Butisingh has a love for languages. He grew up speaking a dialect of Hindi and Creolese, which was the language of emancipated African slaves. According to him, the one thing he deeply regretted is that Hindi did not survive as a language for the Indo-Guyanese as it had in Surinam.

"Hindi did not survive thanks to the British who are geniuses in obliterating the identities of ethnic peoples. However, I have been fortunate in learning both Hindi and Urdu because of my natural love for these languages," he said.

In one of his blogs, Butisingh wrote: "Creolese is still being used today - I always use it when I meet some of my old friends. Creolese varies from region to region. When I was a teacher at Port Mourant, I visited the home of one of my pupils one afternoon. I heard him say to his mother: 'Maa, come out me eat'. Although we never said it like that in Demerara, I understood that he was asking his mother to dish out his dinner."

Butisingh finished his primary education at the age of 14, passed the school leaving examination and was employed as a pupil teacher on a salary of $6 a month. That was the beginning of a career that lasted for over 45 years with short breaks. He retired in January 1972 and became involved in a variety of activities, including the propagation of Hindi through the Hindi Pracharni Sabha.

Butisingh has a large family of four sons, three daughters, 19 grandchildren and 18 great grandchildren.

"At present I am living with my daughter whose husband and older son are doctors. It is at their home, here (in California, US) where I have all the time to pursue my interests," he said.

On his birthday last year, Butisingh wrote in his blog: "I have lived another year to see the sun and hopefully will see another year. I am thankful for god's grace, without which I could not have overcome so many hardships and survived so many dangers. Living long has no meaning unless it is lived with enthusiasm and commitment in service to your fellow men.

"We live in deeds, not years. Living long has meaning if one can redeem oneself with the time given. It is never too late to learn - youth is an attitude, not number of years. The soul never grows old."