Soc, YA, Pol, Her: Sammelan Makeup - Sindhi Culture

[Anil Vaswani <VaswaniA@AOL.COM>]

People....

No response yet to my posting on Monday about our lack of warrior
instincts.... Though it doesn't surprise me.

Getting to the topic of the Sammelan and its 'orientation towards Hindu
sindhis' - I feel the issue is about defining sindhi culture. I've met Muslim
sindhis at the Toronto and SF Sammelans. I get the impression that they, as a
group, have a better grasp on what sindhi culture -- as defined by art,
language, literature -- than Hindu sindhis. My experience has taught me that
most Hindu sindhis I've interacted with care more about the car they drive,
the watches on their wrists, and the houses they live in. Is this true among
Muslim sindhis? I don't know, I haven't interacted enough with Muslim sindhis
to know. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. Flipping the coin, what is the
sentiment among the Muslim sindhi community as it relates to Hindu sindhis?
This is important because it will help a lot of Hindu sindhis decide how they
feel about this issue.

Mr. Gajwani has the courage to speak his mind. He articulated what a lot of
other Hindu sindhis think and feel. Here's a question -- do they feel that
way because of the past or the future? What happened during the partition
caused a great deal of anguish for a lot of people -- Hindus and Muslims
alike. Forgiving comes with time, but people rarely ever forget. Or is it
that they're afraid of the mingling of Hindus and Muslims? Will the 'culture'
get diluted or strengthened by 'mixing' sindhi Muslims and sindhi Hindus?
Just because people mingle doesn't mean they'll marry. If two sindhis, one
Hindu and one Muslim decide to marry each other, I doubt they'd ignore the
role religion would play in their lives -- individually as well as it relates
to raising children. No doubt, they'd have to discuss the issue and come to
some sort of resolution that both of them (hopefully their families as well)
could live with. Let's take this a step further. If the Sammelan is geared
towards Hindu sindhis, are Gujratis, Punjabis, Tamils and other Indians
welcome to the samellan? I've met non - sindhis at the samellan before. Is
the line drawn - Hindu / Muslim, or sindhi / non sindhi?

Integration of the sindhi community will come when a comfort level for
integration is prevalent among both the Hindu and Muslim segments. That may
happen next week or sometime in the next decade. Or it may never happen. The
issue we should examine more carefully is our definition of culture - does
religion define the sindhi culture? Some Hindu sindhis pass religious rituals
off as apart of sindhi culture - there may be some historical accuracy to
that. If so, Hindu sindhis should find a way to substantiate those rituals as
part of the sindhi Hindu culture. Are there grounds for Hindu sindhi culture?
Are there grounds for Muslim sindhi culture? Are the distinctions so minute
that it is in fact just the sindhi culture and two religious groups or are
the distinctions legitimate enough to warrant distinct subcultures?

I've raised a lot of questions - I do not have answers for these questions.
Some questions may never get answered. But hopefully, they're enough to make
us, question our definition of culture. In doing so, we may be able to bridge
the gap between Hindu sindhis and Muslim sindhis.

A