Indian heritage in South Africa.(News)

I have always been aware that I have Indian ancestry on at least one side of my family and set out to trace my Indian roots, little knowing the fascinating history I would unearth.

My first port of call was my grandmother, my mother's mother, Theresa Evans, formerly Theresa Paul. I was aware that along her line my Indian roots would be easily traceable as she often made reference to her father, who was of Indian descent. Some of my family on her side was categorised as Indian.

Like my grandmother, I am classified South African coloured so my Indian ancestry is not immediately apparent and comes as a surprise to many people.

MY grandmother said her father was Michael Louis Paul and he was one of eight children. They were classified Indian. He married Alice Coleman, who was half Irish and half St Helenan.

He met her while working in Cape Town.

"There were eight children: Eugene, Grace, Francis - he was my godfather so I have his second name - Cecil, Beatrice, Vincent, Rose and my father Michael," my grandmother said. "My grandfather was Henry Louis Paul and he was an Indian from India. He was one of the first Indian translators in Natal. There have been write-ups about him in the newspaper."

This was obviously something my grandmother had never shared with any of her five children because it came as a surprise to all of them.

"I don't know much about my grandfather because I was four years old when he died. We lived in Lancers Road in Pietermaritzburg. My grandmother was Ellen Elizabeth and she always carried sweets in her pocket."

My grandmother had given me enough information to start my search for my Indian roots and try to establish when my great-great-grandfather, Henry Louis Paul, arrived in Natal.

If my grandmother was correct in saying that Henry Louis Paul was one of the first Indian interpreters, chances were there would be historic records to support this.

I began searching the internet for Henry Louis Paul in the hope that I could find a lead, but instead what I found was a thesis on my great-great-grandfather which was written by Prinisha Badassy as part of a Degree of Bachelor of Social Science - Honours in the Department of Historical Studies at the University of Natal. Badassy's thesis was on Indian interpreters in the Colony of Natal, 1880-1910 and one of the "ambiguous" stars of her thesis was Henry Louis Paul.

An entire chapter, titled A Diabolic Conspiracy, was dedicated to my great-great-grandfather, and documents his arrival in South Africa, life as an interpreter in the Natal Civil Service, his failings and influence and contributions to the Indian community in Natal.

This included helping Mahatma Gandhi with the formation of the Natal Indian Congress.

According to the thesis, Henry Louis Paul was born in Madras a Roman Catholic British Indian, and arrived in the Colony in Natal in 1879. His parents were Anthony Joseph Paul and Mary Paul. He died at the age of 73 on June 1, 1935. By the time of his death he was a retired civil servant and lived at 15 Lancers Road, Pietermaritzburg. My grandmother fondly remembers this home and notes it "even had a fence".

BUT it is Badassy's research into his colourful life as an interpreter which astounded my family and myself. Badassy's research found that Paul played a double role and these two roles were diametrically opposed.

He often found himself at loggerheads with members of the Indian community and his fellow interpreters.

"On the one hand he was an interpreter in the Natal Civil Service, which in itself was marked by many contradictions, and second, he was an Indian nationalist. Both these roles, however, brought him into serious conflict, if not with the government, then with the Indian population... there were numerous complaints about his attitude towards the general public...

"In addition, his role in the formation of the Natal Indian Congress and his relationship with Gandhi are two areas of his life that have received very little attention.

"Paul was one of those characters whose political endeavours are not celebrated," writes Badassy.

Gandhi wrote in his diary entry on June 24, 1894, that Paul had visited him that evening to discuss the conditions of the Indians and Badassy says the entry was fundamental in understanding Paul's role in helping Gandhi develop a network of important connections and alerting him to the problems faced by the Indian community in Natal.

Excerpts from Gandhi's diary document several meetings between Paul and Gandhi over the plight of Indians living in Natal.

Badassy said the entries showed how close Gandhi and Paul were and how each influenced the other. She says Paul played a role in first making Gandhi aware of the problems faced by the Indian community in this region and setting up contacts in Natal that led to the establishment of the Natal Indian Congress.

"Paul was hardly a revolutionary figure that Gandhi was to become, but the fact that it was through him that Gandhi stayed in Natal needs to be recognised.

"In addition to this it was Paul who played a part in edging Gandhi away from his initial focus upon the interests of the trading community towards an inclusion of the Indenture as his nationalistic struggle."

In her concluding chapter, Badassy writes that Paul embodies the ambivalent and contradictory nature of these interpreters and notes some of his contributions.

Considering the fact that he was involved in so many different facets of Indian life in Natal, it is quite evident that the relationship that Gandhi shared with Paul deserves much greater attention than it has been given.

Doing so leads to the realisation that Paul played an extremely important role in Indian politics and in Gandhi's political development.

"He was also the founder and president of many different sport clubs, such as Natal Indian Football Association, United XI Cricket Club, Greyville Sporting Association, Indian Benevolent Society and the United Sports Association, which became the Durban Indian Sports Ground Association (Currie's Fountain).

"Apart from that he was also responsible for the formation of various soccer clubs in the 1880s and 1890s.

"He was also instrumental in the development of cricket and cycling among the Indians. When his son was refused entry into a 'European Boys' private high school he lobbied for an Indian Higher Grade school. Since Indian schools only taught till Standard Seven, Paul exerted his influence within the civil service and drew upon the economic resources that his position provided to found the high school at the corner of Grey and Alice streets in 1899.

"At the school's end-of-year function, Gandhi said that had it not been for Paul, the school would not have been successful. In his closing report the school acting headmaster said: 'And how shall I begin or end my high estimate of Mr Paul's constant labours in the school's best interest? In the record of the initiation, growth, and present state of this institution, Mr Paul's name must take a prominent place - to him we owe a fine photograph; him we must thank for a similarly framed group sent to the government, and graciously acknowledged by Mr Russell. So long as Mr Paul stands by the school it must succeed.'

"In 1903, he was also active in Sandailu's Christy Minstrel Band in Overport.

"He later established and became the first president of the Natal Indian Educational Association between the years 1911 and 1914.

"But above all of these achievements, it is Henry Louis Paul's role in the making of the Mahatma that is most intriguing," she said.

The Independent on Saturday will be carrying regular news and features to commemorate the arrival of the first Indians on South African shores 150 years ago. This week reporter Carvin Goldstone takes a look at his links to the indentured labourers who arrived between 1860 and 1911 and his great-great grandfather's close working relationship with Mahatma Gandhi.