ગુજરાતે – ભારતે જેમને યાદ કર્યાં નથી, અને બ્રિટન જેમને ભૂલ્યું નથી એવાં, બ્રિટનના ઇતિહાસની સૌથી લાંબી હડતાળનાં ગુજરાતી નાયિકાની મોટા ભાગના ગુજરાતીઓ માટે અજાણી રહેલી કથા

Jayaben Desai / જયાબહેન દેસાઈ ઃ ટચૂકડું કદ, બુલંદ જુસ્સો 

ગુજરાતગૌરવ, ગુજરાતની અસ્મિતા, ગાંધીનું ગુજરાત – આ બધા શબ્દપ્રયોગો સરકારી કે બિનસરકારી રાહે છૂટથી ઉછળતા રહે છે. પરંતુ તેમની વ્યાખ્યા નીતાંત સરકારી અને સગવડિયા હોય છે. ‘ગુજરાતની અસ્મિતા’નાં વાવટા ફરકાવનારાને છેવટે તો એ વાવટામાંથી પોતાના વાઘા – કે સૂટ – સીવડાવવામાં જ રસ હોય છે. આ માનસિકતાને કારણે સમાજમાં રોલમૉડેલ – ચોક્કસ બાબતમાં પ્રેરણા આપી શકે એવાં વ્યક્તિત્વો-ની તીવ્ર ખોટ પડે છે. એ ખાલી જગ્યામાં કંઈક બાવા-બાવીઓ-કથાકારો ને ચલતા પૂર્જાઓ ગોઠવાઈ જાય છે. જે સમાજમાં ગરોળીનું કદ ધરાવતાં વ્યક્તિત્વો ડાયનોસોર બનીને ઝળુંબતાં હોય, તેની દયા ખાવા સિવાય બીજું શું થઈ શકે?

વિદેશમાં વસતા ગુજરાતીઓનાં નામના રાસડા લેવાની સંસ્કૃિત છેલ્લા થોડા વખતમાં ઠીક ઠીક ફૂલીફાલી છે, પરંતુ હરામ છે જો તેમાં ક્યાં ય બ્રિટનનાં જયાબહેન દેસાઈનું નામ સાંભળવા મળ્યું હોય. બ્રિટનના ઇતિહાસની સૌથી લાંબી (૬૯૦ દિવસની) હડતાળનાં ગુજરાતી – અને તે પણ સાડીધારી – સૂત્રધાર તરીતે જયાબહેન દેસાઈનું નામ બ્રિટનમાં ભારે આદરથી લેવાય છે. ઇન્ટરનેટ પર તેમના વિશેનાં અઢળક લખાણ અને તેમના ઇન્ટરવ્યુની વીડિયો પણ જોવા મળે છે. થોડા વખત પહેલાં બ્રિટનના કામદારોના સંઘર્ષ અને તેમના દસ્તાવેજીકરણના ભાગરૂપે ‘યુનિવર્સિટી ઑફ લીડ્‌ઝ’ દ્વારા દક્ષિણ એશિયાની બે મહિલાઓની લડત વિશે ચિત્રવાર્તા પ્રકાશિત થઈ. તેમાં એક નામ જયાબહેન દેસાઈનું હતું.

Striking Women / Jaya Desai / જયાબહેન દેસાઈ (courtesy : Vipool Kalyani / વિપુલ કલ્યાણી)

