Viroshen Chetty
Viroshen Chetty (1972 – ) was born in Durban. He works in community media as a writer, editor, publisher, documentary filmmaker, video advocacy trainer, graphic designer and concept creator. He is also a former editor of the Chatsworth Sun (Caxton). Chetty serves on the Board of the Monty Naicker Commemoration Committee (Monacc) through which he has helped develop the permanent photographic exhibition, “South Africa in the Making”, located at the Moses Mabhida Stadium.
He is the co-author of The Tao of Leadability with Bob Dilrajh and Legends of the Tide with Neelan Govender. The latter is a coffee-table book about the Seine-netters and the roots of the Durban fishing industry.
Legends of the Tide was launched at the Aryan Benevolent Home in 2014 and has received a positive reception. Rasvanth Chunylall described the book as a “beautifully illustrated guide” and applauded the efforts of the writers in “documenting [a] vibrant yet sadly forgotten community who deserve to be celebrated for their contributions to our province (Kwazulu-Natal)”. A review on Times Live congratulated Chetty and Govender for “painstakingly accumulating artefacts and anecdotes, bringing them together so comprehensively and telling this story, not only for posterity, but to serve as an inspiration for the generations that follow”. Legends of the Tide gained further exposure when The Post, a local newspaper, ran a series of extracts from the book during the year of its release.
In terms of his hobbies, Chetty enjoys trail hiking and poetry. He is currently working on innovative ways to stimulate curiosity and has developed numerous games and stories around this. In 2016, he launched a collectible card game, “Mind=Blown – the curious card game” to stimulate curiosity in science, technology, engineering, arts and maths. The game is currently being rolled out to grades 4-9 learners in the eThekwini area and is available at participating schools and selected retail stores.
Twitter: @viroshen
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/legendsofthetide/
Selected Work
Excerpt from Legends of the Tide (2014:17):
.
The Umgeni River in flood is as large as a python and as fast as a viper. It swallows everything: dogs and chickens, carts and carriages, goat sheds and goats too. Time and again the river slammed against the massive concrete pillars of the Connaught and Railway Bridges, which spanned the Umgeni Valley just before the Springfield Flats area. Wave after wave, the Umgeni dumped its dinner of shredded trees, corrugated iron sheets and carcasses. A wall of death and debris dammed up the river.
That fateful night in 1917, as the Indian farmers slept peacefully, the river roared and raged on the other side of the dammed up bridges. And then… the ‘indestructible pillars’ cracked. The river pounded through the collapsing Railway Bridge. A wall of water, thick with debris, came down on Tin Town.
People awoke to the crashing sound of their world caving in. The river swept into their homes and snatched everything in its deadly jaws. The tin houses shredded like paper in the brute force of the current.
Bibliography
2014. Legends of the Tide: roots of the Durban fishing industry. Durban: Rebel Rabble. Co-authored with Neelan Govender.
Legends of the Tide was launched at the Aryan Benevolent Home in 2014 and has received a positive reception. Rasvanth Chunylall described the book as a “beautifully illustrated guide” and applauded the efforts of the writers in “documenting [a] vibrant yet sadly forgotten community who deserve to be celebrated for their contributions to our province (Kwazulu-Natal)”. A review on Times Live congratulated Chetty and Govender for “painstakingly accumulating artefacts and anecdotes, bringing them together so comprehensively and telling this story, not only for posterity, but to serve as an inspiration for the generations that follow”. Legends of the Tide gained further exposure when The Post, a local newspaper, ran a series of extracts from the book during the year of its release.
In terms of his hobbies, Chetty enjoys trail hiking and poetry. He is currently working on innovative ways to stimulate curiosity and has developed numerous games and stories around this. In 2016, he launched a collectible card game, “Mind=Blown – the curious card game” to stimulate curiosity in science, technology, engineering, arts and maths. The game is currently being rolled out to grades 4-9 learners in the eThekwini area and is available at participating schools and selected retail stores.
Twitter: @viroshen
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/legendsofthetide/
Selected Work
Excerpt from Legends of the Tide (2014:17):
.
The Umgeni River in flood is as large as a python and as fast as a viper. It swallows everything: dogs and chickens, carts and carriages, goat sheds and goats too. Time and again the river slammed against the massive concrete pillars of the Connaught and Railway Bridges, which spanned the Umgeni Valley just before the Springfield Flats area. Wave after wave, the Umgeni dumped its dinner of shredded trees, corrugated iron sheets and carcasses. A wall of death and debris dammed up the river.
That fateful night in 1917, as the Indian farmers slept peacefully, the river roared and raged on the other side of the dammed up bridges. And then… the ‘indestructible pillars’ cracked. The river pounded through the collapsing Railway Bridge. A wall of water, thick with debris, came down on Tin Town.
People awoke to the crashing sound of their world caving in. The river swept into their homes and snatched everything in its deadly jaws. The tin houses shredded like paper in the brute force of the current.
Bibliography
2014. Legends of the Tide: roots of the Durban fishing industry. Durban: Rebel Rabble. Co-authored with Neelan Govender.