Shrimati Deepa Mahadev Wadhwani, a Sindhi proud of her roots, lives in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Born on 23rd March 1952, Shrimati Deepa works untiringly to keep the Sindhi heritage alive. She is part of various Sindhi organisations, a list of which is given at the end of her account, wherein she has held prominent posts of the President, the Secretary or the Treasurer. She holds Sindhi bhajan sessions and the reading of the Sukhmani Path to bring about an awareness among the younger generation about their culture. She has written books documenting the Sindhi way of life, one of which is ‘Sindhi Dinh-Vaar Ae Ritiyun Rasmu’ which describes the religious days of the Sindhis and their rituals and customs. A multi faceted personality, she has acted in Sindhi movies too.
Here is her account of her life and family.
My Family
“My maiden name is Savitri. My paternal grandparents are from Dhabhro, Sahiti, while my maternal grandparents are from Kandhiyara, Sahiti, both in Sindh. My father, Shri Ochiram Relumal Vanjani, passed his matriculation exam in Sindh and was the eldest among his four siblings. He worked in Karachi and since he was educated, the family’s style of living was modern and trendy.
In 1948, after the partition of India, my father, Dada, sent the family, including his uncles, by ship to India. He was the last from the family to leave Sindh. It was raining very heavily the night before he was leaving, and Dada had no place to stay. A Muslim brother helped him by sheltering him in his house and my father spend the night there.
The next day, he left by ship for India. He landed at Gateway of India, Bombay (now Mumbai). My father realised that Bombay life was too fast for him and he decided to go to Rajkot, Gujarat, as some of our relatives were already settled there. He didn’t enjoy the life there too and he came to Ahmedabad, Gujarat. He found the city to his liking and called the entire family to settle here.
They stayed at tents put up by the government on the banks of River Sabarmati. He put in a claim for a property in India against what they had left behind in Sindh, and the family got two houses in the Vadaj area of Ahmedabad.
I was born in Vadaj on 23rd March 1952. My Dada had a job at the High Court at Ghee Kanta. He then got a job at Ahmedabad Electric Company. He liked his job as it helped him use his educational background. We had many financial difficulties, but with the support of my mother, my father faced them all.
We children were growing up, so Dada bought a bigger house at Kubernagar. My Dada was a generous, kind and polite man. I was the eldest among the siblings and always stood first in my class. My father had great plans for me. He wanted me to become a doctor and put in all efforts to give me a good education. But the destiny had other plans for us, and at the age of 42, Dada passed away of cancer.”
PIC: MY PARENTS, SHRI OCHIRAM RELUMAL VANJANI AND SHRIMATI PADMA OCHIRAM VANJANI, MY BROTHER, BHAGWAN AND I
I Grew Up
“I was 17 and a half years old and had just passed my SSC exams from Mahatma Gandhi High School when my father passed away. I could no longer study and the family needed financial support. Ahmedabad Electric Company offered me a job when I turned 18. In those days, there were IBM punching machines used for entering data in the computer and the company trained me as a punching machine operator. I joined my job in January 1970.
I got married in May 1973 and got busy with family life and had hardly any time for social life. As my children grew older, I started my efforts to revive the Sindhi culture in the community.”
PIC: JANUARY 1973
PIC: THIS IS A MEMORABLE PIC FROM WHEN I WAS WORKING . THE BUILDING SHOWN IS THE AHMEDABAD ELECTRICITY HOUSE AT RELIEF ROAD, AHMEDABAD, BUILT IN 1914. IT IS THE COMPANY WHERE MY FATHER, THEN I WORKED AT.
My Activities for the Sindhi Community
“Today, it is a trend among the Sindhis to downgrade their language and adapt to other cultures. But I believe that we have to continue our efforts to promote our Sindhi language and heritage in our community. Soon, Sindhis will be proud of their roots and Sindhiyat, if we work upon it.
I gradually joined many Sindhi organisations. At Lion’s Club Ashapali, I have been appointed as the President thrice, the Secretary twice and the Treasurer once. I am part of Ellisbridge Sindhi Panchayat which has been active for the last 52 years.
PIC: AT A PROJECT OF LIONS’ CLUB ASHAPALI WHERE I HAVE BEEN ACTIVE SINCE 1997
I have performed my duty as a Sindhi at both Kubernagar in the East of Ahmedabad, the place I grew up in, and Satellite in the West of Ahmedabad, the place I have been married in. I am part of various organisations at both places, either as a member or the joint secretary or the president.
I love writing too. I submit articles in Sindhi newspapers and write books too.
There was a Sindhi Darbar (a place of worship) at Azad Society run by an old man. Once he passed away, his son decided to close down the Darbar as he found it difficult to maintain it along with his family responsibilities.
(Note: Sindhis follow a syncretic approach towards religion. So, a darbar or a tikaana would have idols or pictures of Hindu Gods and Jhulelal, the River God as well as the Guru Granth Sahib of the Sikhs. Hindu, as well as Sikh religious rituals, would be followed.)
I was concerned about this situation as there was no other Sindhi tikaana or darbar in the neighbourhood. I decided to collect some ten ladies and we started singing bhajans on Chand (the second day of any Hindu lunar month after Umaas, the no-moon night) for 2 hours and ended the session with a prasad. Now it has been fifteen years since we started these sessions. We are 30 members, a limit we have set as the sessions are held at a member’s house and not everyone can accommodate large numbers. We decide the name of the member who hosts the satsang ( the bhajan singing sessions) on Chand by a draw system. This way each member gets a turn every 2 and a half years. The entire household of the host also participates and learns the Sindhi bhajans, the ardaas (a set prayer in Sikhism), and the importance of Chand. The singing and chanting also spread positive vibrations in the house.
