RECALLLING THE GOOD OLD DAYS OF THE VILLAGE OF OTTAWA ON THE NATAL NORTH COAST WITH ONE OF THE OLDEST RESIDENTS – ISMAIL HANS

(Ismail Hans (86) with his wife, Salma (75) (NB: The names of families recalled in this article are incomplete. Those who can supply some of the missing names with photos are asked to contact Subry Govender on: subrygovender@gmail.com) By Subry Govender “Welcome Subry. It’s nice to see you after such a long, long time. I am so happy that you have come to see us.” These were some of the joyous and delightful words of Ismail Hans, one of the oldest residents of Ottawa, near Verulam on the North Coast, when I called on him on Friday afternoon (June 21 2019). I had the privilege of visiting Ismail and his wife, Salma, at their home in Ramanan Road to chat and recall our old times. Some of my old friends from our former village telephoned me two weeks ago to request that I call on Ismail and Salma (who was formerly known as Sundaree) as they would like to talk to me. I was first greeted and welcomed into their home by Salma. “Marimuthu (that was my name in the early days in the village). Ismail is just having a bath and he will join you soon. You know he is not very well. You make yourself comfortable here in the lounge,” she said. “Don’t worry I will wait,” I responded.

(The writer with Ismail Hans) Ismail, who is 86-years-old, and Salma, who is 75, were born in Ottawa, grew up and lived in the village all their lives. I had known Ismail and Salma since the late 1950s when as a young boy our family moved from Isipingo and settled in the Tin Town area of Ottawa. Ismail and Salma at that time were living as neighbours in the area known to us then as Central. Ismail ran a small café and I used to visit the shop on a regular basis. On several occasions he used to ask me to count the pennies that he accumulated when selling bread and cool drinks. His parents came to South Africa in the early 1900s from a little village in the district of Surat in the state of Gujerat in north India. He had an elder brother, Hans, and two sisters – Fatima and Sahara. His elder brother was also a shop-keeper in Ottawa. Now all his siblings have passed on and he is the only one still around, along with a number of nephews and nieces. Salma, who was born into a Tamil Christian family was known as Sundaree Murugasen. She and her 11 brothers and sisters and parents lived at that time opposite the shop where Ismail ran his business. In the later years, Salma and her parents moved to a house in the Maharaj Road area of the village.

