Bhai Pratap

I spent the last weekend reading a tribute written by Ms. Saaz Aggarwal for Bhai Pratap (Late Pratap Dialdas Nanwani) – an unsung hero in our community; a gentleman whose dedication and devotion towards helping fellow Sindhis , in my opinion, is almost unparalleled.  Dada Pratap played an important role in establishing Sindhi refugee area of Adipur- Kutch which is lovingly known as “Mini-Sindh” today. As Dada Bhaneja writes in his book (about migration) “…… a common denominator was the ruthless uprooting from their native lands and being thrown into a geographical region which had little connection to their culture except for religion. And even there, expressions of religious devotion and rituals turned out to be different than those of their ancestral land.” Dada Pratap helped ease this pain for thousands of fellow Sindh’s .The article goes on to detail various facets of Dada’s personality – his sharp business acumen, his commitment towards social service, his role in India’s Freedom struggle as well as rehabilitating thousands of Hindu Sindhi refugees. 

I first heard about Dada Pratap in one of the episodes of Sindhi Sarvech program on Youtube in which one of the guest referred to Dada’s contribution in helping rehabilitate Sindhis in the area of Adipur-Kutch and his vision about developing it as India’s “Sindh”.  The mention of Kutch immediately evoked a familiar feeling as my “Maasi” (Mother’s sister) stays in Kutch so have grown up hearing stories of the town. Sindhi Sarvech program is a collection of interviews by Dada Ram Jawahrani (another prominent Sindhi Social worker based in Mumbai) with known Sindhis . I have grown fond of the program as it is purely in Sindhi; thereby giving an opportunity to the listener to hear one’s mother tongue (which is fast disappearing!). It is also very fascinating to hear about how every single guest on the program has dealt with extremely difficult circumstances during the time of partition to emerge victorious. Almost all guests credit this resilience to their Sindhi roots which speaks a great deal about the character of our community.

However, it is unfortunate that such “heroic” efforts of Dada Pratap haven’t received the recognition that they deserve with (largely) only Sindhis in Adipur-Kutch area knowing about him. May Sindhiyat be blessed with more such “Bhai Pratap”(s) for we need them now much more than ever before!

On another note, Sindhi Sangat is a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) involved with promoting Sindhi Language and Sindhi culture.  They are running the 3^rd International Sindhi Nursery Rhymes Competition 2018 aimed at encouraging young children to learn Sindhi rhymes. Details are available on the link below. Please do spread the word and if you have young children in the family, do encourage them to participate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQfODIpOG08

Jeay Sindhiyat!

PS: For the interested reader, link to Ms. Saaz Aggarwal’s article is as follows:
https://www.sahapedia.org/bhai-pratap-tribute-forgotten-hero