TAMIL MOVIE PARDESI - BRINGS TO US THE MEMORIES OF THE SUFFERING OF OUR FOREFATHERS AND MOTHERS ON THE SUGAR PLANTATIONS IN THE THEN NATAL COLONY

TAMIL MOVIE PARDESI BRINGS BACK THE SUFFERING, PAIN, HUMILIATION, INDIGNITY AND STRUGGLES OF OUR FOREFATHERS AND MOTHERS ON THE SUGAR PLANTATIONS OF THE THEN NATAL COLONY. By Subry Govender If you want to understand the pain, suffering, indignation, humiliation and struggles of our forefathers and mothers who were brought to work here as "slaves" on the sugar plantations of the then Natal Colony, then you must watch the new Tamil movie, Pardesi, now showing at Gateway. The movie is about the recruitment of people from a village in Tamil Nadu to work as labourers (read slaves) in the tea plantations owned by the former British colonialists in the hill country estates of Tamil Nadu. The recruiter was a local Indian stooge of the white master similar to the agents who recruited our forefathers to work as indentured labourers (read slaves) on the sugar plantations of the then Natal Colony in South Africa. The recruiter (supervisor) promised the people of the rural village proper housing, good working conditions, and decent wages. The same promises that were made to our forefathers when they were brought down here to work as ïndentured labourers. But instead, the poor people of the Salur Village after a walk through forests and bushes lasting nearly 48 days, arrived on the tea plantation to find that there were no proper housing, decent food, health or other facilities. They had to work as slaves and at the end of the first month when they were ready to return home with a bountiful of money they found that they were literally robbed of their wages by the Indian overseers(read stooges and ya baas men of the colonial masters). They were made to pay for the food rations, visits to the doctor(read witch doctor) and other essentials. The young man, around whom the story revolves, left behind his girl-friend and was all ready to return home with lots of money. But instead the wretched youngster was told that he owed the estate for all the food and other things given to him and, therefore, he must remain on the estate for another three years to pay back back the money he owed. In the middle of the night he tried to escape from the estate but was caught by the henchmen of the supervisor (stooge) and had his ankles chopped off. This was to show him and other slaves that they could not escape from the tea plantation. This was the kind of treatment also meted out to our forefathers on the sugar plantations to the north and south coasts of the then Natal Colony. Any show of opposition to the treatment they had suffered was dealt with harshly and there are many accounts of our people being flogged and whipped by the sugar cane owners and supervisors. To add insult to injury of the tea plantations workers under British rule, women were taken advantage of by the white owners. This movie has many other similarities to the suffering of our forefathers and mothers on the sugar plantations. Another feature of the movie that highlights the colonisation of our people in India and here on the sugar plantations is the forced conversion of the people into Christianity. After a plague of some sort on the tea estate, thousands of people literally fell dead in their homes, while slaving on the tea estates and while walking. The local witch doctor could not handle the situation and the tea plantation owner brought in a Indian doctor married to a white woman. This so-called doctor and his white wife, instead of attending to the health needs of the wretched people, began to mesmerise and bluff the workers that if they accept Jesu (Jesus Christ in Tamil) they will be healed of their sufferings. The so-called doctor and his wife put on a fantastic and beautiful fast moving song to get the people all worked up and in the end most of them started clapping and singing about Jesu. What do the so-called doctor and his wife do? They throw back parcels of food to the people. The tragedy of this is that the doctor and his wife go around the people with bowls to collect thites. Thereafter they return to a party hosted by their white colonial masters and indulge in alcohol and other immoral activities.