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Marshal D’Souza: The Teacher

On that day, the Vijli was carrying travellers from Kutch and Saurashtra and among the passengers,
it is said that there were 13 wedding groups as well as a large number of students heading to their
class 10th exams. Those poor children never got the chance to sit for their exams because the ship
never reached its destination.
It sailed from the port to enter Gujarat but due to bad weather
and forecasts of storms, it was forced to head directly to Mumbai.
Unfortunately, before reaching the port of Mumbai, it was caught in a
terrible storm and taking all its passengers with it, it sank.
After the ship disappeared, the Mumbai Presidency gave the Marine
Court of Inquiry (a committee that they formed) the responsibility to
look into the probable reasons behind the ship’s tragedy.
The committee found that the Vijli was ill-equipped with safety measures
that could have saved the lives of the passengers and crew members. They
pointed out that the ship did not have enough lifeboats or life jackets to save those on board. ‘If Haji
Kasam was alive, he’d feel shocked and hurt.’ It is said that fleets that were later sent to look for any
remains, found nothing and the entire thing remained a mystery.

Madhav Kumar Kharsani: The Musician

They say that nothing ever dies. It always remains alive in the songs and culture of its people.
Although the Vijli has remained a mystery which has now been forgotten by most, it remains alive
in the folklore or ‘lok-geet’. We sing songs and tell the Vijli’s story through them to whoever wants
to listen.
I, along with many other musicians sit by the shore from where perhaps once the Vijli might have
passed and sing to the ocean that now has her. One of the most famous songs that we sing is ‘Haji
Kasam, tari Vijli re madhdariye veran thai, which translates to Oh Haji Kasam, your Vijli has sunk
to the bottom of the sea.

Mr D’Souza continued, ‘So, why was it called Vijli or even the ‘Indian Titanic’? Let me tell
you. The ship wasn’t exactly like the English Titanic with luxurious rooms, pools and dining
halls but it did boast of having electricity; something which was a luxury in its time. Thus,
the locals and passengers called the ship Vijli, which is a colloquial term for electricity

or light. As for the Titanic part, India witnessed its own tragedy of a massive sunken ship
around 20 years before the English did and that is why the term—the ‘Indian Titanic’!’
The evening extended into late night as Muninder finally finished writing the passages

based on his notes. The bonfire embers weakened and Muninder’s mind recalled scenes
from the Oscar-winning film Titanic and he was saddened by the thought that there
weren’t detailed records of the people who lost their lives in the tragic sinking of the Vijli.

That night, Muninder was convinced that even though the disaster had faded in public
memory, it certainly lived on in local village
folklore along the coast of Gujarat. The Vijli sunk ill-equipped: not having necessary resources
for a particular task
twenty-four years before the Titanic and the tragedy colloquial: used in ordinary conversation

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