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

[Avinash Lalwani <Avinashlal@AOL.COM>]

In a message dated 99-05-12 10:15:18 EDT, VaswaniA@AOL.COM writes:

<< 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. >>
>>
According to me, both Muslim Sindhis and Hindu Sindhis know quite a bit about
the ISLAMIC culture of Sind. They (Muslim Sindhis and Hindu Sindhis) know
little or next to nothing about the pre-Islamic culture of Sind. This is a
serious gap in their knowldge.
Vaswani makes a good point about pre-occupation of Sindhi Hindus with
material things of life, and their indifference  to culture. That is a
tragedy. This tragic state of affairs is brought about by  two main factors,
and these factors are:

(1) Concentration of those, who should know better, solely on culture during
the Islamic period, and ignoring the pre-Islamic, ancient Hindu culture,
leaving a wide, unsatisfying gap.

( 2) The monumental indifference of parents, teachers and the leaders of
Sindhi Community to impart knowledge of ancient culture. Here I must refer to
very useful  contribution made by Rohit in his  message dated 99-05-12
19:25:55 EDT on the Sindhi Net; and for those who have missed it, I reproduce
at the end of this message, extracts from Rohit's contribution.  His
suggestion of making books on culture cheaply or freely available on the
basis of the examples set by Sindhi Academy or the Gujerati Sewak Sabha which
issues free books with compliments of Seth NARSIBHAI MULJIBHAI.  Like Rohit,
my  reaction to this also is: LONG LIVE SETH NARSIBHAI MULJIBHAI, and  his
Emporium .

 In fact, I would like to go a little further, and adapt, with a slight
change, the
advertisement of Ford Car (Have you driven a Ford lately?), and ask Parents,
"HAVE YOU GIVEN A BOOK ON CULTURE TO YOUR SON or DAUGHTER, LATELY?"

.. And a similar Question needs to be asked from Teachers and also from those
who organize Sindhi functions. Do not deny this thirst for cultural knowledge
of ancient culture..

 With regards,
Avinash
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 In a message dated 99-05-12 19:25:55 EDT, Rohitlalwa writes:
<<About your question about our knowledge of culture, the truth is that we
Sindhis lack the knowledge of our culture. This is true of Sindhis - be they
Hindus or Muslims. We have a lot of knowledge about American and foreign
culture. But of Sindhi culture we know next to nothig. Now that is a bad
thing, as ignorance of culture is not a bliss.

At Sindhi gatherings Sindhis talk big, and even quote some  well known poets;
and people listen with great wonder, but much of it is  a show. But the fact
is that Sindhis are not well read. Of course they are highly educated with
college degrees, and they are rich but for culture or books on culture they
don’t generally care.

There are many big names who  are organizers of Sindhi functions. They should
do what Bengali/ Gujrati/ Marathas/Tamils/ and many other communities do.
Their Organizers see to it that books on culture of that community are
distributed to all participants. How they do it is simple. When they charge
fees for joining functions, they take account of book distribution free, at
the end., from amounts collected as fees. When they don’t have fees for
joining function, they get some rich guy from their community to pay, and
each book is stamped with name of donor, for instance to say ‘“Distributed by
Gujerati Sewak Sabha with compliments of SETH NARSIBHAI MULJIBHAI, propreitor
GUJERAT SARI & FASHION EMPORIUM, M..G Road, Ahmedabad.’” My reaction to this
is: LONG LIVE SETH NARSIBHAI MULJIBHAI, and may his Emporium prosper.

A variant example of this was when some years back , I attended a function
organized by Sindhi Academy in New Delhi. At the entrance, at Reception Desk
they  had kept three bulky , hard cover books with poetry of Shah Abdul Latif
, Sachal and Sami , along with many  booklets on culture- all for Rs.200/
.This exception, I think, was really good.

Forget about big organizers of big functions, what do Sindhi parents do. It
will never occur to a Sindhi father/mother to give a book on culture to his
children or grown ups. Comic books, yes. Painting books, of course; novels of
love and romance too, yes.  But culture is a no, no. So different, in this
regard, is a Sindhi from non-Sindhi parent .

Yet it is too much to ask a Sindhi to give and have cultural knowledge.
Sindhi is one of the richest community. It is also most highly educated. Add
cultural knowledge - we will be on top of world and envy of all. But that is
asking for too much.
As to questions on Mr.Gajwani's answers, i think, too many questions may
confuse rather than clarify the issue.

Rohit>>
>>