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Part IV. Rise and Glory
Many people from Cutchh and Saurastra specially the Khojas, Lohanas and Bhatias migrated and opened small businesses to meet the needs of the Indian laborers. They would write or send the news back home about how rich and fertile the country was and about all the opportunities available.
To go to a new and especially an unknown and unexplored country one needs information and guidance about the journey across the ocean and the place of destination. Are there any facilities for a stranger? Who will be the contact? And the most important factor was the money for the travel expenses. Most of the people did not have enough money to travel by steamers therefore they had to travel by sailing ships and dhows. The latter were small sailing vessels of the East African and Indian coasts. The seas were rough and the trip would take months to reach the destination.
Traveling by dhow was an experience. As it depended on the winds the journey was totally at the mercy of nature and often hazardous. The dhows generally sailed along the coastline for safety. On the route, they would stop in the ports of Karachi, Muscat, Aden and Mogadishu for fresh water and food as well as to trade. Passengers were allowed to carry only one piece of baggage and a bedroll. The members of the crew were generally non-vegetarians. Therefore the passengers had to bring their own food. Fresh water was used for drinking and cooking only. For everything else one had to use seawater. The latrine was a piece of wood with a big hole in the center nailed on the out side edge of the ship's hull. The Indian Ocean is rough and most passengers would be seasick during the voyage. Everyone, regardless of religion or caste, helped one another. It would take between six to eight weeks to reach Mombasa.
The first Halari Oshwal who undertook the journey across the sea was an eighteen-year-old young man Jetha Anand
