WIN: Author captures history of indentured family in memoir

A Bluff author, Dasrath Vinesh Maniram, aims to take readers on a historical journey spanning more than a century, in his memoir, Made in Merebank – Life After Indenture.

The 54-year-old said the memoir which comprises 220-pages, begins by highlighting the journey and challenges his indentured great-grandfather endured after he left India and travelled to South Africa in 1878.
“What started as a journey of escape from famine and poverty for my great-grandfather, Soman Lowton, turned into a journey of survival. He was lured onto a ship to an unknown land with false promises of a better life, land, and gold, only to be entrapped in a form of slavery they called indenture.

“However, 10 years later, after arriving in South Africa, my great-grandfather, at the age of 34, had the opportunity to return to India. During that time, he was living and working in the mines in Wessels Nek, northern Natal. He had his own family already – a wife and two sons – so he chose to stay in South Africa and died in that town. He may have struggled to survive as an indentured labourer, but here in South Africa, he was a lot better off than what he left behind in India. He finally put a life together in this country and worked to build a better life for his family,” he said.

Maniram, who is married to Rashie and has a son, Nashendra, said he was inspired by his relatives who were compiling a family tree, to write a memoir.
“My cousin and his daughter had wanted to do a family tree. While searching the archives at the UKZN document centre, using indentured numbers, they uncovered a string of valuable information. They had managed to complete the family tree with the information they found.

“However, I was inspired to take it one step further and began writing my memoir in early 2020. It took about 14 months to complete, using family documents, photo albums, national archives on indentured history, and speaking to family members.
“I traced back this inspiring story from the little information I gathered from my memory of the stories my paternal grandmother shared with my mother. I then turned to my only reliable source for the information which I need, my uncle Lennie Lutchman, the only surviving grandson of my great-grandfather, so I could complete this story.

“However, I didn’t only get to trace back the journey of my great-grandfather, but the journey of his entire lineage who were born and raised in Merebank from the year 1925. I now tell the story as a third-generation Lowton, who was born in Merebank,” he said.

Maniram, a businessman, said he also documents his life growing up in the Merebank area.
“Following the story of my forefathers, I give a more personal account of my life and how I grew up on this ancestral land in Merebank and continued to do market gardening with my dad until the land was expropriated by the apartheid government for industrial use,” he said.

The grandfather of two said the memoir comprises 15 chapters and about 100 photographs and documents.
Maniram said he hopes to inspire readers to also remember and tell of their own history.
“I would like to take a reader on a journey into their own lives, as well to bring back warm memories of the beautiful lives that we lived with the little that we had. Although we progressed so much over the years, we lost other better things in life forever,” he said.

Maniram said he felt proud to have accomplished his goal of writing a memoir.

“It has always been my dream to write a book about my life. However, with the curtains coming down on my generation, I also felt that I needed to leave behind this wonderful story for the following generations of Lowtons, so they can understand where we come from,” he said.
To purchase a copy of the memoir, contact Maniram on 082 898 5069 or email wildhoneytrading@yahoo.com.

To win a copy of the book, answer the question and fill in the form below: In what year did Soman Lowton leave India, and travel to South Africa? 

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