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.

X------------------------------------------X

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)

Sindhi "Boli"

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.”

(Source: http://www.sindhishaan.com/article/personalities/pers_05_01b.html)

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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcjaJEFQ64g&list=RDjcjaJEFQ64g&start_radio=1

Jiye Sindhiyat!

Sindhi Kadhi Chawal

For the past few weeks, I have been traveling to Mumbai every week for a work assignment. I fly to Mumbai on Monday mornings, work out of our Mumbai office for the entire week and return back to Delhi late on Friday evenings. This schedule is likely to continue for a few more weeks. This time while coming back, I was flying via IndiGo Airlines, a local low cost carrier that is amongst India’s most profitable airlines. In-fact, their business model is very similar to Southwest Airlines in the US.  Looking at the inflight menu, I saw “Ready Made Sindhi Kadhi Chawal” being served on board. It was a pre-mixed pack to which one needs to add warm water and leave the container for 8-10 mins post which Kadhi Chawal is ready to eat. The mention of Sindhi Kadhi Chawal brought a smile to my face ; I never expected that one day it will be served as a “Readymade Mix”. I guess the reason it is called Sindhi Kadhi is to differentiate it from the “Kadhi” (Punjabi Kadhi) which is made up of Pakoras. 

In my home (and I am sure in most other Sindhi homes as well!), cooking Sindhi Kadhi Chawal is an event. It is usually cooked on a holiday (generally Sundays). Kadhi is served hot with steamed Jeera rice (white) and Laddoo/Boondi. I am given the responsibility to get Laddoo from the market. A day before, my mother gets busy in ensuring that the various vegetables that will be put in the Kadhi are available – after all she needs to ensure that everybody gets to eat his favorite vegetable!. As she often jokingly says “ Hik Maanu khe hiye khape, byo khe hoo khape, taahinji farmaaeshoon poori kande kande maanu adh tho thee vanjhe” ( One eats this, the other eats that (referring to her two kids) , I get so tired just ensuring both of you get what you want! ) Typical mummy thing isn’t it?

I love the smell of Gram Flour (a key ingredient) being stirred. You can smell it from a distance. I remember that on most occasions in the family, Sindhi Kadhi Chawal has been a staple.It’s a complete meal in itself.  I am not sure if “Readymade Mix” can ever taste the same.

I end with this wonderful documentary film “Sindhi Kadhi” (under patronage of UNESCO) by Natasha Raheja, a fellow Sindhi, who is currently a Post-Doctoral Associate in the Department of Anthropology at Cornell University. This film is a part of a series titled “Grandmas Project” - a collaborative web-series sharing the recipes and stories of grandmas around the world, filmed by their grandchildren. I could almost smell the Kadhi when it was being cooked. The entire narrative is so similar to the one I have grown up with! I hope all of you like it too. Thanks Natasha for such a wonderful effort.

http://grandmasproject.org/films/sindhi-kadhi/

Jiye Sindhiyat !