From whence we came, where is ‘home’ really?
THE proclamation that “Indians must go back to India!” amazes and amuses me no end. The Republic of India was only established in 1950, almost a century after my ancestors were brought to South Africa and a decade before I was born. Clearly, I am not, nor was I ever a citizen of India.
The fact is that India owes me nothing and the same goes for me. I suffered from a bad case of culture shock when I first landed there. I mean, some of them shared the same complexion but, from the moment they opened their mouths to speak, I realised that I had very little if anything in common with them.
India was never named as such by the people who lived there. Some insist that its real name is Bharatha (from Bharathavarsha) and that India has roots in the Indus, which itself is derived from old Persian. They referred to the people from the Indus as Hindus and also coined the term Hindustan.
The fact is that what was once known as the Indus civilisation, with its advanced cities of Mohanjo daro and Harrapa having water-borne sewage and double-storey dwellings dating back some 4 500 years, is now in Pakistan!
I can trace back my ancestry a few generations to when they came to South Africa. Beyond that, however, the picture is quite hazy and holds little interest for me. I knew my maternal grandparents and my paternal granny but I have no direct knowledge of any ancestors beyond that.
I suppose those who say that I should go back to India mean that I should go back to from whence I came, which, I suppose, means from whence I originally came. Now, I came from my mother’s womb and it is patently impossible for me to return there!
If we could follow that logic then I suppose I am descended from the original humans. If I believe I am descended from Adam and Eve then I should go back to where they lived, which, by all accounts is probably in Iraq. Ironically, this means that all of us should move to Iraq and that would include the very people who tell me to go to India!
Being a Hindu creates a further complication to the process of determining from whence I came. That complication is called reincarnation. I have no idea where or what my previous incarnation was. For all I know, I could have been an animal! This would make perfect sense if I followed the evolutionary track, it could well be that I descended from apes.
Again, it could mean that the very people who tell me to go back to India are also descended from apes! This, ironically, would send us all back to the place were humans evolved from apes!
It seems that whichever way I look at it, we can’t escape the possibility that we share a common ancestry. So why should I have to go back to India?
The problem is that history can only take us back to tangible records and it is possible to trace the use of the term “Hindu” all the way back to about five centuries before the birth of Christ. Human beings have been around much longer than that. In fact, human beings have been around before Europe was called Europe or Africa was called Africa. So one can only trace their European or African roots to when these places became known as Europe or Africa. What about what they were before they became Europeans or Africans? Why are they conveniently believing that they were always Africans?
Even more frustrating is the fact that continents are always shifting and were once completely joined. It was because continents were joined that people were able to migrate far away from their homes (if you could call a cave a home!).
If we look to science to shed some light on our ancestry we have to turn to genetics. The Genome Project has long since disproved that there are genetically pure people. The common view is that humankind originated in what is now called Africa and the migration of people across the world can be traced by their DNA. It seems strange to say it but even the DNA of Europeans and Asians can be traced back to Africa. Consider that for a while!
Many people still want to believe that they are genetically pure as a way of claiming some kind of superiority. It’s the same kind of thinking that was espoused by people like Hitler. He believed that his “race” was genetically pure! Ironically, they called themselves Aryans and their swastika is suspiciously like the Hindu swastika, which denotes one’s achievements, faith, satisfaction and devotion.
Whichever way you cut it up, the probability that we have common ancestry is a more convincing argument than humans beings magically placed in different parts of the world by their respective gods. But even historians have argued that Indians arrived in South Africa long before 1860. There is a theory that claims that there is evidence of ruins of Hindu temples near Nelspruit.
This might explain why there are so many cultural similarities between Indians and Africans as one of my colleagues, Professor Zungu, has pointed out.
If the scientific view is correct then asking someone to go back to India does not make any sense, simply because we can all trace our ancestry back to what is now called Africa. So, in fact, the chances are that “we” are actually back “home”, albeit after taking the long way back.
It is fairly certain that, for many of us, our ancestors moved away from Africa and moved towards different parts of the world. Along the way, they faced new and interesting challenges to which they had to adapt. Their skin colour, language and customs developed in response to the challenges that they faced, and, the more challenges they faced they more adaptable they became. New experiences brought new knowledge. So, the next time anyone tells you to go back to India gently remind them that travel broadens the mind! And, if they persist, just smile and say, “Been there, Done that!”