A FRIEND ACROSS THE BORDER






Alongside Amir (Bhai) Soomro Myself (Shakun) and my husband Narain Kimatrai

Mr Amir Soomro is the grandson of Shaheed Allah Bux Soomro the two time Prime Minister of Sindh who sacrificed his life for his nation…Amir is the son of Mr Abdul Samad…,
Amir Bhai’s ‘great wish was to peep into the other side of the border to find his own people to know their condition…

Hindu Sindhis fled Sindh in Pakistan, leaving their homes, belongings…during Partition in 1947…


It was heart warming to know that we are missed by people like Amirbhai…my contact with Amir was through the Internet and he made me his sister and I accepted him as a ‘brother’

Read what Amirbhai has to say in his own words:


“It was my childhood when I saw my beautiful city was gradually turning into ruins and people use to remember their actual owners (Hindu Sindhis) who left those homes as if they for gone for some time to somewhere, but they never came back.

On every step the tale of their generosity and God fearing acts was scattered.

The original citizens always remembered them and the city mourned but nothing happened.
In my immature mind, I felt that pain of my own people who left us and crossed the boarders of a stranger country leaving behind the ashes of their forefathers and golden memories of good times.
Though they were nothing to me in terms of relations but a huge space was empty for them in my heart.
Inspired by my father Abdul Samad , the youngest and dearest son of Shaheed Allah Bux Soomro the two time Prime Minister of Sindh who sacrificed his life for his nation, it was my great wish to peep into the other side of the border to find my own people to know their condition.

One day I met Hargun Rajani on internet, he was Shikarpur born Sindhi and thus got a break through, and slowly I got new friends like Lata Jagtiani, Dwarkadas Madnani, Kishore Lalwani, Shyam Shroff and Shakun Narain. In December 2004 a delegation lead by Suresh Keswani reached Karachi. My cousin Mohammad Mian Soomro who was chairman senate was the chief guest , so I was also there. I asked the members of the delegation "Is there any Shikarpuri in your delegation"?
A smart old man stepped ahead and said "yes I am , my name is Nand Javeri". On that day my heart said that the time had come for my dream to fulfill.

To meet and spend some moments with my Sindhi people who have given us a never healing wound, on 12th March, I reached the Bombay airport where Mr. Javeri despite his declining health warmly received me and took me to his home.

I met all above mentioned friends. Each one was a diamond and a pearl.
They all gave me lot of affection and respect.
I was very happy to see my own people living a prosperous life.
Spent time with them, have had meals with them and exchanged views and gifts.
I also meet old people like Nursing Golani, Luxman Bhambhani and Gulab Gidvani and got very valuable knowledge from them .
Spending some moments with the family of Hemu Kalani and Mahesh Chander and meeting with Ghansham Vaswani were unforgettable moments of my life

Now I am back to my homeland. My childhood fairytale finally has become true.
Now my goal would be to save our coming generation from that thought which divided us and compelled us to break up thousands of years old relations.
Thank you Nand, Lata and Manek, Dwaru, Hargun, Shyam, Shakun and Nari, Ghansham and Kishore. May God shower his blessings on you.

I love you all.

Amir Soomro
Karachi

…and then I got the following note from Maya Shahani…Heart warming!

Dear Shakun,
Thought I would share these Emails with you. It is Dada Jashan Vaswani's 90th Birth Centenary year and it is heartening to know that the Mission has started a people to people connection with Pakistan through an "Open Heart" route. Shakun, you could put this up on your blog site if you haven't already :-)

Love,

Maya
A note of gratitude:

Dear Sir,
We put appreciation for providing us full cooperation and coordination in conducting Heart Surgeries of poor and needy children of Pakistan in India and hope that this gesture will be remained intact in future also.
Furthermore, we may like to inform you that two children Mehtab and Mahnoor have been reached in Karachi, Pakistan and they also been arrived at their own destination safely. Today they asked me on telephone for extension of best wishes to DADA, yourself and other members who cared them in India. They are happy with their children and praying for all.
Thanks and Regards to all from SGA.
SHAUKAT ALI MEMON
Manager Projects SGA

We Hindu Sindhis have prospered…due to hard work, perseverance, faith in the Lord and above all our ability to become ‘One’ with those who received us with open arms!
Now it is time to get back our language, culture…We do not have our land but then the World opened out to us!

‘Har pat mein baag lagaayen vaaraa Sindhi…
ain khaak khey Son banaayen vaaraa Sindhi…

Which means:
A Sindhi is one who converts every land into a garden…
And dust into gold…

God bless us and everyone else…because ultimately we are ‘ONE’


Read my article:
http://www.dalsabzi.com/articles/A_trip_Sindh.htm