First Anniversary

We shall not cease from exploration,
and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
- T S Eliot

I first read the above lines in Erich Segal’s bestselling novel “The Class” many years ago when I was in High School. They have remained with me ever since. Today, as I write Sindhi-Chokro’s first anniversary post, I am again reminded of these lines for these aptly summarize the reason why this blog exists – as a means to explore the multi-faceted (Hindu) Sindhi identity in today’s times that we ("this" generation) so easily seem to have forgotten. For a community which left its homeland some seven decades ago and has had little interaction/knowledge about it since then, questions regarding identity can be quite complex to deal with. This blog is an attempt to (hopefully) bring forth the pluralistic, (seemingly) layered Sindhi identity that has helped Hindu Sindhi community sustain through troubled times and become one of the most economically successful communities of modern times.

When I first started this blog, twelve months ago, I wasn’t sure about how long my new found interest was going to last. Honestly, I am not even sure today as to for how long will I be able to continue this blog. What I am undoubtedly sure about is that my love for Sindh and Sindhiyat will remain an important part of my existence and in one way or the other I will continue to be involved with the community.

Sufi poetry has always interested me – partly because of the ability of Sufi writers to communicate profound realities of life/existence in simple terms. The universality of Sufi sayings gives the reader an option to tailor the learning to his own individual experiences. I have heard the below lines by famous Sufi Saint, Baba Bulleh Shah, for the last many years and the depth of these lines is absolutely fascinating. The reason I mention these lines here is because in many ways , I find these apt for the current state of our community as well – of us having spread far and wide, having conquered the “mountains” , of having achieved financial success ; however still far away from understanding our own “self” – our history, shared heritage and the all “inclusive” Sindhi Spirit . Sindhi Chokro is a humble attempt towards understanding all this.

“Parh Parh aalim fazil hoya
Kaday apne aap noon parheyai nahin
Ja Ja Warda mandar maseetan oye
Kaddi man apnay wich wareyai naeen
Aywaeen roze shaitan nal larda
Kadi nafs apnay kolon lareyai naeen
Way Bulleyah asmaniaan ud’dian pharda
Jera ghar baitha unoon phareya naheen”

(You studied and became knowledgeable
But you never studied yourself
You go again and again to mosques and temples
But you never explored your own self
You fight the devil every day for no reason
But you never fought yourself
O Bulleyah, what are you trying to catch up in the sky
You can’t even catch the one sitting in your own home)

(Lines and translation copied from “Piya Ghar Aaya”/ Coke Studio (Pakistan) Season 11, Episode 3) 

I also take this opportunity to thank you readers for your continued love and support. YOU are an important reason why "Sindhi Chokro" exists. Please feel free to write to us via the comments section in the blog. 

Jiye Sindhiyat!

Sindhi Chokro
16th January,2019.

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I am honored to introduce you to our “Star” Guest Writer for this anniversary post – Dada Balwant (Bill) Bhaneja – “A Canadian Hindu Sindhi of origins in pre-partitioned India, born in Punjab.”Dada Bhaneja (b. 1941) grew up in Delhi before moving to Bonn, Germany for an internship and finally emigrating to Canada in 1965. He is a former diplomat who studied International Relations at Carleton University and holds a PhD from the University of Manchester.  He is currently based in Ottawa, Canada and is an author of numerous books on arts, politics and science.

My interactions with Dada started sometime in early 2017 when I first wrote to him about how his book " Troubled Pilgrimage: A Passage to Pakistan" touched me. The book, a travel memoir, is an account of his week long journey to ancestral towns in Upper Sindh - Sukkur, Shikarpur and Rohiri in early 2006. Having myself grown in a Sindhi household, his engaging writing expresses most of the sentiments/imagery that I have had of Sindh listening to conversations at home, in our "gitti" and on the social media. Our relationship has grown over the past year or so with email exchanges becoming a regular feature. I cherish our interactions and hope that I get a chance to meet Dada in person soon.

Dada Balwant (Bill) Bhaneja

Congratulations to Sindhi Chokro on its first anniversary:  Sindhiyat in today’s globalized world

How time flies. Congratulations to Sindhi Chokro blog on marking this month its first anniversary. Credit goes to thoughtful Milind Teckchandani for his deep love for Sindh and Sindhiyat and a search for its meaning, not only in India but in today's globalized world. The title of his blog is intriguing: A Sindhi Chokro - 31 years old Sindhi based in Delhi interested in all things "Sindhi". There is a youthful dare in that logo, a headline that bridges the past with the future, showing one's humility and authentic curiosity to discover an unknown.

Not surprisingly the first blog was entitled, "Being Sindhi". Recognizing the challenge of the project, he wrote: "Questions regarding one's roots are usually quite complex to deal with - things like where do I come from, about ones ancestry, what did they do for a living, how did we land up at the place where we currently live etc.  Often this information about past is limited, memories vague and details incoherent (generally)." This was a great way on his part to start the New Year with a sankalpa to learn about one's Sindhiyat.

