As I sit amidst two generations of one of the first Thathai Bhatia Sindhi families ever to come to Dubai, I’m introduced to a whole new world.
Eagerly gearing up for my conversation with the Chacharas, I see the eldest member and the head of the family, Mulji Chachara, open a tell-all file filled with press releases, old documents and images of works of his son and daughter-in-law who are pioneering the Thathai Bhatia community activities in the UAE.
During a tete-a-tete, Bharat Chachara, hotelier and co-founder of Bhatia Buzz, discovered how a friend brought back the sands of his motherland to mark the sentiments of his ancestors.
Very soon after that, Bharat, whose fore-fathers left their hometown in Sindh, Pakistan during the India-Pakistan partition in 1947, contacted the Pakistani Embassy requesting them to bring him a handful of sand from his original hometown, Thatta.
Several calls, follow ups and six months later, there’s a box filled with sand from Chachara’s native city. “This is the closest I could get to my roots,” says Bharat.
Bharat, and his home-maker wife, Deepa Chachara, diligently work toward keeping intact the legacy of their traditions and community. The Dubai-based couple founded Bhatia Buzz – a Facebook page which brings together more than 5,000 people of the Thathai Bhatia community from around the world.
What started as a Facebook page in 2012 to simply bring together members of the community from across the world, has now become a phenomena.
Bhatia’s originate from Rajasthan in India. They migrated to Thatta in Pakistan.
The word Bhatia was derived from the word Batti’s, who were warriors. In the late 1800’s, they developed into a trading community.
Since Thatta was close to the sea-port near Karachi, a lot of traders ventured into exporting spices to the Gulf region and in return, took back pearls to the then known, India.
The India-Pakistan partition in 1947 displaced innumerous community members. While many shifted base to Mumbai, there were individuals who were also uprooted and suffered financial hardship.
Their trading ties in the Middle-Eastern countries backed them up and businessmen moved to Dubai, Sharjah, Bahrain and Muscat. UAE has been the first home to many Thathai Bhatia families ever since.
Connecting people of the community
“You always have people with different ideas and mindsets. Deepa and I were very clear from the very beginning that in case we wish to do any project for our community in UAE, we’d do it on our own. We’re very clear-cut and focused of what we want to do and give back to our society. That’s our aim,” says Bharat.
“We realized that there is a lot of lack of communication amongst the community. We wanted a single platform where we get to know each other and learn about our community. People are now very possessive of Bhatia Buzz,” says Deepa.
The effort, which may have had a rocky and tough beginning, took off quickly.
“When we first started the Bhatia Buzz Facebook group, there was a lot of resistance from members of the community. There were people who were also trying to copy our work and who went against the idea of sharing family news on the platform. It was never meant to be a commercial group.
We only wanted to update and bond people with one another by sharing news of births, weddings, students graduating from school or university and even condolences. Over a period of time we have developed a reputation. Now people don’t know us as just Bharat and Deepa, they know us as Bhatia Buzz.”
Keeping close to roots
A thesis in catering college inspired him to understand the flavours of his traditional food, which led to his first cookery book, Trupti. After enormous success of his first book, Bharat and his wife co-wrote Panja Khada (Our Food) and launched it in 2012.
With over 350 recipes ranging from snacks, meals to sumptuous deserts including the traditional Thathai Bhatia Kheer, the duo has now taken a step forward and published these recipes on their website, www.panjakhada.com.
The couple authored their third book, Panja Reeti Rivaaz (Our Traditions and Culture), which took them almost a decade to bring out. With an array of detailed traditional events to jewelry, idioms, sayings and a lot more, the book showcases the culture and community in its truest sense.
“Putting together Panja Reeti Rivaz was one of the most difficult projects because everyone we spoke to had their own understanding of a ritual. It’s a very sensitive subject and there was no consensus. Rituals may be practiced in different manners with the changing times, but their base doesn’t change. And that’s what we’ve put together - a guideline,” said Deepa.
Recalling attending an inter-caste wedding, they realized that not many people were aware of the traditional Bhatia songs that could’ve been included in the celebrations. This triggered the idea for them to not only bring together some folk songs, but also compose them by writing lyrics and making music for two new tracks.
Travelling back and forth to their current hometown, Mumbai, Bharat and Deepa collected singers together and taught them the dialect and recorded tracks for their first ever music album, Hallo Dhol Vajayun (Let’s Play the Drums).
Bharat and Deepa have planned, organized and executed nine foreign trips for the members of the community. With participation from individuals across age groups from around the world, their trips are filled with activities, games and a journey that bonds people of the community for a lifetime.
You may wonder how they do all this. “Time management,” summarizes Bharat.
“The ideas constantly flow. Initially when you start something, there are always challenges. But over time you garner a lot of support. And we too have been supported by our community members. Sometimes these projects can be frustrating because you never know if it’s going to work out by the end of it all. But usually by the end of it all, it mostly works out.”
Countless efforts, rave feedbacks and sleepless nights later, Bharat and Deepa dedicatedly work around their busy schedules to give their all to their community, only because they believe the future generations deserve to know enough about their roots and culture.
- Simran Kanal is an intern at Gulf News