એક વેળાના પૂરા ખેડા જિલ્લાનાં જયાબહેન પતિ સૂર્યકાંત દેસાઈ સાથે ટાન્ઝાનિયા છોડીને બ્રિટન પહોંચ્યાં, ત્યારે સામે સુખને બદલે સંઘર્ષ મોં ફાડીને ઊભો હતો. ટાન્ઝાનિયામાં ફેક્ટરીમાલિક પતિનાં ગૃહિણી તરીકે જીવતાં જયાબહેનને ૧૯૭૦ના દાયકાના બ્રિટનના ભેદભાવભર્યા માહોલમાં પરચૂરણ કામ કરવાનો વારો આવ્યો. પરંતુ ‘ગ્રુનવિક/ Grunwick ફિલ્મ પ્રોસેસિંગ લેબોરેટરી’માં તેમની નોકરી ઐતિહાસિક બની રહેવાની હતી.  આ કંપનીનું કામ એવું હતું કે ગ્રાહકો ટપાલથી તેને કેમેરાના રોલ મોકલે. તેને ડેવલપ કરીને, તેની પ્રિન્ટ કાઢીને કંપની તેમને પાછા મોકલી આપે. બ્રિટનના રૂઢિચુસ્ત પક્ષના સભ્ય જૉન વૉર્ડની માલિકીની આ કંપનીમાં ભારતીય કામદારોને અંગ્રેજ કામદારો કરતાં – અને સરકારી દર કરતાં – ત્રીજા ભાગનું વેતન મળે. કામ મેળવવાની તેમની ગરજનો પૂરો ગેરફાયદો ઉઠાવવામાં આવે અને મેનેજમેન્ટની જોહુકમીનો પાર નહીં.

‘ગ્રુનવિક’ના ૪૦૦ કામદારોમાંથી ૮૦ ટકા ભારતીય મૂળના હતાં. પરંતુ શોષણ સામે અવાજ ઉઠાવવાને બદલે તેને તાબે થઈ જવાનો ભારતીયોનો સ્વભાવ અંગ્રેજ માલિકોને બહુ અનુકૂળ આવી ગયો હતો. ૧૯૭૬ના ઉનાળામાં ‘ગ્રુનવિક’માં માહોલ બદલાયો. કંપનીનું એરકન્ડિશનિંગ મશીન બંધ પડ્યું હતું ને વૈકલ્પિક વ્યવસ્થા કરવામાં આવી નહીં. એ વર્ષે દેવશી ભુડિયા નામના ગુજરાતી કર્મચારીને ‘કામમાં ઢીલાશ’ના આરોપસર અપમાન કરીને કાઢી મુકવામાં આવ્યા. તેમની સાથે થયેલા વર્તનના વિરોધમાં બીજા ત્રણ ગુજરાતીઓ પણ કામ છોડીને નીકળી ગયા.

ઑગસ્ટ ૨૦, ૧૯૭૬નો એ દિવસ હતો. ફેક્ટરીનો સમય સાંજે પાંચ વાગ્યે પૂરો થાય. તેના બે કલાક પછી જયાબહેન દેસાઈ ઘરે જવા નીકળ્યાં, ત્યારે ગોરા મેનેજરનું તેમની પર ધ્યાન પડ્યું. એટલે તેમણે ગુસ્સાથી કહ્યું, ‘અમારી રજા વગર તારું કામ પૂરું થઈ ગયું, એવું તે કેમ માની લીધું? તને પણ આ ફેક્ટરીમાંથી બરતરફ કરવામાં આવે છે.’

પરાયા દેશમાં, કામની સખત જરૂર અને વિદ્રોહ માટે પ્રતિકૂળ વાતાવરણ છતાં, જયાબહેન દેસાઈ આ અપમાન સહન કરી શક્યાં નહીં. માંડ ચાર ફૂટ દસ ઇંચ ઊંચાઈને કારણે, ટચૂકડા કદનાં લાગતાં જયાબહેને ગોરા ઉપરીને આપેલો જવાબ બ્રિટનની કામદાર ચળવળના ઇતિહાસમાં સૌથી યાદગાર બની ચૂક્યો છે. તેમણે સંભળાવી દીઘું,  "What you are running here is not a factory, it is a zoo. But in a zoo there are many types of animals. Some are monkeys who dance on your fingertips, others are lions who can bite your head off. We are the lions, Mr. Manager." (તમે આ ફેક્ટરી નહીં, પણ પ્રાણીસંગ્રહાલય ચલાવો છો. તેમાં અનેક જાતનાં પ્રાણી છે. કેટલાંક તમારી આંગળીના ઈશારે નાચનારાં બંદર છે, ને તમને ફાડી ખાય એવા સિંહ પણ છે. અમે એવાં સિંહ છીએ, મિસ્ટર મેનેજર) આ વાક્યો બ્રિટનનાં તમામ પ્રસાર માધ્યમોમાં અનેક વાર લખાયાં – બોલાયાં અને અમર થઈ ગયાં છે. ઇન્ટરનેટ પર ‘જયાબહેન દેસાઈ’ના નામે સર્ચ કરતાં આ વાક્યો અચૂક મળી આવશે.

