This is a small business and money minded community who are originally inhabitants of Sindh, but now located in both Pakistan and India.
From thousands of years, they have lived in Sindh and Balochistan and after Partition, they migrated and settled in different provinces/states/cities/towns of India. After Partition, they were reluctant to leave Sindh due to their love of their land, so a year later, in January 1948, religious riots erupted on the streets of Karachi and hastily broke into all over Sindh which led them to leave their motherland. Consequently, they left Sindh by crossing border in hordes, by ships, air and railways some of them directly settled in the United States, Canada, England, China, Middle East and other countries, a majority moved to India and many were slaughtered by migrants.
This community is culturally different from other Hindus as they have a cultural God like Jhulay Lal and have Sindhi as their millennial old language, culture, traditions, norms, mystical lifestyle even they dine with their Sindhi Muslim friends without harbouring a grudge. If we talk about the business and economy, then this community is at a highest pitch after partition, by leaving their people, blood-relatives, land, culture, language, heritage, properties and assets behind. They did not sit quietly, they were in plight for years and many educated people lived a miserable life in refugee camps in India and other countries and many died due to lack of medical treatment in these refugee camps. Albeit, they did not abandon their old profession. It became their target to enter in the world of enterprise. This way they rose from the ashes to restart the business, some started business by selling toffees, chocolates and snacks in buses and trains and many others launched carts and pushed carts on the streets of Mumbai and all over India. The outcomes they got after many years and today, are very well known business class personalities of India, US, Middle East, Europe and China, etc.
Karachi, Hyderabad and Mumbai were the centre of Sindhi-Hindus from where they used to trade in the entire world by importing and exporting goods, household items and cotton, etc. These international cities of the subcontinent were also built by Sindhi Hindus. In the 12th Century, before Karachi, Hyderabad and Bombay, they also traded from Sindh’s richest port city Thatta which remained the trading partner of Muscat and then it was Shikarpur which had opened the paths for Sindhi Hindu merchants to the rest of the worldKarachi, Hyderabad and Mumbai were the centre of Sindhi-Hindus from where they used to trade in the entire world by importing and exporting goods, household items and cotton, etc. These international cities of the subcontinent were also built by Sindhi Hindus. In the 12th Century, before Karachi, Hyderabad and Bombay, they also traded from Sindh’s richest port city Thatta which remained the trading partner of Muscat and then it was Shikarpur which had opened the paths for Sindhi Hindu merchants to the rest of the world
Karachi, Hyderabad and Mumbai were the centre of Sindhi-Hindus from where they used to trade in the entire world by importing and exporting goods, household items and cotton, etc. These international cities of the subcontinent were also built by Sindhi Hindus. In the 12th Century, before Karachi, Hyderabad and Bombay, they also traded from Sindh’s richest port city Thatta which remained the trading partner of Muscat and then it was Shikarpur which had opened the paths for Sindhi Hindu merchants in the rest of the world. By taking advantage of sea roots, many Sindhi-Hindus established their business in Middle East, India, China, Spain, Italy, and Japan. Sindhi-Hindus were well educated than Sindhi-Muslims, the main reason of the success of this community was that they were very less religious.
Today, those people who suffered trauma after Partition, drove taxis on roads, sold goods in trains, launched carts on the streets of Mumbai and other parts of India, sold snacks and food on bicycles, established small shops in middle East, china, Spain, England and are now billionaires of today’s world. Scores of these people began their start-ups and became international business tycoons like Micky Jagtiani who drove a taxi in London but now he is the middle-eastern billionaire who started his career from a small baby product shop and today he is the owner of Landmark Group.
Niranjan Hiranandani is a real estate businessman, billionaire of India and owner of Hiranandani Group. He started his career from a textile weaving unit. Vitabiotics Founder & Chairman Kartar Singh Lalvani, Binastone Founder & Chairman Gulu Lalvani, Stallion Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sunial Vaswani, Hinduja Group Chairman Gopichand Hinduja, Hotmail Founder Sabeer Bhatia, Symphony Telecom Group CEO & Chairman Romesh T Wadhwani and many others. One of my friends told me that in 1970s, a Sindhi use to sell pani puri on the streets of Mumbai. Now he is a millionaire and the owner of Elco Pani Puri, Bandra, a three marla hotel in Bandra which is very famous in Mumbai, even many Bollywood superstars go there to relish.
Business is the first priority of Sindhi-Hindus. Besides business, they are part of Bollywood and the Indian film industry. There are many famous superstars and celebrities who are Sindhi Hindus in Bollywood.
Kareena and Karishma Kapoor’s mother Babita Kapoor is a Sindhi. She originally hailed from Burns Road, Karachi. ‘Sholay’ Director GP Sippy, comedian Asrani and filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani originally belonged to Mehrabpur, Sindh, singer Vishal Dadlani, actresses Sheela Ramani, Sadhna, Preeti Jhangiani, Kaira Advani, Hansika Motvani, Tamannaah Bhatia and many others too. Actors like Ranveer Singh Bhavnani, Aftab Shivdasani and Jacky Bhagnani are Sindhi Hindus who made their career in the Indian film industry.
They do not prefer public sector jobs due to their business mindset. We rarely find some names on high ranks such as former Indian deputy prime minister Lal Krishna Advani, former chief justice of Pakistan Rana Bhagwandas, highest paid Indian lawyer Ram Jethmalani, Karachi-born Vice Chief of Indian Naval Staff Gulab Hiranandani, Chief Justice of Tamil Nadu Vijaya Kamlesh Tahilramani and also world billiards champion Pankaj Advani. Similar to that of opening up of Kartarpur Corridor, Pakistani government must give access and show leniency in visas towards Sindhi Hindus and Muslims as both communities are living on both sides of border and God of Sindhi Hindus Jhulay Lal, revered temples and shrines are all in Sindh. If Pakistani government give access and show easiness in terms of visa policy to them, it will be optimal for Pakistan’s film industry and economic growth since visiting their ancestral places, temples, shrines, evacuated properties etc, they will spend huge amount in Pakistan which will revive the economy of markets and tourism in Pakistan. Thari people both Muslims and Hindus also have blood relationship with the people of Rajasthan and Gujarat, and share the same culture, language, lifestyles, history, customs etc.
The writer is a student of BS in Media Studies and is also a blogger. He can be reached at [email protected] and Tweets at @WaseemPalijo
Published in Daily Times, January 8th 2019.