STORIES FROM THE ASIATIC BAZAAR Muthal Naidoo Stories from the Asiatic Bazaar ISBN: 0-620-35222-1 ©Muthal Naidoo October 2005 email:
[email protected] Layout and Design: Quba Design and Motion Stories from the Asiatic Bazaar Muthal Naidoo CONTENTS Foreword Acknowledgments 1. Early Pretoria 2. Child of the Location: Boma 3. Following the Heart: Sinthumbi and Poppie 4. Satyagrahi: Thayanayagie Pillay (Thailema) 5. Passive Resister: Maniben Sita 6. Singer of the Majalis: Amina Jeeva 7. The Spirit of Independence: Thanga Kollapen 8. Filmmaker of the Location: Omarjee Suliman 9. A Vanished Community: ‘The Khojas’ 10. Seeking the Beloved: Jeram and Jaydevi 11. A Family of Sportsmen: Dhiraj Soma and Sons 12. Bioscopes and Achaar: The Chetty Brothers 13. Aluta Continua: Apmai Dawood Glossary Interviews References Addendum: An Outline of Indian South African History 1860 – 1960 5 FOREWORD emories, like dreams, having escaped from space and Mtime, follow a chronology of significance to the heart. The remembering mind isolates events, enhances them, and removes inconsistencies that indicate a more human, less exalted existence. In these biographical stories, based largely on memories with their built-in filters, those more fascinating human elements may have been omitted. As the act of recording requires authentication, it becomes necessary to return memories to specific historical, political, economic and social contexts in order to find congruence with actual happenings. In the process, wisps of memory, clues to forgotten events, take on substantial form when they connect with happenings described in little known written accounts. Such books and papers, no longer in circulation and gathering dust, suddenly assume new significance and personal collections become treasure troves.