The Gunny Sack By M. G. Vassanji: Historical Perspective Of Indian Trading Community In Africa

The Gunny Sack (1989), Vassanji's first novel, recreates the history of an Indian trading community in Africa. It brings out in vivid terms the currents and cross-currents of racial discrimination and hatred, cultural dichotomies, identity crisis and the stereotypical, culture-specific modes of behaviour. The story, put in a historical perspective ranging from colonial days to post-colonial era, brings to the fore the trauma, the agony and the disillusionment of the dislocated people. The travails of living in the shadow of colonialism and neo-colonialism unfold as the narrator walks down the memory lane, picking up threads of his past, mostly in a linear mode.

The narrator-protagonist Huseni Salim Juma (nicknamed Kala) is born and brought up in Africa, has his roots in India and finally comes to Canada. An old gunny sack which he gets as a kind of gift and a repository of his past from his great grandmother Ji Bai prompts him to explore the past in an apparent attempt to comprehend his present state of exile in an alien land. Throughout his narrative, he shows an uncanny ability to connect the past with the present, creating a discourse through memory, in which history and myth, and fact and fiction mingle quite effortlessly. Images from his school days, particularly the memory of his adolescent infatuation with his teacher Miss Penny nee Mrs. Gaunt, overwhelm the narrator. Miss Penny's exhortation: "Begin at the beginning" takes him back to the remote past of his ancestry. He traces his origin to the Shamsi community in India. He recalls how the Shamsis are dislocated as a result of drought and religious infightings. Some of them move to Africa in a bid to better their economic prospects, among whom is his great grandfather Dhanji Govindji.

One day he comes to Zanzibar, and works for some time as a clerk in the village Matamu where he becomes the elderman (the Mukhi) of his community in course of time. His casual alliance with a black native slave Bibi Taratibu results in the birth of a son named Huseni. It upsets the religious feelings of his own community, and he is asked to marry a girl of his own community and faith. He marries the daughter of a widow, Fatima. The keep, Bibi Taratibu, leaving behind her son, shifts to the other end of the village and runs a tea-stall to eke out her living for some time before her final disappearance. Fatima gives birth to a male child to be named Gulam. When the sons grow up, they are married, Huseni to Moti and Gulam to Ji Bai. Dhanji's family acquires riches, respect and influence. Matamu and much of the coastal area, it is to be noted, is under the German rule at the time Dhanji's family is flourishing. The natives who are suppressed and exploited harbour deep-seated hatred for the colonisers as well as for Indians/Asians for supporting the alien masters. The Maji Maji revolt by the Blacks is a natural outcome, but the Germans are able to crush it. Huseni, the half-caste, shows his sympathies for the rebels, hobnobs with them, and continues to meet his African friends and his mother against his family's wishes. When Dhanji raises his objections, Huseni leaves the family, never to return again. His wife Moti gets married to someone else and leaves. Dhanji spends a lot of time, money and energy in search of his lost son, but in vain. One day he is murdered, possibly by one of his own community on the suspicion of misappropriating the community funds lying in trust with him.

The village Matamu comes under the threat of attack by the British. The Indians vacate the village and disperse to various directions. Most of them reach Dar-es-Salaam. Then there is a shift in the narrative. The centre of action is now Nairobi where the narrator's father Juma marries Kulsum in the household of Awal, his mother's sister, after the death of his mother Moti. Awal treats Juma harshly, mainly because of his pedigree-going back to Bibi Taratibu. Juma and Kulsum-the narrator's parents-come to live separately and raise their family. The happy days come to an end with the death of the narrator's father. The Mau Mau movement, a rebellion against the British by the Black natives, greatly affects the lives of the Indian diaspora. The Indians find themselves in an awkward position, sandwiched between the Whites and the Blacks. The relationship between the Indians and the natives under the circumstances is beset with mutual suspicion and hostility. The British rulers show a condescending attitude towards the Asians in order to get their support in ruling the Black natives.

