Over centuries Indians have been sailing the high seas by Dhow in search of commerce, any work for better prospects of livelihood and adventure. They sailed with their Dhows laden with silk, spices, copper and ironware, sugar, rice, guns, and gunpowder etc and sailed to faraway places like Persia, Egypt  and Oman. Many of these young men reached Zanzibar, Tanganyika and Malindi Mombasa in Kenya on the coast of great Indian Ocean. From there started trading in different commodities, they tracked on wards to Uganda and all over East Africa. They took up work as civil servants, customs officers, station masters, became traders, started tilling small and big farms and established many industries. In the process they contributed greatly to the economical, political and social development of the country. Initially many of these pioneers came to East Africa from Gujarat and Kutch. Urmilaben Jhaveri's family story is one of those brave stories from Gujarat whose family has spent several generations in Tanganyika where her husband K.L. Jhaveri, was also an elected member of Parliament and together they endeavoured to contribute to both civic and economic life of Tanganyika. Urmilaben has written her autobiography, 'Dancing with Destiny' which is published by Partride Publications. In an interview with Sadananda Sahoo, Veena Sharma, and Rahul Balley, she shared some of her eventful and courageous experiences in Tanganyika and India.  

We have been hearing about your riveting experiences in Tanganyika- Tanzania as a social activist, who involved in women empowerment, promoting inter-community relationship. We would like to hear about your life journey in Tanganyika -Tanzania. Those days perhaps it was difficult for women to cross kalapani. How did it happen? 

My story began nearly hundred years ago in the late 1920s when my father Tarachand Gandhi arrived in Zanzibar. Those were the days when there was no air travel and it was kalapani even for men. My father was allowed to travel on condition that he should get married first. He married my mother Labhuben who was ten years younger to him. He left her with my grandmother, sailed from Jamnagar to Zanzibar by Dhow, and  joined government service as customs officer in Zanzibar. I was born in Pemba in 1931 where he was transferred. After being transferred again to Bagamoyo, Bapuji my father decided to join his brother in Dar-es-Salaam. As my uncle had good experience working as a Compounder in Jamnagar they opened a medical shop and named it Gandhi Medical Shop. They became popular immediately. Dar-es-Salaam is my home town where I grew up, got married to Kanti Jhaveri from Rajkot, raised a family and together we participated in pre and post independence struggle in Tanzania. We witnessed the Zanzibar Revolution, forced marriages, army mutiny, nationalization of assets, Uganda expulsions and so on.

What are the other communities from Gujarat and other parts of Asia; and what kind of occupation they are engaged in to?

Members of Gujarati community came from all over Gujarat including Kutch. There is also a big number of Sikhs and Ismaily Khojas, Bohra and other Muslim families. There are communities from Ceylon, Burma, China and so on. So you see it is a cosmopolitan society. Some members worked for the Colonial government services. Many started with running small dukas and farms and being enterprising and hard working they developed their own whole scale businesses and farms, opened ginneries and small and big scale industries, hotels, medical institutions etc. and went in construction business in a big way.

Can you tell us  how the Gujarati  Community  engaged  into business , especially linking  with other businessmen  at home.

Some businessmen who had the facility to trade as whole sellers imported their goods from India and as I remember it from Japan and UK as well. They supplied the small Dukawala. In those days all businesses transactions were run on mutual trust. Goods were delivered and payments to be made were agreed though the word of mouth and a piece of paper called chithi.

How do you think about their ethnic and inter community relationship?

Tanganyika was a Trust Territory under the British Colonial rule and similar to South Africa and Kenya. The Colonial government ruled Tanganyika  with an iron fist strictly on racial basis. Thus the people were categorized according to their race; Europeans were at the top of the ladder, then Asians in the middle, and the Africans were placed  at the bottom. All this was changed only after a young leader Julius Nyerere emerged and led the independence struggle in Tanganyika. And I am happy to say that my husband and I were very much part of this struggle and were involved in it from the beginning. The country gained Independence in 1961.

