I have just finished watching a video from Bhavna Rajpal's insightful Sindhi Series " (Un)archiving Adipur". Adipur, a small town located in Kutch district of Gujarat, has played an influential part in preservation of Sindhiyat in the post partition India. It is built on land originally donated by the estwhile Maharaja of Kutch to Sindhu Resettlement Corporation headed by Late Pratap Dialdas (Bhai Pratap) upon his request to Mahatma Gandhi for land to rehabilitate Hindu Sindhis from Pakistan. The Kutchis and Sindhis share a long and a common history with both Kachchhi and Sindhi languages being quite similar. In fact some scholars consider Kuchchhi to be a dialect of Sindhi. Having read for my MBA degree at K J Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research in Mumbai, an educational institute run by Somaiya family who have Kuchchhi origins , I vividly remember listening to the various Kuchchhi Samaj programs that were held at the campus and being able to understand the gist of most conversations. Not many may be aware, that Adipur also has a second Samadhi of Mahatma Gandhi (main one being at Delhi) as it was Acharya Kriplani and Bhai Pratap who immersed Bapu's sacred ashes in Kandla Creek.
Bhai Pratap wanted to develop a Mini "Sindh" in India at Adipur given the proximity to Gulf of Kutch and Arabian Sea and was one of the early visionaries who foresaw the potential to develop Adipur as a trading hub much like today's Hong Kong and Singapore given the community's trading prowess. Unfortunately, the plan did not materialize as envisaged due to a plethora of factors including Bhai Pratap's untimely demise. ( The interested reader may want to read my earlier blog post on Bhai Pratap :https://sindhi-chokro.blogspot.com/2018/08/bhai-pratap.html)
Nonetheless, Adipur/Kutch has emerged as a centre for preservation of Sindhi culture thanks to the establishment of Indian Institute of Sindhology (IIS) and also (now) with the construction of Jhulelal Tirathdham Trust in Kutch's Lakhpat District. Whilst IIS has been envisaged as a Centre for educational and cultural preservation of Sindhiyat, the Tirathdham trust is envisaged as a Centre for Hindu Sindhi Pilgrimage. Phase 1 of the project has already been completed with the construction of Lal Saeen Mandir and further phases are planned for the future. ( The interest reader may also want to read my earlier blog post on Indian Institute of Sindhology: https://sindhi-chokro.blogspot.com/2019/02/indian-institute-of-sindhology-iis.html).
I have been a avid follower of Bhavna Rajpal's youtube page "Sindhi Film Festival". She is one of the few Sindhis from the my generation who have an interest in keeping Sindhiyat alive as well as relevant for the younger audience. Her videos are quite insightful. (Un)archiving Adipur is a ten part series in which Bhavna interviews some of the distinguished community elders who have played an important role in the formation of Indian Institute of Sindhology. It was originally produced in 2018 but has been put on her youtube channel recently. I congratulate Bhavna on her efforts and hope that I get to see more such informative videos in the future. The link to her youtube page is as follows.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMyF3wzNMnZN2sQjbYPIv4w/featured
Jai Jhulelal.
