In this episode, Hema and Vinay discuss how language and the words you may have grown up saying in a Caribbean household are actually living records of survival, migration, and cultural memory.

Vinay Harrichan, founder of The Cutlass Magazine, breaks down how Indo-Caribbean language, food, and identity were shaped by Indian indentureship, traces the line from indentureship to the Caribbean expressions, family words, & food terms that still show up in everyday language across Trinidad and the Caribbean today.

We discuss why words like bandhania, parathai, mohan bhog, and gulab jamun carry layered histories that don't always match the version that they came from. Vinay also shares a bit of his research process, talking to and verifying information by speaking directly with elders, and why preserving oral history matters now ...