Life of Dr Vishnu Bisram

Dr Vishnu Bisram is Guyanese born who received his primary and secondary education in Guyana and tertiary education in the US and India. He is a fourth generation Indian. His great grandparents from both his mother and father’s sides were born in India — Gurbatore from Ghaizpur, Amru from Azamgarh, Sau from Chapra, Mangri from Mau, Bhuri and Bhura Singh from Bharatpur, among others. They all came at different times to then British Guiana (1880s and 1890s) to work on sugar plantations as indentured laborers or girmityas. After serving ten years, they were freed laborers. They remained on the colony rather than returned to India, married, and had children. They used the savings from indentureship to purchase landholdings to cement their ties to their adopted land. They were not recipients of free land. They cleared land they bought and did farming as well as cattle rearing.
Vishnu Bisram is ninth of twelve children of Gladys and Baldat, rural farmers, she also was a seamstress and he a taylor, and they attended to a kitchen garden as well as growing rice and sugar cane on multiple acres. Vishnu attended the St Joseph Anglican (called English) primary school from 1966 to 1972. In 1972, he passed the annual nationwide Common Entrance exam winning a scholarship place to attend the government Berbice High School in New Amsterdam, some 17 miles from his home village of Ankerville, Port Mourant. He declined the placement scholarship and opted instead for the nearby private Chandisingh High School to which his family pad to pay a tuition. He entered for eight subjects at the Cambridge University Exam in 1977 at age 16. Vishnu migrated to the USA in 1977 to further his studies. He enrolled at the City College of City University of New York September that year at age 17, studying Bio-Chemistry and also completing a major in Political Science. After his BSc in Bio-Chem, he pursued graduate studies in International Relations earning a MA. He went on to complete multiple post graduate degrees including in Economics, Sociology, History, Political Science (separate degrees in International Relations, International Politics, Comparative Politics) and Educational Administration. He is holder of multiple doctorates.
Dr Bisram taught for over forty years in various subjects in the US where he obtained licenses in social science, natural sciences, and Maths. He also taught English Language and English Literature.
Dr Bisram served as a newspaper reporter and columnist for over four decades and as editor for many years. He is a well-known pollster (psephologist) in the Caribbean region.
Dr Bisram is a specialist on the Indian diaspora traveling extensively around the globe to research and write about Indian communities. He published countless articles on various subjects in the mass media, journals, and books. He also organized international conferences on the Indian diaspora and presented papers at many conferences. He was a guest lecturer at universities in Mauritius, India, Fiji, South Africa, Guyana, Trinidad, Suriname, USA, and other countries. He is a well regarded political analyst on American and Caribbean politics. He makes him home in Guyana, Trinidad, and America and travels frequently to India.