To my fellow South Asians;
As life (post the new years merry making) returns to normality as it always does and we get to grips with the dyslexia of having to remember to replace the ‘10 with ’11, I am enticed to reflect on an event that I passed by with laxidasical interest. The month of November 2010 marked the anniversary of the arrival of the first Indian indentured labourers to South Africa and on behalf of my people I would like to apologise to the National Party. I know we said we would just sleep on the couch and be off once we got on our feet, but we kinda liked the weather and the whole Durban beach vibe just worked out. I'd like to think that for humble sucrose connoisseurs we've done pretty well for ourselves given those little issues of being slaves and the whole racial persecution thing.
It's not in my nature to look a gift horse in the mouth. We all love a free ride as much as we have that tendency to arrive at family events just before the food is served, but one thing I've found myself wondering every time I've unproductively fallen asleep at work is ; Why us? Don't get me wrong, I'm nothing if not proud of my Indian heritage and roots,(Hullets is ours!..We Taking it back!!)…but lets think about the thought process that went through our Dutch slave masters;
So you land on Durban's sunny shores in the name of the motherland and all that red tape bureaucracy.The earth is fertile and so are the native woman. You claim all land within eyesight and create a new race on the Cape Peninsula. Now firsts things first,you'll be damned if your gonna lift a spade in this heat,so slaves are required. Now here in lies the confusion. You decide to bring Indian people, to do hard manual labour, in the sun,with no SPF100? Now as a gene pool in general we are no strangers to hard work, but built for manual labour we are not.Even forgetting all that.Lets say the ship had a lower deck gym. How much productivity are you really gonna get out of cloth wearing pacifists? (and yes I can call my people that because I’m Indian and that's just the way it is.It's my birth right.Just take it as an inexplicable truth) So as I was saying, how much of work did they really get out of great grand daddy Pillay and his 9 brothers? Because you know these madhirs were 4-balling and crying Kanack every time Armin Van Buuren SNr turned his back.
One topic of interest I've eavesdropped onto around water coolers and FB statuses alike is this whole issue of local “masala merchants” supporting India on the cricket pitch as apposed to the Republik Van Suid Afrika. Ordinarily I bypass topics of patriotic dissent such as this one, but given we're talking sport, I must in nature be obliged to give my 2 cents(rupees). In short, we as Indians, just need to slow our roles. I get this whole patriotic to the Asian motherland thing, truly I do. We're a proud nation and we'll take every opportunity to burst out in song to prove it.
But this whole pro-India issue stems from our natural instinct to assume the role of victim and ensure that the Indian struggle is highlighted and much publicised at every turn. But consider that whilst this deep rooted animosity between minorities will never leave the residual resentment of our parents generation, it was black South Africans as well as Indians alike who died for us to even enjoy the simple luxury of being able to sit and watch cricket from the “white” stands.The struggle was a South African issue. India never sent down troops to Sharp-ville to protect our rights did they?. Don't get me wrong, I'll back the boys in blue on every pitch across the subcontinents, but on home soil my blood is green. I am a South African and this is my place of birth. Lets be honest, India is as close to us as buying dvd's from blue lagoon or watching Bollywood via satellite. How do we move forward as a post apartheid nation if we keep segregating ourselves from our own South African brethren. Isn't this the same thing as us criticizing African Americans landing at King Shaka International and proclaiming Africa the motherland. A little hypocritical don't you think?
What happened was wrong. Injustices of the past that I wish are never forgotten and should be passed down to my children and their children's children. But are we also gonna past down the hatred and resentment that our parents or maybe grand parents still harbor? How long is enough for our fledging democracy to finally ”get even” with the apartheid regime. How do we quantify undoing the wrongs of the past. And at what point will we stop playing that race card at every turn and wipe the slate clean so that our children and their children's children grow up in a South Africa unburdened by the shadows of the past.
No doubt many of my brown brothers have had some stage been subject to some form of stereotypical jest. That “thank you, come again” popularised by Harold and Kumar or the “ay watkine man” accent. Sure enough our Indian people can be proud of our achievements. You don't have to look far to see brown excelling in all spheres of commerce, sports and academically. But can we hardly blame those who jokingly mock us for doing so because of these “plantation” Asians who regress our cause every time they open their mouths in ignorance. If we not selling dvd’s on street corners, then we either catching sardines or smoking zol and sugars in the suburbs. I'm tired of people coming up to me in clubs in search of narcotics because some “char-o” sold him a pill outside Cape 2 Cairo. All we do is perpetuate the stereotype and create a mindset that results in people expecting to see a potato samoosa or tin fish sandwich every time I open my lunch box. You know I curse the day Vin Diesel was born.Because after Fast and Furious came out the idea of under hood lighting and auto styling became the national obsession of Indian males. Please stop “sooping” up your 1975 Datsun, pull up your FuBu pants, use a condom, and get a real job.
Just when you think that some respectability has come to our people, uncle Schabir Shaik plasters E-news at 8 with that “el” look on his face and because of him every Indian professional who comes into any wealth is considered to be under investigation by SARS.And you know why? Its because we become accountants and really don't pay our taxes. That C63 AMG is not a company car.
Entertain me if you will as I pick up the Tribune Herald to see another “el” look on Shrien Dewani’s face.This choco-chino paid R15,000 for two rural hit-men to kill his wife whose gorgeous ass had just been insured. He brought her on their honeymoon to Cape Town and took her for a “drive” through Gugulethu because Jamie Oliver said it was an African Circle of Life Simba experience. Now let me say if it hasn't already become apparent,that if this “member” is innocent,Michael Jackson never touched little boys, and OJ deserves an apology .15 lousy grand you cheap ass dessicated Oreo.Really?? If you gonna kill your wife at least do it with class like ever other Indian man does. Make your mother move in with you after you get married.
Let me say with unequivocal passion that I'm proud of my heritage. Born and bred on Shannon Drive,Reservoir Hills. I bought my bread and milk at One Stop Superette, gripped sausages and chops at Solly's, got my hair cut by Aunty P...and I will stand up (with the zest and sting of a Grey street mutton bunny) to anyone who has anything to say about my brothers and sisters. (Yeah we're all related after all). But lets try and maintain some kind of moral high ground and not give anyone a reason to doubt that we aren't still the Minority Front slaves that first rocked the boat in Durban 150 years ago….
(...lets play spot the racial slur...How many can you see?)
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