Chapter 34 Chapter Seven Some Experiences

The port of Natal is Durban, also known as Port Natal.Abdulla Sai came to pick me up from the pier.When the boat was docked, I watched the people who came on board to pick up friends, and I realized that Indians are not very respected.I could not fail to observe that those who knew Abdullah had a look of contempt towards him, which made us sad, but Abdullah was used to it.Those who looked at me seemed to have a kind of curiosity.My clothes are different from other Indians.I was wearing a frock coat that came down to my knees, but I wore a turban like the Pughri that people in Bengal wear. I was sent to the house of the business and they gave me a single room next door to Abdullah Sai.

He doesn't know me, and I don't know him.He read the letter his brother sent me, and he didn't know what to do.He thought his brother had sent him a white elephant.He was rather shocked that my clothes and life looked as expensive as the Europeans'.At that time, there was no special job for me to do.Their case was in the Transvaal, and there was no sense in sending me there at once.So how can he trust my abilities and my personality?He's not going to visit me in Pretoria on business.The defendants were all in Pretoria and he thought they would be a bad influence on me.And if the work on the case couldn't be given to me, what could be given to me, since all the other jobs were better done by his clerks?Employees can also be blamed if they do something wrong.What if I'm doing something wrong too?So, if the work related to this case cannot be given to me, then there is no point in keeping me.

Abdullah had virtually no education, but he had a wealth of experience.He had a great intellect, and felt himself gifted with it.From constant use, he learned a little English, just enough for everyday conversation, but it was enough for him to conduct everything, whether dealing with bank managers or European businessmen, or presenting his case to his legal counsel.The Indians have great respect for him.His firm was the largest, or at least the largest, in India at the time.Among these many strengths, he has a shortcoming-naturally suspicious. He takes Islam very seriously and likes to talk about Islamic philosophy.Although he did not know Arabic, he knew quite a bit about the Koran and Islamic literature in general.He is good at citing extensively from sources and applying them at any time.Associating with him, I gained a lot of practical knowledge of Islam.When we became close, we often had long discussions about religion.

Two or three days after I arrived, he took me to see Durban's courthouse.There he introduced me to a few people and seated me next to his attorney.The president kept looking at me and later told me to take off my turban.This I refused, and I left the court. And so I realized that the struggle of the future awaited me here again.Abdullah Sai explained to me why some Indians were told to take off their headscarves.He said those who wear Islamic attire are allowed to wear the hijab, but other Indians are routinely removed when they go to court.Why there is such a little redundant difference, I must explain in detail.In these two or three days, I have seen that the Indians are divided into several factions.One faction is Muslim businessmen, who call themselves "Arabs".The other faction is the Hindus, and the other is the Persi, both of whom are clerks.Hindu clerks belonged neither to one sect nor to that, unless they threw themselves into the ranks of the "Arabs."The Persians call themselves Persians.All three types of people have some social relationship with each other.But the most numerous was a class of the three classes of Tamil, Drugu, and North Indian indentured and free workers.Those indentured workers who came to Natal for five years under the agreement were called "Gilmidians", which is an inflection of the English word "agreement".The other three classes have only business relationship with this class.The British called these people "coolies", and since most of the Indian diaspora belonged to this working class, all Indians were called "coolies" or "samis". "Sami" is the suffix of Tamil. Many Tamil people add this word after their names. In fact, it is "Swami" in Sanskrit, which means master.So if there is an Indian who is not satisfied with being called "Sami", and he has enough courage, he will retaliate: "You can call me 'Sami', but you forgot that 'Sami' means master." I am not your master!" Some Englishmen will hesitate, others will be angry, curse the Indians, and if they have the opportunity, even beat them; for to him, "novice" is An insulting word, calling it the master, is simply a slander!

For this reason, I got the title of "coolie lawyer", and those who do business are also called "coolie merchants". The original meaning of the word "coolie" was thus forgotten, and it became a common appellation for all Indians.The Muslim businessman was not pleased with the title, and would say, "I'm not a coolie, I'm an Arab," or "I'm a businessman," and apologize if he came across a polite Englishman. In this context, the question of wearing the hijab is an important one.A person who is forced to remove the hijab is tantamount to enduring a humiliation.So I thought I might as well break up with the turban and wear an English hat instead, and save myself the stigma and unpleasant arguments.

Abdullah Sai, however, disagreed with my idea.He said: "If you do that, the repercussions are going to be bad. Where are you going to leave those who insist on wearing the turban? And it's fitting that you wear the turban. If you wear the British hat, More like a waiter." What he said was mixed with practical knowledge, patriotism and a little bit of narrow-mindedness.The insight was so obvious that he would not have insisted on wearing the turban if it had not been out of patriotism; his contemptuous mention of the ushers was a testament to his pettiness.Indian indentured workers include three classes of people, namely Hindus, Muslims and Christians.The latter were the sons and daughters of Indian indentured workers who had converted to Christianity.Even in 1893 they were already numerous.They wore British dress and mostly made their living as ushers in hotels.Abdullah's criticism of British-style hats refers to the attire of these men.It is considered indecent to be a waiter in a hotel.To this day, there are still many people who have this idea.

Generally speaking, I agree with what Abdullah said.I wrote a letter to the newspaper about it, justifying my wearing a turban in court.The issue caused much debate in the newspapers, and I was described as an "unwelcome visitor".Thus, within a few days of my being there, this incident served as an unexpected advertisement for me in South Africa.Some people supported me, while others severely criticized my presumptuousness. I actually wore the hijab pretty much all the time during my sojourn in South Africa.When and why I didn't wear headgear at all in South Africa, more on that later.