I recently read that there were more than a million Indians in Durban. What is their history? How did they arrive there and how have they assimilated into South African societies?
What Indian languages are prevalent there and how is the Indian culture preserved?
Any pictures would be great and appreciated

they arrived to work on the cane fields in the 1870s and are part of south africas unique tapistry of culture.

Well being a curryboi myself, from what I have learnt is:

The indians arrived in 1862 as labourers from India to work in the cane fields for the Dutch & british, along the Natal North coast, they were mainly Hindi & Tamil speaking indians from Mumbai. They were told that they were to be rewarded with riches if they were to make the journey, as Indians are greedy they came, only to be explioted & used as slaves, then after about 5-6 years, the buisness minded indians (Gujerati's & muslims) decided to make the journey to SA to see what the big fuss was about, they came to SA basically to make money out of the indians that were currently living here. Most of the Gujerati's & Muslims set up shop in the north coast (Tongaat, Stanger) They sold the indian essentials to the indian population of Natal. Then some indians got adventurous & trekked along the south coast of Natal, were many of them starting farming, mainly fruit farms (banana's & so on) As time went on the indians started exploring SA, finding small towns in SA opening up mini general dealers in the small towns across SA. My moms dad had a shop in Aliwal North, thats in the middle of no-where in Northern Cape. There were only 2 indian family's in Aliwal at that time, so when ever an Indians travelled through the town, they would always stop at the shop, even have lunch! although they dont know each other that well! It was just becuase they were both indian that they felt they were already friends, hence we indians know alot of people.

While those indians were exploring other parts of SA the ones in Durban were settleling in quite quickly. Alot of the buisness's on the North coast were begining to move into the Durban CBD, due to the apartheid system that was in place at that time, Indians were not allowed to open there shops in the elite streets, but that did not hamper the trade, because what they sold were more for indian & black community. They should get the occasional white man to come buy is curry spice for his beef curry, but that was it. In Victoria street there was a huge market there dubbed the "Indian Market" because all the stalls were owned by indians, you could find anything there, from milk, bread, fruit, veg, spices, prayer goods, clothing, & I can go on. But since the market was built on prime land, & it was 100% indian the government wasnt in favour of it. So one night it mysteriously combusted & burnt to the ground, over 200 stalls with its stock, burnt to ashes. Nobody could do anyting to stop the inferno. The indians still took control over that spot of land though. Now the Victoria street market stands in the place of that old market, & still the locals still call it the "Indian Market".

Now a days in the new SA, we all count our selves as one, we always try to forget about the past, but it is difficult to forget some of the things that went on in the past.
Gandhi also played a big part in fighting for freedom in SA. Our former President Nelson Mandela said that Gandhi was his idol & used his way of life to fight for the Nation, Mandela also a freedom fighter was compared to that of Gandhi, but he him self said, that nobody can ever put him in the same class as Gandhi, its just not possible.

& there is plenty more history behind the indians of SA, its just too much to mention!
But the best thing that the indians gave to SA besides the culture, colour & spice is also the bunny chow!

No we dont eat bunny rabbits! its actually a quater loaf of bread with the inside removed, so that you have a hollow inside with the crust acting as a wall, curry of your choice is then put into the bread & then covered with the bread that you removed to form a so called lid, it is served with sambels & pickle. You can get it anywhere in Druban. The history behind the bunny chow, no one know's for sure who invented it, but the one I believe is that
a Gujerati person invented it, Gujerati's were known to be miser's so instead of throwing yesterdays stale bread away they should out hot curry into it to warm it up & soften it, so when you eat it, it doesnt feel stale! No I myself am a gujerati, so I can believe this one, because there are quite a few stingy guji's out there!

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/6403/d5c868983uq.jpg

a 1/4 mutton from Jonnys on sparks road is the ultimate chow

Charoo's like their whiskey

http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/1796/10049121jb.jpg

Chatsworth ; one of the biggest Indian areas

http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/7013/10049368hc.jpg

there are ( Red dotted) Hindu's

http://img159.imageshack.us/img159/4157/10149623vz.jpg

and happy mixed Indians babies

http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/8505/10048861cw.jpg

^^I prefer govenders in Umbilo, but you can always rely on Coconut Grove @ the lugs :)

Durbsboi, SA BOY and Doveling, thanks for the info. Does look like a sprawling community. Do you know if there are Indians still migrating to South Africa?

indians are almost everywhere just like the chinese.. we have plenty of them here in our city..

eww, how come all the indians outside india are so ugly

Durbsboi, SA BOY and Doveling, thanks for the info. Does look like a sprawling community. Do you know if there are Indians still migrating to South Africa?
Well the indians seem to have stopped, but the Pakistani's are flooding us here in Durban, with their chicken tikka stands & fake Bollywood DVD's.
They practically invading us, there is no town in SA that you wont find a Pakistani guy. When I went on holiday in December, I went to Joburg, Sandton, Pretoria, Kimberly, Marble Hall, Groblesdaal & all these place I saw at least 2 pakistani's!

eww, how come all the indians outside india are so ugly
Hey who you calling ugly! Dovelings pics are just pics of some of the indians in South Africa (no offense Doveling)

indians are almost everywhere just like the chinese.. we have plenty of them here in our city..
Which city you from?