Jayaben Desai / જયાબહેન દેસાઈ 

બીજા દિવસથી જયાબહેને ગ્રુનવિક ફેક્ટરીની બહાર પિકેટિંગની શરૂઆત કરી. ઉદારમતવાદી ધોળા લોકોના સહયોગ અને સલાહથી તે એક યુનિયનનાં સભ્ય બન્યાં અને તેમની ઝુંબેશે જોર પકડ્યું. ફેક્ટરીમાં કામ કરનારી ૧૩૬ બહેનો તેમની સાથે જોડાઈ. એ સૌ સૂત્રો લખેલાં પાટિયાં સાથે, જયાબહેનની આગેવાની હેઠળ, ફેક્ટરીની બહાર ઊભાં રહીને વિરોધ પ્રદર્શન કરે. લંડનની અન્ડરગ્રાઉન્ડ રેલવેનાં સ્ટેશનો પર જઈને પ્રવાસીઓમાં ચોપાનિયાં વહેંચે. જે બ્રિટનમાં ‘ગ્રુનવિક’ના ઉપરી જેવા ગોરાઓ હતા, એ જ બ્રિટનમાં આ હડતાળને વધાવી લેનારા ગોરા પણ હતા. દેશનાં પ્રસાર માધ્યમોને શરૂઆતમાં સાડી પહેરેલી મહિલાઓનું આવું સાહસ જોઈને કૌતુક થતું. પછી માન થયું. ‘Strikers In Saree’ (સાડીધારી હડતાળિયાં) તરીકે તેમના અહેવાલો છપાવા લાગ્યા. ‘ગ્રુનવિક’માં ટપાલ પહોંચાડતી એક પોસ્ટ ઑફિસના ગોરા કર્મચારીઓએ પણ જયાબહેનનો પક્ષ લીધો અને કંપનીમાં ટપાલ પહોંચાડવાનો ઇન્કાર કરીને હડતાળને ટેકો આપ્યો. તેમની સામે કંપની કૉર્ટમાં ગઈ અને ટપાલ કર્મચારીઓની હડતાળને ગેરકાયદે ઠરાવતો હુકમ લઈ આવી. પરંતુ ત્યાં સુધી મામલો ગ્રુનવિકનો મટીને રાષ્ટૃીય બની ચૂક્યો હતો.

દેશભરમાંથી હડતાળને ટેકો આપવા આવતાં લોકો સમક્ષ જયાબહેન તેમને ફાવે એવા અંગ્રેજીમાં કહેતાં હતાં, ‘અમારી લડત પગારવધારા માટે નહીં, પણ આત્મસન્માન માટેની છે.’ હડતાળને તોડવા માટે કંપનીએ વધારે પગારે ગોરા કામદારોને તેમના ઘરે બસ મોકલીને તેડાવ્યા. પરંતુ બસ ફેક્ટરીની બહાર પહોંચી ત્યારે જયાબહેન અને તેમનાં સાથીદારો હાથમાં ‘SCAB’ લખેલાં પાટિયાં લઇને ઊભાં હતાં. (‘સ્કેબ’ અપમાનસૂચક શબ્દ છે, જે હડતાળમાં ન જોડાનાર કે હડતાળ પર ઊતરેલા લોકોની જગ્યાએ કામ કરનાર માટે વપરાય છે.) જયાબહેન અને સાથીદારોના ઘેરાને કારણે એક પણ કામદાર બસની બહાર ઊતરી શક્યો નહીં અને બસ પાછી ગઈ.

