The Hindu : Kerala / Kochi News : Trading is the forte of Gujaratis in city

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 25, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Kerala

Kerala - Kochi

Trading is the forte of Gujaratis in city

Staff Reporter

The 600 Gujarati families are based in Mattancherry

Every society has its own good and ills and in spite of speaking about problems, the Gujarati community simply loves Malayalis for their openness in accepting all communities. “Mattancherry is mini India”, said
Mr. Shah.

KOCHI: It was the all-weather port of Kochi that brought in the earliest Gujaratis here and the Kerala society perhaps owes it to the trading acumen of the community for providing a strong commercial base to the city.

The beehive of their activity was Mattancherry, till the railroad came up after the formation of the State. And it is Mattancherry that is home to over 600 Gujarati families.

Seventh generation

They are into their sixth and seventh generation and have witnessed the drastic changes taking place in the Kerala society. Mulraj Narayandas, 78, who was into the family’s coir business earlier, has seen the growth of the city at close quarters and believes that the State lost its opportunities even in its strengths like tea and spices trade to other States because of the militant labour.

Mattancherry lost out on being the prime centre for trade in grain and pulses since the 1970s while the Jew Town lost its leading position on the spices trade from the 1990s.

Bases changed

Businessmen and industrialists from Kerala look for bases in other States because of the friendly labour force there, Mr. Narayandas said. He takes the developments of Kochi in the information technology field warmly but is sceptical of political interference at every developmental aspect of the city — be it infrastructure development or any other.

“There is not a single flyover in the city which registers the highest number purchase of cars and scooters and motorbikes”, said Pravin C. Shah, a textile merchant in the city for more than 40 years.

“There are agitations every other day. But let the political freedom not interfere with the human rights freedom of the people to travel. Let there be a fixed place to stage demonstrations. That will be a relief from the frequent traffic diversions and blocks created in the name of democracy”, said Mr. Shah.

Mini-India

Every society has its own good and ills and in spite of speaking about problems, the Gujarati community simply loves Malayalis for their openness in accepting all communities.

“Mattancherry is mini India”, said Mr. Shah.

The Gujarati community that includes a number of groups like the Jains, Marwaris, Patels and others comes together under the Gujarati Mahajan, which celebrated its centenary in 1985.

Locals employed

The community finds the Malayalis good book-keepers. In fact, many traders used to employ the locals to keep their accounts.

The entrepreneurship of Gujaratis had perhaps brought the first printing press in Kerala, said Mr. Narayandas, who talked about Devji Bhimji, the Gujarati philanthropist and businessman.

No politics

While Gujaratis have become part of the local society, the community does not have a representation in the political milieu.

Easy money

People from the community were elected to the Legislative Council before the State was born. But the community stayed away from politics ever since. “Politics is easy money now-a-days and we like to earn our money the hard way,” said Mr. Shah.

His wife Sreela P. Shah, who was born and brought up in Kozhikode, feels at home here, taking to Kerala cuisine with as much ease as Gujarati cuisine.

“Puttu and kadala is as much enjoyed as the poori and sabji. Besides, we get everything that a Gujarati wants here itself”. And providing the locals the Gujarati taste is Santhilal Mithaiwalah in Mattancherry, which is a big hit with the locals.