Tour report of Sindhis of Gujarat during April 2009
(Mohan G. Rohira, Advocate)
Published in (1) “Sujag Sindhi” (Dev) dt. Jun-1-2009 (2)
“Hindu” (Sindhi) June-2 and 4-2009
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SIHOR (April 22,
2009):
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This tiny town is
situated on Western Rly at a distance of 30 Kilometers from Bhavnagar. Its
total population is only 70,000 including 100 Sindhi families. The President
& Secretary of Sindhi Samaj, Sihor, respectively are Shri Gordhandas
Mewalamal Chawla and Shri Hareshbhai Narumal Chimnani. They have built Sri Guru
Nanak Sindhi Gurudwara in Sindhi Colony where they often meet together on
social, religious, happy and unhappy occasions. They are normally in different
businesses. Here the specialty of Sindhis is that they speak only in Sindhi
only at home and among themselves. Of course some Gujarati words have made
inroads in Sindhi Language due to the overall atmosphere of Gujarati language.
They celebrate the annual festivals of Guru Nanak Jayanti & Chetichand on a grand scale
e.g. by arranging "Akhand Path Sahib” for 3 days, keeping their shops
closed throughout the day, eating food together twice a day & arranging
procession in the town. Not only that, but they also arrange "Prabhat
Pheri" for 15 days in Guru Nanak
Jayanti. They also celebrate other annual festivals with much fun &
fair. They are strongly united. If any Sindhi is ill-treated by any local
person or if there is death of a Sindhi in the town, all the Sindhi shops
remain closed on that day. Thus they serve a good and inspiring example for the
Sindhis of other cities. However it is shocking to state here that I could not
find even a Single Sindhi person there who could read & write in Sindhi
Language or take free Sindhi Literature from me as all their correspondence is
in Gujarati language. They appreciated this & assured me to implement
shortly my suggestion of keeping Laminated Murtis of Sai Jhulelal at their
shops/ homes for keeping their identity in tact (on the lines of Bangalore Sindhi
Samaj). 17 important Sindhis attended the meeting for 2 hours on 22-04-09 and
their Tel. Nos were noted. The places worth seeing in the town are Sri
Gotameshwar Mahadev mandir & Sri Navnath Mandir.
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PALITANA (April 23,
2009)
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This tiny town is
65 km away from Bhavnagar. Its total population is 80,000 including 500 Sindhi
families. The town has 6 Sindhi Panchayats showing the names of towns in Sindh
from which they or their parents had originally come during partition of the
country, such as 1) Shikarpuri Sindhi Panchayat (President, Ghanshyambhai
Gambhani), 2) Kandhra Sindhi Panchayat (President, Udhomal Kukreja), 3) Riyasat
Sindhi Panchayat (President, Maheshbhai Badlani) 4) Pirgothai Sindhi Panchayat
(President, Rameshbhai Kanjani, 5) Khanpur Sindhi Panchayat (President,
Panjumal Mandani), 6) Ghotki Sindhi Panchayat (President, Shambhoobhai
Talreja). Moreover they have one Sindhi General Panchayat named "Palitana
Sindhi Samaj" whose Secretary is Shri Sudhamabhai Manjhar & President
is Shri Ashokbhai Prabhumal Nainani. He is also President, of Bhavnagar Distt.
Sindhi Panchayat. All the aforesaid persons of all Sindhi Panchayats were
present (total 24) in the meeting dt. 23-04-2009 for 2 hours which was called
by them on my request with a short notice, which shows their sincerity and
devotion for the Community.
The Sindhis of
this town have built 3 centres namely 1) Jyoti Swaroop Sindhi Dharamshala, 2)
Riyasat Sindhi Hall and 3) Sant Kanwar Ram Hall. These places are mainly meant
for their meetings for social, religious, happy & unhappy occasions. The
town has 7 Sindhi Temples which include 3 Sri Guru Nanak Gurudwaras, 3 Jhulelal
Mandirs and 1 Ganapati Mandir. All the Sindhis here speak in Sindhi only at
home & among themselves. It is gratifying to note that they have one Hemu
Kalani Sindhi High School wherein Sindhi (Devnagiri Script) is taught as one of
the subjects. Practically all are in different businesses. They celebrate
annual festivals such as Guru Nanak
Jayanti & Chaliha Sahib with "Langar Prasadi" (Preeti
bhojan) on a grand scale. Moreover on
auspicious occasion of Chetichand they take out procession with "Behrana
Saheb" on a large scale and serve "Prasad" to all passers-by
including local persons and all sindhis of the town take "Priti
Bhojan" (preeti bhojan) together, so much so that they don't light fire in
their own kitchen on that day. They are united and meet among themselves on
marriage and death occasions. They do much social work through their panchayats
such as giving financial help to 15 Sindhi poor families, giving prizes to
merits students, celebrating Sindhi week during Shravan month wherein they
arrange competition among Sindhi students, arrange medical camps etc. They have
good relations with local people. The town has many world famous Jain temples
worth seeing named Shrutunjay Giriraj temples (on a hill nearby) &
Hastagiri temples and a Shrutunjay Dam.