The Mau Mau Movement is dealt with severely, resulting in violent incidents, cases of rape and loot. After the death of the narrator's father, his family moves to Dar-es-Salaam where his mother runs a tailoring shop, and rears and educates her children. The area in which they live is mainly inhabited by the Indian families who run their own shops and stores. The Indian families continue to observe their customs, traditions and rituals pertaining to their different faiths. The narrator recalls his childhood days, his mischiefs and his relationship with Begum, his domineering sister, and his brother Jamaal (Sona). Ji Bai and her husband Gulam-now a missionary-come to Dar-es-Salaam. Ji Bai, now an old woman, is kind and considerate and wants to revive old ties with Kulsum and her family, but Kulsum relentlessly avoids Ji Bai for a long time. However, Ji Bai is able to revive the relationship to some extent when she cures Sona of his mysterious fever by her home-remedy. Tanganyika (now Tanzania) gets independence under the leadership of Julius Nyerere. The new rulers at once start the decolonization process. The Indians/Asians now find themselves at the receiving end. They face the onslaughts of racial discrimination, open hostility and even violence. Laws are passed to deprive them of their properties. In Uganda, they are asked to quit. Radical African leaders demand integration of the Indian diaspora through inter-racial marriages.

These moves start a second-generation migration to Canada, the U. S. A. and other countries. Those who decide to stay back have to make compromises. Kulsum's family decides to stay where it is, though Kulsum has to undergo many unpleasant experiences of being alien. She has to fight it out with her tailor Omari, a black native, who wants to take possession of her shop. Her well-knit family disintegrates. To the great dismay of Kulsum, her obedient daughter Begum elopes with her White lover, one Mr Harris, to London. Years later, her elder son Sona, too, leaves for America for higher education. Many of her immediate and close neighbours and relatives, too, depart. She has to bear with the changed circumstances. Her younger son Salim Juma has to undergo compulsory national service as part of his education. His camp experience at Uhuru, a remote place in the interior, is significant in two ways.

Firstly, it makes him come face to face with the ugly face of racism practised by the Blacks against the Indians/Asians. And it paves a way for his stormy relationship with a native girl called Amina, which changes the course of his life. Amina joins a radical group of revolutionaries after her visit to America. Salim Juma, once her lover and now a married man, fails to resist Amina's charms. Amina and her friends are detained on the charge of anti-national activities. Salim Juma is advised to leave the country to escape possible detention for hobnobbing with Amina. After a swift goodbye to his wife Zuleika and his child-who is deliberately named Amina by him-he escapes to Lisbon, from where he goes to America. He stays in Boston with his brother and then comes to Canada. Ji Bai, after her visit to India, also lands in Canada. She dies, instructing her great grandson Aziz to hand over her old gunny sack in which she has put a number of mementoes of the past to Salim Juma. It becomes increasingly clear that Vassanji sets his story in the background of important historical events in East Africa. He shows that history moves on its course relentlessly, affecting communities and individuals.

The Gunny acit portrays the history of the dislocated people. In fact, the novel takes up several interrelated issues: the dislocation of the whole groups of people, the identity problems and the agonies of living in uncertain times. The dislocation occurs mainly due to the "pull" or the "push" factor, or both. The search for a greener pasture-the lure of lucre-is the single most important factor behind most of the migration in the world. This is called the "pull" factor. The "push" factor obviously refers to the circumstantial dislocation which occurs when one is pushed by adverse conditions to leave one's country. The uprooted people have to create what Avtar Brah calls a "diaspora space", an intersection of borders where all the identities and subjects become "juxtaposed, contested, proclaimed or disavowed. . . " The dislocation of the Shamsi community in the novel is mainly caused by the "push" factor. Adverse conditions at home force the likes of Dhanji Govindji to migrate to Africa and other countries. This is the first generation migration. Initially, the things are pretty good for most of the migrants. Dhanji's family prospers until it faces another dislocation when the British supplant the Germans.

The narrator's family chooses to live in Nairobi, and is able to withstand the pressure of events. Like most Indian families, it defends itself from cultural invasions and onslaughts on identity. It is only in postcolonial days, after African countries get independence, that there is real pressure on the Indian diaspora to change its cultural affiliations, and either assimilate or quit. Under the prevailing circumstances of oppression, hostility and exploitation, the disasporic communities could have only two choices : accommodation or quitting. Those who have no choice but stay try to adjust themselves to the new conditions. But when stringent laws against the settler communities are passed, their properties are nationalised and legalized efforts are made to force their daughters in wedlocks with the Blacks, many among them make a beeline for developed countries.

