The Jamaica National Heritage Trust (JNHT) will be marking the 162nd anniversary of the arrival of the East Indians in Jamaica with two days of exhibition and activities at Headquarters House, 79 Duke Street, downtown Kingston, today and tomorrow.

Hosted in association with the National Council on Indian Culture in Jamaica, the event will give the public an opportunity to see, taste and feel the Indian culture in Jamaica. There will be an exhibition of artefacts, articles of clothing, dance, food and music, all depicting the Indian culture. Danesh Maragh, representative of the council will make a presentation on the Indian experience and the contribution to the island.

According to Junie Bolton, public education officer at the JNHT, the day'sactivities will seek to educate students on the Indians' contribution towards the development of the Jamaican cultural heritage and to highlight some of the achievements of the Indians.

In 1845, the first group of more than 200 East Indians landed at Old Harbour Bay in St. Catherine. They came to the island from Northern India to work on the plantations abandoned by the ex-slaves fol-lowing Emancipation.

According to Dr. Rebecca Tortello, in Pieces of the Past "from 1845 to 1921 over 36,000 East Indians, mainly of the Hindu faith, were brought to Jamaica. Close to two-thirds of them remained. Following the abolition of slavery in the 1830s, after failed attempts to source much-needed labour through bountied European immigration, the Jamaican Government turned to India and China. Indian labourers who had already proved successful in Mauritius, were, therefore, consi-dered to be a good bet for survival in Jamaica."