The home in my throat – How a Fiji-Hindi accent became my only anchor

The home in my throat – How a Fiji-Hindi accent became my only anchor

I have lived through two coups, yet I did not understand, back then, that history was happening outside my bedroom window. In May of 2000, I was in Grade 2. To a seven-year-old in Lautoka, the upheaval was merely a disruption of routine; I stayed home because I was told to. Schools closed, roads emptied, and the country folded into itself like a frightened animal. But inside our home, life pretended to continue. My mother cooked the same way, st…