GEORGE AND JOYCE MURUGASEN FAMILY - PIONEERS OF MAIN ROAD, OTTAWA
(Stanley Murugasen - third from left - and elder brother, Sam Arumagum Murugasen, - first from right - with Rusty, Mohan and Adam in the early days in Ottawa. The photo was taken while they were meeting on the old Ottawa Primary school ground. The area has now been taken over by the Globe's shopping centre)
MURUGASEN BROTHERS – JACKET, SAM ARUMAGUM AND STEVEN – WHO PLAYED AN ACTIVE ROLE IN SPORT IN OTTAWA
By Subry Govender
Three brothers who made a significant impact on the community of Ottawa despite their different ages belonged to the large Murugasen family who lived in a wood and iron house, opposite the central trading store, on the Old Main Road.
(Jacket)
(Sam Arumagum)
(Steven also known as Squares)They were known as
Jacket, Sam Arumugam, and Steven.
They became part
and parcel of the social life of our Ottawa village in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s when they became involved in the local football teams and other activities.
Jacket was born in 1934, Sam in 1946 and Steven in 1952. They were part of a family of 12 brothers and sisters.
(Soundler aka Muniamma)
(Second youngest brother, Azra - left -, seen here with Steven and a fourth generation descendant, Lionel.)
also known as Muniamma (born 1934), Mary also known
as Southree (born 1938), Sundaree (Salma), (born 1944),
Radha Govindamma, also known as Grace, (born 1948),
Ambiga Rumba (born 1950), Alice (born 1954), Azra (Azzie), born 1956, and Elijah (born 1958).
Their father, George Murugasen, was the son of indentured labourers who had worked in the Drummonds Sugar Estate in Canelands and the Ottawa Sugar Estate after arriving from their traditional village in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu in the late 1890s.
Their mother,
Joyce Naraine, and her sister were young girls who joined their indentured
parents when they were recruited in Madras, Tamil Nadu, to work at the Ottawa
Sugar Estate.
George Murugasen
was still a young lad and working at the Ottawa Sugar Estate when his parents
arranged his marriage to Joyce Naraine, who was only 13-years-old.
After completing
their indentures, they moved to the tin house in Central Ottawa. Most of their
children were born here.
I spoke to Sundaree, who is now known as
Salma, about two years ago when her
husband, Ismail Hans, was still alive.
Sundaree still lives in their house in the
Uplands area of Ottawa.
According to Salma, her
eldest brother, Sunny Pillay, worked for Parthab on his farms in Tin Town while
he was still young boy. She remembers that her brother was paid five shillings
a month. After he married, he moved to Red Hill. While living at Red Hill,
Sunny worked for Ready Mix Concrete for more than 30 years.
Second brother, Jacket joined the hotel industry and worked in Durban. After
marrying, he moved to Asherville.
Soundler and Mary
also followed in the footsteps of their parents and worked in sugarcane fields
in the Ottawa Sugar estate. Mary passed away at the very young age of 18 when
she was caught tragically in a fire at the tin house.
One of their
brothers, Azra (Azzie), passed away at the age of 29 when he was living in
Verulam.
Sundaree worked in
the clothing industry before she married Ismail Hans. Sam Murugasen also worked
in the clothing industry and was involved in the sailing industry. He
manufactured sails for racing boats.
Steven moved to Port Elizabeth where he worked for a shipping company.
(Sam Arumagam Murugasen - left - with members of his family and his eldest brother, Sunny Pillay, and Mrs Beatrice Pillay, attending the wedding of Rumba and her husband, Prem.)
Rumba worked for the
Joosabs, Radha for clothing shops in the Grey Street area; and Alice worked for
a company in Umhlanga.
Their youngest
brother, Elijah, moved to Cape Town when he was 18-years-old. The family
members had kept in touch with him but after a while all contact with him had
been broken.
Of the remaining
11 brothers and sisters, only Alice, who is 70, is still around and lives with
her family in Oaklands in Verulam; and Salma, who is 80-years-old, lives in
uplands Ottawa.
Salma says that
she has stayed all her life in Ottawa at the tin house on the Main Road and at
a brick house in Maharaj Road.
“WONDERFUL LIFE IN
OTTAWA – IT WAS SOMETHING SPECIAL”
“We had a
wonderful life in Ottawa when we were growing up here and when I continued to
stay here. Most of my other sisters and brothers moved to Verulam, Durban,
Phoenix, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town after completing their schooling,
starting work and getting married.
“We will never
forget our lives in Ottawa. It was something special. There was no difference
between us, whatever our cultures and religions,” she told me.
“Those were the good old days and we all were very
close to one another. The relationship we had with our neighbours and friends
was much more than simply being neighbours and friends.
“We cannot forget the early days.”
According to
Salma, her mother, Joyce, who always wore a sari, used to perform all prayers
at home. But she was forced to stop the prayers by a person known as Daniel
Maduray, who felt that as Christians they should not perform the prayers of
their ancestors.
But despite this they could not forget their traditions and roots.
(Stanley Moonsamy with his aunty, Alice)
One of the nephews, Stanley Moonsamy, who grew up in Ottawa, became an activist for freedom and was present at the FNB stadium in Johannesburg in February 1990 when tens of thousands of people celebrated the release of Nelson Mandela. Stanley joined his fellow activists from Phoenix, where he is now settled, to attend the historical event. Stanley has served in various positions and has also been a councillor for the ruling ANC in Durban.
Ends – subrygovender@gmail.com Oct 28 2022
Update 29 April 2024 June 28 2024
MORE MURUGASEN FAMILY PHOTOS:
,Indranee,Sunny,Velloo%20and%20my%20parents%20seated.jpg)
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