૬૯૦ દિવસ સુધી ચાલેલી આ હડતાળમાં દેશનાં બીજાં કેટલાંક યુનિયન જોડાયાં, રાજકારણ પણ ભળ્યું ને સમાધાન માટે તપાસસમિતિ નીમાઈ. બ્રિટનમાં રહીને આ હડતાળનો અને તેમાં જયાબહેન દેસાઈની ભૂમિકાનો વિગતે અભ્યાસ કરનાર તથા તેના વિશે છ-માસિક “સાર્થક જલસો”ના ઑક્ટોબર, ૨૦૧૩ના અંકમાં લખનાર કૅપ્ટન નરેન્દ્ર(http://captnarendra.blogspot.in)ના શબ્દોમાં ‘જનતાની સ્વપ્રેરિત લડતમાં રાજકારણી ચૌદશિયા જોડાય, તો તેનો અંજામ કટુ જ નીવડે. સંઘર્ષમાં જીત થાય તો તેનો યશ આ પક્ષો લઈને પોતાનો રાજકીય સ્વાર્થ સિદ્ધ કરે છે. લડતમાં કદાચ હાર થાય તો તે હાર યોદ્ધાઓની છે એવું કહીને પક્ષો હટી જાય છે.’ જયાબહેનની લડતમાં ડાબેરી રાજકારણીઓ થોડો સમય સાથે રહ્યા, પણ દેશમાં માર્ગારેટ થેચરના રૂઢિચુસ્ત પક્ષનો પ્રભાવ જોયા પછી એ લડતમાંથી ખસી ગયા. છેવટે લડત અનિર્ણિત રહી અને પાછી ખેંચાઈ. પરંતુ તેમાં જયાબહેનની કામગીરી એળે ગઈ ન હતી. દેશમાં કામદારોના શોષણ અને તેની સામે એક ભારતીય મહિલાએ ઉઠાવેલા અવાજની કથાઓ પ્રચલિત બની, બહારથી આવનારા કામદારો પ્રત્યેના અભિગમમાં થોડો બદલાવ આવ્યો અને રંગદ્વેષી હોવા છતાં પોતાની જાતને ન્યાયના ઠેકેદાર ગણનારા ગોરાઓને નીચાજોણું થયું.

જયાબહેન દેસાઈ / Jayaben Desai

લડત પછી પણ જયાબહેનનું નામ અને કામ બ્રિટનમાં જાણીતાં રહ્યાં. ડિસેમ્બર ૨૩, ૨૦૧૦ના રોજ જયાબહેનનું અવસાન થયું ત્યારે બ્રિટનનાં પ્રમુખ અખબારોમાં તેમને ભવ્ય અંજલિ આપતાં લખાણ પ્રગટ થયાં, પરંતુ ‘ગુજરાતની અસ્મિતા’ કે ‘ગુજરાતગૌરવ’ની યાદીમાં જયાબહેનનો કદી સમાવેશ થયો નહીં. જયાબહેનને એની જરૂર ન હતી અને ગુજરાતના બોલકા વર્ગને સ્વતંત્રમિજાજી અને કામદારોના હક માટે લડનારાં ‘ગૌરવ’ની જાણ કે ખપ કે બન્ને ન હતાં. 

Monday, February 23, 2015

સૌજન્ય : http://urvishkothari-gujarati.blogspot.in/2015/02/blog-post_23.html

And Home Was Kariakoo : Memoir of an Indian-African; 
MG Vassanji; 
Hamish Hamilton; 
400 pages;
 Rs 599

And Home Was Kariakoo crosses genres as deftly as its author and his Gujarati forefathers crossed continents. An East African yatra packed tight with swathes of history and autobiography and freewheeling critiques of African politics, current affairs, religion, cultural practices and whatnot, M.G. Vassanji’s latest book is a ghar wapsi in the best possible sense.

Having been brought up with only the vaguest sense of his own heritage as an Asian-African, and irked in no small measure by how the Western world still tars Africa with the old broad-brush of Dark Continent, Vassanji (who holds a Canadian passport) returns to Dar-es-Salaam—not so much to write about his hometown as to rediscover his own moorings in it. Sure, the face and ethos of the Indian quarter, Gaam and the African area, Kariakoo, have both changed irrevocably; the sleepy small-town Dar of Vassanji’s boyhood is now a gleaming megalopolis whose Indian footprint has been all but wiped out. An entire generation fled Gaam for the West in the wake of the socialist takeover of Tanzania in the 1960s; in any case, the diasporic Gujaratis (unflatteringly known as the Jews of Africa) had always been the kabab mein haddi, as Vassanji puts it, in the eyes of European and African alike. Not all is lost, though: the KT Shop of Gaam still thrives, a little six-tabled stronghold, and its chai and camaraderie are as unsurpassed as ever.

