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Hamara Kovai!
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They may have come from other lands, but the Marwaris, Gujaratis, Sindhis and Sikhs have now made Coimbatore their own. Pankaja Srinivasan reports
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Photos M Periasamy
Variety and colour In Coimbatore
The year is 1874. In a village in Rajasthan, a young man prepared to venture forth into the world and make his fortune. He walked from his remote hamlet, all the way to Ahmedabad. There, he boarded a train that carried him away from familiar people,
traditions and terrain, to Chennai, and finally Coimbatore where he hawked bangles for a living. His name was Ottajee. Why Coimbatore? One of his descendents, Phoolchandji, simply answers: “Taqdeer” (destiny).
Destination Kovai
Today, there are around 200 Marwari families here. “Apna des pardes ho gaya,” (our homeland became foreign to us) he says eloquently. Not only them. Destiny brought in people from other lands too. Sindhis, Punjabis, Gujaratis…
In the 1800s, another journey began, by sea. Bearing ghee and salt, merchants from Porbundar sailed to Thrissur. From there, they would take back spices. Soon, the need to have their people stationed in Thrissur was felt. So, some stayed behind. Then, the unforeseen happened. When a country craft sank, all communication between Porbundar and Thrissur snapped, and the few Gujaratis were cut off from their own land. Some of them moved to Coimbatore.
Here, they started dealing in zari, textiles, finance, etc. Seventy-two-year-old Kanaklal Abhaichand Shah is from one of those families. He has great stories to share. Of the time Mahatma Gandhi and Kasturbaa came home. As did Nehruji, Kamala Nehru and a young Indira Gandhi. And, K.M Munshi, Captain Lakshmi Sahgal of the INA, and Bharathiar. He talks of the time Vithal Bhai Patel was imprisoned in Coimbatore. As he desperately missed home-cooked food, the community sent a Gujarati cook to the prison to cook for him!
They are part of the people here, says Kanaklalji, and adds with a smile: “We are affectionately called the Korungu Seths, because of the Monkey Brand kerosene we used to trade in!”
The insiders
The vadanaatavar (North Indians) never felt like ‘outsiders’. “We have always been treated with affection,” says Phoolchandji. And, they too have adapted beautifully. When M. Karunanidhi was visiting, Phoolchandji addressed a gathering in impeccable Tamil. Curious, Karunanidhi asked to see the notes he was referring to, and was amazed that the jottings were in Tamil! And, Hemant Kumar (Phoolchandji’s son) declares with considerable pride: “Our Tamil friends say we make the best filter coffee in town!”
The Sindhis’ story of migration started in Shikarpur, in Sindh, in the 1930s. Shikarpur had trade links with places as far as Rome, Geneva, Sumatra, Japan, etc. “We are like the gypsies,” says Sindhi patriarch Bhagwandas G. Lund. And narrates tales of voyages on cattle ships, jatka vandis, and by foot. They brought with them the Hundi system of banking. They trudged their way from Karachi to Marwar, to Mumbai, Madras, and finally Coimbatore, where apart from finance, they got into trading in other products, real estate, etc.
Over puri-chana and gull (conversation) Sardar Amarjit Singh Chandhok speaks of the Sikhs in Coimbatore. One of the earliest was Sardar Jagir Singh, who found work with a mill in the 1950s. “After Partition, displaced families travelled to safer locales. When some braved the odds, migrated and found a livelihood, they were joined by others from their community. There are around 35 Sikh families here,” says Chandhok. They are immersed in welfare activities with their Gurudwara being the nerve centre.
A sense of belonging
“We are sons of the soil wherever we go,” he says. Even the terrible 1984 riots, where they witnessed wilful destruction of their property, have not embittered them. “Those who helped us (post-1984 riots) far outnumbered those who harmed us. Our friends here stood solidly by us. We are ever grateful for that,” says Chandhok.
The communities have equipped Coimbatore with educational institutions, health centres, charitable trusts, temples and a sense of enterprise. They are an intrinsic part of the weft and warp of the city.
No identity crisis
Hundreds of years may have blurred distinctions, yet, each community cherishes and fiercely holds on to its identity. So, while Phoolchandji’s grandsons chose to break from tradition and work abroad instead of looking after the family business, at home they all speak Marwari, and the daughters-in-law still cover their heads in the presence of elders. Chandhok states with some pride that rarely has anyone amongst them married out of the community; Bhagwandas Lund declares that each and everyone of them is proud to be called a Sindhi. And, Kanaklalji says their rites and rituals are kept alive and vibrant by the women in their community.
Apologies to those communities (Parsis, Bengalis, Chinese, etc.) who find no mention. But, everyone acknowledges that like the others they have made invaluable contributions that make Coimbatore such a rich melting pot of cultures.
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