Most of the time, interrelations between the communities especially between Muslims and Hindus were healthy but deteriorated after the partition of India and Pakistan  during and after the partition of India and Pakistan it was disturbed. And yet people of all communities including Hindus-Muslims, Sikhs and Christans as neighbours and friends always shared celebrations and festivals and were on friendly terms. 

I remember in Bagamoyo my best friends were Sakker and Kulsa; Ismaily sisters who helped their mother run their small shop selling khangas and other dress material. I spent as much time as possible with them and enjoyed watching their customers, mostly African women bargaining with them in good humour.

Tell us something about how the Asian Communities practice of Religion?

There are Temples, Gurudwaras, several Mosques for all denominations and Churches as there are all religious groups amongst the Asians. For example Hindus go to the temples, Muslims to the Mosques, Goans attend service in Churches and Sikhs visit Gurudwaras. In Dar-es-Salaam a Bhadara -feast was held every Sunday and on auspicious days where all were welcome. Thus the religious life is simple and peaceful.

You have worked with the women empowerment movement in Tanzania. What is your experience as an activist?

All those years when I was an active member of the Central Committee of the National Women's Organization – UWT were very fulfilling years for me. Those were the days when the country and the people as a whole were struggling for development on all fronts but the women were the most marginalized and deprived members of the society. They were bound by age old social taboos and customs, wife beatings and other oppression, and leading their life practically without any amenities was a way of life for them.  And even water and light, clinics or elementary education was not available to them.

Our organization was responsible for formulating the policy and initiate projects to help the women. As such our first priority was to visit the women, try to end her age old hardship by initiating self help projects to give her some financial leeway and bring them on the main stream of the society so that they can share in the general progress.

Mama Sophia Kawawa the Prime Minister's wife was our Chairperson. Very simple by nature she never expected any special privilege for herself and was just one of us. And the  members of the CC of UWT comprised of many women leaders who were brilliant achievers in their own professions. During our field work in villages we shared living space, food, ideas and arguments.

We visited all parts of the country. This gave me the rare opportunities to visit the remotest part of the country and meet the women, discuss the problems facing them and help to try to find the solution for these problems. By living with them we got  the first hand knowledge about their predicament. It was a bumpy process but if we wanted the women to take their rightful place in society we had to begin at the beginning. Over the years we did manage to achieve quite a good number of our goals.  

It was most satisfying experience  and for me this bond with the women remains as strong as ever, whether I was sharing with my friends  a meal, a song, a life times story, an argument or holding hands with a half necked mad man or listening to a witches call ! 

We heard that you are an excellent cook specializing in so many varieties of delicious Gujarati food which we relished at your home. How did you manage to preserve all these food culture in Tanganyika?

My mother was a very good cook. I learnt to cook all these varieties from her and enjoy cooking different food. My husband was elected Member of Parliament from Dar-es-Salaam Constituency and our house was always full of guests and I enjoyed feeding them. In Tanzania all the traditional spices, vegetables and other items are available. Just to mention a few names, you will find dhokla, bhajia, khandvi, pani pury ,bhel puri, jalebi gathita, patra , sev khaman, idli dosa and so on every where in the country.

You have a family which is truly transnational. How do you maintain the relationships?  Which is your real home?

Yes, young members of our family are spread across different countries; Britain, Australia, USA, Afghanistan, Switzerland, India, Scotland and so on. They visit us from time to time. However there is no official family gathering as such.  But then internet and mobile phone are always there at hand. And my home is where I am staying! 

You have been in India since last four years. This is after 80 years of living in Tanganyika – Tanzania. How is your return experience; and how do you feel here in Noida?

There are always two sides to a coin; gain and loss and plus as well as minus points. For us moving from Tanzania where we had spent the best years of our life in fact my entire life [eighty years], was a very difficult decision to make. My parents had died and all the other family members including our children had moved away gradually. My brother-in-law and his family from Uganda were now settled in UK. My late husband and I were not keeping in good health, so our best option was to move to India where we could receive medical treatment easily and meet our children frequently. 

