The Sindhworkis
Boolchand Mohinani left home when he was seventeen years
old, to work in a store in Ceylon. After three years, he joined his father in
the family business in the Dutch East Indies.
Many things have changed in the world. Ceylon is now Sri
Lanka, the Dutch East Indies is now Indonesia. But ambitious young men were
leaving Sindh to trade in other countries ever since 1850, more than seventy
years before Boolchand set out to seek his fortune. They sailed from Karachi,
carrying trunks filled with beautiful handicrafts made in Sindh, and got off at
ports to sell them. After all the goods were sold, they went back home and
brought more. In time, they set up stores of their own, and moved on to new
ports to expand their businesses. Soon there were many Sindhi stores in ports
around the world! The young men who ran them lived above their stores, and
sometimes even had to do their own housework, or cook for their bosses. When a
ship’s horn sounded, whatever time of day or night, they quickly ran down to
the dock to call customers to come and buy. Because they had started by selling
‘Sindhwork’, they became known as ‘Sindhworkis’.
The Sindhworkis led a hard life, and they could only visit
their families every two or three years. The ship journeys were long and
difficult. During the Second World War, the ship routes were closed and some
men were separated from their families for all the years of the war.
By this time, Boolchand had his own store. He and his wife
Muli and their three children lived in an apartment above the store. Three more
children were born to them during the war years.
Isolated in Indonesia by the war, Muli missed Sindh and her parents very much. When the war ended, they decided that she and the children would go and live in Hyderabad, as most Sindhworki families did. Boolchand would continue his business in Indonesia and visit his family every few years.
A life of luxury
Muli had grown up in Hyderabad. Her father, Khiomall, was a
Sindhworki too. He had lived in Durban, South Africa, his entire working life.
He visited his family in Hyderabad for two or three months every few years.
Sometimes, when he left to go back, he would take his wife Pappur and the
younger children along with him in the steamer ship on the twenty-day journey
to Durban. After some weeks or months, he would send them back.
 |
The drawing room of Muli’s childhood home. On the right you can see Ramchand, Boolchand’s brother, and their stepmother who have come to ‘see’ Muli and plan the wedding. Muli is in the centre with her parents Khiomall and Pappur on either side. Pappur’s brother Bullo’s is on the left with his children Gul, Rukmani and Gope. The goblets have a gold coin for the honoured guests to take home! This lifelike and accurate illustration is by Subhodeep Mukherjee
In
Hyderabad, Pappur lived like a queen. When
people visited on formal occasions, they would be served wine with a gold
guinea at the bottom of the glass, a stylish gift from their hosts! They owned
horse carriages made of pure silver.
When Muli married Boolchand, she went to live with him in
Indonesia. Life was quite different from what she was used to! But she soon
made friends with her neighbours and learnt how to cook delicious Indonesian
food, which her children would always love even when they went to live in other
countries. They spoke Sindhi to their parents, but Indonesian to each other and
their friends.
Tulsi was born soon after they returned to live in
Hyderabad, in July 1946. Just as the children started going to school and
getting used to their new lives, Partition took place. As trouble broke out on
the streets, there was no choice but to leave Sindh.
They got in the train, not knowing where they were going
 |
Quite a different situation from the one in which she grew up, Muli is seen here with her family. Another fleeing family occupies the berth above. Illustration by Subhodeep Mukherjee. |
By the time Partition took place, Muli’s father, Khiomall, had died.
Muli had to flee, taking care of her children and her
mother, Pappur, as well as her younger sister Sati, who had two babies of her
own. Luckily Muli’s son Jiwatram and daughter Mohini were older, and they could
help her. It was very difficult and frightening but Muli was a brave lady, and
so were the other women who had to leave Sindh with their children and family
elders. They did not know where they were going or what would happen to them.
Muli
and her family travelled in a very crowded train [S2] with
a few clothes and eatables they had packed, and crossed the new border. They
arrived in Ajmer and were taken to a camp and given a room in a row of rooms,
each occupied by many people. The toilets were in outhouses and people had to
stand in line and wait their turn.
After two weeks they left Ajmer and took a train to Delhi,
where they had to wait on the railway platform for a long time. The trains and
railway platforms were full of people like them, who had left their homes and
were looking for a safe place to settle. They talked to each other, asking
where they had come from and where they were going, trying to find out where
they could live and what they could do to earn money.
Muli and her family boarded the train to Patna, where her
cousin lived. Boolchand sent money to the family in Patna. It took nearly a
year before he was able to make arrangements for them to return to Indonesia,
and they were finally reunited.
Losing Home, Finding Home
Saaz Aggarwal
Illustrations by Subhodeep Mukherjee
black-and-white fountain
hardcover, 112 pages
for readers of all ages
Rs750
First appeared here on Nov 10, 2022
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