MADHO AND MANILALL RAMNANAN BROTHERS – ANOTHER PIONEER FAMILY THAT MADE SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF OTTAWA VILLAGE

 THE RAMNANAN FAMILY OF OTTAWA WHO MAINTAIN CLOSE CONTACT WITH THEIR ANCESTORAL VILLAGE OF NAWAPURA IN THE DISTRICT OF AGIMGURTH/CHIRACTOE IN THE STATE OF BIHAR IN NORTH INDIA

(The well-known Ramnanan brothers - Mr Madho Ramnanan, (seated right), and Manilall Ramnanan, (seated left), seen here with their mother - Mrs Ramnanan Jaichoo - and five of their other brothers.)

By Subry Govender

One of the business families that made a huge contribution to the social, cultural, economic, community and educational development and upliftment of the Ottawa village since the 1940s was the Ramnanan clan.

The Ramnanan family lived on a property at the corner of the Old Main Road and Kissoon Road in the area known as Uplands. They ran a trading store from the property and also a T-room and butchery on a property across the road.

The head of the family business in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and right up to 2011 was Mr Madho Ramnanan, who also participated fully in community and cultural projects. He was also one of the local leaders who was an active member of the Ottawa Civic Association.

I interacted with Ishwar Madho, who is the third eldest of Mr Madho Ramanan’s six children –  Jay Madho, who still lives in Ottawa; Dan Madho, who is now late, lived in Verulam; Ishwar who lives in Verulam; Provina Jugdeo who has settled in Phoenix; Nirmala Sivapersadh who is also in Phoenix and Shobana Bhugwandeen who resides in Verulam.

I also interacted with Anil Manilall, the second son of Manilall Ramnanan, the younger brother of Madho Ramnanan, who was also involved in the family businesses and in the community, educational, cultural and religious development of Ottawa in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

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(Mr Madho Ramnanan, businessman and community leader, who made a major contribution to the educational, cultural, economic and social development of Ottawa village along with his brother, Manilal Ramnanan, and other members of their extended family.)

Mr Madho Ramnanan, who was a school teacher, took control of the Ramnanan business empire after his father, Ramnanan Jaichoo, passed on in 1952.

His grand-father worked at the Armstrong  Brothers’ sugar estates along with his six brothers and sisters.  They had followed in the footsteps of their ancestor, Jaichoo, who had worked in the surrounding sugar estates as an indentured laborer.

Mr Jaichoo arrived in the former Natal Colony from the village of Nawapura in the district of Agimgurth/Chiractoe in the state of Bihar in North India in 1902 when he was recruited to work on sugar estates in and around Ottawa and Mount Edgecombe.

After he completed his 10-year indenture, Jaicho married Anaree Naun, a local woman. They stayed in barrack-style houses on the sugar estates before moving to Inanda. In 1940, he purchased a piece of land at the corner of the Old Main Road and Kissoon Road from a Mauritian family, known as Dinanshaws.

By this time Jaicho and his wife had six children, the eldest of whom was Ishwar’s grand-father, Ramnanan Jaicho.

(First generation descendant of the Ramnanan dynasty, Ramnanan Jaichoo, seen here with his wife. They had 13 children - seven sons and six daughters.) 

The grand-father thereafter purchased sugar cane land in Inanda and Phoenix. He and his three brothers worked tirelessly to develop their cane-fields in Inanda and Phoenix. At the same time, they were also involved in bus transport, milling, general dealers and butchery businesses.

(Mr Madho Ramnanan seen here with his wife. )

Madho Ramnanan was the eldest of his father and mother’s 13 children. He was at this time an educator who taught at various local schools, including Mt Edgecombe Primary, Wild Memorial in Inanda and Fairbreeze Primary School in Tongaat.

When their grand-father passed on in 1952, Madho Ramnanan, resigned from the teaching profession and took control of the business empire. Madho Ramanan moved from Inanda to Ottawa and took control of the General Dealer business named Ramnanan’s Trading Centre situated in the area known as Uplands.

Ramnanan also built a brick and tile shop and house on the property that was first purchased by their ancestor in the 1940s. At the same time Ramnanan was a share-holder in the Republic Stationery, North Coast Stationery, and Power Stationery businesses.

According to Ishwar, his father was also involved in community work in Ottawa in the Ottawa Civic Association and with leaders of the calibre of Mr Sivasankar Badlu, K C Moonisami, Lutchman and a few others negotiated the sale of the new Jhugroo State-Aided School to the Department of Education in Natal in the 1970s. After they received the payment for the school, Mr Ramnanan and his colleagues purchased a piece of property owned by Munoo Maharaj and his family in Maharaj Road. Here they built the Ottawa Civic Hall. The property and the land thereafter were taken over by the Ethekwini Municipality in the 1990s.

