Book traces lives of bonded workers
A BOOK tracing the journey of 1.3 million Indians between 1830 and 1920 and their lives, success, and travails in the plantations in South Africa, Reunion Island and the Caribbean Islands will be launched today.
Children of Kala Pani: Indian Indentured Routes by Dr Juggie Pather traces the travails of bonded workers who were shipped from India across the seas.
The book is a sequel to Pather's first publication, Clairwood: The Untold Story.
“We look at the conditions in which they served and the manner in which they were inhumanely treated by the colonial rulers. Despite all the odds the Indians did very well and took up leadership positions and created the new diaspora, where Indians left for other countries.
“We trace the lives of these people and the challenges they overcame. Education and medical care were non-existent on the plantations.”
Countries that have been featured in this book, covering the facets of the lives of the bonded Indians, include Mauritius, Trinidad/tobago, British Guyana, Suriname, Fiji, the French Colonies, Jamaica, South Africa, St
Croix, Belize, Grenada and St Vincent, St Kitts and Nevis.
“Indians who are descendants of the indentured Indians were probably exposed only to the history of the country to which their families emigrated. For them, this book will be a valuable resource on reading about the similarities of the struggles to survive and life beyond indenture in their adopted countries,” he said.
Pather, 86, said because there were so few women, Indian culture disappeared on these islands, which was something he looked at.
Central to each chapter is life on the voyages from Calcutta and Madras to the colonies, life on the plantations and finally, the adjustment to life after the five or 10-year contracts expired and eventually adaptation under democracy when colonial rule ended.
He said he wanted to emblazon in neon lights the sacrifices and to show the youth of today that nothing is gained without sacrifices.
“These stories I am hoping will rekindle in the youth of today that they are not here by chance but they are here because their forebears sacrificed their lives so we can enjoy success today,” said Pather.
The 308-page book, which costs R350, is available for purchase online at www.madeindurban.co.za
Proceeds from the sale of the book will go to Cancer SA.
In addition to Children of Kala Pani: Indian Indenture Routes, Pather has written two children’s books that are awaiting publication.
Pather has served as chairperson of the Chatsworth Education Board and the Community Education Development Trust. He is an advisor to the UKZN University’s Gandhi-luthuli Documentation Centre and an honorary director of the 1860 Heritage Centre in Durban.