Disheartened but determined, Vassanji sets out to retrace the routes (and roots) of the Gujarati in the rest of East Africa. This pilgrimage into the past, to places that seem to have fallen off the map and the history textbook alike, is full of surprises. Along the way, we discover the quaint coastal town of Tanga where a World War was waged by Indian soldiers on behalf of the British sahibs, only to be defeated by a cloud of bees; we learn that the East African Expedition of 1857 led by Richard Burton and John Speke in their quest for the source of the Nile was “brokered” by a Gujarati merchant; and that, in fact, the first Gujaratis had arrived at the east coast of Africa from the west coast of India, long before either had been a gleam in the Empire’s eye.

Vassanji is as fluent in Swahili—which he says “comes to the tongue as readily as the taste of a much-loved mango”—as he is in Gujarati; and the fact that he chose to title the book And Home Was Kariakoo rather than “And Home Was Gaam” is proof enough of his deep attachment and commitment to both. His is an Africa of warmth and many-splendoured exuberance, not merely “wars, HIV and hunger” (And he can’t resist cocking a snook at Paul Theroux’s Dark Star Safari here either.).

Vassanji delights equally in the raucous open-air TV screening of an English Premier League soccer game, as he does in the discovery of Africa’s own brand of Sufism, the Shadhiliyya sect whose “oddball nonconformism” has him in momentary mystical thrall. His travels on rickety buses over rough roads, marked by the familiar impedimenta of too-frequent police check-posts, are invariably enlivened by much chai pe charcha (“Where there are a few Asians, there is a chai place”) and generous helpings of the legendary Indian hospitality.

Written with the insight of the insider and the emotion of the returnee, this is both a celebration of the sheer diversity of Africa and a heartfelt paean to the spirit of the unsung Gujarati vania who believed that “home is where the trade winds take you.”

Sriram is a writer in Chennai

courtesy : http://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/books/home-is-where-the-trade-winds-take-you/99/ : February 21, 2015 4:50 am

I have always admired Asian African writers who write in their mother tongues -Gujarati, Urdu, Hindustani, Punjabi, Konkani and Swahili. Long before the independences of Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika in the 1960s, the latter language had become a mother tongue to some such as the Bhadalas who were among the earliest sailors and settlers from India. To others especially the Khojas living at the coast, and on the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba, Swahili was a second mother tongue. I know of Asian families who not only spoke in Swahili at home but also wrote letters in Swahili using the Indian script.

Since the days of building of the railroad in East Africa (1896 – 1902), Asian Africans have been creating poetry, music, drama and telling stories. The arts were first performed in small groups. Later creative writing appeared in local newspapers such as the Indian Voice in Kenya and plays in vernacular were enacted on makeshift stage in community settings especially during festivities. These arts anchored the diverse immigrant communities to their cultures, religions and history. Community based literature in mother tongue entertained, and it provoked conversations on the social and political concerns of the day. At first the working classes of builders like the bricklayers, stone masons, railroad and road workers were the producers and consumers of folk art. Later the growing professional and commercial classes were passionate about the arts and began societies such as the Oriental Arts Circle in Kenya. Non English speaking middle class Indian women, wives and mothers, who were the homemakers, were often the ardent readers of publications in mother tongue while the second generation menfolk could also read books, magazines and newspapers in English. Literature in ethnic languages was central to sustenance of values, dignity and creativity in the Indian communities living in Africa.  Most importantly, it kept the native languages and linguistic aesthetics of the subjects of the Empire alive and vibrant as Gandhi would have wished for the Indians.