We also read the Sukhmani Path for two hours every Thursday for the last 25 years.
I am also a part of several Sindhi ladies’ kitty parties which are held at homes or hotels.
We have formed a Sindhi Sakhi Group of Sindhi ladies that meet at the hall provided by Ellisbridge Sindhi Panchayat. We organise entertainment programs for the members and also promote women who run businesses from home.
We have Sindhi family groups too in which we participate with our husbands.
Every first Friday of the month, we perform Mata ji Chowky and sing Sindhi and Hindi bhajans to venerate the Mata (Goddess).
We had held a function celebrating the Golden Jubilee of Ellisbridge Sindhi Panchyat in which we had 50 Sindhi recipes put up by various participants. We had awarded prizes to the three best dishes.
Two Sindhi organisations Vishwa Sindhi Sewa Sangam and Suhina Sindhi, Pune, have joined hands to keep our Sindhiyat alive. They have various activities and shows for the community. I joined them last month, but because of the Covid-19 pandemic, I have not been able to contribute much.
I am appointed as the President of the Ahmedabad district by this organisation and have been recognised as a part of their Global Membership Team.
I participate in cooking shows on the Sindhi channel too.
I always insist that we speak Sindhi with our children, even if they answer in Hindi or English. Gradually they will start conversing in Sindhi.
Sindhi Food
We Sindhis enjoy a wide variety of dishes for breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner. I’ll name a few of them here:
Sindhi Sweets – khorak, all types of khirnis, mohanthal, ladoos, satpuras, chotha, lola, mithi chashni bread, saiyun, malpuro, seero, maae jo seero, gajjar jo seero, mithi gajjar jo seero, kutti.
In Sindh, it was a tradition to send gold guineas on each piece of khorak. Nowadays, we place a 5 or a ten-rupee coin.
We Sindhis love papads and khatairn (pickles) of gajjar (carrots), ambri (mangoes), bassar (onions) in oil or water. Mango pickles can be meethi khatairn (sweet pickles), saji ambri ji khatairn (a whole mango pickle), khatti khatairn (sour pickle). Mirch ji khatairn ( green chilli pickle) and garan mirchan ji khatairn (red chilli pickle) are also enjoyed by the Sindhis.
Our Sindhi murrabbo is also famous.
Sindhi Breakfast – Saiyun patata, bassar wari koki, dai-koki, loon mirchwari koki (salt and pepper koki), meethi koki (sweet koki), meetho lolo, chehro fulko, dal ja parotha, batate ja parotha.
We make bhat (porridge) too.
Sindhi Snacks -sana pakora, mirch, bassar, vaagan and bhee ja pakora, bhee and patattan ji tikki, mixed vegetable tikki
All kinds of Chillas such as besan jo chillo, meetho chillo, chehro chillo, atte jo chillo are also relished.
Puri patata and dal-puri are all-time favourites of the children.
Sindhi Lunch – wadiyun,bheeya patata, ras mein bhajiyun, all types of koftas, bhariyal vaagan, bhariyal karela, bhariyal bhindiyun, seyal bhindiyun, phoolpatasha, macroliyun, sai bhaji, mehan ji bhaji, turin ji bhaji – we add garlic, onion and tomatoes in most of them.
Seyal fulka of Sindhis is well-known. If you have four fulkas and five people to feed, you make seyal phulka. It will be enough to feed all five.
We have different kinds of doda too – Juwar jo dodo, bajriya jo dodo. We make a kutti of the bajri dodas with jaggery and ghee for winters.
In curries, we have besan ji curry and tamate ji curry.
Pulaos and thum mein chawar are the kinds of rice we love.
Sindhi food is rich, tasty and filling.”
My Appeal
“I appeal to all Sindhis to contribute in every way possible for the cause of reviving and promoting our Sindhi language and culture for the younger generation.”
PIC: AS MAHILA PRESIDENT, BHARTIYU SINDHU SABHA, GUJARAT, FROM 2003 TO 2010
The List of Activities Shrimati Deepa Mahadev Wadhwani (Sakhi) Performs to Promote Sindhi Language and Culture
- Part of the Committees of Ellisbridge Sindhi Panchayat and Sindhi Sartiyu, Ahmedabad,Ex-President and current Member of Mahatma Gandhi High School Alumni, Ahmedabad
- Member of Maninagar Sindhi Panchayat, Ahmedabad
- Mahila Pramukh of Gujarat Sindhi Samaj, Ahmedabad
- Part of Women Committee of Angel Cultural Group, Ahmedabad
- Ex-Mahila Pramukhof Gujarat of Bhartiya Sindhu Sabha, Ahmedabad
- Ex-President and current member of Lions’ Club Ashapalai, Ahmedabad
- Committee member of Sindhu Sakhi Samaj, Ahmedabad
- GMT (Global Membership Team) and President of Ahmedabad District in Vishwa Sindhi Seva Sangam
Personal Account of Shrimati Deepa Mahdev Wadhwani
Pics And Videos: Personal collection of Shrimati Deepa Mahadev Wadhwani
Jyoti Mulchandani
Ahmedabad
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