Hey who you calling ugly! Dovelings pics are just pics of some of the indians in South Africa (no offense Doveling)


You tell em durbsboi! I know some beautiful Indian people!

eww, how come all the indians outside india are so ugly

So you are calling my baby ugly ????( I take that as an offence !!)
What a strange remark anyway,each community has it's beatiful and ugly people.IMO Indians in SA are quite alright looking, specially the girls ;)

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/4577/3babies4uf.jpg

yeh u tell him Doveling, who he thinks he is? Lets see how "beautiful" he looks then!

and maybe he can explain why all whites outside Holland and all blacks outside Zamunda are so ugly!!

so to mr Tower :

http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/9725/10039855aj.jpg

any way loads of indian in durbs actually myroom mates are indian and from durbs makes durban a very intresting city to visit ....going to forsburg"dont know how to spell" it,this weekend going to see how much i can get with 50 bucks ;)

^^Fordsburg, (Mayfair) go to Mint Rd, every fucking food joint you can think of is on that road, I mean every one! plus the paki's with their chikken Tikka & Fake DVD stands :)

You obviously havent been to Durbs if you think indians outside of india arent hot! My classes at uni are packed with them, and there are some mighty fine girls to be found there...and some boys :)

Also there are quite a number of indian nationals in durban. at uzkn alone in my lectures there are 4 who have recently moved to south africa.

Thats what i love about durban, the wonderful mix of people we have. I was down at north beach this afternoon, and there were muslim ladies in full dress, their kids playing with indian, white and black kids. The shembe ladies down at the waters edge collecting the salt water, the surfers on backline, the british and german tourists getting pink from too much sun, then staggering up to Jo Kool's to vrot on booze...you gotta love the mix.

If you ever want to see the diversity in Durban, you need only head to the beach!

Indian girls are smashing especially the new and westernized generation. Lebanese, Indian and Brazilian girls are hoooottt, wooooww. My first girlfriend was a Lebanese-Ivoirian and she was a beauty. Almost all of the Indian girls I met were absolutely lovely to look at....only problem is that they are a bit shy and reserved.

Towers, the only thing you seem to be the master of is insulting other people. Man, you´ve got a damn problem.....

PS: The baby on the pic is adorable.

I currently live in Canada.
I know lots of South african Indians who have emigrated To Canada because they don't find conditions in SA satisfying.
The Pakistanis must be filling their places then because it doesn't look like the indian population in SA is decreasing.
By the way, i have a question about Islam in SA.
Are calls to prayers sang aloud in the streets just like any muslim country or is it forbidden like in western countries?
Are mosques allowed to call the prayers in SA by using loud speakers or is it forbidden by law?
Regards

Yep I often here calls to prayer where I live in Observatory, and I think it's even more common in Durban. (?)

About the loudspeakers in SA, there was actually quite a famous case in SA.. Garden Cities v Northpine Islamic Society.. the case didn't necessarily forbid loudspeakers, but did say that where a contract stipulated that no sound amplification could be used, the contract will trump any religious tenets which might be used in it's defense.

So ye.. loud speakers aren't forbidden per se in South Africa, but I suppose if you lived in a neighbourhood where people get annoyed by really loud calls to prayer (I myself wouldn't mind.. I think it creates quite a nice atmosphere :) ), you might get some very angry neighbours knocking on your door and taking you to court..

eww, how come all the indians outside india are so ugly


Towers, you have an ugly mind and a filthy heart. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If you find Indians ugly then look inside you. You have a serious problem mate, fix it.

Are mosques allowed to call the prayers in SA by using loud speakers or is it forbidden by law?
Regards
There is no law that forbids it, it depneds on the community as joburg pointed out, you see due to the aparthied system all races lives seperate from one another (indians in indian areas, blacks in black townships & white in thier own place) so the muslims lived in the indian area's where they built their mosques so they do have the loud speakers, & its normal for us, doesnt really matter who we following, its just part of our life that mosques have loudspeakers & it doesnt bother us at all

Yep I often here calls to prayer where I live in Observatory, and I think it's even more common in Durban. (?)

You live in Observatory? near Eastgate? on that hill? my cuz bought a huge place there, his a dentist, its freeken massive, I love the view from there.

about the loud speakers more common in Durban, I think not, if you vist the indian area's in Joburg & pretoria (Roshnee, Dadaville, Laudium, Lenasia....) their have alot of mosques & their speakers are like 10 times louder than the ones in Durbs! In Laudium the muslims are so rich each family has their own mosque! so there are tons of mosques there! So you can imagine the noise!

I don't want to be off-topic regarding Indians in SA.
I feel that respect for islamic religion in SA is very strong. Coming from Canada and western countries where expression of religion is forbidden and secularism is sacred, i do feel that islamic religion is very respected in South Africa. The fact that loud speakers in mosques doesn't bother ordinary south africans tells us everything.

Today, some of the world's most famous islamic scholars are south african.

Even during the deepest times of Apartheid, Islamic religion and other religions (hinduism, judaism and other christian churches) were respected.

That should give thought to American, Canadian and European societies.

^^ I doubt they will get it into their thick heads to be honest, religion is something not to be pissy footing about with. Its to be repsected no matter what.