In the Land of the Kappiris

III In South Rhodesia

 South Rhodesia was then seen as a place in Africa where acute racial discrimination was practiced. Much like South Africa, it was a self-governed country, ruled by white people. The degree of racial discrimination could be assessed by looking at Pottekkatt’s train journey to Rhodesia. There was a bogey, dirtier than a cowshed where the Kappiris crammed themselves in. It was a claustrophobic dungeon where no sunlight could enter. However there was the white’s coupe which was an abode of luxury. In addition to that, the bogey Pottekkatt sat in was informally reserved for Asians, and no White would even come there by chance even though there was a lot of room in the compartment since he was the lone Asian traveler. On reaching Bulawayo, he looked around for a porter to help him with luggages. Incidentally, he met a Tamilian porter who was more than happy to see an Indian and particularly a Madrasi in Rhodesia. He expressed his desire to see India, the stories about it which he has heard luxuriously from his father, an indentured migrant. He refused to take any money for his work, but gifted Pottekkatt a large Gold-leaf cigarette packet. In return he requested for an eccentric favour asking the author to send a magical thread or amulet from a Kerala magician to ward off his evil enemies and make his life prosperous. On detour in Rhodesia he also saw the Great Zimbabwe Ruins, which shows the might of the tribe Sabaeans who drove away the indigenous Bushmen tribe, thus owning the entire expanse of gold mines. The Portuguese had reached Rhodesia through the ZambesiRiver, but it was the British who held strong there. This is the story of Rhodesia, sandwiched between Zambesi and Limpopo rivers.

IV The Victoria Falls 

As Lord Curzon remarked, Victoria Falls is more fascinating than even the Niagra waterfalls of America. The average height of the former being 347 feet whereas the latter in only 170 feet tall. Brushing aside the statistical facts about Victoria, it is a larger than life wonder. It could be described as boulder of snowy mist falling freely through a majestic crevice amidst the gorges. The Victoria falls stand out from the rest of the waterfalls when one looks at its point or origin. It interestingly originates in the plains in contrast to many others that originate from the hills and the mountains. From there it traverses a great distance and has many islands floating on it. These islands divide the one majestic Zambesi into four waterfalls – the Eastern Cataract, Rainbow Falls, the Main Falls and Devil’s Cataract. The water droplets falling out from the falls get dispersed on to the evergreen forest beside the waterfall and is thus being rained over for millions of years.

Pottekkatt also saw a footprint on a rock there named as Eve’s footprint which he equated to Sree Rama padam at Ramakalmedu near the Pamba River. He goes on to describe various sights of interests across the river. There is the statue of Lord Livingstone, who is allegedly given the accolade as the first European to witness the falls. There is also a carving of the year 1885 on the bark of a tree, when he first saw the falls. There is also the mention of a tree called baobab which is described as ugly with a large trunk and a bulging pot belly. It is indigenous to the Africas and is revered very highly

V The Indians of East Africa 

Pottekkatt mentions time and again that the Indian population in Africa comprised mainly the Gujaratis who were affluent businessmen. The rest of them were Malayalis who occupied clerical jobs and Tamilians who did manual labour. However, the British were not favorable to the multitude of Indians in Africa. This stemmed out from various reasons. Mainly, the Indians knew the language very well and had a very friendly attitude towards the Africans. They had everything from meat to clothes at one single place which the English could never dream about. However, Pottekkatt does not have very good things to say about these greedy Baniyas. He says that they are also of the same mold as the British are exploiting the Africans to make profit. Nevertheless, the British wants to drive out Indians from Africa so that they can have a monopoly in exploitation. In degree, the Indian exploitation is much less when compared to the Europeans. Pottekkatt then brings on an excerpt from the speech of Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru who constantly asked the Indians settled in Africa to work for the welfare of Africa, which is seconded by the author. Unlike other chapters, here we see a disappointed Pottekkatt criticizing the Indians who are proud of their Indianness, but shy away from its essence.

