But where are you really from ?

Route of the Whale Trail, Western Cape , South Africa

We get asked this question a lot . Where are you really from was asked by an elderly lady in the Musjid, in the town that we moved to, in Australia. When I initially replied to her question and said that I was from South Africa , she looked at me and said but where are you really from. She had a point I suppose , a brown Hijabi Asian of Indian descent had to be originally from outside Africa. I confirmed to her that my great great Grandparents were from Surat , India. Ah she replied. I suppose that now made sense to her. I was now in a box .

The thing is that we have been in South Africa for many generations that we whole heartedly identify as South African and the Indian culture is mainly found in the food that we prepare or bits of Gujarati words that have been retained .

We get some odd looks when we say we from South Africa. Most people have heard of South Africa, not many know of Durban . Durban has one of the largest popultions of Indians outside of India who have been there for many generations . Most came as indentured labourers , brought in by the British to work on the sugar cane plantations in the late 1800’s and the early 1900’s. They were followed by so called Passenger Indians who were Indian immigrants of the merchant class who came to Natal and often moved inland to open businesses.