DURBAN - Temple priest Chris Ganess called me last Thursday evening when it was so cold that sardines were begging to be dunked in boiling oil.
And residents all over Durban, especially in Chatsworth and Phoenix, quickly obliged.
Hundreds of dozens of masala-fried sardines graced dinner tables – and thanks to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s easing of the booze ban, many shivering folks were warmed.
Chris’s claim to fame is that he is the son of “Rent Office Ganess” who was popular throughout Chatsworth.
Ganess Muniappa worked for the then Durban Corporation for decades. Like many of his relatives and friends, he too lived at Magazine Barracks with his extended family before being uprooted and dumped in the burgeoning Chatsworth ghetto township.
His first job was as a humble street sweeper and after a few years of doing the menial task, he progressed to handling a small roller used to compact the asphalt.
Having to feed a growing family, he craved better pay and through some connections he secured a clerical job at Chatsworth’s municipal treasury office where residents paid rent and other utility bills.
He was so helpful to all and sundry, that, unlike the incredibly rude and arrogant counter staff we so often come across today, it was not long before the affable man with chubby cheeks came to be known as “Rent Office Ganess”.
Like many of his ilk who grew up in the barracks, he had good knowledge of the Tamil vernacular and was a comedian in great demand at social events over weekends. He also sang at funerals and memorial services.
I recall when he retired in the mid-’80s, I wrote a story about his working life and he posed for a photograph at the garden gate to his Westcliff council house with a prized broom over his shoulder.
Now, this column was not supposed to be about “Rent Office Ganess” – or even sardines – so, please, pardon my deviation.
Coming back to Chris Ganess. He called me to explain (while I shivered and listened) that his friend Pastor Cyril Palani contacted him. The pastor wanted to reach out to Hindu leaders in a bid to resolve the recent ridiculing of Hindus by some evangelical Bible-thumpers.
Chris wanted me to facilitate a meeting between some Hindu and Christian leaders, which I am yet to do.
I cannot understand why there is a revival of religious bigotry at a time when the world is crying out for unity in the fight against a common enemy – Covid-19.
Why is it that religions, whether Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, or whatever, which supposedly espouse peace, love and harmony, are so commonly connected to intolerance and violent aggression?
Religious leaders must take the blame for not doing enough to stem religious aggression. By not publicly condemning every act of extremism, entire faith communities are unfairly presumed to be somehow complicit.
There are thousands of Christians who are actively involved in helping the poor and down-trodden without an eye on growing their flocks through conversion.
Yet a few overzealous pastors give Christianity a bad name by seemingly denouncing other religions.
If only there was a national governing body for all Christian organisations that were bound by a code of conduct, it would be easier to keep errant preachers in check.
A similar problem exists among Hindus where the so-called umbrella body, the South African Hindu Maha Sabha, is not mandated as the law-keeper by all Hindu faith bodies.
Hence, we find the growing (and worrying) phenomenon of self-proclaimed fanatical gurus within Hindu sects dividing congregants – and the Sabha is powerless to act.
The South African Jewish Board of Deputies is the umbrella representative civil rights lobby of the South African Jewish community. It promotes the safety and welfare of South African Jewry, including combating anti-semitism.
The Jamiatul Ulama of South Africa, a Council of Muslim theologians, provides for the spiritual, religious, educational, social, economic, moral and political needs of the Muslim community.
It is high time Christian and Hindu leaders rounded up their worshippers and read them the riot act. The leaders must work with the internal enforcers of rules to cool down hotheads and actively challenge inaccurate and harmful messages.
When the world is being buffeted by turbulence and uncertainty caused by the coronavirus, our shared vulnerability to the pandemic reveals our common humanity.
Almost 500 000 people of all races and religions have lost their lives globally. There are almost 9 million confirmed cases of coronavirus. The world economy is in freefall. Millions have lost their jobs. Millions are starving.
This is not the time to denigrate religions. More than ever, there is a need for the conscious spread of values of empathy, compassion, forgiveness and altruism.
I was touched when I read last week that in Mandsaur city in the Madhya Pradesh state of central India, a Muslim man, Nahru Khan, installed a contactless bell at the Ashtmukhi Pashupatinath Mahadev temple.
With the opening of religious places, authorities have put in place certain measures to avoid contamination. Devotees are forbidden from touching temple bells to curb the spread of the coronavirus. In Hindu temples, devotees ring the bell upon arrival as an invocation to the presiding deity.
The elderly Khan said that even during the lockdown, Muslims listened to the azan, the call to prayer, and he thought Hindus should also hear the clanging of bells. At his own cost, Khan installed a proximity sensor that is able to detect the presence of nearby objects without physical contact.
The bell starts ringing as soon as a devotee comes under it or folds his hands beneath it to pray.
Khan represents the pluralistic fabric of India and epitomises the Sanskrit phrase Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, which means “the world is one family”.
While we battle the invisible and evil coronavirus, we have a responsibility to promote solidarity based on the human rights and human dignity of all as the foundation of our response.
We must stay united to face the challenges during this humanitarian crisis. It is easy for crackpots and charlatans to bash religious beliefs other than their own. But we listen to such fools and partisan spin masters much to our own peril because when we are divided, we become weaker.
If you can grasp the sheer scale of suffering that has been visited upon mankind by Covid-19, then you will realise the urgency for demonstrations of common humanity, which we also know as ubuntu.
(Yogin Devan is a media consultant and social commentator)