One category of literature that is seldom credited to creating public opinion to change oppressive regimes or state endorsed societal beliefs made conventional, is prose and poetry that’s regarded as protest writing. Often it’s the underground literature read by the affected.  The anti-colonial and pro-freedom clandestine literature by activists such as Shamdass Vidyarthi in Kenya was written in the vernacular and widely read especially by the Indian workers. I was told by one of his sons that when no printing press was available, his father Shamdass Vidyarthi, used to sit by the candle light in his home in Nairobi and write or copy prohibited papers such as the publications of Ghadar Party from overseas, over layers of carbon papers. Writers in mother tongues like him, helped to produce literature that addressed, united and brought the Indians together in the hope for freedom and dignity. The first Indian freedom activist, Bishen Singh executed in Kenya in 1917, was a member of the Ghadar Party that produced and circulated literature to the wider Indian Diaspora during the raj.  Such a writer as Shamdass Vidyarthi in British East Africa not only raised political consciousness of Indians but also connected them with the freedom movements in India and other colonies. Shamdass was a scholar and a linguist who used his writing life in Indian languages to start the first independent Swahili newspaper called Habari za Dunia meaning News of the World in 1935. Hereby, he invited Africans to join Indians writing in languages other than English, hence providing alternative views in an African language to a multiplicity of ethnicities across East Africa.

Though I have no direct evidence, it may have been through Asian written languages that the South African Indians and East African Indians were linked. There are, for example, similarities between their protest stories against the pass or kipande as it was called in Kenya. The effect of this connection was wider like the Ghadar newspaper that was produced on the Pacific Coast of America but had an impact on Indians across the Empire. In 1922 the anti-pass or kipande protest march in Nairobi led to a massacre of African workers. In his autobiography, Harry Thuku the leader of the demonstration, acknowledges the help of the Indians in his greater anti-colonial movement. When Shamdass Vidyarthi owned his own press, he printed material in indigenous languages that were often initiated by political organizers. He was imprisoned three times but that did not break his spirit. He continued to fight for freedom of expression in people’s own languages.

Writing in the vernacular was itself an act of pride.  It was also defiance against domination of a foreign language and implicitly the colonial culture. Even a preliminary survey of literature and the arts created by Indian slaves, coolies or indentured labourers, and migrants in the Caribbean, Fiji, Mauritius, South America, East and South Africa during the days of the Empire and post-Empire, would be impressive. Among the migrants were the poets, writers, singers, dancers and revolutionaries. They were the spirit of the society seeking dignity.

Since the year 2000 Asian African literature in English is finally drawing attention, and finding a spot in world literature. This is explained by Gaurav Desai in his well-researched and detailed paper Asian African Literatures: Genealogies in the Making http://cup.columbia.edu/book/commerce-with-the-universe/9780231164542. Included in this paper is a compendium of poetry, drama and stories in mother tongues of Asian Africans from early days of settlements in East and South Africa.

Especially noteworthy is the vernacular writers’ role during the heyday of African nationalism that inclined towards diminishing the Asian African history and character collectively as the unwanted race in new Africa. Plays such as Aashiana staged in Nairobi and Ameena on the Hindustani radio service of the Voice of Kenya brought hushed talk of discrimination, inter-racial relations and politics of African nationalism to the fore. There has always been the voice of the searching Asian African poet in pulsating Urdu and Punjabi poets’ societies.  At least one dancer who I know, who worked on Indian and African musical traditions and movements during the anti-Asian excesses in Kenya.

Translations of literature from one vernacular to another were also important. One academic who has interpreted a piece of Indian literature into Swahili is Farouk Topan. His rendition of the Gujarati poem, Andheri Nagari, Gandu Raja by Nanalal Dalpatram Kavi (1877-1946) into a Swahili play Mfalme Juha became very popular, particularly in Zanzibar. Also of note is writing in vernacular other than one’s own. Shamdass, a Punjabi, also wrote in Gujarati. There is a well-known work in Swahili by an Asian African. Tafkira: Majaribio ya Ushairi  (Reflections – Experiments in Poetry) is an acclaimed piece of creative writing by Abdul Aziz Lodhi.