In fact all his blogs that followed dealt with the question of search for identity of a new generation of millennial Sindhis who were born and brought up in India. Like a socio-cultural anthropologist Milind in his invigorating youthful spirit has continued to introduce the reader to varied aspects about Sindhis of India.  Milind is a keen researcher, the way he ferrets out information bringing every time something novel for his readers be it: unsung heroes, religion, history, language, music, food, festivals... His blogs are not just about nostalgia about how great old pre-Partition days were or a longing for Sindhi home food of Koki and Kadhi, but also ventures into tackling complex social issues.

For example, one of his blogs was on an unusual topic of the changing demography of Sindhi refugee colonies in Mumbai, bringing new pressures on fragile Sindhi identity that may be exploited for political purposes. Like preceding generations, he is also concerned about decline of Sindhi Boli, the language of small 3 million Indian Sindhi population. How to prevent that continual linguistic erosion?

Reality of India's Sindhis is that their cultural heritage is tied whether they want or not    to the other side of the border where Sindhi language is thriving among almost 10 times size of the Indian Sindhi population without any discontinuities of land, language, education and culture. Concerns of its decline are also heard in Pakistan due to pressures of modernization, globalization and demographic pressures in Sindh province itself but Sindhi Boli in Pakistan remains relatively rooted.

It was in January 2017 when email from a young Sindhi from New Delhi India surprised me informing that he had read my book, entitled, 'Troubled Pilgrimage: Passage to Pakistan'. He wrote: "Although I am from the Millennial Generation (1987 born); somehow over the last few years something has constantly pushed me towards knowing more about my roots. Perhaps as you point out in your Preface - “…. Searching for our roots comes to us either in our youth……" I was touched by Milind's heartfelt response to the underlying emotions of my book. To him, the book was the closest that he could get to experiencing Sindh.  But he was hopeful that maybe one day he would also get to see the land of his forefathers in Distt Nawabshah and Distt Kandiaro, Pakistan. I share Milind’s longing as a Sindhi, it is vital that we all Indian Sindhis make once in our life time that trip to our ancestral land.

Searching for one's roots and seeking answer to the question of ‘Who am I’ ought to concern all, it is especially important for a writer, someone like me who left homeland in 1965 for Canada. It is in ones roots a writer seeks his authentic voice. That January 2017 email was the beginning of a long correspondence. Milind’s mention of now living and having grown up in old Rajinder Nagar in New-Delhi reminded me as a young man in the early 1960s coming to that neigbourhood from Lajpat Nagar to learn music from two great Sindhi music masters Motihar Brothers (Kan and Dewan, and their cousin Arjun) who lived in R Block.

There is an important role to be played by blogs such as Sindhi Chokro. Young or old we Sindhis have to be proud of our true pehchan when our cultural foundation is fast thinning out in a majority non-Sindhi society. This blog can play a useful role in expanding consciousness to find new ways of forwarding the Boli and Sindhiyat. Cultural identities are deeply personal, they have to be worked out in one's mind and home, first testing our core ethical values about the brotherhood of Man, respect for the "other" grounded in a belief in oneness of humanity. This may mean finding courage to accept our multiple evolving identities, and seeking to connect with our heritage across the border to show our open mindedness, transcending differences created by nationality, race, religion, and gender.

Language alone however does not shape identity, it can be impacted by migration and adaptation the further it gets from the place of its origins. More important is perhaps how to preserve the core essence of a centuries old culture. In this, the preservation and discovery of past stories are as important as writing new ones. There are stories galore of compassion and goodness of Sindhis of India, Pakistan, and from across the globe. This may be accomplished through highlighting human values of the culture that we sometime proudly refer to as for example our Sufi tradition of co-existence, or serving selflessly the poor, sick, and needy in times of crisis through humanitarian work. The human values that unite are more precious than those that divide us and promote hatred and violence. I think bringing such purpose to culture can motivate Sindhi millennial to learn more about their culture and mother tongue in a broad and meaningful way.

Will Sindhi Chokro one day be free to travel to the other side to imbibe the mystical beauty of Sindh found in the poetry of Abdul Shah Latif, Sachal Sarmast and Bhagat Kanwar Ram despite man-made borders and boundaries, to enjoy the eternal oneness of spirit? We need more first hand experience to identify such commonalities through music, arts, food that Sindhis can enjoy together locally or globally. Since my visit to Pakistan, I feel that an increase in such cross border cultural exchanges between the two sides can be a step in the right direction.  Thank you Milind for your blog in getting us started.   --  Balwant Bhaneja, Ottawa, Canada.

(Balwant Bhaneja is author of the book, Troubled Pilgrimage: Passage to Pakistan, published by Mawenzi Books (formerly TSAR), Toronto, 2013.  Also available in Kindle Edition at Amazon)