ABOO THIRUMALAI PADVATTAN FAMILY HISTORY – FROM THE OTTAWA ESTATE SUGAR CANE FIELDS TO FOOTBALL STARDOM
ABOO WAS PART OF THE PADVATTAN DOORSAMY FAMILY OF OTTAWA ESTATE WHOSE GRAND-PARENTS HAD COME DOWN TO THE FORMER NATAL COLONY FROM TAMIL NADU IN SOUTH INDIA TO TOIL AS INDENTURED LABOURERS
(Aboo and his wife, Sindha, in their younger days)
By Subry Govender
One of the young men who emerged from the local sugar estate to become a top-class footballer for Ottawa in the late 1960s and 1970s and 1980s was none other than Aboo Thirumalai Padvattan.
Aboo, as he was popularly known, dominated the sport in the junior and senior levels and represented the village as a member of the Ottawa F C and the Ottawa United Football Club in tournaments held in Verulam, Tongaat, Mount Edgecombe and Durban.
Even during his senior years, Aboo used to be seen practising with younger footballers in Riet River and other football grounds.
His brothers – James and Soobrie – were also well-known for their football prowess. They also represented Ottawa and other local teams in tournaments organised by the Verulam Football Association. Two other younger brothers - Thomas and Sadha – were also involved fully in football.
Aboo and his brothers were part of the well-known Padvattan Doorsamy family who worked and stayed in the neighbouring Ottawa Sugar Estate in the early years prior to the 1960s.
Mr Doorsamy’s parents settled in the Ottawa Sugar Estate after arriving from a village in Tamil Nadu in India in the 1880s.
They first toiled as indentured labourers like thousands of other families.
Mr Doorsamy, who was a first-generation descendant, and his wife, were parents to Aboo, who was the second eldest, and six other children.
The other children were James, who was the eldest, Soobrie, Ugie, Thomas, Sadha and Ragini.
Aboo, James and most of the other children joined their parents to work at the sugar estate during their early years while they were still at school.
They and their parents began to move out of Ottawa Estate and settled in Ottawa since the late 1960s after completing their primary school education and starting their married lives.
In addition to being involved in football and working in the sugar cane fields, Aboo, his brothers and sisters joined their father, Doorsamy Padvattan, in taking an active part in cultural activities in the sugar estate and in Ottawa. They were especially known for their performances in six-foot dance dramas at the Ottawa Sugar Estate during the annual Easter Festival period.
(Aboo's wife - Sindha)
Aboo, who started work as a handyman for a company known as Southern Life Properties in Durban, married his sweetheart, Sindha, also from the Ottawa Sugar Estate.
Sindha worked as a machinist for Flash Clothing Manufacturers at this time.
The young couple soon started their own family and began to build their lives despite the harsh economic conditions and the lack of comfortable and adequate housing.
(Aboo's daughter, Rani Ramroop who I spoke to about their lives in Ottawa)
I interacted with Rani Thirumalai Ramroop, who is Aboo and Sindha’s second daughter, about their family.
According to Rani Ramroop, her parents had a tough time trying to find accommodation in Ottawa.
Their first place was a small room behind Hoosen Hans’s store which they used as a kitchen and bedroom. Then they moved further inside the area where they found a two-bedroom house which was partitioned off so that they could share the house with another tenant, known as Steven Pandaram and family.
Rani Ramroop says from there they moved to Jungbahadur Road where they rented a house for a few years.
“Then to Maharaj Road, from there to Candis Drive and back to Maharaj Road. Finally, we moved to Chelsea Gardens, Parkgate in Rietriver and lived there since 1996.”
For Aboo and his family, Ottawa was a “home” that they would not trade for any other place.
All the residents related to one another with respect and there was unity and closeness despite different cultures and languages.
Speaking about how her father, Rani Ramroop, says her father made the most of his life in Ottawa.
“HE PLAYED SOCCER FOR OTTAWA UNITED IN HIS EARLY DAYS AND SPENT LOTS OF TIME WITH HIS FRIENDS – ADAM, MUSTAPAHA, CHOCKS, BEN and UNCLE PARSU AND MANY OTHERS.
“They would play cards in our veranda every Friday and I remember they would leave some change for me under a newspaper on the table.”
About her mum, Sindhi, who worked as a machinist at Flash Clothing Manufacturers, Rani Ramroop says her mother spent most of her time working and taking care of their three children – Venilla, Jace and herself.
“My mom was well-known for her kindness, friendliness and also for her religious beliefs and being the first woman in Ottawa to pull the chariot during Kavady prayers for more than 10 years. My mom passed away on August 5 2012 of cancer and my father on September 9 2021 of natural causes.”
Rani Ramroop recalls that they, as small children and teenagers in Ottawa, they would regard all their neighbours as “being part of one family”.
Because they did not have television, their neighbours would allow them to sit in their yard and put on a movie for them to watch. They would also visit the home of Mr Hans Hoosen to watch TV.
They would also walk to the Polo ground with their father and his friends to watch Polo matches on a Sunday. They would also watch squad car racing across the railway lines.
When they became teenagers, Rani Aboo married Ashwin Ramroop from Ottawa and Venilla married Robin Basdev, also of Ottawa. Her brother, Jace, is married to Veena.
After the passing of their parents, Rani Ramroop moved to Everest Heights in Verulam, her sister, Venilla, settled with her family in Effingham Heights in Durban, and brother, Jace, has settled with his family in Newlands West.
Rani says life in Ottawa was unforgettable because of the “friendliness and neighbourliness” of all residents who lived like “one huge family”.
“I can honestly say that the people we lived and interacted with were truly one family. When people started moving away, Ottawa had changed and had not been the same. What we had then was friendship, love and togetherness.
“I miss those days that people lived in, in Ottawa. I was little then but what a wonderful place it was.”
The extended Padvattan Doorsamy family number more than 100 and go into six generations. Most of the younger generation have taken advantage of the sacrifices made by their parents and today have entered the medical, educational, academic, property and legal fields. At least one of their fourth-generation cousins has migrated to Australia with his family. - ends. subrygovender@gmail.com JANUARY 17 2024
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