The second generation migration thus, is mainly caused by the decolonization process in Africa. Kulsum and many others like her feel that Africa is their home, and they have to stay here. But her own children move out. First, her daughter Begum marries a Physics teacher, Mr. Harris, and goes to London. Then, her elder son Sona leaves for America to study the history of his community. The youngest child, Salim Juma (Kala-the narrator) also has to shift to Canada under peculiar circumstances. When the government nationalises the properties of the Asians, there is an exodus to other countries-Pakistan, the United States, the U. K. , Canada and Australia. The family of Uncle Goa reaches London. His wife says, 'We cannot watch our servants turning around and throwing insults at us'. Such families sell their household goods at throwaway prices. Many of Kulsum's relatives leave. A ship going to Pakistan is impounded and lots of cash and jewellery of the migrants is confiscated by the authorities. This second migration of the African-Asians renders them almost penniless. The news from the neighbouring Uganada is all the more disturbing. There, Asians are deprived of everything, even of their Ugandan passports. Looted and humiliated, they seek refuge in the Western countries. Only Canada welcomes these Asian refugees, while other Western countries reluctantly accept a limited number of them. During the postcolonial period, much churning is witnessed in the social and political arenas. Within the families, there is a rupture with the traditions, particularly in the homes of Indian migrants. On the political front, the leaders are seen experimenting with the forms of government, changing allies and foes. With their zeal to Africanize all the people, they seem to don the clothes of their erstwhile colonial masters. At least, this is the view of the large sections of Indian communities. Like Kulsum's, other Indian families, too, disintegrate. With Africanization under way in the civil service, Roshan's husband Nurdin gets retirement. Roshan's secret affair with Inspector Kumar comes to an abrupt end when Kumar's post is Africanised, and he has to quit the country with his family. Nurdin marries again and Roshan, still his first wife, settles in Upanga and concentrates on the Women's Movement. Hassan Uncle's family gets financially wiped out when their property is nationalised.

Memory plays a significant role in The Gunny Sack. In fact, it is a fundamental narrative device. The narrative voice invokes a remembrance of the past and draws upon legends and folk tales stored in the racial consciousness. The collective memory of people becomes a reservoir to draw facts from. According to Sudha P. Pandya, The Gunny Sack "is a poignantly rendered story which stands out most importantly on account of the writer's attitude to the collective memory, and his handling of it. " The gunny sack, in spite of its symbolic import, acquires the characteristic of a living human being. The narrator views it as a woman-companion and talks to her frequently: Tell me, you who would know all. . . What was she like, this gentle one, this Bibi Taratibu given to my ancestor for comfort on lonely, breezy African nights. . . She demurs, my gunny sack. Slave women, she says, wore a colourful cloth round their bodies, under the shoulders. She must have been dark dark. Again and again, the narrator pauses and stops the memory from running amuck or playing a trick on him. He tries to keep it on track, and seeks his Shehru's help in this regard. The underlying idea is that the narrator knows the risks of running with memory-sentimentalism, nostalgia, subjectivity, arbitrariness and even chaotic recollection. It becomes obvious that the past is often viewed in the light of the present in the novel.

Memory, as a narrative device, allows the juxtaposition of the past with the present. The novelist reveals the awareness of the real historical sense. The past is used in terms of its constructive potential to formulate a vision on which the future may be modelled. Its real value lies in realising the mind from its present ideological bondage. It is characteristic of Vassanji to treat the histories of nations and individuals simultaneously as they impinge upon each other. Salim Juma's narrative coalesces these histories in the colonial and the post-colonial eras, particularly in those parts of Africa which are now known as Tanzania and Kenya.

The life story of Salim Juma, the narrator, is inextricably linked to his ancestral history as also to that of the country in which he is born and brought up. The memory of the colonial days is resurrected by the narrator in short, vivid scenes, starting from what he knows of the Shamsi community in India. The Shamsis owe their allegiance to both Hindu and Muslim religions, viewing Allah as simply a form of Lord Vishnu. Their leader calls upon them to wait for a saviour. But the saviour, as it happens, never appears. Things turn from bad to worse. Economic difficulties multiply. The Shamsis begin to migrate to other countries, particularly to Zanzibar, known then as the Jewel of Africa. The whole community breaks up "in confusion" as a result of the bigotry of the proselytisers. But even the rigid Muslims among the community continue to practise some Hindu customs. The exotic tales about Zanzibar, the Jewel of Africa as it was called then, makes many among the Shamsis to think of the place as a vertiable heaven on the earth: Men returned from Zanzibar invariably rich; and when a bullock cart entered a village carrying its exotic passenger from abroad, gangs of boys would usher it in, with cries of, 'Africa se aya hai! Africa se aya hai!'. . . If one of these boys got into trouble, 'Go to Africa', they told him. 'Go to Jangbar. See what Amarsi Makan did from himself. And he was no better than you. ' Amarsi Makan was the example. From a loafer, to stowaway, to the Sultan's customs master and the richest man on the island.