According to Ishwar Madho, the descendants have been keeping in touch with the family members of their ancestors in the village of Nawapura in the state of Bihar in North India since 1959. One of their uncles, Harry Ramnanan, first visited their family members in India in 1959.

According to Anil Manilall, his father, Manilall Ramnanan, was compelled to leave school in standard nine in order to help in the family business in Ottawa after the death of their grand- father, Mr Jaichaoo Ramnanan. Manilall Ramnanan was at this time a pupil at Sastri College.

The businesses his father was involved in, included the general dealer’s shop – known as the Ramanan’s Trading Store, and the tea room and butchery.

Anil Manilall recalled that after the family’s bus business in Inanda was sold to Putco, the family embarked on a decentralisation of their businesses. This resulted in Manilall Ramnanan being given control of the Top Shop café. The name of this shop was changed to Coastal Suppliers.

Manilall Ramnanan, his brother, Madho and other siblings also became shareholders in Republic Stationery, North Coast Stationery and Power Stationery.

Since 1954, Manilall became very active in the community affairs of Ottawa. He was a founding member, together with his brother, Sewmungal, of Flash Entertainers. He was also involved in the building of the new Jhugroo Primary School and, according to Anil Manilall, served in various positions in the education committee of the school. He was also a member of the Ottawa Advisory Board.

He was also a member and office bearer of the Verulam and District Child Welfare Society and a member of the Verulam Crematorium Trust.

(Mr Manilall Ramnanan (second row right) seen here with fellow members of the Ottawa branch of the Red Cross during a beach outing in the 1960s after their voluntary work helping the people in various fields. Others in the picture are (l to R back row): Mr Barly Balmohan, Pastor Daniel, Chotoo, Mr Dicky Maharaj, and Mr Padaychee. Front row: Marimuthu (Subry) and Mr Moses.) 

Mr Manilall Ramnanan was also a member of the Ottawa branch of the South African Red Cross Society. Other local leaders in the Red Cross with Mr Ramnanan included Mr Moses, Mr Dicky Maharaj, and Mr Manmohan Barley and young Chotoo of Uplands and Marimuthu (Subry) of Tin Town, who were junior members.

Manilall was awarded a Silver Medal for his service to the society.

As a member of the Red Cross, he also served as a Quartermaster at various events and festivals, including the annual Mount Edgecombe Easter Festival, Verulam Fair, and during the annual Kavadi and other religious events hosted by the Moodley family of Kissoon Road in Ottawa. This Kavady festival still continues today.

He was also an active member and office bearer of the Ottawa Indian Ratepayers’ Association.  He was also involved in the sale of the school to the Government and the construction of the Ottawa Community Hall in Maharaj Road.

Upon the sale of the school, he was also involved in the formation of the Ottawa Civic Association, which was formed following a recommendation by Anil Ramnanan and which included personalities such as Mr S Badlu, Mr P Kandhailal, Mr D Duttoo, Mr Madho Ramnanan, Mr G Munn and others. The property was transferred to the Civic Association by Anil’s law office.

As a matter of information, Mr Anil Manilall, and his wife, Meera, were the first attorneys in Ottawa.

Anil Manilall recalled that his late mother, Rookmin Manilall, and her sister-in-law, Subhagwathee Ramjiawan, founded the Ottawa Arya Bhasha Paatshala, a Hindi school.

“The school participated in cultural activities and eisteddfods that brought great honour to Ottawa and the North Coast Region of the Hindi Shiksha Sangh of South Africa, which was a national organisation.”

Mr Anil Manilall served as vice-president of the Hindi Shiksha Sangh for seven years from 1987 to 1994.

Expanding on the Manilall Ramnanan family history, Mr Anil Manilall says it was his father who shipped a vehicle to India in 1967 when the Ramanan family members visited India. The family members who travelled on the trip included his father’s mother, his brother Sewpersadh, sister Dhanwanthee, his mother Rookmin, younger sister Shakeela, and younger brother, Rajiv, who was only one-year-old at that time.

When Mr Ramnanan and his family members arrived in Mumbai, they used the vehicle to travel to many parts of India and their ancestoral village in Bihar.

This visit by the Ramnanans to India was reported widely in the local media.

“Ever since then, we have kept in close contact with our ancestoral village family members whenever we visit India.”

 

Anil Manilall is the second son of Manilall Ramnanan. His other siblings are Sadhanand (Praggie); Roshiela (Betty), now late, having been married to Gay Rattan; Prashiela (Popsie); Shakeela; Rajiv and Navitha.

The extended Ramnanan Madho/Manilall/Jaichoo family today runs into five generations and number more than 100 descendants. Most of the descendants have made significant progress in their lives by being involved in business, academic and other professions. They have also been involved in sporting and religious activities. Ends – subrygovender@gmail.com Jan 15 2022 Update Oct 31 2023