During my time in Mumbai earlier
this month, on one of the days, a senior colleague of mine walked up to me and
queried about the language I was speaking in during a telephonic conversation a
day earlier. I mentioned that I was speaking with my mother in “Sindhi”. He
nodded his head and said that he thought so as the language seemed familiar but
didn’t think it was Gujarati. He then expressed surprise that I spoke Sindhi as
he had a number of Sindhi friends but all of them spoke in Hindi/English. He
thought that the language is no longer spoken other than maybe in Sindh,
Pakistan. I smiled and said (rather sarcastically) that whilst the language’s
native user base has shrunk dramatically over the past five decades; however,
there is still some time to go before it finally becomes extinct. (Late) Dada
Dewan Motihar’s rendition of “"Allah
hiye na the jo kitaaban mein padhje t hui sindh aen sindhwarane ji
boli.......... “played in my head. This then started a conversation about
the hardships that Sindhis faced at the time of partition and how they have
successfully overcome most challenges and have emerged as one of the more
prosperous community in Independent India. In a recent article about wealthy
Indians, there were a number of Sindhi businessmen in the top 50 list which is
a testimony to the success of the community. I was pleasantly surprised at my
colleague’s deep knowledge about the community.
Sindhi language has always been
close to me. My earliest childhood memories include reciting “Bedo
t Muhinje Lal Jo padein tarando aendo” song at the cultural day in primary
school. Over the years, during the various business related travels, I have
always observed people taking pride in speaking in their mother tongue.
However, I never find the same within our community .I have met so many (Indian)
Sindhis who almost sound apologetic when asked about their background. I often
wonder why? One of the reasons may be that after coming from Pakistan, we have easily
amalgamated within the local communities in different states ; perhaps so much
so that we now only identify with our new surroundings conveniently forgetting
that one of the very reason for our ability to amalgamate has been our ancestry
: the liberal, all-encompassing “Sindhu” heritage. It is perhaps not without a
reason that in one of the interviews, Dada Ram Jethmalani speaks about why he
thinks that Sindhi civilization will eventually become extinct as have many
others in the course of history. I sincerely hope that things are different in
Sindh, Pakistan.
I am also reminded of a satsang by
(Late) Dada J P Vaswani where he eloquently explains about how Jews have been
able to keep their culture alive only by ensuring that the indigenous language
/ mother tongue continues to be spoken by people irrespective of where they
live. It is something that all of us
should pay heed to. Something similar is echoed by Dada Bhagwan Gidwani in his
interview with Sindhishaan magazine in 2006 :
“You are right in saying that the Sindhi language is life and blood of
‘Sindhyat’ and others would also agree with you, but what is the ground
reality? Our children have very little opportunities for Sindhi language. It is
the age of fierce competition. People may not like to lose just because they
want to learn Sindhi. But I very much agree with you that if we want to
preserve our ‘Sindhyat’, Sindhi identity, Sindhi culture, and Sindhi
affiliations, then Sindhi language must survive. I tell you the example of
Jews, when Israel came into existence, by then Jews had practically forgotten
their language Hebrew. The leaders of Israel suggested the revival of Hebrew to
connect all the Jews coming from various parts of the world into one thread.
Even world wide it became an article of faith in every Jewish family to learn
Hebrew. It was not because they intended to go back to Israel or they didn’t
intend to migrate, but it became an article of faith. The teachers of Hebrew
became rich overnight. It became the most lucrative profession in the world to
become a teacher of Hebrew. Today you will find every Jew, speaking Hebrew,
whether he stays in Europe or USA.”
Usually most complex problems have simple
solutions available only if we were to act upon them.
I end with this wonderful re-mixed
version of the popular Sindhi Sing “Aley Je Chame Razi”. Originally written by
Master Ranjhan, this version has been remixed by DJ lemon (Saeen Anil Chainani)
with melodious Ms. Vandana Nirankari on the vocals.I hope you like this remixed version.
Jiye Sindhiyat!
