The Dindials are a peripatetic family. Their wandering days go as far back to great-great-grandfather Sarjoo Ram Lutawan (and his brother) who boarded a steamship bound for Suriname to work as indentured labourers on the sugar plantations there.

Your great-great-grandfather’s life is shrouded in mystery. Why he left India we do not know. Was he fleeing a life of hardship, or just seeking adventure? We would like to think it was the dream of a better life that made him undertake the perilous journey on a crowded, disease ridden ship to the ‘new world’.

In 1921, after serving 5 years of indentureship in Suriname, great-great-grandfather Sarjoo came to British Guiana, leaving behind 2 sons, according to family lore. According to the only official document we have of him, he was 33 years old when he arrived in the British colony. Why he came to Guiana and not return to India is also a mystery. He had family back in India. Your great-grandfather, John Dindial, remembers him receiving and sending letters back to India. There is no information about his life or family in Suriname.

Great-great-grandfather Sarjoo settled in Mahaicony living with a widow named Jankie and her children from a previous marriage. They had 4 children: Jankie, Doreen, Lily and Bye-Bye. He prospered during these years: owning land and many cows. After Jankie died, your great-great-grandfather married your great-great-grandmother Sukhi- a widow with one son, Robert Merhai.

Sarjoo moved to Ruimveldt to join Sukhi who was born in Meadowbank. They had 3 children: Parbattie (aunty Chi-chi), Dindial aka John Dindial who is your great-grandfather, and Ram Manohar (uncle Tata). He passed away in 1947 when your great-grandfather John was 10 years old. The family did not inherit anything from their father’s estate except for a few cows. Your great-great-grandmother would live until Christmas day, 1961. She witnessed the birth of your grandfather Brian and your great aunt Roma, who was almost 2 months old. We have no pictures of your great-great-grandparents Sarjoo and Sukhi. Although, rumour has it that there is a picture of your great-great-grandmother floating around somewhere in the family archives in Guyana.

Almost fifty years after your great-great-grandfather left India, your great-grandfather John Dindial left Guyana for Canada. He left behind a prosperous business, but life in Guyana was fraught with danger and uncertainty. And opportunities for his children were limited He also left behind a family: your great-grandmother, Basmati aka Lucy, your grandfather Brian, your great aunt Roma, and your great uncles Ravi and Mike and undertook a perilous journey, coming to Canada with a little money but with big hopes and dreams.

Your great-grandfather remembers eating out of cans because he had nothing, not even a plate. But through hard work, he bought a house and brought his family to Hamilton, Ontario. Life in Canada was hard. Your great-grandfather worked in the steel companies of Hamilton, enduring strikes and lay-offs and many moments of economic hardships. Your great-grandparents’ marriage did not survive this move. Neither regretted the sacrifices they made.

Great-grandmother Lucy moved to Scarborough then to Mississauga followed by Brampton and near the end of her life she moved back to Mississauga, where she passed away suddenly in 2019. Great-grandfather would also move to Mississauga from Hamilton to live in the same building as your grandpa Brian and your great-grandmother Lucy. He passed away after a brief illness in 2017.

The passing of your ancestors did not end the peripatetic life of your family. While grandpa Brian and your great uncle Ravi continue to live in Canada, they too have moved around. Great uncle Ravi moved from Hamilton to Mississauga to Aurora to North York to Brampton, and now he lives in Mississauga. Similarly, your grandfather Brian moved from Hamilton to Mississauga, to North York, to Scarborough, to Boston, to Stouffville, to Ajax, to Brampton, to Toronto, and now he too lives in Mississauga. Your grandfather Brian visited 97 different countries.

Your great aunt Roma like your ancestors changed countries. She moved from Hamilton to Dundas to Montreal to Toronto, to Japan, and now she lives in NYC. And your great uncle Michael also moved from Hamilton to Mississauga to Scarborough to Australia to Brampton to Toronto and now lives between Toronto and NYC.

We wonder where you will go. Your grandpa Brian hopes you will be the first Dindial in space, fulfilling his childhood dreams.