Hi everyone, welcome back to another one of my weekly blogs.😀 Let me take you through an exciting tour of Dilwaalo ki Dilli.❤️
Delhi has been ruled by mighty empires and powerful kingdoms, and has been destroyed and rebuilt several times. This is the reason for the capital’s diverse culture and history.
Today we are going to take a trip to Old Delhi, where the architecture has plenty of charisma.✨
While there are so many landmarks to stroll in Old Delhi, Chandni Chowk is the iconic one you can not miss.😍
By now you would know I am a Sindhi (if you don’t, click here to check out my last blog post on the story of the India- Pakistan Partition 1947)
Let me help you know little bit more about our culture!
~ Starting off “India’s very name comes from the Indus River which is the English way of pronouncing the Sindhu river. India, Indus, Sindhu are all the same! The Persians and Mughals converted the word Sindhu to Hindu. The Greeks converted that to Indos. So from Sindh and Sindhis we get Hindus, Hindustan, Hindi, India and Indian.”
~ Our Surnames As a Sindhi, can you guess what I hear most often? “Oh! You are Kukreja and still a Sindhi?!!”
Me: preparing myself to explain it yet again!
Most people spot Sindhis by inspecting whether their surnames end in “-ani”? Lol
Let me tell you why this opinion!
The route of this, is the Sanskrit word ‘Ansh‘ which means- ‘descendedfrom‘. Ansh colloquially became -ani therefore we have our names — but not all Sindhi surnames end in -ani.
Surnames identify the family groups. Each family was allowed a Nukh (meant to be one’s caste name) and hence that is how the surnames were derived. This refers to a broad family tree. Take for example if the head of the family was Ramchand, the family would use the surname Ramchandani.
I hope now you have the answer for your most favourite question!! HAHAHHAH
~ Our Occupation Oh yes and we are amazing business people. Even though Sindhis entered the country empty handed, (as we discussed in the last blog) with endurance and hardwork most re-established themselves in trades and other businesses; The Rahejas, the Hindujas, the Hiranandanis to name a few.
Originally Sindhi Language is in the Arabic script but now also in the Devanagri script. This is my collection of books- some poems, some stories. (in both scripts)
~ Our Language Well we speak Sindhi. And those who know me, definitely know how much I love it. This is the one thing that keeps me closest to my culture. The joy is to be able speak in Sindhi at most places when not a lot of people understand it. (It is like a secret, code language, haha)
Even though it is the official language of the Pakistani province of Sindh, Sindhi is one of the scheduled languages officially recognised by the Central Government in 1967.
~ Our Music I assume most of you have heard, Dama Dam Mast Kalandar, the song sung by Mika and Honey Singh! It is actually a Hindi remake. Dama Dam Mast Qalandar is originally a spiritual song written in the honour of the most revered Sufi saint of Sindh, Lal Shahbaz Qalandar. The original poem was initially written by the 13th-century Sufi poet Amir Khusrow. To top it all, Sindh is also called the land of the Sufis.
Sufi Literature is the essence of Sindh, and hence we share a similar taste in dance 💃🏻 , music 🎶 and poetry.
~ Our food
And finally the food. Our cuisine is filled with mouth watering dishes: Sindhi curry, Aloo Tuk, Dal Pakwaan- to name the famous few. (come over, I am sure you have never had something like that before😋)
Infact we have our own version of Macroni. 😚 It is said that a few Sindhis visited Italy and got some macaroni pasta back home and the ladies created a Sindhi-nised version of it using tomatoes!
Well and yes Sindhis are very particular about their papad, it needs to be the right kind. We sure love having papad with all our meals. AND we have amazing flat breads mixing jaggery, flour, and oil; for dessert – Miththo Lolo! (in the image down below)
Well that was about it! ❤ Happy and guilt-free eating to all! 🙂
Beyond It by Prachi Kukreja 