Biharis rule the roost in Mumbai

PATNA: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray's barbs against north Indians notwithstanding, migrants from Bihar and UP are the lifeline for Mumbai as they dominate sectors like pharmaceuticals, security services, real estate and dairy in various capacities in the Maharashtra capital.

A recent study conducted by Mumbai-based NGO Bihari Front found four major Mumbai-based pharmaceutical companies are owned by Biharis. They are Alkem, Aristo, Shreya and Aglomed, and hundreds of Biharis are working in these firms. All India Medicine Manufacturers' Association president Samprada Singh also hails from Bihar.

Similarly, two major security agencies of Mumbai -- Property Guards and Global Security -- are run by Biharis, and together the two agencies have provided employment to at least 25,000 people. Besides, more than 5,000 Biharis are engaged in hotels, including roadside motels and posh hotels. And at least 10,000 Biharis hold middle-level management posts in top realty firms, the study estimated.

Bihari Front's executive committee member Purander Sawarnya told TOI altogether 10 lakh Biharis, if not more, are in Mumbai. Besides pharma, security, hotel and real estate, they are also in petty jobs like private tuition, taxi driving, gem processing and bhelpuri sale.

Only 18 per cent of the workers come from other parts of Maharashtra, Sawarnya said.

A more recent academic survey by UK-based Overseas Development Institute (ODI) shows that the leather manufacturing industry at Dharavi, Mumbai's largest slum, has 59% of its total workforce from Bihar.

Roughly 3.45 million Biharis have migrated to other states in India. A large number of them are seasonal in nature in that they serve as cushion during lean labour deficit period, said ODI researchers Priya Deshinkar and Ajay Kumar on "circular migration in Bihar".

Patna man began UK's first Indian eatery and first book in English by any Indian

LONDON: Who opened the first Indian restaurant in Britain? It was Dean Mahomet, a resident of Patna who moved to England in 1784. Born in 1759, Dean joined the East Indian Company and rose to the rank of subedar . He also claims to have introduced the art of champi shampooing to England.

If Dean Mahomet was the first, the latest to open an Indian restaurant is Mashood Siddiqi, a consultant physician who has opened the 'Mayur' restaurant in Liverpool.

Dean Mahomet had sparked off a culinary trend in the 18th century that over the years has become a national obsession of Britain.

The story goes that Dean Mahomet and his "best friend", Captain Godfrey Baker, came to Britain in 1784 and started a new life in Ireland. He studied English and married Jane Daly, "a pretty Irish girl of respectable parentage".

He had several children and published a book with the title: "The Travels of Deam Mahomet, a Native of Patna in Bengal, Through Several Parts of India, While in the Service of the Honourable East India Company".

Mahomet moved to Portman Square in London where he joined the vapour bath owned by Sir Basil Cochrane. Here Mahomet added champi to the list of services offered.

In 1810 he established the Hindoostan Coffee House at 34 George Street, Portman Square, which was the first Indian restaurant by an Asian in Britain.

However, in 1812 he was forced to declare bankruptcy. After several trysts in his fortunes, he was appointed "Shampooing Surgeon" to king George IV. He died in 1851.

Sake Dean Mahomet (also Sake Dean Mahomed or, in Arabic, Shaykh Din Muhammad) (1759-1851) is thought to have been the first Indian to have written a book in the English language.

In 1814 he moved with his Irish wife, Jane, to Brighton. The couple opened the first shampooing vapour masseur bath in England, on the site now occupied by the Queen's Hotel. He described the treatment in a local paper as 'The Indian Medicated Vapour Bath (type of Turkish bath), a cure to many diseases and giving full relief when every thing fails; particularly Rheumatic and paralytic, gout, stiff joints, old sprains, lame less, aches and pains in the joints'.

This business was an immediate success and Dean Mahomet became known as "Dr Brighton". Hospitals referred patients to him and he was appointed as shampooing surgeon to both King George IV and William IV.

According to Pakistani literary critic Muneeza Shamsie, Sake Dean Mahomet began to lose prominence by the Victorian era and until recently was largely forgotten by history. She notes that he also authored the books Cases Cured and Shampooing Surgeon, Inventor of the Indian medicated Vapour and Sea Water Baths etc.

Modern renewal of interest in his writings followed after poet and scholar Alamgir Hashmi drew attention to this author in the 1970's and 1980's. Michael H. Fisher has written a book on Sheikh Dean Mahomet: The First Indian Author in English: Dean Mahomet in India, Ireland and England (Oxford University Press, Delhi - 1996).

