A room has been allocated specially for Sindh stories and named as ‘The Lost Homeland of Sindh Gallery’. Asha Chand has launched the drive appealing the Sindh community to share their stories
Sindh Courier
New Delhi
Asha Chand, the Co-founder of Sindhi Sangat, a non-profit organization established in the year 2000 for promotion of Sindhi language, has launched a drive for collecting the material related to 1947 partition of subcontinent that had uprooted Sindhis from their motherland Sindh.
The material so collected will be placed at a newly opened partition museum in Delhi, where a room has been allocated specially for Sindh stories and named as ‘The Lost Homeland of Sindh Gallery’. The first Sindhi film ‘Abana’, based on the migration story, will also be showcased at this new museum.
A museum themed on the Partition, telling the story of the 1947 tragedy and representing the pain and trauma suffered by people on both sides of the border, has been established at the Mughal-era Dara Shikoh Library building. The museum was inaugurated on May 18, 2023.
The library building is located in Delhi’s Kashmere Gate area. The museum will tell the story of the 1947 tragedy through interactive media. The building of the historic library, built in 1637, was converted into ‘1947 Partition Museum’ by the Delhi government headed by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
This is the second such museum after the Partition Museum of Amritsar located in the historic Town Hall. This museum also houses partition stories related to Sindhis. Mr. Mahirwan Mamtani, a renowned artist based in Germany, had also contributed his painting to Amritsar Museum.
The second such museum in India, has seven galleries to explain the events leading up to the partition, and independence, migration, refugees, rebuilding homes, art, relationships and will also have a gallery of hope and courage.
The museum will also feature a virtual reality experience, donated belongings of people who witnessed the partition, and a souvenir shop. The library will also serve as a cultural hub with exhibitions on different aspects of the city and its history.
The museum would endeavor to depict the memories of the 1947 Partition as experienced by people, officials said.
Madam Asha Chand, through the social media and personal contacts, has asked the Sindhi of Ulhas Nagar and other cities of India to send their migration stories to be placed in the museum. “Get in touch with ‘Doorway to Sindh’ through social media or email if you live in Ulhas Nagar, or have lived there any time since partition, to be part of the Lost Homeland of Sindh Gallery at the Partition Museum in New Delhi,” she said urging Sindhi community that ‘Ulhas Nagar has its role to play’.
“The work on equipping the museum was disturbed during the recent heavy rains and flooding that had inundated the vast area of old Delhi,” Veena Shringi, an eminent Sindhi poet and writer, based in Delhi, told, who had attended the inaugural ceremony of the museum.
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