Avalbai Baloo

My father went to Uganda in 1915 at age 15. Went back to India in 1924 to get married.
In 1935 my mother (my father didn’t go) with three children and accompanied by my uncle Karmali Baloo and his wife travelled to India and that’s when this picture was taken."
An early picture of my grandmother shows her sitting surrounded by her family members - sons, daughters, daughters-in-law, and grandchildren. She seems in her element as the matriarch of the family, in control of everything and everyone around her, including my grandfather. She maintained this control throughout her life.
I saw flashes of it when I visited her in her own home on Martini Road and she directed me to putwithin her reach several herbs that she was mixing up in her profession as a traditional herbalist. Or she would ask me to hand her some spices to make into pickles, her lime pickle being a favourite amongst neighbours.
Sale of these products provided her an independent source of income, apart from stipends she received from her three sons. I loved visiting her “workshop”’ except when I had a cold when she was sure to force down my throat her one-medicine-fits-all-patients spoonful of castor oil. Most of her cures were equally awful-tasting but recognised as efficacious by her many customers.
She had this old-world habit of snorting bajjar (snuff). At that point I took my distance as she was bound to have a feat of sneezing.

per:Sultan R Baloo

Porbandar, Gujarat c1935. Seated L-R: Fatmabai Baloo (my Dad’s sister, married later in Uganda to Hassam Devraj Sayani), Khatijabai Karmali Baloo (maiden name Khatijabai Dhanani), Dadima Avalbai Baloo with granddaughter Shirin (my sister, age 1, died very young), my mother Jenabai Baloo (maiden name Jenabai Mawji), Khatijabai Baloo (my Dad’s sister later married in Uganda to Ahmed P Hudda).

Standing: Nurbanu Baloo, age 11 ( my Dad’s youngest sister later married in Uganda to Karmali Tarmohamed (RIP) of Mombasa, only surviving aunt, now living in Surrey, BC age 86), Karmali Baloo (dad’s brother), Grandpa Baloo Mulji Bhatia (died in Uganda 1949), Gulamhussein Baloo (dad’s brother; married later in Uganda to Kulsumbai Bhimani), Roshan Rahemtulla Baloo age 6 (my sister; born in Kampala, married to Madatali Esmail of Mbarara, both living in Abbotsford, BC). Seated on the floor: Didar Rahemtulla Baloo age 4 (my brother; born in Kampala married to Malek Mohamed Samji of Nairobi, both living in Toronto).

Missing from photo is dad’s eldest sister Sakarbai. Missing also is my father as he did not go to India on that trip.

Thank you to Sultan R Baloo for the photo and full IDs. Vali Jamal

Uganda Asians: Then and Now, Here and There. We Contributed, We Contribute

By Dr. Vali Jamal

• A Legacy 15 Years in the Making

• Dr. Vali Jamal’s monumental five‑volume masterpiece 1,475 pages

• 5,000+ photographs • Hundreds of unheard stories

• A keepsake for the entire Ugandan Diaspora.

• This table top travelogue through the time leading upto and after the Ugandan Asian Diaspora is available from Crownbird Publishers(UK) here [email protected] or WhatsApp:00 44 7432220184.

The extract is from Dr. Vali's book.