Ist Deo Maharaj – Standing Strong from Colonial Era Farming to Modern Business
He has been a farmer, a bus driver, a service station attendant and a businessman. A son of Nausori, Ist Deo Maharaj turned 90-years-old last Thursday. He has seen the construction of both the Rewa bridges, transported cane via punt on the Rewa River, bore witness to how local farmers were cheated by Colonial-era companies and saw how the landscape changed from being a British colony to a modern day town.
Mr Maharaj was born on June 24, 1931. A family man who was married for 61 years to Dropati Maharaj, who died in 2015.
Together they had five children, 12 grandchildren and six great grandchildren.
Mr Maharaj’s grandfather Ram Rattan Singh arrived from India in 1908 on the Sangola III. He planted the seeds of what would become a family empire. But it all started with humble beginnings.
“I believe in hard work. I have always worked to my fullest even from the time we were small. Growing up in rural Nausori, our family were cane farmers,” Mr Maharaj recalled.
“My grandfather had even purchased a small island which is located near Wainibokasi River and we used to plant cane there as well.
“Can you imagine that we used to use horses to plough the land.”
He said farming was good then, despite the Colonial Sugar Refinery (CSR) Company cheating farmers by giving wrong information about the tonnage.
He said he remembered when Member of Parliament Pundit Vishnu Deo managed to strike a deal with the CSR Company to have a farmers’ representative present at the weighing stations.
“Things changed. We saw the difference then. The punts which used to cart cane were usually weighed at five or six tons and soon changed to higher tonnage,” Mr Maharaj said.
The close relationship with the chiefs
In 1938, his father Sukh Deo Maharaj had acquired a Chevrolet car. It was the only car for miles around.
A year earlier, the Rewa Bridge linking Suva to Nausori was constructed.
Mr Maharaj said his father and Bau chief Ratu Seniloli Cakobau were close friends.
“Often my father would take Ratu Seniloli to Suva. The pair would meet at the Bau landing and then off to the city they would go,” he said.
Mr Maharaj said it was through this relationship their family were closely knit with the vanua.
The Maharaj family later went on to purchase buses. These had Chevrolet chassis with locally built wooden bodies.
He said they initially had two eight seater buses which had no timing and routes.
“There was no bus stand in Suva. The buses would come to Cumming Street and then make three or four rounds of the city to collect passengers,” Mr Maharaj recalled.
“As time progressed things changed as well. There came a time when Tebara Transport Limited had more than 100 buses.”
Post COVID outlook
Today, as a 90-year-old, Mr Maharaj has taken the step to get vaccinated.
He said he had seen how things happened during both World War I and World War II as overseas economies crumpled and its ripple effects had an adverse effect on the Fijian economy.
He said with the pandemic, things were different.
“This is an unseen enemy and perhaps, for the first time people are dealing with such a calamity,” he said.
“I would say that people need to listen to the experts. In the past, people have had better chances of success when they have stood together and strived for the same cause. Perhaps Fijians could see the bigger picture in working with authorities as opposed to them. After all, we want the same thing.”
Mr Maharaj believes he has another seven to eight years in him which he credits to a healthy lifestyle. And he hopes to see Fiji stand on its own two feet again.