BABU BODASING STARTED A LEGACY

THE Huletts and the Campbells might have reigned supreme in the growing sugar industry, but a determined Indian immigrant started to emerge as a sugar baron in his own right.

This is according to information contained in the Bodasing family brochure.

Unlike his British counterparts, Babu Bodasing had no personal wealth.

It took a daring chance, lots of hard work and dogged determination that started with a half-acre piece of land and grew into over 7 000 acres of “green gold”.

Growing up in India, Babu Bodasing had a dream of bettering himself.

The prospect of working in the sugar fields of South Africa enticed him to look for greener pastures and Babu arrived here on August 1, 1874, at the age of 21.

Coming from impoverished conditions, Babu knew what hard work was all about and he was not afraid to get his hands dirty.

He was assigned to a sugar farmer in New Guelderland, Stanger, as an indentured labourer, where he worked on a five-year contract.

In that time he managed to save some of his wages which allowed him to buy a half acre of land to farm once his contract expired. He was one of the first indentured Indians to do so.

His thriftiness allowed him to work his small portion of land by planting tobacco and vegetables.

His astute business sense made him diversify and he soon began to prosper, so much so, that at one stage he owned up to 7 000 acres of land in the New Guelderland and Darnall areas in Stanger. The dynasty had begun. By the time of his death he had become an iconic figure that had left behind a legacy for the Indian South African community’s progress in the land they adopted as their own.

The brochure was done as a commemorative piece with the intention of leaving behind valuable information of their family legacy.

Babu Bodasing’s grave at the Bodasing family cemetery. According to Pat Bodasing, when his grandfather died, he was cremated as per traditional Hindu culture. However, some of his ashes were kept and buried at the cemetery.