The Blended Roots: Story of Sindhis

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Roots and identity crisis are a part of any scattered, uprooted and devastated community, be they Sindhis, Syrians or Kurds or other migrant refugees. These two facts tucked right inside my genes, surfaced in Chicago when a cousin asked me, who is a Sindhi? The question had many angles, puzzling. My journey to write the book began at that time. Brought up in an open secular family which practised both the Advaitva and Sufism, the rich Sindhi cultural heritage was my legacy, and my privilege to share it with all.

I am often asked, are Sindhis Muslims? Or Sikhs? Sindhis came as refugees and are so prosperous, how? The book The Blended Roots addresses these questions and much more. It discusses the fallout of the Partition, a wrong decision which the peace-loving Sindhis sacrificed unconditionally. In the process, it lost the massive Sufi literature, a single rock-bottom of the society. The Partition also cut the ethnicity of the language, and the much embellished poetry and prose disappeared along with the homeland.

In nutshell the book chronicles a community's sojourn through ages; its highs and lows, its triumphs and trials through the Partition, and ends with a window of hope of Tirth-dham in Kutch. There is a new awakening, a survival instinct, to fight the assimilation process visible in Gujarat.

Aruna Jethwani is an award winning author, freelance writer, translator, and an educationist. She is the former Principal of Sadhu Vaswani Mission's St. Mira's College for Girls, Pune; and ex-Vice-Chairperson of National Council for Promotion of Sindhi Language, Ministry of Education, Govt. of India-New Delhi. She has penned four novels, two self-help books, two poetry books, one biography and two books in translation.

Her short stories translated into Marathi are compiled into a meritorious book.

Recipient of many honours for her contribution to the community services, Aruna also dabbles in colours and pens poetry, whenever in a creative mood. She lives in Pune with her husband Arjan.