Of course, it was a difficult transition and we both missed Dar-es-Salaam where Jhaveriji was Babu I was Bibi- grandmother for everybody. It is interesting to note that, all these years in Tanzania our life was based on Indian culture, religion, food habits and so on and we had been visiting our daughters and her family in Delhi from time to time. But even then when we moved I felt like a stranger here in Delhi. What is more even the vegetable vendor could make out that I am a, 'baharwale'. I started writing my autobiography, 'Dancing with Destiny' to keep myself mentally occupied. Fortunately I finished writing it and it is now published. 

Now that feeling of not belonging and not being able to cope with the new environment is also gone. My neighbours are very friendly and I have met many nice people like you. 

I thank you all for taking interest in my story.  

Thank you so much for sharing this invaluable experience of your life journey with us. 

Interview Date:   Thursday, May 29, 2014

Person Name:   Urmila Jhaveri

courtesy : http://grfdt.com/InterviewDetails.aspx?TabId=1033 or http://grfdt.com/Interviews.aspx

—

Dr. Sadananda Sahoo : Asst. Professor, School of Interdisciplinary and Trans-Disciplinary Studies, Indira Gandhi National Open University Maidan Garhi, New Delhi 110 068

Dead at 86, Maya Angelou, the silent child whose words spoke to millions 

US author Maya Angelou, an eloquent commentator on race and gender best known for her groundbreaking autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, has died at 86.

Mesmerising : Bestselling writer, feminist, poet annd civil rights activist Maya Angelou, who died yesterday at her home in North Carolina aged 86

Maya Angelou, who died yesterday, was a phenomenal woman. This African American, who had the most horrendous experiences as a child, rose to become a bestselling, globally famous author and poet, civil rights activist, feminist, speaker, artist and an inspiration.

In 1993, she wrote and performed a poem at President Clinton’s first inauguration and since then, all presidents, including George Bush, paid her various tributes. She addressed the UN, was feted by world leaders, awarded top awards and honorary degrees. But most of all, best of all, she was loved by millions of her readers.

She died yesterday at her home in North Carolina aged 86. It was her amazing life and the telling of it in seven autobiographies that made her name. The first, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969) takes us from childhood to when she was 17, by which time she had undergone terrible experiences and survived.

Born in 1928, in St Louis, Missouri, she was the second child of Vivien Baxter, a nurse and Bailey Johnson, who was a doorman and dietician. The marriage was made in hell and the couple parted when Maya was three and her brother Bailey, was four. The two children were sent off to live with Johnson’s mother, Annie Henderson, a good Christian, who owned a small, profitable store in Stamps, Arkansas. They were happy there.

Four years later, without any explanation, Johnson moved them back to live with their mother. Soon afterwards Vivien’s boyfriend raped Maya, then only eight.

He was arrested and jailed for one day – one day! Four days after he was released he was murdered and Maya stopped speaking for five years. But she read, watched, listened, learnt, thought and expanded her imagination. By the time she was 17 she was a mother. Black Americans then had few rights, endured appalling racism and many also lived in dysfunctional families.

Maya Angelou’s first book was in many ways a parable of these multiple disadvantages and instabilities. Some African Americans criticised her for her ‘treachery’. Like other beleaguered communities, they guarded their secrets and thought she should have too. But she had been mute once and never would be again.

Unlike too many of her people, she overcame her circumstances. In fact all the adversities of her long life – and there were so many –spurred her to make something of herself, to show all those who had so badly failed and hurt her and also white supremacists for whom black people were forever damned.

God seemed to have gifted her a vast array of talents, as well as spirit, sensuality, audacity and extraordinary resilience. Raising her son gave her immeasurable joy and, I think, was her greatest fear. She was at various times, a cook, dancer and singer – even a prostitute when times were hard.

She was unshakeably committed to the civil rights movement, was close to Martin Luther King and white Americans who were part of the struggle in the Sixties and Seventies. By the time she reached middle age, Maya Angelou had won over people of all races in the US and elsewhere.

