Food is that one thing that links every Sindhi family back to its lost traditions. Most Sindhi families eat a wide range of world foods, but have also carried the lost-homeland recipes with them to every corner of the planet.

In this final episode of the Tapestry podcast’s first season, you are going to enjoy mirchi pakoras a long way from home, samosas as a starter at a Chinese restaurant with devoted Sindhi customers in Iquique, and Indonesian gado-gado – where else but in Chile.

This is a conversation that takes us beyond papad. It takes us beyond saee bhaji, kadhi, kok pallo, dal pakwan, singhar mithai, gheyar and the other familiars. Step in and travel across Sindh along with Sindhi pop-up chef Sapna Ajwani and get a whiff of flavours that you are going to find familiar, nostalgic even, even when you’re encountering them for the very first time.

People think of Sindhis as committed to business and money. This episode is about how important education was in Sindh, the thrust for women’s education and the yearning for a life of the mind. People strived for education for their children, knowing that it paved the way for a better life. After Partition, Sindhis set up schools and colleges in the places where they settled so that the education of their own children would not be interrupted and their teachers and educationists would continue in their professions.

There are many high points in this episode, here are a few:

- the reception HK Kirpalani received when he came home to Hyderabad after having been accepted into the Indian Civil Service, an occasion of joy and celebration for the entire province

- Rabindranath Tagore and some connections between Sindh and Bengal

- a glimpse into the long heritage of education the Amils of Sindh have

- the diary of a Sindhworki – some important notes and a gentleman's guide on how to do business

Some interesting links He took his college with him – the story of how Professor Kundnani brought National College to Bandra, Mumbai: https://sindhstories.wordpress.com/2022/12/02/he-took-his-college-with-him/ Urban Legacies - Tracing the Sindhi and Parsi Heritage of Bombay, an event by Avid Learning on 17 January 2023 https://youtu.be/Gi2B00HSqQs

Even 75 years after Partition took place in 1947, and despite the huge number of Sindhis affected by it, Sindh has not yet been accepted as an essential part of the mainstream narrative. This episode is a conversation with expert Nandita Bhavnani whose research on the topic, and her book The Making of Exile, cover the chronology of events as well as the many layers of experience, loss, and feeling that the Sindhi community underwent. The large range of topics that are brought up in this episode, with many examples and many points of discussion, give a really good idea of the extent to which Sindhis, even down to the present generation, were affected by Partition.

Sindh was the final frontier of the British empire, the last province to be conquered. This episode is about how the Hindus fared under British rule, the changes that laid the ground for Partition – and how freedom was won. As always, there are many stories from different sources including some really dramatic ones of life at the time and how people stood up to fight for freedom.

A very special guest, Dr Subash Bijlani, joins us and speaks about life under the British and his family’s contribution to the freedom movement, with many light-hearted moments as well as some solemn ones.

This episode, about the centuries-old global trading networks centred on Sindh, has stories and a lot of light-hearted conversation, as always. But the high point is an interview with the reclusive Claude Markovits, who speaks about how he embarked on his pathbreaking research as well as various other topics from Gandhi to the plight of the women left at home, and his own experiences with some members of the community he rescued from obscurity by documenting it.

Sindhi Hindus lost their homeland to Partition on the grounds of religion. However, religion was never a strongly divisive factor in pre-Partition Sindh!

In this episode, the Tapestry podcast explores the syncretic fabric of the community; the fundamental embracing of Sikhism, Sufism – the goodness of every religion and belief – in every Sindhi family.

Esteemed guest on the episode, anthropologist Zulfiqar Ali Kalhoro showcases this culture, speaks about his extensive documentation of the multi-faith shrines of Sindh, and also his fascinating research on the Qalandar cult.

Read more on this topic on Chuharsing, Bakshusing and the sixty Guru Granth Sahibs

https://sindhstories.wordpress.com/2021/12/20/chuharsing-bakshusing-and-the-sixty-guru-granth-sahibs/

and in Zulfiqar Ali Kalhoro’s Friday Times column https://www.thefridaytimes.com/author/zulfiqar-ali-kalhoro/

Books by Zulfiqar Ali Kalhoro:

1. Pothohar Ki Yaaden Aur Yadgaren (Urdu) 2023. Waraq Publications: Chakwal

2. Saints, Sufis and Shrines: The Mystical Landscape of Sindh (2022) published by Endowment Fund trust for Preservation of the Heritage of Sindh, Karachi.

3. Memories, Mystics and Monuments of Pothohar (2022) Emel Publications, Islamabad

4. Glimpses of Sindhi Heritage (2021) published by Silk Road Centre, Islamabad ISBN: 978-969-23597-0-2

5. Perspectives on Kalhora History published by Fiction House Lahore (2020) ISBN:978-969-562-819-5.

6. The Rock Art of Karachi (2020) published by Sindh published by Directorate of Antiquities and Archaeology Karachi (2020) ISBN:978-969-8100-52-0

7. Reflections on the Pothohar Heritage (2020) published by Emel Publications, Islamabad

8. Wall Paintings of Sindh from Eighteenth to twentieth century (2020) published by Silk Road Centre, Islamabad ISBN:978-969-8100-59-9.

9. Symbols in Stone: The Rock art of Sindh (2018) published by Endowment Fund trust for Preservation of the Heritage of Sindh, Karachi ISBN: 978-969-9860-15-7.

10. Archaeology, Art and Religion in Sindh (2018 ) published by Culture and Tourism department, Government of Sindh, Karachi (2018) ISBN: 978-969-8100-40-2 https://archive.org/details/archaeologyartandreligioninsindh/page/n3/mode/2up includes a number of photographs by the author

11. Memorial Stones Tharparkar published (2017 ) by Endowment Fund trust for Preservation of the Heritage of Sindh, Karachi (2017) ISBN: 978-969-9860-10-2.

12. Studies in Kalhora History, Economy and Architecture (2017) published by Sindh Books Karachi ISBN:978-969-7762-00-2.

13. Perspectives on the art and architecture of Sindh (2014) published by Endowment Fund trust for Preservation of the Heritage of Sindh, Karachi (2014) ISBN: 978-969-9860-05-8.

Review of Wall Paintings of Sindh: a book by Zulfiqar Ali Kalhoro https://sindhstories.wordpress.com/2021/06/15/401/

The Sindhi Hindus left their homes and everything in them – but they carried so much in their hearts. Their feelings of love, nostalgia, and longing, for the places they had lost shows itself in many different ways.

This episode shows the sad, interesting and even funny aspects of this phenomenon. It shows the ways in which Hindus of Sindh built these places that they had to leave behind forever. And it gives brief glimpses into some of the places of Sindh which in so many ways crossed the border too, along with the exiled ones!

The Sindhi story is so little known that almost everything about it has aspects that are surprising, interesting and useful to know. In this first episode of the Tapestry podcast, Saaz Aggarwal and Tarun Sakhrani talk about why they decided to start it, and begin the process of restoring the lost legacy by sharing some wonderful information and stories that you are going to value and cherish.

This episode is a casual but thought-provoking conversation, and topics range from the ubiquitous “Sindhi and the snake”, an introduction to the inimitable Bhai Pratap, why this podcast is named “Tapestry” – and many more.

Listen – and enjoy!