An African journey that became an identity heritage
“Where no monuments exist to heroes but in the common words and deeds …” | Walt Whitman
MUNIGADU Rangado, indentured number 57684, with his children, Narainsamy, Amasigadu and Muthialu stare at us with studied concentration.
They made “contact” with the South African government from Dar-es-Salaam on April 14, 1922, when Munigadu was seeking reentry into South Africa.
Their “contact” with South Africa had begun much earlier. Munigadu was 21 when he first arrived in Natal from north Arcot on the Congella in March 1895. He was assigned to the Natal Central Sugar Company in Mount Edgecombe. A shipmate, Mangai, was assigned to the same employer and they married shortly after.
Mangai died in 1904 soon after and Munigadu married Thayi Chinna Kistadoo. When Thayi died, the family returned to India with their father on the Umhloti on
