Reinventing Samaj(s).
I have previously written about the important role that Samaj(s) play in the community although its popularity has been facing steady decline over past few years. I consider myself fortunate that I live very close to Rajinder Nagar Sindhu Samaj which is among the oldest and well known Samaj in Delhi, having shifted to its present location from the Janpath Barracks in the early ’60s. As I understand, such community centers came up post partition in order to preserve Sindhi culture, language and tradition.
Today, most Samaj's have turned into (largely) places of religious interaction and Jhule Lal worship along with running matrimonial services for the community. Whilst both these are important aspects and should be promoted, I think the larger community interactions that Samaj should promote has been ignored. This has over the decades led to minimal interaction between younger Sindhis and as a result we now have an entire new generation which is largely unaware of their roots and identifies little with "being Sindhi" (other than the surnames!)
I have the following suggestions to offer in this regard:-
1. All Samaj's should ensure that they run classes to teach written "Sindhi" language. The emphasis here should not just me on teaching the language in isolation but instead should be to showcase to the students a glimpse of Sindhiyat. Whilst teaching the language should be the primary aim , however in every class, there should be some time for general discussion on various aspects which may be of interest to younger generation such as a our ancestory, various Sindhi festivals, some insight into the works of Shah, Sachal and Sami etc.
The importance here is on delivery as a lecture format is unlikely to work. I must mention here about the wonderful work being done by Dadi Asha Chand of "Sindhi Sangat" (NGO) who have developed a number of Information Technology tools/apps/videos in this regard and are always eager to assist in using these.
2. At regular intervals, Samaj should invite eminent local Sindhis to talk about topics of contemporary interest. The medium of the talk should not necessarily be Sindhi but could be local dialect (depending upon the location). The central idea being to encourage young Sindhis to start getting connected to their roots. Again, videoconferencing is an extremely efficient (and cost effective) way of getting distinguished Sindhis to interact with Sindhis living elsewhere. I rarely see lectures/discussions happening in Samaj's these days.
3. Samaj's should also introspect and see how they can involve more youngsters in their day to day affairs. They could perhaps ask a group of volunteers to perhaps assist them with automating some of their processes or helping create a web-site etc.
I end with the below video clipping of Dada J P Vaswani where he emphasizes the importance of preserving sindhi language - I found it to be a good watch and hence sharing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujCJ99A4zsU&t=116s
1. All Samaj's should ensure that they run classes to teach written "Sindhi" language. The emphasis here should not just me on teaching the language in isolation but instead should be to showcase to the students a glimpse of Sindhiyat. Whilst teaching the language should be the primary aim , however in every class, there should be some time for general discussion on various aspects which may be of interest to younger generation such as a our ancestory, various Sindhi festivals, some insight into the works of Shah, Sachal and Sami etc.
The importance here is on delivery as a lecture format is unlikely to work. I must mention here about the wonderful work being done by Dadi Asha Chand of "Sindhi Sangat" (NGO) who have developed a number of Information Technology tools/apps/videos in this regard and are always eager to assist in using these.
2. At regular intervals, Samaj should invite eminent local Sindhis to talk about topics of contemporary interest. The medium of the talk should not necessarily be Sindhi but could be local dialect (depending upon the location). The central idea being to encourage young Sindhis to start getting connected to their roots. Again, videoconferencing is an extremely efficient (and cost effective) way of getting distinguished Sindhis to interact with Sindhis living elsewhere. I rarely see lectures/discussions happening in Samaj's these days.
3. Samaj's should also introspect and see how they can involve more youngsters in their day to day affairs. They could perhaps ask a group of volunteers to perhaps assist them with automating some of their processes or helping create a web-site etc.
I end with the below video clipping of Dada J P Vaswani where he emphasizes the importance of preserving sindhi language - I found it to be a good watch and hence sharing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujCJ99A4zsU&t=116s
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