Madurai:
On Friday, a small gathering of 28 families met in the heart of Madurai to celebrate ‘janmashtami’ according to their tradition. It was an occasion for the small association of Sindhis living in Madurai for over half a century to meet each other and bond.
Hailing from Shikarpur, now in the Sindh province of Pakistan, these people started migrating from their native place after the partition, seeking refuge in many places in India. “We went looking for a livelihood, not settling in one place. Those days were never easy or comfortable,” said Vashdev Gopaldas Talreja, president of the Madurai Sindhi Shikarpur Association. But a few of them chose Madurai as home and settled here just after Independence. He said he had come here as a small boy in 1947, but now Madurai was his home.
They, however, speak Sindhi at home. “It is the only way in which our dialect is passed on to the next generation. But if you ask us, many of us including the middle agers are more fluent in Tamil than Sindhi,” say Naresh N Chugh and Suraj G Khatri, members of the association. To most of them, Madurai is their home and even the oldest among them, Nanda Lal, has never been to their native place.
According to the secretary of the community, Suresh B Raheja, their deity is Jhulelal Sai who is the community god of the Sindhis. They also celebrate Guru Nanak Jayanthi in an elaborate way and their temple, situated in Pappan Kinathu Street near the Meenakshi temple, was constructed in 1954. This shrine also serves as their meeting point. Their deities are decorated with flowers and jewels for festivals and they celebrate all Hindu festivals including Diwali and Holi.
Pandit Basudev Panday performed the rituals for the ‘janmashtami’ pooja, where the idol was decorated for the occasion. Everyone present had a chance to take part in the poojas, from the tiniest child to 75-year-old Nanda Lal. The parents ensure the small ones are brought here so that they can participate in the festivals without fail.
Being a small community, they go in search of brides and bridegrooms to north India and the marriage celebrations go on for three days.
Food for the Sindhis is a big affair. “Kadi chawal” and sweet rotis are some of their special dishes with ghee being the main ingredient in many of their delicacies.
“Thadri”, a festival which is celebrated by them, is one of difference as only food cooked the previous day is served to everyone on that day. “It is a way of giving rest to the god of fire Agni. Hence the fire is not lit for cooking and women also get a day off,” said Priya Chugh.
These people are diversified in their occupation, some tailors, some in real estate, finance, bankers, business and many others, according to Mahesh Chhabria. They have all contributed to Madurai’s development in their own small way.
Recently, the ladies joined hands to form the Ladies Chapter of their community, for the purpose of social service. Helping a poor girl with good scores enter engineering college was one of their recent achievements.
source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> City> Madurai / by Padmini Sivarajah, TNN / August 14th, 2012