Indian businesses and services in Georgetown, Guyana

On 5 May 1838 the Whitby and the Hesperus brought the first indentured labourers from India to what was then British Guiana, and Arrival Day is still marked on that date as a public holiday. Their descendants, the Indo-Guyanese, are now one of the country's largest communities, and Phagwah and Deepavali are national holidays alongside the Muslim festivals of Eid ul-Adha and Youman Nabi.

Georgetown itself is a mixed city, and the Indo-Guyanese heartlands lie along the coast beyond it: the villages of the East Coast and East Bank of Demerara, West Demerara across the river, and further east in Berbice. In the capital, Stabroek Market by the river and Bourda Market are where most people shop for fresh vegetables, spices, rice and the ingredients for curry, dhal puri and roti.

Mandirs belonging to Sanatan Dharma and Arya Samaj organisations are found throughout the city and the coastal villages. Phagwah, in spring, is celebrated with abeer, the coloured water, and powder, and with chowtal singing at mandirs and in neighbourhoods. On the night before Deepavali, the Guyana Hindu Dharmic Sabha leads a motorcade of illuminated floats through Georgetown, one of the most anticipated events of the year, and on the night itself homes are lined with diyas. Phagwah is held on the full moon of the Hindu month of Phalgun, usually in March, so the holiday moves from year to year. Minibuses, identified by route numbers, are the usual way to travel from Georgetown out to the East Coast and East Bank villages.