Across the Kala Pani by Shevlyn Mottai

 

Like many Indians desperate to escape unbearable conditions in their home country, these women are only too eager to believe what theyve been told: that a better life awaits them in South Africa, where caste doesnt matter, food is plentiful, and liberty will be theirs after just five years. But the reality of life on the plantations reveals the truth about the crossing: that it is usually a one-way journey, rife with misery, and that the hardship doesnt end after the ship has dropped anchor in Durban harbour.

The epic stories of these immigrants the brave, the bold, the kind; the weak, the cruel, the cowardly are woven into the fabric of South Africas Indian population today. Shevlyn Mottai has drawn on her ancestors history to highlight the bonds formed between women during adversity, and to celebrate their journeys of tragedy and triumph.