And she had loyalties beyond race. In fact she backed Hillary Clinton in the fight for the Democratic nomination and again provoked much criticism from her black brothers and sisters. When Obama won, she graciously transferred her support to him.

I interviewed her three times over eight years. The last time was in 1998. She had got very grand by then, loved fine food and whiskey and being driven around by chauffeurs. It was important to her to be seen as a somebody, always.

But when we talked, she was open, wise, caring and always, always mesmerising. We exchanged recipes – both of us loved cooking – and talked about how we were raising our sons and our hopes for them.

Very few writers can speak as beautifully and evocatively as Maya Angelou did. Our very first meeting was in 1989, just after my ex-husband had left me and I was feeling fragile and alone. I told her what had happened and she invited me to her birthday party in a lovely private venue in London. And there she recited one of her most popular poems, Still I Rise, looked at me and smiled. It was a poem celebrating the strength of women, who will not be beaten down.

And yes, she gave me strength and hope. As she did most women who read her. And men too.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2642269/Dead-86-Maya-Angelou-silent-child-words-spoke-millions-YASMIN-ALIBHAI-BROWN-writer-beat-horrific-childhood-experiences-best-selling-poet-civil-rights-activist.html#ixzz33ClW4e5Q
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Published: 01:01, 29 May 2014 | Updated: 08:05, 29 May 2014

રાજવટ : દેશ અને સમાજની વિકટ સમસ્યાઓ રાજવી માટે આફત નથી, પણ લોકપ્રતિષ્ઠા મેળવવાનો રાજમાર્ગ છે

દેશમાં અને દુનિયામાં નરેન્દ્ર મોદીના જેટલા દોસ્ત અને જેટલા દુશ્મન હશે તે બધાની નજર દિલ્હીની આજની સાંજ પર ચોંટેલી છે. લોકપ્રિયતાની લહેર-સુનામી મોજાં પર સવાર થઈને મોદી આજે ભારતમાં રાજકીય સત્તાનાં શિખરે પહોંચ્યા છે. ત્યારે તેમની ખુશામત કરનારા અને તેમને શિખામણ આપનારાનો પાર નથી, પણ મોદી કોઈને પોતાનું પેટ કળાવા દેનાર નથી. પ્રધાનમંડળની રચના મોદી સામેનો પહેલો પડકાર છે અને આ કામમાં તેમને સો ટકા સફળતા મળવાની નથી. કારણ કે ભાજપનાં અને સાથી પક્ષોના બધા આગેવાનોની બધી અપેક્ષા સંતોષવાનું શક્ય નથી.

સત્તા અને સંપત્તિ ગમે તેટલાં મળે પણ ઓછા જ મળ્યાનો અસંતોષ માણસનો સ્વભાવ છે. ઊંચા દોર પર અડગ ચાલતા નટના જેટલી સમતુલા મોદીએ જાળવવાની છે. તેર વરસનો વહીવટી અનુભવ અને ત્રીસ વરસનાં રાજકીય જીવનની ચડાઉતરી નરેન્દ્ર મોદીએ ખરેખરા ખપમાં લેવી પડશે. આ વિજય ભાજપ કે ભાજપી મોરચાનો નથી, પણ નરેન્દ્ર મોદીએ એકલા હાથે મેળવેલો વિજય છે. પણ વિજયનાં ગાંડપણમાં વાસ્તવિકતાને વિસારે પાડવી ન જોઈએ. મોદીને લોકસભામાં બાવન ટકા બેઠક મળી છે, પણ મતની ટકાવારી તો માત્ર ૩૧ ટકા જ છે. મોદીએ લોકચાહનાની ટકાવારી વધારવા માટે ઘણી જહેમત કરવી પડશે.

