Like most furniture in my home, the cabinet in the entrance hall is from the previous home, where every member of my immediate family lived, besides myself. They moved into their new home in 1994. The year of ‘freedom’. The fall and end to apartheid. There is still much sentiment to each piece of furniture that can be found in our home, the history that it brings with it as well as the items it holds.

 

My Papa (paternal grandfather) had to bring his furniture from his previous home and in doing so renovated the home to fit the furniture. Hence most doorways are not centred to the room it welcomes you in to. The entrance hall cabinet, for example, had to be the first thing you saw when you walk into the house, a piece he saw as spectacular. It has three glass doors and is filled with trinkets and ornaments, most of no real significance, but the cabinet belonged to my late Dadi (paternal grandmother), so it had to be shown off. Ironically no one uses the front door when entering our home, so it is almost never shown off as much as it was planned to.

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Whenever I would suggest to give away items that are ‘outdated’ and not in use I would in return get three responses:

1. "Why is it bothering you?"

2. "Do you know how much I paid for this?"

3. "It belonged to your Dadi, It simply cannot be given away."

 

Here is a list of what can be found in the cabinet:

Hand-painted Plate from Turkey with an ayat from the Quraan

Decorative Ka’bah from Mecca

A cake stand was given to us by my sister’s mother0-in-law when my niece was born

More plates

Dried flowers

A brass punch bowl

Books

​Encyclopedias

Quraans, and books relating to Islamic practices or histories

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Drawers:

Keys and miscellaneous

Hand towels and everyday tablecloths

Fancier tablecloths and placemats

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Open shelves:

decorative vases (empty) frames

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There is also a white and gold dinner set that was not used for more than 20 years because, again, it belonged to my late Grandmother and there was a fear of it breaking. There is a deep attachment to these material items as if it is the only thing that you can remember her by.

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My Nani (maternal grandmother) has a similar cabinet in her home.

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The bottom cupboards and drawers are where you will cutlery and crockery – also the type that one would use on a special occasion. These are always locked, and not everyone in the home has access to the key. There is a wooden model of the Taj Mahal that she brought back after visiting India for the first time. My Grandmother is also very attached to her crockery.

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Who cleans the contents of these very precious mini-museums that can be found in most Muslim Indian households in South Africa?

 

Most of the time it is not cleaned by the domestic worker - to prevent breakage - or if it is cleaned by the domestic worker it is it generally done under supervision by the employer.

 

 

 

Amongst the shelves of detergents and sponges lays the domestic workers cutlery and crockery, often old, broken, or chipped. Food is expected to be eaten only in these and often domestic workers are not allowed to use their employer’s cutlery, crockery, pots and pans either.

 

The treatment of many black domestic workers is often with a major lack of respect in the Muslim Indian home, in my experience, especially when there is an older person (65 and above) in the home.

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Here is a cabinet displaying stained bowls and vases.