TOUR REPORTS/ARTICLES OF SINDHIS STAYING IN JHARKHAND
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Jamshedpur: (1995)
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TOUR REPORTS/ARTICLES OF SINDHIS STAYING IN KARNATAKA
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BANGALORE (Nov 11, 2003) and (Oct 2008)
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TOUR REPORTS/ARTICLES OF SINDHIS STAYING IN KERALA
In continuation of my endeavours to bring Sindhi community
together and to preserve their identity and culture, by getting in touch with
officers of various important Sindhi organisations across 154 cities / towns in
India and abroad so far, recently I got the opportunity to visit following
further 3 main cities of Kerala.
The report of the same in a nut – shell is as under:
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THIRUVANTHAPURAM
(July 2016)
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This city is also called as Trivandrum. It is capital city of Kerala
state, with a total strength of 10 lakh population. However only 8 Sindhi
families stay here, out of which 3 families are Kataria Bros, 3 Kamnani Bros. and
remaining 2 families are Varandani and Nainami. They stay in different
locations of the city. Only 2 families speak in Sindhi at home and among
themselves. Being limited in number, they do not have any Sindhi Association at
present but they aspire for the same. They are engaged in various business. A
few of them keep the murti of Sai Jhulelal at homes / shops. They do not
celebrate any annual festivals. However they meet together on happy and unhappy
occasions. They were encouraged to make association and celebrate important
festivals like Chetichand etc. The meeting with them took place in my Hotel
High Land Park on 20-07-16. from 8:30 to 9:30 am, wherein 3 persons were
present many worth seeing places are located here, such as Sri Padmanabhaswamy
Temple, Napier museum and Art Gallery, observatory, Zoological Garden, Kovalam
Beach etc.
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COCHIN
(July 2016)
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This city is also called Kochi or Ernakulam, it's total
strength is 35 lakhs (highest in Kerala). This is mainly a business city in the
state. Only 15 Sindhi families stay here. Nearly 10% of them speak in Sindhi at
home (and 20% among themselves). At least 5 of them can read & write in
Sindhi script. They are engaged in various business such as Cloth, medicines,
CD / DVD's, courier services etc. They have one Cochin Sindhi association whose
President is Shri Deepak. L. Aswani, V.P. is Shri Ashok . J. Rijhwani and
secretary is Shri Deepak J. Vanjani. This association does not own any place. Hence they celebrate
annual functions from different places. For example they celebrate Cheti Chand
mela with Gujarati Lohana Samaj at “Darya Sthal”, wherein they do Priti bhojan
also. They keep their shops open on this accassion. They celebrate Guru Namik
and Guru Gobindsingh Jayantis in Gurudwara. They arrange Sri Satyanarayan Katha
every month, they celebrate Diwali, Holi, Mahashivaratari etc. with Marwaris at
the place belonging to North Indian Association. Nearly 50 % of them keep the
murtis of Sai Jhulelal at their office / home. Many attractive worth seeing
places are located here. Such as Fort Kochi Harbour, Bolgatty and Wellingdon Islands, Dutch palace (Mattancherry),
Jewish Synagogue, Chinese fishing Nets, St. Francis church (wherein lies the
grave of Vasco – da – Gama) etc. These places can be conveniently visited by
Cochin Boat cruise – cum – siightseeing managed by KTDC ( Kerala Tourism
Development Corporation). The meeting took place in my Hotel Sunshine on 21-
07-2016, from 8:30 pm to 10:30 pm wherein 9 members ( including Ladies) were
present.
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CALICUT
(July 2016)
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This city is also called as Kazikode, It's total population is
10 lakh. Only 12 Sindhi families stay here in different locations of the city. They
have one Multani Bankers Association, whose President is Shri Rupesh Makhija
and secretary is Shri Jagdish Lulla.. This association has 12 Sindhi families
& 4 Punjabi families. Nearly 70% of them speak in Sindhi at home and among
themselves, None of them knows Sindhi script. They do various business i.e.
Banking, motor parts, hardware etc. Some of them are engineers and CAs , They
have one old sindhi Temple (Darbar) in Silk street, from where they conduct all
social, cultural and religious activities. They do 'Ardas' & 'Arti' twice
daily. They celebrate moon night every month, They also celebrate all annual
functions such as Chetichand, Diwali, Holi, Rakhshabandhan, Mahashivaratri,
Janmashtami, Guru Nanik Jayanti etc. & arrange Bhandara ( Priti Bhojan) on
all these occasions through this Darbar only. They do Yagya Havan in Navratras.
The meeting took place in this Darbar after prayers on 22- 07-16. from 6:30 pm
to 9:00 pm wherein 27 members were present which included Gents, Ladies and
youngsters & included practically all Sindhi and Punjabi families. The
Dinner Prasad was served at the end. A great enthusiasm for Sindhiyat was seen
in this meeting which was remarkable. They normally keep the Murtis of Sai
Jhulelal at their homes, their association also helps needy persons
financially. Here the worth seeing places are Marine Drive (Calicut Beach),R.P.
mall and Focus mall etc.
On the whole it was seen that the Sindhis in Kerala are well
off financially. They are also connected with Sindhi Federation of South India
(Chennai).
Thanks Mr. Rohira you have been doing excellent service to the community
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