Fwd: SINDH-L Digest - 22 Sep 2004 to 5 Oct 2004 (#2004-75)

[Sanjay Bhatia <sbix@YAHOO.COM>]

My family lives in Bombay, which is where I spent 18 years of my life.  We have
very fond memories of Ulhasnagar, since we spent most of our summer and winter
holidays there.  My grandfather was given a plot of land there in lieu of the
vast properties grabbed by the thugs flowing into Shikarpur at the time of
partition.  

The kids we played with, the families in the neighborhood, the trees, the
warmth - they are all permanently marked in our lives.  It's true that most of
the Sindhi families were put up in Barracks vacated by the departing British
soldiers.  We saw these, and live in there was miserable.  But the beauty was
in the people that called them home.  There was some financial disparity, but
no one could have guessed it at the time.  My father's best friend from his
childhood - their family too was given a plot next to us.  There was a Sindhi
widow who had 100 cats living with her in her house and would make papads for
everyone...  The Sindhis that moved into these houses built simple houses with
fruit trees in their yards.  My grandfather grew Peru and Mango trees that we
played on all day.  

Sindhi Elders would sit outside Kalyan and Ulhasnagar station, chat among
themselves next to drinking water pots and offer water to the young Sindhis
heading out to Bombay or returning from Bombay after a hard day's work.

Of course over time the Maharashtrians that moved in has soiled the land, but
that is now.  

Brilliant - those memories are the best!  I just wish my children had an
environment like that one.

sb

> ------------------------------
> 
> Date:    Mon, 4 Oct 2004 19:02:09 -0500
> From:    Gul Agha <agha@CS.UIUC.EDU>
> Subject: Ulhasnagar, Sindhi Refugee Camp
> 
> I remember my visit to Ulhasnagar a few years ago.  There were many
> Sindhi scholars, poets and intellectuals living in the area and people
> in the streets spoke Sindhi.  The town was originally the site of
> military barracks from World War II, with no proper toilet facilities
> and open sewers in which tens of thousands of Sindhi refugees were
> dumped by the Indian government.
> 
> Many Sindhis have moved on and scattered as they have succeeded
> financially but hundreds of thousands still live here in part because
> it is a Sindhi area not far from Mumbai.
> 
> Unfortunately, it still had overflowing sewers and broken, narro roads
> with huge potholes when I visited.  It had been three days since they
> had seen fresh water.  The car of my gracious host got stuck in a open
> sewer line..  The locals believed the area was neglected because it
> was predominantly Sindhi and the Maharastra govt. didn't give it
> priority.  Here is a story about Ulhas Nagar on ndtv.com about the
> situation today:
> 
> Excerted from http://www.ndtv.com/
> 
> Ulhasnagar faces development crisis
> Print this page Email this story Video Gallery
> Miloni Bhatt
> 
> Watch story
> 
> Wednesday, September 29, 2004 (Ulhasnagar):
> 
> Ulhasnagar, an assembly constituency just kilometers away from the
> state capital, Mumbai has hardly seen any development in the past
> several years.
> 
> Apart from being a neglected region, the two major candidates from the
> area are facing criminal charges.
> 
> Severe water crunch, roads dotted with potholes, frequent power cuts
> and illegal constructions are some of the problems faced by the
> residents of the area.
> 
> Suresh alias Pappu Kalani has been an MLA in the region for the last
> 15 years. But residents say the area is still backward as Kalani has
> spent nine of these years in jail.
> 
> "I do not deny that I am facing criminal cases. But I am an
> Independent candidate. Why has the BJP fielded someone facing criminal
> charges?" said Kalani...
> 
> The three lakh residents in the area want development but their
> dilemma is whoever they choose may end up doing more rounds of the
> court than the constituency.
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> End of SINDH-L Digest - 22 Sep 2004 to 5 Oct 2004 (#2004-75)
> ************************************************************
> 


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