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Literary Review
Success stories
PARTITION had a devastating impact on the Sindhi psyche. Around half of the one million Hindus in Sind migrated from their native soil to India and to the far corners of the world, in many cases leaving their possessions behind. Amazingly enough, in good time they blossomed and flourished wherever destiny took them. They have not only survived but been achievers in practically every field of human endeavour except sports which perhaps in early days, as someone put it slyly, did not bring financial rewards.
Sindhi Jottings by Hiro Shroff, oral historian and well-known journalist, is a compilation of impressions by Sindhis and non-Sindhis about the success story of the community. It may be added that even before they went through the trauma of Partition, they were a community much admired in the areas of business and marketing, outside Sind.
Partition proved their mettle as no other event did. Pouring in as refugees into places like Bombay, they were soon into big time property development. They then turned to banking and other fields of business, reaching the very top. They also started educational institutions, and distinguished themselves in law and politics.
The author says that Sindhi Jottings is a follow-up to his earlier book Down Memory Lane which, inter alia, has several Sindhi-related pieces. Hiro Shroff, always a pleasure to read because his style is marked by simplicity, this time around lets his contributors, by and large Sindhis, speak their minds, making the book chatty and engaging.
Many of the Sindhis of today can hardly read and write their language, though they speak it at home, having adopted the regional tongues with ease in various places of settlement, if only to get ahead in business. They have, however, managed to preserve their distinct culture with its charming traits.
Many of the contributors in this volume have wondered how Sindhis have managed to survive severed from their roots, and making good wherever fate landed them. Has it anything to do with genes?
Well, an answer is provided in the volume by Vice-Admiral Manohar P. Awati who was once head of the Western Naval Command. His enquiry reveals that Sindhis in ancient days were expert fishermen and boat builders. Alexander the Great used the seafaring prowess of the Sindhis to evacuate a large part of his invading army out of India in 356 BC. It was then that his Admiral Nearchus assembled hundreds of Sindhi shipwrights and carpenters to build a flotilla of boats to carry the Macedonian army from the mouths of the Indus to Persia on its way home. The ports of the long lost Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa Civilisations must have been witness, according to him, of this trade carried on by Sindhi sailors and Sindhi enterprise. Grain and cotton cloth were exported. The Sindhi acumen for business had very early beginnings. There is more than one theory about the origin of this remarkable community of achievers. Vice-Admiral Awati's observations add a new and fascinating historical dimension.
The author calls his work an "educational venture" which indeed it is. It could well serve as inspiration for a follow-up volume with more insights, with the help, partly perhaps, of the very people who have enriched the present work with what the author calls "quotable quotes".
Sindhi Jottings, Hiro Shroff, published by Hiro Shroff, p. 90, Rs. 200.
JAIBOY JOSEPH
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