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RABITAH
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Lost Identity Saga of Community Cutchi Memon community is in search of its lost identity Mumbai: Not too much remains of the old Memon Mohalla. The broad perches upon which scores of pugreed Seths once spent leisurely evenings are today cramped with hoisery shops and communication centres. The tranquil avenue where dandies once paraded-risking the censure of their watchful father is a confusion of handcarts and harried pedestrians. The famed philanthropists who once lived here have gone, leaving but a crumbling trail of past generosity. Despite the homogenising bustle of the Mohammed Ali Road area, however, Kambekar Street retains a distinctive identity. For it still remains the heart of the tiny Cutchi Memon community - at the moment celebrating the 75th year of its constitutional existence in the city."In the old days, over 60 percent of the community lived on this street." Today, however, most of the 1,500 families live in the suburbs. But this Jamat Khana allows us to come together and maintain community ties. It is important that the younger generation remembers our roots and our past."
Saga of the Cutchi Memon Community The saga of the Cutchi Memon Community began about 700 years ago when about 700 families from the Lohana tribe in Sind embraced Islam after encountering Pir Yusufuddin , a sunni preacher from Baghdad. These were known as Momins (believers), a word which eventually metamorphosed into Memons. While some Memon families migrated to Halar and Surat, others stryed into Kutch. The cruel terrain, however forced the Cutchi Memons to look farther afield, and many moved to Madras, Calcutta and Surat. And after the East India company transferred its operation from Surat to Bombay in 1813, they, with other Gujrati traders, streamed into the city. "At one point Chakala Street was lined with Cutchi Memon shops," how merchants elbowed out prostitues who then occupied the area. "The cloth merchants imported woollen garments from Manchester, while the timber merchants bagged lucrative government contracts." Flush with funds, the traders erected buildings, schools, orphanages and graveyards - not to forget a whopping 27 mosques. The Philanthropists of the community included Mohammed Saboo Siddick who, before he died at the age of 23, had started constructing a Musafirkhana and Technical Institute; Ismail Currim who spent all but Rs. 1,000 of his fortune on a Mosque; and Omar Sobani who, when Gandhiji was raising funds for the Swarajya Movement, chipped in with a blank cheque. But it is Cummoo Jaffer Seth - a Merchant so respected by the British that Queen Victoria gave him a bugle - who is the undeniable father of the community. " We are born in his maternity home and laid to rest in his Kabrastan. And every stage between the cradle an the grave has also been provided for." Indeed, so hefty was the cumulative contribution of the Cutchi Memons to the young city that, decades later, during the movement for a separate Maharashtra, Chief Minister Morarji Desai remarked, "If Bombay goes to anyone, It should go to those who contributed most to its growth - the Parsis and the Cutchi Memons." The community's glory days soon ended, however. Much of its wealth went up in smoke when Cutchi Memon merchants, inspired by the Swadeshi Movement, emptied out their shops and burnt foreign wares. Partition struck the second blow, when most wealthy Cutchi Memons migrated to Karachi. Even 50 years later, the community has not recovered from this double whammy. 75 years ago we had our own identity, our culture, our educational institutions, today we have lost everything to the modern world." And the struggle to arrive at an identity continues. More than tradition, today the Jamat's stress to be on education and activities like computer classes. Small communities have to maintain to delicate balance. We cannot afford to look inwards. But at the same time, it is essential to retain a sense of identity. Otherwise we would be lost in a crowd; and Mumbai would be stripped of its most important characteristic - its wonderful plurality."
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