ભાજપની સુવાંગ બહુમતીનાં કારણે ભાજપને સાથીઓની જરૂર છે તેના કરતાં સાથીઓને ભાજપની વધારે જરૂર છે. એટલે મોદીનું કામ વાજપેયી અને મનમોહનસિંઘ કરતાં થોડું વધારે સહેલું બને છે. પણ ભાજપનાં મોટાં માથાઓનો સમાવેશ ક્યાં કરવો તે મોદી માટે સૌથી મોટી સમસ્યા છે. બધાની ચર્ચા કરવાની જગ્યા નથી, પણ અડવાણી સૌથી મોટું ઉદાહરણ છે. અત્યારે ગમે તેવા ભેદભાવ હોય પણ વીસ વરસ (૧૯૯૦-૨૦૧૦) સુધી અડવાણીએ નરેન્દ્ર મોદીની રક્ષા કરી છે. તેમને માર્ગદર્શન આપ્યું છે અને તેમને યોગ્ય સ્થાને બેસાડયા છે. ૧૯૯પ-૨૦૦૧નો દેશવટો અને ૨૦૦૨માં ભાજપ કારોબારીની ગોવા બેઠક- આ બંને જીવલેણ ઘાણમાંથી મોદીને અડવાણીએ ઉગાર્યા છે. પણ અડવાણીને માનભેર બેસાડી શકાય તેવી જગ્યા જડતી નથી.

રાષ્ટ્રપતિનું સિંહાસન ખાલી નથી અને નીચા સ્થાન પર તેમને બેસાડાય નહીં. મોદીની અિગ્નપરીક્ષા આજથી શરૂ થાય છે. જિંદગી આખી મથ્યા કરો તો પણ ઉકેલી ન શકાય તેવા વિકટ પ્રશ્નો મોદીએ પાંચ વરસમાં ઉકેલી નાખવા તેવી અપેક્ષા તેમની પાસેથી રાખવામાં આવે છે. ભારત જેવા વિશાળ અને સંકુલ દેશની સમસ્યાઓ સમજવી સહેલી નથી. ભારત મહાન છે પણ તેની સમસ્યાઓ, તેનાં દૂષણો, તેની નબળાઈઓ પણ મોટી છે. આપણા રાજકીય અને સામાજિક પાપનો પાર નથી. સ્પષ્ટ બહુમતી અને ઝળહળતો વિજય આપીને મતદારોએ મોદી માટે તમામ છટકબારીઓ બંધ કરી દીધી છે. જે કંઈ થાય અથવા ન થઈ શકે તેની જવાબદારી મોદીએ એકલા જ ઉપાડવાની છે. વિશ્વનાથ પ્રતાપસિંહથી માંડીને તમામ વડાપ્રધાનો મોરચા રાજકારણ માથે દોષ ઠાલવીને છૂટી જતાં. મોદી માટે આ દરવાજો બંધ છે.

અતિશય ઘોર બદનામી અને વિડંબના પછી મોદીને સત્તા અને સન્માન મળે છે. અગણિત બુિદ્ધવંતો અને કર્મશીલો તેમના ટીકાકાર હતા અને છે. મોદી વડાપ્રધાન બનશે તો દેશનું સત્યનાશ વળી જશે અને પોતે ભારત છોડી જશે તેવું જાહેર રીતે બોલનાર મહાનુભાવોએ ફેરવી તોળવાની શરૂઆત કરી દીધી છે. મોદીએ ટીકાકારો કરતાં ખુશામતખોરોથી વધારે ડરવાનું છે. દિલ્હી ખુશામતખોરીની ભારતીય રાજધાની છે. જલાલુદ્દીન રૂમીએ ચેતવણી આપી છે કે ખુશામતખોરોની જીભ કાળોતરા સાપના ડંખ કરતાં ઘણી વધારે ઝેરી હોય છે. ગુજરાતમાં અત્યાર સુધીની રાજકીય કારકિર્દીમાં મોદીએ પોતાની કાર્યશક્તિ અને પોતાની નસીબદારી પુરવાર કરી છે. આ વખતે પણ મોદીને સૌથી મોટો લાભ એ છે કે મોદીની પહેલાંની સરકાર અતિશય નિર્માલ્ય અને તદ્દન ભ્રષ્ટ હતી. તેથી મોદીનાં બધાં કામ આમજનતાની નજરમાં વધારે મોટાં દેખાશે.

