The Girmitiya Saga

In May, 1893, a 24-year-old-attorney arrived at Durban on a year's girmit (contract) to fight a lawsuit for Dada Abdullah and Co. Thrown out of the train to Pretoria, he was to taste the racial discrimination that plagued the land at that time. Subsequent experiences in South Africa sensitised him to the plight of thegirmtiyas (bonded labours). In The Girmltiya Saga, Giriraj Kishore retraces the socio-political background of the 19th and 20lh-century South Africa, highlighting the importance of the young attorney's actions in South Africa and their significance for humanity.