VI From Blantyre to Dodoma

 This is a long chapter describing Pottekkatt’sjouney through the forests to Dar-es-Salam or Tanganyika. The usual route to Tanganyika is to go to Beira by train and then proceed by ship. Pottekkatt travelled first to Lilongwe by bus, thinking to catch the train to Beira. On his way, one of his luggages went missing, and he informed the askaris (policemen) about it. Though the author did not have any hope in locating his bag, the askaris meticulously fetched it for him. Till date, he does not know how the askaris managed it. In Lilongwe, his Maharashtrian host Mr. Dharabe told Pottekkatt about his acquaintance, Mr. Gokhale who is going to Dodoma in his lorry, which would traverse the forests, thus reducing the total distance considerably. Pottekkatt was more than happy to take this offer. Mr. Gokhalehad only two things to talk about: his wife’s culinary skills and the efficiency of his truck. Unfortunately, his truck’s radiator failed and they were travelling through a drought hit area. Hence they had to buy water which cost them more than petrol on their way. At Mbeya, Pottekkatt realized that the whites do not allow the natives to live within the city. They have separate space outside the city limits, called the Native Towns. The Whites are on a civilizing mission trying to make the Kappiris sophisticated, he remarks jeeringly. However he does not stereotype the entire white population like that and fondly remembers Mr.V, an Englishman who is critical of the English ways

VII Looking back at Nyasaland 

Unfortunately, Pottekkat in this chapter has looked at Nyasaland with a stereotypical vision of Africa being a dark continent. Nyasaland is a “dark country, its plains burnt and blackened by forest fires, its black people draped in black clothes.” Pottekkattlooks at Nyasaland with an outsider’s eye as he is one. But he does not show a big heart which is accommodating enough of others’ customs and beliefs. Instead takes the tone of a self-aggrandizing mission of civilization which the Europeans fondly call as the white man’s burden. Nyasaland is a protectorate of the British. However, they have not done any massive developmental activities there since their only intention is that of exploitation. For instance Nyasaland has huge mineral wealth, but The British does not want to indulge in long term projects since they do not know for how long they would be in Nyasaland. Hence they only concentrate on tobacco cultivation. Nyasa lake is the third largest lake in Africa. He mentions about the Yao tribe who came from Portuguese Africa. They have a custom called unyongo, where the boys and girls are taught conjugal rites and the art of love making. The Ngrus are another tribe and have cannibalistic traits. They file their upper teeth and make them sharp and pointed. They do not even hesitate to feed on their own kith and kin. However cannibalism has reduced considerably since the advent of the British

VIII Swahili 

Swahili is the common language of Kenya, Tanganyika, Uganda and Zanzibar. It means the language of the coastal land. The uniqueness of Swahili is that they start with tight consonant clusters like mtoni and msumku. Swahili has greatly borrowed from Arabic and even Hindi. It is a simple language with no script of its own and uses the English script. Pottekkatt later unfolds an interesting anecdote about his ‘mastery’ of Swahili where he becomes a translator of Swahili between a bus driver and a penniless English man who boarded the bus.

IX The Indian Bwana 

Indians mostly occupy the jobs of clerks or employees in private Indian school, if we except Gujaratis and other north Indian businessmen. They do not draw lucrative salaries unlike popular conception. The Holmes Salaries Commission had recommended a hike in their salary, but this nowhere reached the salary of the whites. However, since Africa is much cheaper than India, they could afford a luxurious lifestyle with splendid living rooms and three to four servants. They were given four months leave and second class tickets to visit their homelands in every four years. After retirement these Indians were skeptical about returning to India since they are unsure about the way their motherland would treat them. He also talks about the antagonism that people from different parts of India have for each other, which is revised and reinforced in Africa. North Indians slight the Madrasis, Goans revel in the colonial glory and the likewise. Pottekkatt is deeply bothered about the trajectory of such intolerance and muses over how this could hold a nation together.