મનમોહનસિંઘ જેવા પવિત્ર અને સંસ્કારી રાજપુરુષને મોરચાના ઓથારમાં અને કોંગ્રેસી ભીંસણમાં કચડાવું પડયું તે આ રાજવટનું મોટું પાપ છે. સંજય બારુનાં પુસ્તકનાં પાને પાને આવા દાખલાઓ અપાયા છે. મોદીએ મેળવેલા વિજય માટે તેમને અભિનંદન આપી શકાય, અને ભવિષ્ય માટે અતિશય ચિંતન કરી શકાય, પણ વખાણ તો પાંચ વરસ પછી જ કરી શકાય. ઊગતા સૂરજ સામે લળી પડનાર સત્તાલોભીઓના બોલની નોંધ ઇતિહાસમાં કદી લેવાતી નથી. નક્કર કામગીરીની કઠોર સરાણ-જતરડામાંથી કતરણ પડે તે જોયા પછી જ બોલવું ઠીક ગણાય. લોકપ્રિયતાની લાલચમાં પડયા વગર લોકકલ્યાણનાં કામ કરવા અને તે માટે જરૂરી પગલાં ભરવાની મોરારજી દેસાઈની પરંપરા નરેન્દ્ર મોદીએ અત્યાર સુધી નિભાવી છે. સસ્તા ભાવે અથવા મહત્ત્વની વીજળી આપવાની પડાપડી થતી હતી ત્યારે મોદીએ વીજળીનો દર ત્રણ ગણો કર્યો.

વીજળીચોર વેપારીઓ અને ખેડૂતો સામે ૪૯,૦૦૦ કરતાં વધારે ખટલા દાખલ કરવામાં આવ્યા. લોકોને મફતિયો માલ (ફ્રિબીજ) આપવાની પરંપરા ગુજરાતમાં નથી. ભારતમાંથી નામશેષ કરી નાખવી ઘટે છે. 'ભીખનાં હાંડલા કદી શીંકે ચડતાં નથી’ તે ગુજરાતીઓ બરાબર સમજે છે, ભારતે સમજવું પડશે. મોદી કઠોર પરિશ્રમ કરવા માટે જાણીતા છે. હવે દેશને પરિશ્રમી બનાવવો પડશે. આમજનતા તો કામ કરવા તલપાપડ છે, કામ કોઈ શોધ્યું જડતું નથી, તેની જોગવાઈ થવી જોઈએ.

સામાન્ય માણસ થરથરી ઊઠે તેવી વિકરાળ સમસ્યાઓ મોદી સામે મોં ફાડીને ઊભી છે, તે મોદીનું સદ્દભાગ્ય છે. ઓસ્ટ્રિયાની મહિ‌માવંત સમ્રાજ્ઞી મેરાયા થેરીસાએ દીકરીને શિખામણનો કાગળ લખ્યો છે કે, દેશ અને સમાજની વિકટ સમસ્યાઓ રાજવી માટે આફત નથી, પણ કામ કર્યાનો આનંદ અને લોકપ્રતિષ્ઠા મેળવવાનો રાજમાર્ગ છે. ચીની લખાવટમાં આફત માટે બે પ્રતીક લખવાં પડે છે, એક પ્રતીક બોજા અને વિનાશનું છે. બીજું પ્રતીક વિજય અને વિકાસ માટે છે. મોદી ભારતીય રાજવટની સમસ્યાઓના બોજાથી કચડાઈ જશે કે પથ્થરમાં પાટુ મારીને પાણી કાઢશે તે હવે જોવાનું છે.

નગીનદાસ સંઘવી લેખક વરીષ્ઠ રાજકીય સમીક્ષક છે.

http://www.divyabhaskar.co.in/article/ABH-massive-problems-of-large-country-4625178-NOR.html

સૌજન્ય : “દિવ્ય ભાસ્કર”, 26 મે 2014