The voices from the rows of camps around have for more than 20 years now faded into oblivion. The visitor, coming back after decades, sees with his mind’s eye Grand Bala or Jayram hairdressing while Samiah keeps talking loudly over his own clients and while Marday cuts the various coats of the locals according to their cloth.

Today, Himesh is quite attuned to the past living conditions of the camp occupants. But he is a courageous man, a vocal music and language Educator from Grand-Bois who runs ten groups of music students of various ages across Savanne and Grand-Port districts. This Sunday morning, he and his colleague will be teaching vocal music. They also teach Hindi and Bhojpuri classes in this Arya Samelan Samaj founded in 1930. The young pupils from a neighbouring housing compound are not many but they are determined and quite aware that as recipients of a millennium culture they will in turn transmit their knowledge, wisdom and intelligence to others. The ‘others’ will be younger ones in several years to come keeping the fire burning. I doubt whether these ‘chellas’ have observed whether their Sunday school is housed in the premises of a Samaj founded almost a century ago. This place is the once corrugated estate baitka before it gave place to this concrete building.

■ The classroom at the Arya Samelan Samaj, where Himesh teaches music, Hindi and Bhojpuri to young pupils.

‘The old order changes the giving place to new and God fulfills himself in many ways.’ This quote from Lord Tennyson seems to fit the present situation. In the wake of the pulling down of all the housing units the Samaj premises could be wiped out and transferred to a place nearer the inhabitants. A school is a torchbearer, a lighthouse, a milestone of civilization, and Himesh’s voluntary presence is a guarantee of the school’s continuity here or elsewhere. Himesh has imbibed the philosophy of Hinduism and Arya Samaj since very young. He was among the first generation of students to get enrolled in Hinduism classes and the Hinduism Movement introduced by Yogi Rummun, founder of Presidency College. Himesh learnt by heart and recited with great brio verses of the Bhagavad Gita in a competition hosted in the Neergheen Bhavan in 2003. ‘Yada Yada Hi Dharmasya Glanir Bhavati Bharata.’ (Whenever righteousness is on the decline, unrighteousness is in the ascendant, then I manifest myself).

Himesh has learnt this saying of Lord Krishna since he was in Form 1 which has never left him. Himesh is practical, you would say radical. He lays stress on discipline like waking up before dawn which is a perfect time to perceive ultimate knowledge. We are living in Kali Yuga, a dark period of humanity with spiritual decline, chaos and destruction. But we can ‘construct’ our own paradise on earth. For example, study can distance the individual from the ills of the world. This Educator at the Professor S. Jugessur D.A.V College is still on the learning curve at an advanced level. From obtaining a Certificate, a Diploma, another Diploma and a Degree, Himesh is going on to further his knowledge to perfection. Himesh has performed in Paris. During his participation at the 2016 International Aryan Conference in Nepal, Himesh performed in a fundraising initiative to assist victims of the earthquake that devastated the country.

The name of Himesh will be added to a long list of Gurujis and supporters, amongst whom Bhai Lall and Bhai Seewa, who have given their time to teach Hindi and Hindu philosophy to hundreds of the Britannia sugar estate camp children, from 1930 to the present.