Mr. Tulsi's Store: A Fijian Journey

by Brij V. Lal

Mr. Tulsi's Store is Brij Lal's personal account of his voyage from childhood in a remote and poor cane-growing region of Fiji to a distinguished international career as a historian, and as an actor in the political developments of modern Fiji. In this collection of autobiographical essays Professor Lal, the grandson of a girmitiya (indentured laborer) who migrated from India in 1908, explores the enduring claims of family, tradition, and culture among the Indian diaspora and probes the private and community tensions between the old ways and the new. He also examines the misunderstandings and mistrust between native Fijians and Indo-Fijians which continue to trouble the country today, and expresses his hopes for its democratic resolution.

209 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Brij V. Lal AM, FAHA is an Indo-Fijian historian. He was born in Labasa, on the northern island of Vanua Levu. He was educated at the University of the South Pacific, the University of British Columbia and the Australian National University. A harsh critic of the Bainimarama government, which originated in the military coup of 2006 and retained power in the 2014 elections, he is currently living in exile in Australia.

"I am currently working on a large scale project about Australia's engagement with the South Pacific from the 1940s to the 1980s, focusing on the Solomon Islands, Fiji and Vanuatu. My research on Fiji continues with a historical dictionary and a general interpretative volume for the University of Hawaii currently in preparation, along with a series of essays on the politics and culture of the Indian indentured diaspora. On the side, I continue to wrestle with the problems of writing about societies with unwritten pasts."

Reviews

[Charu Uppal · Rating 5 out of 5]

History, sociology, psychology ---all are explored, shared and analysed in this beautiful heart touching, at times haunting memoir. A full book review coming up soon. Prof. Lal---brings alive the impact of indenture, resulting poverty and religious strife--on lives of people who just wanted to live like the characters in Bollywood--a few songs, a love story realised, --except the fight scenes...

[Nicole Witen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well-written, informative and insightful, I found this collection of auto-biographical stories interesting. I really knew very little about Fijian history nor about the racial tensions of the islands. The historic element of these stories were top-notch. Where I feel the stories failed were in the human story side of things. I did not feel particularly attached to Lal or any other person mentioned in the stories, and I think I would have liked more heart in the stories.

I learned a lot about the Indian diaspora under British colonial rule and the Indian experience of Fiji, but I feel like I didn't gain much deep knowledge of Fiji itself from the stories.