On 29 September 2005 the City of Westminster unveiled a Green Plaque commemorating the opening of the Hindoostane Coffee House

By the late 1830s, however, his connection to the British royal family faded. King William's favor changed to other baths, making them more fashionable. Queen Victoria, despite Dean Mahomet's effusive expressions of loyalty, never graced his Baths or submitted herself to a bath or shampoo at his or Jane's hands. Ultimately, she found Brighton uncongenial, closed the Pavilion, stripped its furnishings, and sold it the year Dean Mahomet died (1851). Nevertheless, Dean Mahomet's transient entry into the circle of attendants on the royal family did much to draw the attention of society at large to him and his mode of treatment.

South African seeks his roots in Bihar

He is not the first South African of Indian origin to come to Bihar to trace the roots of his forefathers. But he is different - because he does not even know the name of the village his ancestors came from.

But Girija Sani Singh, 67, is in Bihar with his Gujarati wife Urmila Singh, determined to trace the truth nevertheless.

The couple is not finding that easy because they don't know Hindi.

"I know it is not an easy task, I am trying to do everything for it," said Girija Singh, dressed in a flower-patterned colourful shirt and trousers.

"I was simply overwhelmed and turned emotional when arriving in Bihar because of my blood connections with the land. I felt something special, something unique," he said.

Girija Singh said he was associated with former South African president Nelson Mandela during the fight against apartheid and was in prison for 11 years from 1963 to 1974.

According to him, his grandfather migrated from a village in Bihar in 1910 to South Africa and worked as a labourer in a sugar factory. He later settled in Durban.

"I have little information about the name of my grandfather's village and its location. But it is in Bihar," Girija Singh said.

He has approached government officials who have assured him necessary cooperation in his mission.

Girija Singh said he felt embarrassed at his inability to speak Hindi. "I am sorry I cannot speak in Hindi - the language of my forefathers. It is due to the cultural transformation over the years."

But the couple love to watch Bollywood films and mentioned Lagaan and Mangal Pandey, both starring Aamir Khan. "I was impressed by both films," Girija Singh said.

Urmila's family hails from Gujarat. They migrated to South Africa in 1912. But she is in touch with her people in Ahmedabad.

When South Africa won the battle against apartheid in 1990 with the release of Nelson Mandela from prison after 27 years, Girija Singh was invited by Mandela to serve in the new government led by him.

He joined the South African police intelligence and retired from the service last month. He got married in 1992.

This year, a few Indian-origin people managed to trace their family roots in Bihar, thanks to the efforts of the ministry of overseas Indian affairs (MOIA).

A large number of people from Bihar migrated to Fiji, Mauritius, Trinidad, Surinam, South Africa and other countries in the 19th century to serve as indentured labour on sugarcane and rubber plantations.

Many descendants are now eager to locate the families of their forefathers in India.

Last year, the Bihar government launched a special tourism package called 'Root Tourism' aimed at helping people of Bihar origin wishing to retrace their roots and visit their native villages.

There are over two million PIOs in the Caribbean islands - over 5,00,000 in Trinidad and Tobago, around 4,00,000 in Guyana, over 60,000 in Jamaica and over 2,000 in Barbados. Mauritius is home to 7,00,000 PIOs while over 3,00,000 PIOs live in Fiji.

Lalu Prasad offered to fight election from KARACHI , Pakistan

MQM offers Laloo Karachi seat
NEW DELHI: A visiting MQM delegation was so enamoured by the charms of Bihar strongman Laloo Prasad Yadav that they offered him a seat from Karachi in a future Asian parliament. “When such a concept (Asian parliament) comes into shape, we will reserve a seat for Laloo Prasad Yadav,” MQM deputy convener Dr Muhammad Farooq Sattar told reporters here. Earlier, Yadav, who is India’s railways minister, told the MQM the Thar Express connecting Munabau to Khokhrspar could be restarted by February. The MQM delegation offered to organise a public rally for Yadav in Orangi Town in Karachi, which has a large Bihari population. “It will be a good combination and Yadav can have a constituency also in Karachi if the dream of a South Asia fraternity materialises. I think Laloo Prasad Yadav can be the first candidate nominated by any Pakistani party,” said Sattar. iftikhar gilani