This blog is dedicated to a long lost friend and ‘Uncle’ Kamal Kukreja.
Over the weekend, I happened to read through Narensomu’s blog Adi Shankara-a Malayali, where she had mentioned about the stateless state of the Sindhis. Something in her blog stirred me and made me reminisce about my childhood and adolescent memories.
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The first Sindhi who I had known was Kamal uncle. Kamal uncle hailed from Madras and spoke flawless Tamil, with a slight Tiruvallikkeni twang. I had always thought Kamal uncle to be a Tamilian. The only other Kamal I knew was of course Kamal Hassan, a Tamilian. So it was only natural that Kamal Uncle had to be a Tamilian! Only much later in life did I learn that Kamal uncle was a Sindhi. Kamal Uncle’s parents had fled from Karachi and come to India as refugees during partition with nothing more than a trunk petti. They came down South to Madras and came up in life. Kamal uncle completed his engineering and eventually came to Bangalore as my dad’s manager. It was in Kamal uncle’s house that I first got to see a real refrigerator (not the movie ones 
).
The Sindhis ruled all over Sindh (in present day Pakistan) till about the 8th century. Until the advent of the marauding Arabs in 710 AD, all the inhabitants of Sindh were Hindus. With the coming of the Arabs, many Sindhis converted to Islam at the point of the sword. For centuries thereafter, their culture remained suppressed. Oppression, torture and death marked their every day lives. Many, through those dark centuries, lost much of the knowledge of their roots and ancient culture. Sindhi today is written in the Arabic script.
At the time of partition, many Hindu Sindhis fled their homeland, leaving behind everything, home and hearth. They came to independent India with only their free spirit, enterprise, and head and heart with them. These are stories that will never find a mention in our history textbooks for reasons of political expediency.
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Many years ago, my uncle had presented me with a college bag, which proudly displayed the tag Made in USA. At that time, my innocent mind had wondered not so innocently as to how my simpleton Mama came to acquire foreign made stuff. I later came to know that USA actually meant Ulhasnagar Sindhi Association.
Immediately after partition, Sindhis concentrated in Jodhpur and Ajmer, along the Indo-Pak border, hoping against hope that some day they would return to their Mathrubhoomi. When that hope gradually started fading, the Sindhis started looking for greener pastures and gravitated towards Mumbai. The Sindhu Resettlement Corporation had been allotted land near the Kandla port to build Gandhidham. That remained only a pipe dream, forever in the making. To meet their immediate need for housing, the Kalyan camp for World War II POW got converted into a colony, the now famous Ulhasnagar. The refugees could live here economically and make money in nearby Mumbai, then Bombay. It is said the total population of Ulhasnagar in 1951 was just 80,000. Today Ulhasnagar is home to about four hundred thousand people from all walks of life. Maharashtrians, Gujaratis, Punjabis- you would find them all here. Business has grown, and the Ulhasnagar turnover is estimated today to be Rs.1,000 crores or about US$ 250 million. The duplicate goods image is largely gone though.
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During my early days in college, we were a gang of five. R had joined our college after start of the academic year. Though she was a loner, her chubby face and cherubic smile somehow attracted our gang to her and soon we became the gang of six. I was to learn that R’s grandparents too had been displaced by the partition. Starting from scratch in their new found homeland, they raised a family from next to nothing. R’s father rose to become a scientist with DRDO. Speaks volumes about the grit and determination of this small community. I also learnt that the Sindhis worship Jhulelal , the River God. Hailing as they do from our own land of Sapta Sindhu, little wonder that their Asht Devata happens to be the River God. But R also told us that they pray at the Gurudwaras and follow the Guru Granth Sahib. We are so given to waxing eloquent about cultural pluralism, but here are simple people who would rather practice than preach.
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Our first discovery of the Cradle of Civilization, Mohenjodaro is actually Sindhi Mooan-Jo-Daro.
Sindh is rich in folklore. The immortal love classics Heer Ranjha, Lila Chanesar, Sohni Mahiwal, Sasi Pannu are all from Sindh.
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The four million Hindu Sindhis are now a displaced people with no home state or homeland to call their own. There is no separate state for them in independent India. Even Sikkim with its tiny population of 500,000 is an independent state.
The only reference to Sindh is now in our National Anthem.
But their homelessness hasn’t deterred the Sindhis from progressing on all fronts. Faced with immense adversity, they have risen like the Phoenix against many odds. At the time of partition, there were very few Sindhi millionaires. Today, Ulhasnagar alone has more than forty millionaires. The Sindhi entrepreneurs have played a very important catalytic role in the economic development of many areas of India.
The richest Sindhi family today is the Hinduja brothers in the automobile industry, their family valued at more than USD 250 million;
The Raheja Brothers alone have constructed thousands of buildings;
The Amar Chitra Kathas that I grew up with are published by H.G.Mirchandani;
Other luminaries-Ram Jethmalani, Bhagwan Gidwani, Dada Vasvani, L.K.Advani… the list is endless.
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The Sindhis don’t have a state; so they don’t have border disputes;
The Sindhis don’t have a state; so they don’t have water disputes;
The Sindhis don’t have a state; so they don’t have language disputes;
The Sindhis don’t have a state; they have never asked for reservations of any kind. All the progress the community has made today is by dint of hardwork.
So if this small community with no state to call its own, with no visible roots to tie them to this country, with no special privileges, with no call for reservation- can progress on all fronts, why can’t the others follow in their worthy footsteps?
I haven’t seen a Sindhi beggar, have you?
Hats off to the Sindhis!
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Very interesting and a great tribute to Sindhis, yes you are very right they mingle well with the mainstream society that we never even normally address their angle.
And no I have never seen a Sindhi Beggar.
Regards
Ronny
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Apologies, I was away from Sulekha for the last couple of days due to the holiday.
Hi Socrates: Thank you for appreciating my writing
. I have always admired the Sindhis for their hard work and industriousness. That’s what prompted me to write about them. At a time when everybody is clamouring for this or that, these people go about their lives with a no-nonsense approach.
Dear Rao Sir: Thank you for your insightful comments
. Uprooting is indeed a painful experience for any community. But like a blade of grass that weathers a storm, the Sindhis have managed to survive the trauma of partition and assimilated well in our country and contributed to our economic progress, unlike their counterparts the Mohajirs.
Dear Rrakhee: Welcome to my blog space
. You are right when you say immigrants always flourish on foreign soil. But I also think the Sindhis are a little different. They can’t be considered immigrants in our country, they used be part of undivided India
Thank you for visiting
. Appreciate your comments.
Dear Suresh: I just followed my heart and penned my thoughts. I don’t know if I managed to convey all that I wanted to. Thank you for visiting and commenting
. As you have rightly noted, the progress has been without bitterness towards anybody, which is commendable.
Regards,
Melody
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That was a very sensitive piece of writing. You try to get into the hearts of the people.
As you said, Sindhis had a long struggle through out the History. They had to bare the brunt of attacks of invading forces right from the time of Alexander. The life and struggle was particularly hard, as they had to hold on to life as also to their religion.
For any settled community, up rooting is a very painful experience. It cuts the very roots of their existence and robs them of their identity. It is particularly harsh on those wedded to the soil on which their ancestors lived and died. In matter of few hours/days, they are rendered homeless, faceless refugees. Many do not survive such a huge crisis.
It is remarkable these and other communities not only managed to survive but also lived a very useful and a highly successful life. They assimilated wonderfully well with the rest of the society, unlike their mirror images Mohajirs. That also speaks of the Indian heritage.
Keep writng
Regards
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