Also of importance is how writers in Indian languages kept India informed about the rapidly changing continent, its new leaders, its geography, its cultures, politics and stories from where they had made a home. One writer of note who has been writing in his vernacular Gujarati for almost half a century is Navin Bhai Vibhakar. Navin Bhai was born in Mwanza, Tanzania, in 1936. His father was a textile merchant and a passionate reader of Gujarati.  Navin Bhai, who practiced medicine, wrote from his home in Moshi and now after 1992, he writes from Florida in the USA.  He continues to send his manuscripts to his publishers in Mumbai and Ahmedabad. He has published 40 books and has received accolade from Gujarat’s Sahitya Academy with its most prestigious award, the Parishad Award. His short stories are published in magazines that include Akhand Anand and Kumar.

(Acknowledgements Prof Adul Aziz Lodhi, Sudir Vidyarthi and Neera Kapur-Dromson for the inputs).

In this interview I ask Navin Bhai Vibhakar about the books he wrote about Africa for readers in Gujarat.

When did you start to write stories?

NV : I started writing short stories during my student days in India. I left India in 1964 and my first novel was published in 1967. I wrote stories from Tanzania getting them published in India. That continued till 1980. My writing decreased later because I was busy establishing my private medical practice. My first short story collection was published in 1980. I am writing more now after I migrated to U.S.A in 1992. To date, I have written 40 books in Gujarati. These comprise fictions, short stories, biographies and travel books. I have also translated memoirs and some famous English stories.

Say something about the books you have written that are about Africa. Like how many and the stories they tell.

NV : I have written six books on Africa. Some are published and some to be published in coming years.

Bhagya Vidhata which means Destiny Maker was published in 2005. This is on the history of achievements and failures of Julius Nyerere, the first President of Tanzania. It’s about his childhood, growing up under the British rule and his impressions on interacting with fellow Africans, Indians and the British. He was frustrated after independence for many reasons. He started socialism. Later he developed leukaemia and died in England where he had gone for treatment. I wanted my bigger Gujarati community to know about this remarkable man. Very little was known about Tanzania in Gujarat especially among speakers and readers of just Gujarati.

My second book is about Nelson Mandela. It’s called Sapna ni Pele Par which means Beyond Dreams. The book is well read and it’s in libraries in Gujarat. The book was published in 2009, and the second edition came out in 2011.

The first edition of Sarmukhatyar which means The Dictator was published in 2009 and two years later the second edition was printed in 2011. This book is on Idi Amin of Uganda. The story depicts his rise and fall. I wrote this book as a novel and not as a biography. I am from Tanzania but I did my housemanship at Mulago Hospital which is part of Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. During my three years in Uganda, I came to know President Obote, and his army general called Idi Amin. My relatives lived in Uganda until the expulsion order came for them to leave Uganda. So I knew stories from within the Asian community and from the outside.

Next one is Pratishodh which means Revenge. This book is a fiction about a slave girl from Zanzibar. In 1964 Zanzibar was united with Tanganyika and became a part of Tanzania. In 1600-1700 slave trade prevailed on the East Coast of Africa. In history it is mentioned that sultans of Zanzibar were in this slave trade in cohort with a legendary trader named TippuTibbs. In 2014 Pratishodth was serialized in Gujarat Times in both New York and Ahmedabad.

I have also written a short story about friendship of an Indian boy with an African boy which was considered a taboo at that time. Both grow up and go for further studies. The Indian boy gets afflicted by a clot in one leg and gets amputated. After many years while reading a medical journal he comes to know about his African friend who is in a London hospital. He goes to London to meet him but finds him on his death bed. Milan is the title of my short story collection.

Another book of mine is called Vikhuti Padeli Preet in which I narrate world famous safaris and national parks of Tanzania. This book is in a story form.

What prompted you to write books in Gujarati on African leaders like Nyerere and Nelson Mandela?

NV : I was fascinated by the story of President Julius Nyerere. Here was an African youth who plunged himself in politics, forming a political party. His struggle for independence, knowing the worth of Indian community for economic growth of the country and believing in Gandhian philosophy. In his later age he supported the African cause and South Africa's independence struggle. He worked for refugees of Rwanda's genocide. Our president Julius Nyerere also encouraged us to support independence struggle of South Africa against the apartheid regime of Dutch/British rule. I followed his speeches with deep interest. Then I read a biography of Mandela called Long Walk to Freedom. I was so impressed by it that I wanted to present Nelson Mandela to my Guajarati readers, and I did it.  It became so popular in India that the publisher had to print 2nd edition in just two years. Not many would want to say that Mandela was fascinated by Gandhi’s non-violent movement that he would follow after prison. I was happy to present him to Gujarat in Guajarati.

