Preface

It was in Sindh towards the end of 1947. Partition had taken place and Hindus were leaving the province in large numbers. One day some of us RSS workers were walking down Tilak Incline in Hyderabad. Suddenly an elderly Muslim lady coming from the opposite direction stopped in front of us and asked in pain: ``Brothers, will you, too, go away?''

One day I was standing in my balcony. A Muslim gentleman was happily carrying a big framed group photograph Soon he could contain his joy no more. And so he stopped, held up the picture for me to see and said he had just bought it because of the respected Seth of his village sitting in that group. It was a great memento for him.

One day I was travelling in a city bus. The front seats were reserved for women. Suddenly a Muslim lady sitting in front noticed that an elderly Hindu neighbour was standing. She got up and insisted on the man taking her seat. In vain did the man protest that he was alright standing, and that, in any case, those seats were reserved for women. He had to sit down as the lady persisted with an anguished voice: ``I know, you, too, will go away.''

I'm not sure there were many areas in the India of 1947, where incidents like these could occur.

While Sindhis in India have made good here and abroad, Sindhis in Sindh have launched themselves on a course that can only lead to the eventual winding up of Pakistan.

Only last year I had a visitor from Sindh. When his friends learnt that he was visiting this side, they laughed and told him in the open bazar: ``Don't come back alone. Bring the Indian Army along. And tell Mrs. Gandhi to send us dhotis by helicopter in advance, so that we can welcome the Indian troops in suitable style.''

`The Sindh Story' is not a tale of kings and wars. It is an attempt at understanding an area, its people and their local culture, that have made all this possible.

I am grateful to Bharatiya Sindhu Sabha for planting the idea of this book in my mind --- and to my sister Gopi for encouraging the good thought. I am also grateful to many friends who supplied books and photographs and valuable information. In this connection I must thank Mohini Mansukhani, Ramakrishna Advani, Prof. K.N. Vaswani, Sewakram Karamchand, Uttamchand Issrani, Vishnu Shahani, Prof. D.L. Kaka, Gopal Gurbuxani, Gopal Mittal, Ram Keswani, Prem Daswani, Prof. M. P. Lakhani, Lakshmichand Rupchandani, Narayan Wadhwani and Gobindram Chellani.

Thanks are also due to Nana Wagh for his sketches of Seth Naoomal and Sir Bartle Frere --- and to K. B. Kumar for his excellent map of Sindh.

I am particularly grateful to Dr. Murlidhar Jetley who opened up his treasure-house of Sindh books to me with a cheer that encouraged me to delve deeper and deeper into them. But for his help this book would not be what it is. Dr. Haridev Sharma, Head of Research and Publications Division, Nehru Memorial Library, was extremely helpful in a variety of ways. Shri Devendra Swaroop of Deendayal Research Institute was always ready with the necessary facts and figures.

Sitaram Goel, Jhamat Wadhwani, Gangu Kripalani and Arun Shukla read the whole manuscript and made many valuable suggestions.

Thanks are also due to Shri Janardanan of DRI Library for his research assistance --- and to Vijay Gupta, Rajesh Bansal and Ambika Dharmapalan, for their quick and competent typing.

Readers who have any suggestions or comments to make for a second edition, are welcome to do so on the following address.

B-51 New Rajendra Nagar, K.R. MALKANI

New Delhi-110060. Raksha Bandhan, 1984.