By Kevin Govender
The Indian population in South Africa is the largest gathering of Indians in the world, outside India.
We are a sui generis (unique) clan who have overcome slavery and adversity, with our tenacity, resilience, perseverance and integrity since our arrival as indentured labourers in 1860.
We rejoice at our births, laugh at our childhood games and pranks, follow our dalliances with curiosity, celebrate our marriages, participate with our enmities and worship our progeny.
For every success story, there are hundreds who have failed and thousands waiting to compete. Luck is important, but the winning formula is a mix of much more. We are equipped with the ability to anticipate opportunity, resilience and flexibility. We have a canniness to judge human needs and make circumstances fit that need.
Our priority is survival, not salvation. Survival is the imperative of the present, salvation the promise of the future, but negotiable if survival is ensured. In a cut-throat world, the task is to get on with the job of reaching a goal. It seems we have the Midas touch in that everything we touch, turns to gold. It is not so!
Our resilience stood us in good stead. It is a product of centuries of experience in handling hardship and adversity. No foreigner will ever understand the extreme to which an Indian is prepared to accept the unacceptable. Our faith in religion is non-negotiable. We place great emphasis on family values and education. We pursue profit more tenaciously than others. We are shrewd traders with our feet planted firmly on the ground and our eyes fixed on the balance sheet.
Like all societies, there are those among us who are content to live with the barren imitativeness, mimicry and mediocrity that is the hallmark is many areas of endeavour. They need to be hauled out of this quiescent lethargy and propelled into action. While many who oppose us consider us low-hanging fruit that can be attacked we are ripe with the fighting spirit that has elevated us. This is no time for curry-favouring.
It is with this tenacity and resilience that Durban Indians will “Park by the Pozie” on December 12, sending a message to authorities that we are a force to be reckoned with.
The Star