Outlook
May 24 2014
Those Nights In Nairobi
>From early seafarers to a globalised people, overseas Gujaratis are
etched as a distinct type
by Pranay Sharma
Seafaring Gujaratis are known to have engaged with the outside world
for centuries. Gujaratis have had trade links with the ancient Romans,
Persians, Chinese and Egyptians. It may have been a Kutchi sailor, by
the name of Kanji Malam, who escorted Vasco da Gama from the Kenyan
coast to India. So, as the era of colonialism began, a Gujarati was
best qualified to be there at the inauguration. This zeal for outbound
trade has taken them, in recent times, to far ends of the world. Even
so, it might make eyes pop, in India and beyond, when we are told that
rock star Freddie Mercury, actor Ben Kingsley, conductor Zubin Mehta,
Pakistani wri-ter Bapsi Sidhwa, the statuesque Persis Khambatta and
acid-jazz singer Asha Puthli are Gujaratis or have some links with
Gujarat. An impressive diasporic roster, yes–but you do not expect it,
even in a jocular aside, to be stretched up to the doorstep of the
British royal family. If reports from June 2013 are to be believed,
Prince William and his brother, Andrew, have links to Gujarat.
Here’s the back story. Trace William’s matriliny, via Lady Di, all the
way to seven generations back, and you reach Eliza Kewark. Of
Armenian-Indian origin, Eliza was the hou-sekeeper of Theo-dore
Forbes, a Scottish merchant who worked for the East India Company in
Surat. Thus, dna research has offered reason for Diana and her sons to
be smuggled into the bulging pantheon of Non-Resident Gujaratis
(NRGS)!
Not that this roster needs any burnishing. The larger story of the
high-achieving Gujarati diaspora is one that reaches deep into
historical time, with unknown sailors making off from the
manufacturing and trading hubs in Gujarat from the days of the Indus
Valley Civilisation, and this involved cultural goods like printed
textiles, a connection that endures.
No wonder Gujaratis have had no qua-lms in crossing the ‘kaala paani’,
traditionally proscribed for savarna Indians, and it shows in the
lives of many of them. Gandhi’s two decades in South Africa are rather
well known. Dhirubhai Amb-ani, founder of Reliance Industries, spent
part of his formative years in Aden, including as an attendant in a
gas-filling station. And Freddie Merc-ury was born in Zanzibar–a
factor of the Gujarati settlements in British-held parts of Africa
since the 19th century, being everything from ordinary shopkeepers to
trading in gems and spices.
The story of the Gujarati diaspora, in this sense, differs largely
from the migratory patterns of other Indian communities. Indian-origin
people to be found in the old colonial holdings, especially from
eastern UP, Bihar, the Chhottanagpur plateau and parts of south India,
were largely taken as indentured labour. Gujaratis, on the contrary,
launched themselves into the outside world voluntarily, in the quest
for commerce and expansion of mercantile links. “Gujaratis have long
been part of the Indian Ocean trade networks and have looked at the
global economy as an opportunity rather than a threat, quite unlike
their counterparts in the east,” says Devesh Kapur of the University
of Pennsylvania.
True, with a 1,600-km long coastline, it’s also natural that these
links with the outside world through trade were fostered by local hubs
of great importance on the medieval Indian map. The Gulf of Cambay,
bang in the centre of flourishing, old sea trade routes that stretched
from China at one end and linked up with Persia, Aden and the
Euro-pean civilisations via the Red Sea in the ancient days, allowed
the port cities of Lothal, Bharuch, Cambay and Surat to develop over
two millennia. A deep Gujarati engagement with West Asia, East and
South Africa, and South-east Asia on the other side, and openness to a
certain multiculturalism, was a concomitant development.
But are there special traits Gujaratis have that distinguish them from
others in the Indian diaspora? “The very strong family ties and deep
cultural roots that helped build trust and networks distinguish
Gujaratis and have in turn been critical for their entrepreneurial
success,” says Kapur. As a leading expert on the Indian diaspora and
author of Diaspora, Development and Democracy, he poi-nts out that the
provision of access to cre-dit within the network rather than having
to seek recourse to the formal banking system also allowed Guj-a-ratis
to succeed and sustain business expansion even during times of crises.
Other commentators have noted that the community’s global renown in
business matters was such that a bill of credit issued by a Gujarati
merchant would be honoured as far as 5,000 miles away.
However, there was a marked acceleration in migration from the late
19th century, when Gujaratis began to go to East and South Africa and
parts of the Gulf. The destination seemed to change towards the West
after World War II and Independence. From the 1960s on, large number
of Indians, including many Gujaratis, went to the UK and the US. It
included droves of Gujaratis from East Africa, particularly from
Uganda when dictator Idi Amin expelled Indians who controlled the
country’s commerce.
Experts feel the expulsion from Uganda had an impact on Gujaratis,
especially those who went to the UK and later to the US (the Indian
government was reluctant to take them back). As they bounced back
through sheer resilience and talent, the West allowed Gujaratis to
break away from many of their typical professions. Thus, the
‘dukawalas’ or shopkeepers in Africa and UK and, later, the
Motel-Patels in the US, tried their hand in other businesses and
professions. Now, non-resident Gujaratis are one of the most affluent
and influential sections among nris, and many from these sections were
actively invo-lved as a strong diasporic element providing momentum
(and funds) to the Modi campaign.
“There was a lot of Gandhian idealism in my grandmother’s generation.
Then my mother’s generation turned more consumerist. Then came
globalisation in our time. It is the most globalised community in
India now,” says Vibhuti Patel of Mumbai’s SNDT University. Truly, in
a globalised world, the image of the stereotyped Gujarati is
challenged by those in politics, arts and entertainment, medicine,
information technology etc.
This section constitutes among the str-ongest Indian lobbies in the
US. Their aggressive lobbying dur-ing the 1999 Kar-gil war forced the
US to pressurise Pak-istan to vacate Indian territory. The irony is
that, after the 2002 riots, the Gujarati diaspora lobbied with their
gov-ernments to deny Modi a visa. Later, a key section supported him
in a bid to end his interna-tional isolation and did their bit to
reach out to Japan, Singapore, China and Rus-sia, ped-dling the
‘Gujarat model’ as a viable plan to engage with investors.
Many in the Gujarati diaspora will now naturally ramp up their voluble
support for Modi and bask in the glory of Gujarati pride, but we
should not be surprised if some of them continue to be against his
visit to the US. For in 2014, overseas Gujaratis are a disparate lot.
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