SA Indians coming to terms with their identity

IN HER recent book, What Gandhi Didn’t

See: Being Indian in South Africa, author Zainab Priya Dala looks back from the vantage point of her own personal history – a fourth-generation South African-Indian of mixed lineage – and recalls that, as a child, she was hesitant about accepting her Indian identity, but has since come to terms with it.

She shares memories of growing up in the 1980s during the State of Emergency, the atrocious Tricameral System advocated and supported by many South African-Indians, and the heightened efforts to have Nelson Mandela released from prison and finally usher in a democratic government.

“The largest challenge I faced was negotiating the apparent and false safety of being an Indian rather than a black child, and watching many of my community accept the Tricameral System, which was a means devised by the ruling white government to give a place in Parliament to Indians,” said Dala during an interview.

She has written two previous novels and has won accolades for her short stories.

Dala could see the Indian community were being given more privileges compared to the black community. The unfairness went against her formative ideas of democracy.

“It irked me that many Indian people benefited and lapped up the handouts and enriched themselves on a false sense of fairness. I felt that we were betraying Nelson Mandela by our complicit acceptance of this better life. When he was released, I hoped the playing fields would be levelled.

“But, the further challenge then came for me when I saw that unfairness seemed to again rear its head in that, again, every Indian was being painted with the same brush and looked at by the black community as opportunists and sell-outs,” she recalled.

In her book, she says the truth is “I am South African”, explaining that she relates more to a black woman than a woman from India. All race groups in the country are searching for their defining roots.

Dala said South African-Indians managed to adapt to the environment while maintaining a strong Indian cultural identity along with an their religion.

She said most South African-Indians held onto their religious beliefs but, in doing so, they also appropriated the language and culture of Afrikaners, Blacks and all others in between.

Dala, who lived and worked in Dublin and has now moved to Durban, said the defining roots of South African-Indians remained in religion and cultural practices, but that was only when they were in their own communities and families.

“When we are out there in social situations and workplaces, we have developed this ability to be chameleons, and fit ourselves into the melting pot that is contemporary South African society.

“But in our own communities and homes, we are deeply Indian in our lives and practices. It’s like we have these two lives, and we are constantly weaving in and out of the two worlds.”

In the book, Dala contends the Indian diaspora in South Africa has come full circle and, in the past 10 years, more and more people are eager to know where they come from.

“After South Africa became a democracy and issues of colour were removed from the table, people began to finally look at themselves and possibly felt safer to ask the questions of their lineage. They felt more freedom to find out about where they came from instead of hiding it all away, and pretending to be white.”

She said trade had become a factor in the new wave of people connecting to India, and hailed the Indian government as well as the BRICS grouping, which have set up business opportunities for people in India and South Africa.

These have led to more frequent flights to India, and tours to India are being publicised.

She said the surge of Bollywood made it “cool” for South African-Indians to identify themselves as Indians.

What Gandhi Didn’t See: Being Indian in South Africa is published by Speaking

Tiger. – IANS