Diwali, Sindhi style!

Jhulelal” was the opening word of the evening at the Thornbury Theatre on Saturday 24th October 2009. Quite a change for a venue which is otherwise used to opening words of “How are ya?” and “Let’s rock!” as host venue for gigs by James Hunter, Mark Seymour, Lloyd Cole and the like.

On this special occasion though, Sindhis across Victoria came together to celebrate Diwali with their brethren - and to show off their best clothes, shoes and, not to forget, jewellery!

The evening started off with a welcome speech by Moti Visa, president of Sindhi Association of Victoria, popularly referred to as SAV. It was formed in 1990 and aims to conserve and foster Sindhi culture amongst Sindhis living in Melbourne. Equally, it aims to promote social progress and provide assistance in matters concerning the well-being of its members.

The evening began with special guests Anita Nayar (Consul General of India in Melbourne), Anil Gupta (Consul of India in Melbourne), Bruce Atkinson MLC (Member for Eastern Metropolitan Region and Co-Chair, Victorian Parliamentary Friends of India), lighting the inaugural diya to officially proclaim the beginning of the celebrations. Each had warm and encouraging words to say. Some of the standouts for me were the words of Bruce Atkinson: “It is events such as this that prove that Victoria is truly a multicultural state. Diwali is now known and understood across the state, and is strongly entrenched in the events calendar of public places in Victoria such as Federation Square”.

With the formalities behind us, the celebrations truly began… by a very talented youngster, Anita Pania. Young Anita danced to a medley of catchy Bollywood songs; what made it more special was that she choreographed it herself. Whilst Anita entertained the crowds, the first part of the three course meal (courtesy caterers of the evening ModOz Café) came to the tables. Next on stage was another talent Bhavna Dudani who entertained us for a whole of 7.5 minutes on the soft evergreen number Mujhe rang de… Next it was the turn of the professionals to claim the stage - two bright stars from Main series of old as well as new songs.

Before we knew it, we had blank paper and pen delivered to our tables and we scratched our heads to the questions of the trivia quiz. The questions ranged from cultural knowledge to some from the Australian citizenship test and of course there were some on Bollywood movies.

I learnt quite a few things along the way. So the next time you meet me I can tell you that the largest Sindhi speaking city in the world is Hyderabad in Pakistan – bet you didn’t know that.

By this time most of us were ready to take to the floor and let our hair down. The DJ belted out tune after tune and we matched the pace. It was great to see mainstream involvement especially on the dance floor. All of us had worked up an appetite by then and were glad that dinner was served. Dinner was a good spread buffet style and the chicken curry was excellent.

Then the answers to the trivia quiz questions were announced by Sunil Pamnani, secretary of the SAV: a few interesting ones that the majority of us didn’t get, had reactions of hmmms and the aahs from the audience indicating they were well engaged.

Then was the best part of the evening –dessert time. Although the portion size was disappointing, the taste certainly wasn’t. The icing for us was when “Table 17” was announced as the winner of the trivia quiz; we got $100 in cash to be distributed amongst the ten of us!

The sounds started streaming again, the dance floor was filled and I found myself in the midst of all dancing in abandon to Kambakht ishq cheez hai hi aisi. A few more songs later, my feet wanted me to stop but the heart wanted me to continue. I decided to pay heed to my feet, went back to my table, had a whole pitcher of water by myself and decided it was time to call it a night.

Great place, great company and a great occasion, is what I’ll remember the night as. As for our $100, we nominated a custodian for the money and will soon plan a girls’ night out with it, or should I say “Sindhi girls’ night out” – watch out for us!

Pinky Bhatia