PIONEER residents living in Fleet Street, in Westcliff, Chatsworth, celebrated 60 years in the community by reminiscing about the “good old days”, which included playing marbles, three tins and walking in a crime-free street.
Seven octogenarians, who moved into the area in 1964, when it was first built, were honoured with golden shawls to mark this milestone, at an event hosted by Westcliff residents at Cavendish Primary School at the weekend.
They took a trip down memory lane, recalling how when they first moved into Fleet Street the area had plantations of bananas, mangoes, lemons and sugar cane.
The “good old days”, they said, was when there were no walls dividing houses or high crime that required them to lock themselves inside their houses.
The residents said they longed for those days again, when people were “neighbourly and united”.
They said back in the day there was not much development in the area and residents often gathered around a fire on winter afternoons and played marbles, three tins, darts and carrom board.
The summer days made for good weather to play gillidanda, also known as gooliganda, which is played with just two sticks, they said.
Yesudoss David Peters, 86, moved to Fleet Street from Greenwood Park when he was 26.
He shared a two bedroomed, semi-detached house with his now late wife, Rumba. Together, they had six children, nine grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
Peters said when he moved into the home, it was a brick house with no plastering. He later extended it to include five bedrooms.
“Back then we had no fences or gates. You could walk into your neighbour’s yard at any time and would be welcomed as if you were family. There was no crime, and people felt safe to walk around the community by day and at night.”
Peters said they had no entertainment facilities or malls and his family enjoyed going to the beach in Durban and Isipingo.
“There was a safe bus service which operated at all hours. We would travel to town to take the children to Newton’s rides. It is sad it closed down. Years later, when the Odeon and Majestic cinema opened, we would all go together to the cinema by bus,” he recalled.
Bangladesh Market had not been built at the time, he said, and there were few shops in the area which sold groceries and meat.
“We would go to the Clairwood, Warwick or town markets. Mutton was two shillings (about 20 cents) a kilo. Everything was cheap. If you had R50, you were considered a ‘larnie’ (rich person). I miss those days,” he said.
Ramsamy Govender, 84, said when he moved to Fleet Street, the area “looked haunted” but the community was close-knit.
Govender met his wife, Sandra Govender, who died on June 1, in Fleet Street when he moved in.
“She was my neighbour. She was so beautiful and kind. We fell in love and were married two years later,” he said.
The couple have four children and seven grandchildren.
Govender said when their children were young, he found ways to spend time with them.
He said nowadays, it was sad that parenting skills had been lost and children were left with cellphones and to sit in front of the television.
“We entertained ourselves at home as a family and by gardening together. We planted roses, an assortment of flowers, and vegetables like brinjal, double beans, chillies, betel leaf, curry leaf and cabbage. The soil was rich and everything we planted grew well,” he said.
Govender said children nowadays were missing out on socialising due to technology.
“Cellphones and the television are keeping children from the outside world and exploring. It is robbing them of the experiences that we had growing up, like getting to know people and compassion. Parents need to change this and make sure their children know the meaning of being part of a community,” he added.
To keep their farming skills going, Gandhiruby Appadoo, 81, and her husband, the late Ramsamy, planted grass at their home in Fleet Street. They also planted flowers and had a vegetable garden where they grew cabbages, green beans and double beans.
The couple worked together on a fruit farm near Clairwood and had three children, three grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
“We were free. We did not have to worry. Now we live in fear and cannot wear jewellery or walk to the shop by ourselves,” she said.
The one thing she continued to do, 60 years later, was volunteer her time at the local temple.
“When we arrived in Westcliff, there were no temples. The nearest temple was the Silverwest Temple which was just a ‘tin shanty’, which housed some murthis. The temple later developed into the beautiful structure it is now.”
Appadoo said most of the residents who were a part of the community since 1964 were fit and enjoyed walking together every week to the senior citizens’ club in Westcliff.
She and Gomthi Benny, 81, said they would continue going together for as long as their health would allow them.
They also enjoy walking together to do their shopping at a supermarket in Westcliff.
Benny, who had five children, 12 grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren with her late husband, Ranjith Benny, said the first thing they did when they moved into their house was plaster it.
“We were excited to move to Chatsworth from Merebank and enjoyed doing up the house, but he died four years after we moved here.”
Benny’s father had a farm in New Glasgow near Ndwedwe and her family farmed mandarins and mangoes.
When she moved to Westcliff, she began gardening to keep busy as “there was not much to do”.
“They planted flowers and vegetables and grew methi and double beans in a vacant space near their home.”
Benny said “it came as a shock” when inflation led to rapid price increases.
“We used to get all our groceries and meat for about R20. Now, we can’t even buy a loaf of bread for R20.
“As much as I miss everything being much cheaper, what I miss most is my independence. We don’t feel safe anymore. I am fit but I am afraid to walk in the community as I do not know when I would be a target of criminals.
“Now I have to live in a locked cage due to crime. People need to come together again and unite to fight all these social ills,” she said.
Benny will embark on her 20th trip to India, next year. She is working on tracing her grandfather's house in Varanasi in India.
John Frank, 87, said he was happy that Chatsworth
was now developed and modernised.
“To see the hard working residents build their homes into what it is now, warms my heart.
“But nowadays, people are not so connected. They do not gather for neighbourly things like games, or to have their children all together.
“We miss that. In our younger days, we would make bowlas (fires) and sit together to chat. We would spend our spare time playing darts and carrom board. Now it is hard to find that,” he said.
He said he was concerned that because parenting had changed over the years, “children of today can be disrespectful”.
“I don’t blame them. I blame their parents. People are too independent and not community oriented. Parents forget that it takes a village to raise a child.
“When we see youngsters walking around, some in school uniform, with cigarettes in their mouths, it shocks me every time. In our days we didn’t have youngsters who were so disrespectful. They would hide and smoke if they did have the habit,” he said.
Khadijah Bibi, 82, and her husband, Goolam Nabee, 72, said they spent their days together gardening when they first moved into Fleet Street.
They had two children, and would grow mint, shallots, cabbage, carrots and flowers. They later gardened with their five grandchildren and now also teach their two great-grandchildren the skill.
Hoping to live the rest of her years in peace, Nelly Vendadesan, 92, said for the past 60 years, she felt the spirit of the community and was happy that although the community developed, people were still humble.
“I have had good neighbours and people in this community treat the elderly well.
“I feel blessed and honoured to live in this community for 60 years,” she said.
The POST