THE EARLY SETTLERS

The early settlers to arrive in Fiji had no knowledge of English. Somehow they have been able to convince of their skill to their potential employers. One cannot imagine the tremendous effort put in by those early settlers who struggled their way to establish themselves in employment and in business. Our forefathers worked 15, 17 or even 20 hours a day, non stop for so many years. Today, we the children of the 4th or 5th generation get tired working only 30 to 40 hours a week! Our forefathers took a great pain to learn English. Today our children are not prepared to take even a little effort to learn our own mother tongue, Gujarati.

            Those were the days of communication by letters. A cable message was sent only in emergency. People loved to write letters. The letter depicted the love and feelings of writer. One used to visualize the portrait of one's family member, reading sentimentally packed letter. These days, we mostly communicate through email. Messages are becoming short and to the point whether by email or letter. The expression of love and sentiments vanished from our communication. In those days, they used to work long hours and yet they were able to find time to write letters. Today, we do nothing and yet we have no time to write letters. Today we have no time to listen to important and fruitful things about life, but we do have time for clubs and parties.

- Manhar Narsey