Sindhis, which are one of the important minority communities in Mumbai, are worried about the plunging use of Sindhi language and the vanishing culture. However, a small community on WhatsApp is trying through small acts to revive the culture and increase the usage of Sindhi language.
Sindhi community has been an important part of Mumbai since centuries and their contribution in developing the city has been one of the major ones. However, as mix culture becomes a normalcy in the constantly evolving city, the community is worried about the younger generation moving away from the language and culture.
While efforts have been in place to revive the Sindhi language from local level to national level, a small WhatsApp community of Sindhi and non-Sindhi members are undertaking small efforts to revive the language among the young generation. Apart from enlightening members about the important aspects of the culture and developments, it has not also started hosting special Sindhi events to attract the youngsters.
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Rakshita Manglani, the founder of Sindhi Community WhatsApp group, said, "The youngsters today are hardly speaking Sindhi at their homes. The idea behind starting such a community is just to promote the language and culture. We understood that the young generation feels more connected with spoken art events and therefore we have used it as a way to fulfil our aim."
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Recently, the community hosted its first open mic event on an online platform which was attended by people from different parts of the country as well as by Sindhis living in the USA and Pakistan. Kids, youth and elders joined the open mic to recite poems, sing songs and perform any kind of spoken art, all in Sindhi.
Following the first event, the community now plans an online curated show in this month for children and by the children where children will recite Sindhi poems, sing Sindhi songs and perform Sindhi acts. Later it also plans to host an offline Sindhi meet-up and a similar event around Bandra to allow people to personally know each other and join the cause.
"The first Sindhi open mic made me feel good that the old and new generations are coming together in an attempt to revive the culture. It was not only people from the community who joined the event but lot of non-Sindhis also joined it. Our aim is to host community based events, which has activism along with entertainment," said Mangalani.
