Calm façade hides his formidable spirit

In his eighties,tamil scholar and Hindu priest shows no sign of slowing

TAMIL scholar and Hindu priest John Kisten commands deep affection and great respect.

Strolling a short distance with him in Chatsworth can take forever. Everyone recognises him. Everyone stops to greet him.

Variously referred to as appa (father) or guru (teacher), he is a walking encyclopedia of the community in which he has lived since 1965.

It was in that year that his family fell victim to the apartheid Group Areas Act. Along with several thousand others, they were forcibly removed from the Magazine Barracks in Durban.

The municipal workers’ compound in Somsteu Road was declared a white group area.

Not only was Kisten’s family forced to pack up and go, but they had to witness the painful destruction of their treasured place of worship, the Magazine Barracks Shree Vishnu Temple.

Kisten is a gentle man of slight build and a quiet manner. That demeanour conceals a formidable fighting spirit. Along with members of the community, they rebuilt the temple in Unit 3, Chatsworth.

At first, it was a woodand-iron structure. In the early 1970s, it was rebuilt in brick. The modest, yet iconic structure is a hub for the Hindu Tamil community which originated in the Magazine Barracks.

Triumph over adversity is not new to Kisten. As a young man he had tuberculosis. At the age of 19, in October 1953, he was admitted to King George V Hospital (now King Dinuzulu).

In February the next year, he moved to the Friends of the Sick Association (Fosa) settlement in Newlands. In all, he spent a year and five months in hospital.

Disease and death, especially an unusually high infant mortality, were not uncommon in the cramped quarters Durban Corporation workers occupied.

To give thanks for his life being spared, he would join Bethesda Church founder, Pastor John F Rowlands, in visiting and praying for others afflicted by TB.

He also served as a volunteer for the association, which had an active membership in the barracks.

Kisten busied himself with social welfare, cultural and sports activities. With his older brother, Jack and John, Photographers was set up. The pair captured images of the barracks community in delicate black and white.

Kisten’s nostalgia for the barracks translates into most of his daily activities.

A rare picture of the dome of the Magazine Barracks Shree Vishnu Temple which was bulldozed under the Group Areas Act. (Courtesy: Gandhi Luthuli Documentation Centre, UKZN)

The congregation of the Magazine Barracks Chatsworth Shree Vishnu Temple some time in the early 1980s (John Kisten personal collection)

Kisten with friends at the Savera Hotel.