Articles by Janet Jagan
Reminiscences of Cheddi Jagan - The Dentist
by Janet Jagan
Cheddi Jagan returned to Guyana (then British Guiana) in mid-1943 and I arrived in December 1943.
We rented the second and third floors of 69 Main Street, Georgetown, two buildings south of the Main Street, Roman Catholic Cathedral where he opened his dental practice on the second floor and had bedrooms on the top floor. We had our dining room/sitting room and kitchen behind the separating walls of the surgery.
Dr. Jagan taught his brother Naipaul and cousin "Kootch" to do the dental laboratory work while I performed as his dental assistant. My 2½ years as a nursing student helped me to be a useful dental assistant.
He had a few patients in the beginning and this grew larger as his reputation as a good dentist, not charging high fees, brought him a rather comfortable practice in the early days and later, a larger practice.
Dr. Jagan was a very meticulous person and could not stand anything second rate or not of the highest standards. In the beginning, he was very stern with his two laboratory assistants and would send back their works – bridges, dentures, inlays etc, until they reached the perfection he demanded.
These early proceedings were mere examples of the character he had and indication of the man who would later lead his country to its independence and become known as the Father of the Nation.
He refused to accept second-best. He demanded the best from those who worked with him and gave the best to his patients – whether poor or rich, and he had both. He never ‘short-changed’ anyone and was always totally honest. If he did something, whether it was in his profession as a dentist, or later as a political leader, he gave the best that he could.
In dentistry, as in his later life devoted fully to the political life of his country, he excelled. His dentures, for example, looked real. Even today with more advanced technology, I see prominent dentists giving their patients dentures which I can immediately detect as being false. Not his! He would spend long hours being sure that the colour and shape of the false teeth were correct, and if they did not look good, he would start all over again.
There are not enough professionals today who try that hard to meet perfection. But that was part of his unusual character.
The other dentists were annoyed at his low fees, but he felt he could not exploit his patients.
Also, he refused to ruin good teeth by gold crowns, which then were in fashion. He was responsible for ending the gold crown craze that existed and destroyed good teeth.
While his dental practice was growing and he had enough money to begin the education of his brothers and sisters, it was evident then, back in the 1940’s, that wealth and status were not his goals. He was not interested in money as the accumulation of money. In fact we never had much, since most of his income in those days went to his family. We lived frugally with just the minimum of clothing, the most inexpensive household furniture and goods and in rented houses until 1967 when we finally built a house in Bel Air, on land we had purchased in 1957 for $3,000.
During this period which was the beginning of Dr. Jagan’s political career, we began visiting workers on the sugar estates, at their request. But more on that later.
© Nadira Jagan-Brancier 2009
Reminiscences of Cheddi Jagan -1964-1966
by Janet Jagan
After the 1964 elections and their aftermath, we moved out of Red House, our home since 1961. It was a beautiful old building from the 19th Century and was occupied until Dr. Jagan became Premier by high-ranking British Civil servants, the last being the Colonial Secretary Mr. Jakeway. It was always called Red House because of the colour of the shingled building.
Although the PPP won the most votes of any single party – 47% - under the newly introduced electoral system of proportional representative (PR), we did not win over 50% which would guarantee us the government. Two small parties – one Muslim and one other were urged to contest in order to split the PPP votes. The other Party was headed by the disgruntled Balram Singh Rai, a former Minister of the PPP government who left under highly controversial circumstances.
The complete changing of the electoral system from constituency to PR was introduced to prevent the PPP from again winning elections, as it had done in 1953, 1957 and 1961. This was all a reflection of the Cold War atmosphere.
According to normal parliamentary procedure, the Party with the greatest numbers of votes should have been called in to form the government. If it failed, other parties could be approached. However, in this instance, the British, behind the scenes, brought together the People’s National Congress headed by Forbes Burnham and the United Force led by big businessman Peter d'Aguiar to form the government, which they did.
With these changes, we immediately moved out of Red House to a hastily rented house on Camp Street, a very noisy area of the City.
What I found amazing was how Dr. Jagan reacted to all these changes – from living in Red House to living in the new quarters– from Premier to Opposition Leader. He sat down quietly at a table and started assembling papers; then sat down for long hours in the day and night to write "The West on Trial." His powers of concentration were indeed impressive.
Of course, his daytime writings were frequently broken by internal party meetings, fulfilling his duties as General Secretary and going around the country side talking to Party members and supporters, helping them understand what had taken place and keeping their spirits high.
I cannot now remember how long it took him to complete the book, but I believe it was over a year, since he had so many other duties to perform, including his role of Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly.
On top of all of all of that, he started making plans for his family to have a permanent place of abode, as we had been renting our living quarters since 1943. A simple house was constructed on a house lot in Bel Air that we had purchased in 1957 and we moved there in 1967, by this time with very little furniture, and with our two children, Cheddi Jr. and Nadira and our dog and monkey.
© Nadira Jagan-Brancier 2009
Reminiscences of Cheddi Jagan - The Man
by Janet Jagan
Cheddi Jagan liked to consult a wide range of people on important matters. That was the pattern he established during his long years in the opposition as well as the years he spent heading his PPP Governments.
He faced criticism frequently for taking too long, in some people’s opinion, to come to a decision. However, he always sought a wide variety of opinions so that he could sift through them and, as he hoped, come to a realistic, practical and correct decision.
I can recall becoming the victim of this practice. In the PPP’s Executive Committee, he would sometimes put forward an idea or proposal, sometimes arising out of a point someone made. This would be debated and sometimes, at the same meeting, a conclusion arrived at.
When the Executive Committee met the next week, he would sometimes – but of course not always – re-discuss the matter and come up with a different point of view.
I was frequently blamed for this change or shift and it would be said, behind the scenes, that I influenced him and succeeded in changing his opinions.
But they did not understand how he operated. Once the idea was conceived, he thought it out carefully and consulted a wide range of people, to hear their views. He was the direct opposite of "rigid." His ideas could flow in all directions until the point at which he felt he had sufficient ventilation of the idea to come to a conclusion.
I used to tell him that I was the official scapegoat and I would be blamed for just about anything that went wrong or did not please whosoever was involved. And he used to laugh and say that I had a persecution complex.
Even now, at the slightest excuse, there is a tendency to blame me for things really impossible for me to have been involved in. But that is its own story.
Cheddi Jagan was very easy to live with. His needs or requirements were small. He ate small amounts of food and never over ate. He loved to garden and plant fruit trees. One of his greatest enjoyments was to eat the fruit from the trees he had planted and cared for. He exercised daily, usually while listening to the news. Every day, at least twice a day, he had to hear the news and his greatest possession was a small radio he could carry about and listen to when he had time.
He used his time carefully and rarely wasted it. He sat at his desk for long hours, in and out of government. The Cheddi Jagan Research Centre which houses his many papers, can testify to his output.
But, at the same time, he always looked forward to going out in the country or walking about Georgetown, meeting people. He told me that he felt "refreshed" when he met people at public meetings, just stopping off when people gathered, at social functions like weddings, or Party fund-raising activities. And, of course, people loved to be with him.
I can recall some of the hard times when stones and rotten eggs were thrown at him and others. When we would go into friendlier areas the women and children would come out and smother him with flowers. He accepted both kinds of treatment as part of the struggle.
© Nadira Jagan-Brancier 2009
