The Awakening brought me closer to my roots
Every scene made me wonder, how different things would be if Sindh was still a part of India.
I've just finished watching The Awakening - I was quite engrossed in it and also had a little cry - to think we have lost our homeland, and therefore our culture and are slowly being assimilated in other cultures, especially with our children marrying people from other communities - it is a sad reminder of who we are, our rich culture and what we have lost. Thankfully, there are people like you and Koshi Lalvani who take the trouble and effort to promote and remind us of who we are.
While half way through the film, there is a dance number and I was shocked to realise it is my niece Preeti Jhangiani. I found her name finally at the beginning of the film credits under "Special thanks to". Now I seem to remember, long back before my brother Sonu passed away, he had said that a sindhi lady was making a film about sindhis and had approached Preeti for the lead role, but I did not hear any more. Obviously, the film has been a long time in the making.
P.S. I dont know if I've told you that 15 years ago, on one of our trips to India, we had a stop over in Pakistan to see Vishnu's family (his two brothers and father had stayed behind in Pakistan to look after their lands which were vast). His father and one brother had died by the time of our visit, but the other brother had married with five children - I tell you it was quite heart wrenching, all the vegetable sellers, servants spoke sindhi.
We visited lots of Hindu families who got left behind. In fact, my trip at the Sindhi museum was quite an eye opener, as i got to see sindhi women wearing nath (nose ring) and sindhi clothes (just like my grandmother used to wear) and of course the famous sindhi nose. These women made out of clay looked like my long lost roots. I have always wondered how different things would have been if only sindh had remained in India. Alas, its no more.
Thanks once again for all your efforts.
love and hugs
Rani