What has been the response to your books on Africa in India?

NV : My books on Africa really became popular in India as two of my books went into 2nd editions in just two years. Now my books are in many libraries. I don’t know how many books of mine are borrowed from and read in libraries in India.

Do you have plans for translating your books in English or Swahili?

NV : One of my books is published in English. It’s called Revenge: Bioterrorism Unleashed. It’s about the Ebola virus. At present Pratishodh is being translated into English and there is a plan for other books to be done in English now that I’m in America. Immediately, I have no plan for Swahili translations. Once my books are in English it will be easier then to translate them into Swahili. That is if I get a good translator. I will go for that. For further information, three of my books are being translated in Hindi and three are already published in braille for the blind readers of Gujarati.

Do you have plans to have your books in braille for Tanzanians?

NV : I am doing that now. Not just for Tanzania but I would like that for the whole of East Africa and the Swahili speaking world of the blind. I am hoping to work with my Guajarati braille book publisher, which is a private charitable organization, and other NGOs on how to accomplish this. It will take some time because of translations and looking for resources. But it’s my intention, an on-going task. I am also looking for assistance from knowledgeable persons or organizations that can help me.

Who are your favourite African writers?

NV : Chinua Achebe from Nigeria and Shaban Roberts of Tanzania.

What schools did you go to and where did you practice medicine?

NV : I studied for my primary and secondary education in the Indian Public School in Mwanza in Tanzania where I was born. I went to India in 1956 after completing my Senior Cambridge that was 12th standard. I joined a medical college in Mumbai, and returned to Mwanza for a brief period of one month after obtaining my medical degree in 1965. And then I went to Kampala, Uganda, for my housemanship in Mulago Hospital. That was in Feb., 1965. After finishing my housemanship, and a short term job as medical officer, I went back to Tanzania. I worked at Aga Khan Dispensary for 7 years in Moshi at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro before I started my private clinic from 1974 till I migrated to U.S.A.

Say something about how working as a doctor in Tanzania has influenced your writing.

NV : Practicing as a doctor, I came across people from all walks of life. Also different tribes, castes and nationalities, including the Maasai. Close contact with them provided me with the opportunity to learn about their traditions, and the culture of diversity in Tanzania. I developed feelings for their lives, sufferings and how they survived. That helped me to build characterizations, and the plots in my stories.

Who has been most influential on formation of your personality?

NV : My mother. My mother was a very pious lady with admirable virtues like endurance, forgiveness. Very soft spoken, mild and compromising. She taught all her children these qualities of life including spirituality. Because of her that I’m with Theosophical Society and my children have inherited my mother’s qualities through me. Unfortunately, my mother passed away while delivering my younger brother. She passed away at a very young age. I was only 6 years old but still I remember her kind face which swells my eyes with tears. God bless her, and us also.

My father too had great influence on my life. He was an ardent reader of Gujarati literature and encouraged me to visit Ladha Meghji Library in Mwanza. For four years when I was in the secondary school, I read books and magazines in the library. That, I believe helped to cultivate both my love and command of Gujarati. I need them both to be a writer. My teachers too improved my language skills in Gujarati, Hindi, English and Swahili. One who comes to mind immediately is Mr. Chandrani.

Thank you Dr Navin Bhai Vibhakar.

Sultan Somjee is the author of Bead Bai  http://thebeadbai.blogspot.com/

Curator, the Asian African Heritage Exhibition, National Museums of Kenya 2000 -2005. Kenya-born Sultan Somjee is a Canada-based ethnographer and writer. He studied product design but soon his interest shifted from designing products to what stories were told in products – about people’s lives and how they reflected on the individuals, their families, ethnic and faith groups and in general on the human society. He pursued his interests through his MA and PhD,  studying art and material culture.