AN ANTHEM TO CELEBRATE SINDHI SPIRIT
by Arun Babani
Early sixties was a crucial time in the history of Sindhi community. It was a time of rebuilding from the debris left by the partition. A time when the Sphinx was being born out of its own ashes. The Sindhi community enmass was finding its feet amidst the wilderness of lost homeland. It was in such an atmosphere of despair mixed with a new found enthusiasm to make it against all odds when Dr. Moti Prakash penned this immortal ode to the Sindhi community, an anthem all its own, that gave them a psychological impetus and a will not only to survive but push ahead with vitality and vigour.
Andheea mein jyot jagaaina wara Sindhi, khaka mein sonn banaina wara Sindhi it said (It is Sindhis who light a lantern amidst storms, it is Sindhis who convert dust into gold.) In this proclamation the community as a whole found an echo of all that they believed and felt about themselves. And immediately all the burdens and difficulties appeared insignificant, the feet felt lighter, hearts were on song and the Quomi Tarano was born.
“It was back in the early sixties when the magazine Sindhudhara then being edited by veteran writer Mr. Kirat Babani completed one year of its publication and Kirat told me to write a poem to celebrate the occasion.” remembers Dr.Moti Prakash.It was that very poem that later was rendered to music by music director Bulo C Rani, and around mid seventies, in a Sammelan by Akhil Bharat Sindhi Boli Ain Sahit Sabha it was declared as a community anthem.
Then onwards late Gobind Malhi’s Kalakar Mandal which traveled to all parts of India and abroad with its beautiful singer duo Bhagwanti Navani and Satram Rohira immortalized it by singing it at every event. Later, singer and composer Ghansham Vaswani made a fresh music rendering of which the Sabha has made VCD copies, which it plans to distribute free to every Sindhi household.
Indeed this Anthem of the Sindhi community is a unique tribute to people who have sacrificed so much all through history. So listen to it, hum it, dance to it, savour it, relish it and realize what it is to belong to this bright lamp of a community.