DURBAN - This week's pictures of old and new Durban were sent to us by Alan Gangasagar of Reservoir Hills and feature what was for many years a landmark in the suburb, the Ashraf Supply Store on New Germany Road which connected with Mountbatten Drive.
The pictures on the left were taken on May 10, 2003, shortly before the store burnt down in 2005. Arson was suspected.
The picture features Gangasagar’s nephews and a friend. From left are Remo Pillay and brothers Karl Sigamoney (front) and Dane Sigamoney.
Gangasagar remembers that
when he was a boy, the store was the only one around. “Business for the original owner, Mr Ashraf, was very good. He used to sell wood and paraffin in bulk as people didn’t have electricity like we do today.”
Remo Pillay and brothers Karl Sigamoney (front) and Dane Sigamoney in front of the Ashraf Supply Store in 2003
Daily News journalist, Zainul Dawood, remembers the store
well. “It catered for the schoolchildren of RP Moodley
School and Dr AD Lazarus school. It was also close to the Siripat Road football and cricket grounds,
and the shop was always busy on weekends after soccer matches,” he said.
The chairperson of the Reservoir Hills ratepayers and residents association, Ish Prahladh, said the store was an “icon” in the suburb.
“The shop was the main stop
for kids coming out of school. It
had pool tables and soccer tables
and Chappies and Simba chips
were the ‘in’ thing while kids played pool. Later the shop was let out as a fruit and vegetable store and there was a fresh poultry business behind it.”
In September, Gangasagar reunited the three young men for the today picture at the site of the Reservoir Hills Mall, which was completed in September, 2008. Pillay, 27, Karl Sigamoney, 22, and Dane Sigamoney, 25, were happy to pose on the same spot for the new picture, right.