Inaugural

Volume - 3 : Issue - 4

Published : Oct. - Dec. 2004

Group : Opinions

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RANDOM QUOTES

THE AJWANIS, FAMILY OF FOUR, KANDIVLI, MUMBAI

RAJU, 38, Garment manufacturer.
I have observed this thing about myself that since a long time I feel rather ashamed about my being a Sindhi. In our textile market, in front of other communities, I hesitate in introducing myself as a Sindhi because I wonder what they would think of me. Sindhis are known to be a clever business community but do not carry much prestige value. I carry this burden all the time and I wish that somehow it is taken off my head.

KIRAN, 35, Housewife.
Recently it so happened that I had gone to my 8-year-old daughter’s school and her teacher questioned me about my caste, because as she said, my daughter did not know her community status. She was told by my child that our mother tongue was Hindi. Actually it is not her fault, even I don’t relate much with being a Sindhi. Right from childhood we have been speaking Hindi or English at home, and the same tradition is carried down in my family too. Another reason is that I observe that Sindhis are quit ‘badnaam’, and hence sometimes I hide my identity.

THE DAWRAS, FAMILY OF FOUR, (Louisiana), U.S.A.

Raj, 45, Businessman.
From my childhood, I always heard negative stuff about Sindhis. It was a general view that Sindhis were shrewd business people. Over a period of time I have changed myself since most of my life I have lived as an NRI in Dubai, and currently in USA. I have accepted the fact that we have lost our culture by living out of India for over two and half decades. I have no regrets though, as long as we teach ourselves and our children to respect every human being whatever the caste or creed.

SANGEETA, 40, Professional.
Globalization of Sindhis has been good. We are expanding where our wealth is concerned, only thing is somehow we Sindhis have fallen back on teaching our kids our language and culture. Most of our kids are unable to speak Sindhi today. Of course we have ourselves to be blamed. The reason is we have mixed up our priorities between Heritance and Heritage. We are far busy trying to give them In-Heritance more than passing our Heritage to them. We need to correct our priorities, Heritage first, and then Inheritance. Our grandparents faced immense hardships during the partition, lost all their inheritance, but still cultivated the heritage in us. Now it is our generation who need to keep this torch burning.