When India gained Independence, there were three sets of people in the country. One that got the most impact and who stayed in border areas whose near and dear ones had to endure a lot of hardships because of partition. Second are those who had to migrate to places they were not familiar with just because of their religious affiliations. And a third who never knew what the partition was. The first two still carry the pain and anguish of the partition even after eight decades of it happening. Their forefather's pain is now reflected in their political affiliation. The third set are mostly from South India whose familiarity with partition was through newspaper reports days after it happened. They could never imagine scenarios like trains travelling up and down with dead bodies. They could never understand how a line drawn on a paper could uproot them and make them strangers in their own backyard.
Since I belong to Kerala and stays in Gujarat, I will confine this thought process to just these two states only.
It was just after independence that people began to travel across the country looking for jobs. Bombay was the first destination for most of Malayalis and Gujaratis. But there was a limit Bombay could accommodate. The natural second choice was the newly formed Gujarat. Industries, especially cloth mills, were mushrooming in Ahmedabad, then known as Manchester of India. ONGC was coming up exploring Gujarat shores. Many other industries started their operations in Gujarat and all of them were desperately looking for skilled employees.
There were around 80 to 100 Textile mills in Ahmedabad then. My father-in-law came to the city in search of a job and was immediately absorbed as a Weaving Supervisor in Calico Mill, then the biggest mill owned by the Lalbhai Group. ONGC was waiting at the Railway station to offer jobs to South Indians who landed here. All they wanted then was a matriculation certificate. Since private companies were offering better salaries, there was hardly anyone who opted for a government job then. The most common job for a Malayali then was desk jobs and nursing. From Stenographers to Personal Assistants of MDs of companies, they excelled in their domain. But not anymore. There is no more migration happening now. Those here are migrating abroad. Very few apply for government jobs. And they hardly have any knowledge of the pain and burden their parents carried through their initial days.

There is another story here which I am not delving into. And that is Gujaratis migrating to Kerala. It is said that Gujaratis started their journey to Kerala because of their persecution when Mohammed Gazni invaded Gujarat 800 years ago. But I don't buy that because Gujaratis reach every place where there is a business opportunity. Malabar and Cochin were the most prosperous places on earth with Arabs and Europeans fighting to capture the spice trade in the region. How can a Gujarati stay away from such a lip-smacking opportunity? But there is enough documentation on it.

During Covid 19 lockdown, I had enough time to reflect, and it was during this time, I began to search for documentation or stories of those who arrived in Gujarat in the fifties. But I could hardly get any. So, I started my own documentation of my memories which can go back to 1975 only. A few months back I thought of speaking to people who came in the fifties and are still alive today. So, I sent them all a video recorded message in Malayalam. Here it is:

But unfortunately, my timing was so wrong that I missed a whole lot of people who passed away during Covid. Some of them were delightful story tellers including my father-in-law whose contribution to the Malayali community was immense. He used to tell me how he went with a delegation to meet the railway minister and the President of India to submit a memorandum to start a direct train service to Kerala. I heard the stories and never cared to document or record them. My bad. But not anymore. I am trying to reach out to maximum people to make this happen. Most of the chapters you are about to read are from my own memory lane. Some acquired from the conversation I had with the stalwarts of the fifties. Since this is an ongoing project, naming everyone to acknowledge their help will be at the end of the project. Let me know if you can connect with what is being said here.