My Memories of Bantva

By: Abdur Razzaq Thaplawala

The Bantva’s Memon community migrated from Bantva in November, 1947 and majority of them settled in Karachi which is a cosmopolitan city. The migration proved to be a bonanza to the members of the community. It’s financial condition improved greatly. While there were ten to twenty millionaires in Bantva, today you can find hundreds of millionaires in the community. It is not because of inflation or change in purchasing power of money but because of real change of economic condition of the members of the community.

Almost sixty years have passed since we migrated to Pakistan. Recently I had a chance to visit Bantva for the first time after migration in 1947. This revived my memories and I decided to share these memories with my community. Before Partition, most of the manfolk of Bantva used to get themselves employed by four or five business tycoons of the city and served their offices spread all over India. They used to sign a forty years agreement with their employers and stayed at upcountry branches for ten months. In these branches, they used to start as a peon and ultimately rose to the post of the Accountant or the Branch Manager. Every year they used to come to Bantva on two month’s leave without pay and stayed with their families. Their salaries were meager but sufficient to meet the requirement of their families according to social set-up at that time. During these two months, they had nothing to do except to spend their life with families and friends. They had established some sort of one room clubs in upper floors of some buildings where they used to meet their friends and mostly played cards.

Their employment conditions were very stringent. They used to work in buildings which had shops on the ground floor and living  quarters on upper floor. These living quarters mostly consisted of a large common room where they took their meals, took rest and went to bed at nights. The meals were supplied by the employers. They remained at the disposal of the employer for twenty four hours and could not go to sleep before the Manager.

Their salaries were revised after the expiry of forty months’ contract. The change of employer was  very difficult. The four or five firms of tycoons operated as a cartel and nobody hired an employee of other firms without permission from the existing employer.

A few enterprising man had set up small shops in Bantva mostly dealing in groceries & clothing. They were small number of people and therefore Bantva could boast of very few shops. The womenfolk bought their clothing from these shopkeepers. Thy will communicate their requirement to the shopkeepers who will send their salesmen to the houses with thaans  of different type of clothes. The purchases were therefore made at home. The womenfolk did not visit the shops. They also used to get their cloths stitched at home by tailors who used to come with their sewing machines at their houses and at time stayed there for eight hours for days depending upon the quantity of work. Most of the tailors were Hindus.

Their manfolk used to buy groceries for the whole year when they came to Bantva on two months leave.

The houses used to get their water supply by women water carriers who used to bring water from wells with hand pumps installed in most localities. There was no electricity in the town. Kerosene lamps were used in homes. Some people used Petromex on festival occasions. The Municipal Committee had installed kerosene lamps in every street. The Municipal employees used to light the lamps at every evening and put them off in the morning. They used to clean the lamps and fill them with fresh kerosene in the morning trip.

The womenfolk were very orthodox in religious terms. They used to say to goodbye to their children and manfolk by saying that “Gaus Pak (Pir Abdul Qadir Jelani) or Panjatan will protect you”. The things have changed now. Even the grandmas now say Khuda Hafiz or Allah Hafiz. A few women were literate and used to recite Noornama besides Quran-e-Majid.  Religious occasions were celebrated with enthusiasm. On Ghaiarwi Sharif, they used to light candles in their  homes. In the month of Moharram, they used to visit Taziyas where they offered coconuts. The Bantva Seva Samittee, the for runner of present Banva Khidmat Committee often tried to discourage this custom. In Shab-e-Baraat extensive use of fire crackers  and Phuljaris was made by boys & girls. The parents of a would be bridegroom will often send a gift of fire crackers to would be bride  on the occasion of Shab-e-Baraat. The Eid prayer was offered at Eid Gaah ground outside the town. People use to take their children alongwith them to Eid Gaah ground for offering the prayers. Since Eid Gaah ground was at sufficient distance from the town bullock carts were hired mainly for the transportation of children.

The womenfolk cooked special foods on religious occasions. They used to cook MALIDA on 9^th of Muharram and sweet white rice called PERRY on 10^th of Muharram. On the day of Ziarat of Imam Hussain, the womenfolk used to make LAPPI which was a sweet dish made from coarse wheat floor, Gur and Ghee. Sharbat used to be prepared by every household for distribution among the  children in the Mohalla and friends on most days of first 10 days of Muharram. On first of Rajab and 9^th of Zilhaj, they used to cook large sweet breads in special fires set up in the Mohalla. These breads used to be called LOT and had a diameter of almost two feet and thickness of one inch. The pieces of the LOTS were sent to friends and relatives.

