The Search for One Family’s History

Book excerpt: This is the unique story of more than five generations of Malaysians and Singaporeans who originated from South India and settled first in British Malaya and later in what was then the crown colony of Singapore. It is a remarkable personal tale of the efforts to trace the original village of their ancestors in a remote part of Trichy in South India, a task made difficult by the passage of time and the lack of a common family surname for people of South Indian origin. It is also a poignant tale of the trials and tribulations of one family in a foreign land, put together with painstaking research. It is a welcome addition to Asian literature as very few narratives exist of the family history of South Indian Tamils in Singapore and Malaysia.