Salma’s great-grand-parents arrived as indentured labourers from Tamil Nadu and worked in the nearby Ottawa sugar estate. Her parents settled in the Ottawa village after they too had completed their work in the neighbouring sugar estates. I can recall Salma’s brothers – Sam Arumagum Murugasen and Steven Valiatham – and sister, Rumba, as being some of our friends. Her other brothers’ names were Sunny Pillay, Stanley (Jacket), and Elijah. I can also recall one other sister’s name as Alice. Now most of Salma’s siblings have passed on. She only has one sister, Alice, who lives in the nearby Verulam district. Her youngest brother, Elijah, moved to Cape Town when he was 18-years-old. Salma and her sister, Alice, have lost contact with their brother. Ismail and Salma themselves became close friends in the early days and later decided to tie the knot despite the religious differences. They are now married for nearly 60 years. In those early days Ottawa was settled by former sugar cane indentured-families who had worked in the neighbouring sugar cane estates in Ottawa, Blackburn, Mount Edgecombe, Sacks Estate and other nearby sugar estates. They were mainly Hindi-speaking Hindus whose forefathers and mothers had arrived from the state of Bihar in North India. There were also a number of Tamil-speaking families who were mainly Hindus and included at least five Christian families. In addition to the Hans family, there were at least five other Muslim families in the village. Ismail’s mother’s brother, Mr Latiff, also ran a shop next door to the Hans. Mr Latiff had a large family and all his children were our friends. I can recall that Mr Latiff was a strict disciplinarian and he made sure that all his children and also those of us, their friends, behaved ourselves. I can recall the names of some of the Latiff children – Goolam, Cassim, Mahomed, Ben and Sahara. One family, the Sayeds, lived in a house at the corner of Munn Road and School Road. I can recall some of the names of the Sayed children as being Imam, Adam, Mustafa, Amod, Gori, Zubi, Ameena and Feroza. Most of the family members have now passed on. One of the sisters still lives in the original house that her father had built. Another family, the Bob Khans, lived in a house at the corner of the main road and Maharaj Road. The Khans had two sons - Hossie and Farouk – and one sister. Farouk, who is still around and lives in Phoenix, and his brother, Hossie, were well-known in the village for being expert card players and who smoked “ganga” with their numerous friends of our little village. Their sister passed away only recently. Another Muslim family, the Dhoomas, also lived on the main road in a house which has now been converted into a mosque. The son of the Dhoomas, Babu, was a top sportsman. He was also a good friend and a class mate at the Verulam High School in the early 1960s. One other Muslim family, known as the Ebrahim Khans, lived in a house on the main road in the area we called Uplands at that time. They had four sons known as Goolam, Ismail, Mahomed and Hashim and one sister, Sahara Bibi. Sahara Bibi, who is now late, married a local Tamil boy known as Maggie Pillay. Maggie is also now late. In addition to recalling the Muslim families who were pioneers of the village, Ismail, Salma and I also recalled some of the prominent Hindi and Tamil-speaking families of the village. They included the Parthabs, Dunnoo Singhs (George Singh’s father), Flash Clothing owner Mr S S Maharaj, the Nanigars, and the Moonsamys (Mike, Parsu and Muthen’s father) of School Road. In the neighbouring Munn Road there were the Dutts, Duttoos, Barley Mohan and his family, D S Maharaj and his family, the Chettys, Hiraman and his family; Jack Naidoo, Tip Top Naidoo, George Naidoo; Fishy (who was a bachelor), Johnny and Sookaya; Bobby Singh and his family; Daddy, Kandasamy, Nanda and Angela Naidoo who lived close to the river; the Soobaks; Beacon, Gokool and Pitambar Jagganath; the Narain Naicker family; the parents of Bobby who lived opposite the Manna Dutt house; the large Harry shop-keeper family and the Freddy Subramoney Munien family. There were a number of others whose names we could not readily recall. In Maharaj Road there were the Munoo Maharaj family; the Govender family that included the names such as Soobiah, John and Peru; the Mangillas, Nunkoos, and the Brijlalls that included Premlall. Prem became an academic and lectured for many years at the former University of Durban-Westville. We also recalled some of the people in Kissoon Road who included the Badloo family; their neighbours the Naickers and one Gujerati family whose name we have now forgotten. One of the Badloo sons, Kamraj, travelled to India to study medicine and married a girl from India after graduating as a doctor. Another son, Dhanraj, was a school teacher. Mr Badloo was one of the main people in the village who spear-headed the construction of the Jhugroo Primary School along with S S Maharaj, Mr Naicker, Mr Parthab, Mr Freddy Subramoney, Mr Barly Mohan and scores of other well-wishers and volunteers. Some of the people who lived on both sides of the main road were the Munns, Jhugroos, Dicky Maharaj and his family; Bully Maharaj and his extended family; the Rajoos, Driving School Govenders; the Ramnanans; Janak Singhs; the barber family; the Chitrays; the Moses family; the Rajoos; the Kalimuthu, Steven, Patern and Bobby family; and the Pyanee family. Some of the pioneer Jhugroo and Munn families also lived in the nearby Mount Vernon area. In addition to the Hans and Latiff families, the Ramnanans also ran two shops in the Uplands area at that time. Some of the descendants are still continuing with the family business today.

“We had a wonderful community and life in our early days,” said Ismail. “We lived like one big family and we all contributed to the building of the Jhugroo Primary School. We also had our soccer club and we all participated in the different cultural festivals.

“I remember during Diwali I used to tell my mother that I want new clothes so that I could also enjoy the festival. “And during the Morhan Muslim festival we had the whole village turning up to enjoy the event,” he said. He added: “Those were the days we will never forget. I wish we can go back to our early days where we all lived like one large extended family without any worry about what religion you belonged to or what language you spoke.” Ismail spoke glowingly about the sacrifices his parents and parents of other families had made to provide opportunities for their children. “A lot of the local children have done very well and this is all due to the sacrifices made by their parents, grand-parents and great-grand-parents.” Ismail said he and Salma had visited India four times and they had even visited the birth place of his ancestors in Surat. They had also visited Tamil Nadu. “We thoroughly enjoyed our trips to India. We should not forget our roots.” He added: “Although I am house bound now because of my illness, I still want to visit the different parts of our little village and also visit the homes of some of the old families who are still around here.” Ismail’s wife, Salma, also chipped in during our conversation. She said: “Those were the good old days and we all were very close to one another. The relationship we had with our neighbours and friends was much more than simply being neighbours and friends. “We cannot forget the early days.” - ends (subrygovender@gmail.com)