The Hindu : Separated by continents, reunited in India

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 31, 2002

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Separated by continents, reunited in India

By Our Special Correspondent

JAIPUR MARCH 30. India provides the setting for a reunion of two old friends who fought the apartheid in South Africa together but now live in two different continents. The common factor which brings them to India is their ancestry, though both have no exact details.

When Justice Zakeria Mohammad Yaqoob of the Constitutional Court of South Africa decided on a long holiday_full of serious work, though_along with his wife Anuradha, his old friend Bala Mudaly, who now lives in Australia, decided that he too would visit this land of his ancestors to meet his buddy.

Presently touring together somewhere in south-western India, both Justice Zakeria and Dr. Mudaly were here last week. While Justice Yaqoob, perhaps the only blind judge in a senior position in the whole world, was attending a series of programmes complete with lecturing on apartheid and democracy, human rights and meeting the physically challenged in the Pink City, Dr.Maudaly quietly followed him wherever he went, savouring the moments of togetherness.

Justice Yaqoob was news but this quiet person shadowing him remained an enigma until one found out. "I came to India to spend two weeks quietly with Zach--that is what we call him. We were together in the South African National Congress,'' Dr.Mudaly explained. At that time, young Yaqoob was a degree student at the University College in Durban which is now the University of Durban-Westville of which Justice Yaqoob is the Chancellor.

Dr.Mudaly left South Africa in 1988, before he could enjoy the fruits of freedom they had striven hard to achieve. ''I was unemployed for long. I needed to make a living,'' he said, revealing the compulsions of existence. He was prompted to go to Australia as his wife Neerosh's family was already there. Dr.Mudaly presently is a practising psychologist.

Unlike Justice Yaqoob, whose parents left Gujarat for South Africa, Dr.Mudaly's ancestry is vague and he knows only this much _that he is of Tamil origin. This is because the migration of his family had taken place at the time of his late father's grandparents.

``My father, Narsu Subramani Mudaly, died at the age of 83 in 1990. My ancestors reached South Africa as labourers in sugar plantations. We used to speak Tamil at home,'' he said. Yet Dr. Mudaly never tried to find out his roots even though he comes to India periodically.

``I did not try to find out. I know there are people who painstakingly make efforts. But in my case it is going to be difficult as my ancestors left long back. Moreover, one has no time left after trying to make a living,'' he explained it this way. ''Do you think anyone back in Tamil Nadu can help me in this '' he asks rather innocently.

Interestingly, Dr. Mudaly remembers the time he attended a Tamil school in Natal where he used to bunk classes. ''I used to run away to avoid school''. But why? ''Studying Tamil did not make sense to me. Things were in a flux in South Africa. More people had started speaking English.''

Okay, he does not care much for his origins perhaps, but what about South Africa where he too had made a contribution to its present existence?

"I don't think I will go back.Once you migrate, the world behind closes on you.'' Yes, this is a stark reality which makes most of us march forward and never look back.

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