Though it still retains unmistakable ties with its past as an exclusive Indian township, the Lenasia of today is a bustling semi-metropolitan suburb to the south of Johannesburg. While gated communities spring into sight every 500 meters, the area also boasts of close to 30 mosques and a similar number of temples along with malls and high-end car showrooms.
In the 70s and 80s, Lenasia was a hub of activity as Indians of the area involved themselves in the freedom struggle against the apartheid oppression, cheering for the likes of Nelson Mandela and their own Ahmed Kathrada.
Since then, Lenasia has moved on just like the rest of South Africa but over the last few years, they have found a new hero — a quiet and unassuming man with a prominent beard and superpowers when he's wielding a bat. For the likes of Aslam Khota, noted commentator and distinguished Lenasia resident, Hashim Amla is more than just a batting behemoth.
"Hashim is the embodiment of the dreams and the legacy left behind by two generations of cricketers of his race who couldn't achieve greatness at the highest level because they weren't allowed to. He has vindicated the belief and the ideology that we fought for, that a coloured man too could hold his own on a cricket field while playing alongside and against the whites," he says.
Khota too arrived in Lenasia — separated from Soweto by a highway — like many other Indians, forcibly removed from his home in Fietas and brought here as part of the then regime's segregation policies. He even represented the Transvaal team, but the one for non-whites, plying his trade alongside the likes of those of his own ethnicity.
While an Indian Cricket Union had been in place since 1896, during Khota's youth Indians were restricted to competing in the Howa Bowl and Booley Bowl or fight for the Dadabhai Cup.
Black cricket, referred to as Bantu Cricket, had its own stars like Frank Roro (pronounced Hoho), coined the black Bradman of South Africa.
The Indians weren't short of their own household heroes. There was Papad Dinath, who scored truckloads of runs while carrying poppadoms in his pocket and munching on them.
Siddique or Dicky Conrad who once scored a century while taking apart Garth le Roux, the fearsome South African fast bowler who even represented the Rest of the World in Australia. Amien Varaiwa, who battled illness to score a match-winning century against a team made of whites, and Hoosain Ayoob, a fast bowler of renown, nicknamed the Horse for his unrelenting nature. The list is endless, and Khota himself tires as he recalls the countless names.
"There were many back then who could have made the grade if not for apartheid. But there just was no chance for that happening," he says.
That was a time when even performances of note wouldn't make it to the newspapers, adds Khota.
Hussain Manack, with whom Khota shares the commentary box, once scored a century and took 10 wickets in an innings in the same match playing league cricket in England. But none of the local newspapers were too keen on carrying the news story. It was only after much persuasion that one of them agreed to give it some coverage.
The Lenasia Cricket Stadium is a quaint setting not too far from the town square with a grandstand and well-equipped dressing-rooms. The ground boasts of many memorable batting knocks by some of the greatest names in South African Indian cricket and a broken window-pane, courtesy Graeme Pollock. Unfortunately, during the apartheid rule, the Johannesburg City Council had handed the authority of the ground to the whites. Even though the old pavilion and grandstand which have stood here for close to 40 years now were built by an Indian, a certain MR Varachia.
It also ended up being the stage for an unconventional form of revolution in 1983, when the players of two club teams, Pirates and Crescent decided to forge a little invasion by organising a match at the Lenasia Cricket Stadium.
"We were told we would be arrested. We had even kept bail money aside as we took the field in case the police came. I was a young man with my whole life ahead but I was taken in by the whole rebellious sentiment. Incidentally, nobody turned up," recalls Khota.
Once the restrictions were lifted, others who made their name at Lenasia's famed cricket venue were future cricket administrators, Haroon Lorgat, who once was part of a 400-run partnership, and Gerald Majola.
Khota though had to be content with making his Transvaal B debut on a field nearby, which hosts close to five different turfs. Back then though, the likes of Khota weren't even allowed into stadiums like the Wanderers. Today, Khota sits in some of the plushest boxes in the same stadiums around the ground.
There were some who wouldn't let the restrictions curtail their sporting dreams. And there were the likes of Ebrahim Mombla, Sollie Katrada and Smiley Moosa who went onto participate in sports like boxing and judo as whites, thanks to their skin colour. Unfortunately there were no cricketers who could cross the barrier and do the same.
Despite the unprecedented success of Amla, Khota does not agree that the race barrier has been breached entirely, especially as far as the Indian community is concerned. He says, "Unfortunately we were too dark to be allowed to play provincial cricket and now we aren't dark enough to get a shot. It's sad but true."
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