On Wednesday morning, my daughter, Leela Ramdeen, rang me with the news that Kamaluddin Mohammed, that old veteran of the PNM, had died. It was news that left me very sad.
Only recently, a mutual friend, Raviji, had promised to take me with him to visit Kamal. This would have been a follow-up visit to an earlier one that we had made. Now it is too late for the second visit. At my age, I am driving only short distances to take Kamala to church or to the nearby grocery.
Like the Last of the Mohicans, I feel utterly alone. Every other member of the parliamentary term 1961-1966, both Government and Opposition, has gone to the great beyond. Now Charch also has taken his departure.
He was second only to Dr Eric Williams in his skills and knowledge of politics. He had had many valuable years of experience in the St George County Council. Dr Williams was the greatest politician produced in this our nation and he assimilated and mastered the art of government from the English in which subject he gained his PhD. The English had acquired the greatest empire in the world. They were masters of the skill of governing their many colonies and dominions.
Kamal and his family have contributed greatly to the survival of Indian culture with their Indian programme Mastana Bahar, which continues to do yeoman service in our beautiful land of many cultures and peoples. We shall always remember Kamal, Pat Mathura, and so many others who kept alive the culture and religions that the Indian community brought with them from the land of their ancestors, to this our new and blessed homeland.
May God receive his soul with welcome and tell him, "Welcome, thou good and faithful servant!"
Balgobin Ramdeen
Attorney-at-law