The womenfolk almost daily assembled in their Mohalla.. set on the wooden cots and indulged in all types of gossips. During the month of Ramazan, they were used to Ratjaga when they played with KODIES. They also used to distribute alms to poors which abounded Bantva in the month, in the form of breads spinkled with sugar.

Apart from these religious customs, they had their social customs. Khatna or circumcision was celebrated with tea parties at night. On the occasion of weddings lunch parties used to be held at Jamat Khana where food consisting of Akni & Zarda were served. Sometime, the guests were served with “Sata”, “Jillabi” “Mithai” and “Gathias”.

In Bantva of those days, it was not easy for boys to marry easily contrary to what is happening today. They had to give 50 to 100 Tolas of Gold to marry a girl and also to give her a lot of cloths. Some poor eligible bachelors used to marry non community women in different part of India as they could not afford Gold and other expenditure on marriage with a Memon Girl. The marriage ceremony was held at the house of the bride. The bridegroom will go to the house of bride in a precession which followed Milad reciters. The brides used to go to the houses  of their husbands at night and go back to parents home in the morning. This practice continued for a month or two.

There were two ladies school in the town where young girls were taught Quran-e-Majid and Urdu upto primary level. The boys mostly went to a school set up in Jamat Khana for study which consisted of four classes, which were called (1) Akaria”, (2) Barpothi and (3) Class-I. These were the fore-runners of present day Montessori, Nursery and Class-I. Each course ran for one year. After class one, the boys were shifted to Madrassa-e-Islamia – which was called “Bada Madrassa”. Here classes were held in morning as well as in afternoon from class two to class eight. Here they were tought, Urdu, Gujrati, mathematics, history & geography. Anybody wishing to continue study after eight class had to go to Junagadh for matriculation. However most of the boys were content with study upto eight classes. Some boys were sent to Amreli Boarding House for further study.

The ladies of Bantva hardly ever used to leave their houses. If they wanted to visit their relatives in day time, they hired horse carts or “TANGA” which had “purda” so that the travelers can not be seen or recognized. The womenfolk used to wear “TOPI BURQA” with extensive embroidery work in gold & silver threads.

As I have said, the migration to Pakistan has changed the status of the community. Education has flourished. The community can now boast of thousands of graduates (Both Girls & Boys), Doctors, Lawyers, Chartered Accountants, Cost & Management Accountants and Engineers. Many are gainfully employed in national and multinational companies. Others are having their independent professional practices. Many people have established businesses, from small shops to small, medium and large industries. Many are working in stock exchange and have set up shops in cloth market & in Jodia Bazar.  Quite a few have migrated with or without families to Middle East, U.K., U.S.A. and Canada and enjoying good financial status. These are the blessings of migration.

In Pakistan, the community is still divided into Jamats or Associations known after their ancestol villages like Bantva Memon Jamat, Kutiyana Memon Jamat, Jetpur Association, Dhoraji Association etc. Bantva community is the largest Memon community in Karachi. Besides Bantva Memon Jamat, it has Bantva Memon Khidmat Committee, Bantva Memon Rahat Committee, Anjuman-e-Himayat-e-Islam etc. The community has set up many educational and Medical institutions like: Madrassa-e-Islamia, Raunk-e-Islam Girls School & College, Dawood Public School, Aisha Bawany School, Dawood Colllege of Engineering and Adamjee Science College. The medical centres include a number of charitable dispensaries, Bantva Anis Hospital, Memon Hospital, Patel Hospital, Tabba Dialysis Centre, Aziz Tabba Cardiac Centre & Memon Medical Institute etc.

The Memons in Karachi, are living in specific localities. Besides Kharadar & Mithadar, they will be found in many societies spread over area between Alamgir Road to Shahrah-e-Faisal besides Federal ‘B’ Area. Many Jamats have set up colonies for poor & lower middle class families in different localities of Karachi.

Many Memon personalities have participated in local, provincial and National politics and have occupied Munsitried posts.  Mr. A. Sattar Edhi from Bantva has become an international personality by establishing Edhi Foundation and the world’s largest Ambulance Service.

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