Jokhio Jasarat Ilyas
Notwithstanding the reality of the presence of Sindhi people all around the world, we express wonder and astonishing feelings whenever we see and meet any Sindhi person who is not living in Sindh but has given a continuous chain of adopting the tradition of Sindh even living hundreds of Kilometers away from Sindh. This may be due to the drink of Indus river water which is as sweet as it gives eternal touch to the soul. Such lost tribes from Sindh are various in history. Some tribes came to Sindh and are still living and are Sindhi forever, while a few came and lived here for a specific time and then they left Sindh. Those who left are found nowadays across the world. Among such ancient tribes of Sindh; “Sinti tribe” of European state Germany is also worth mentioning. The Sinti tribe is going to be famous on social media nowadays among Sindhi people of Pakistan and India. Sinti people have been living in Germany since many centuries. I met one of the Sinti who is known as the only scholar from the Sinti tribe who is trying to reconnect his lost soul with Sindh through working on the history of Indus civilization and Sinti. I discussed various topics in meeting him through messenger. Let’s study about the Sinti tribe and Mr. Sindhu Sinti. Sinti means Sindhi, who are lost sisters and brothers from the Indus region. They are different from the Roma tribe. Sinti actually originates from Sindh. This student of Indology from Germany named Franz-Elias Schneck (his Sinti name is Bizzely) is son of BizBiz Sinti, is a Sinti boy who belongs to Wittembergaria tribe of Sinti identity. He was born in 2000 AD at the modern European state Germany and completed his primary education there and then lower secondary school in the same city to study at a social science High School with main subjects of Pedagogy and Psychology. Nowadays he is a student at a University in Tubingen where he is studying Indology in the 5th Semester and Empirical Culture Studies in the 2nd Semester. As per his statement, his father is Santo who has five sisters and one brother. Only one is still alive; his aunt Biwi Zitrona who’s parents and the grandparents of Mr. Schneck were born in 1914 AD. They were Sinti from Germany and France. His grandfather was cousin to Django Reinhardt, the founder of Sinti-Jazz. They survived in both world wars as luckily his grandparents, aunts and uncle were not in the concentration camp which was attacked by Hitler’s army but they were on deportation to the concentration camp in 1945. Later in the very last moments, they were rescued from the truck by the French Army. He met me on Facebook with his ID which is; Sindhu Schneck. He can also be reached by the people of Sindh through the below mentioned Facebook link: https://web.facebook.com/franzelias.schneck , while his YouTube channel Sinti Schneck is also going to become very popular around the world and Asia. Sinti are the oldest living Sindhi-Diaspora of Europe. They mostly live in Germany, France and Italy, but also in other countries too like the USA, Romania, Kazakhstan, Poland, Netherlands, Canada, Switzerland, Austria, Spain, Denmark, Scandinavia, Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary ,Czech Republic and Russia. Sinti boy Schneck told me that they may be more than 150,000 Sinti people all around the world, among them at least 100,000 live in France, Italy and Germany, while as 90% of the Sinti population got killed in the Hitler’s Holocaust. As per his research, he is sure that they must have fled from Sindh as war refugees after the Arab Invasion and death of Raja Dahir of Sindh because they do not have even a single word of Arabic language. Originating the Sinti tribe people from Sindh is not a myth but reality of research. They were first mentioned in Italy around 1422 AD and in Germany in 1407 AD. Later, they were scattered around European and American Continents. Sinti language is a secret language, and they have a code named as Sinti Codex, which means it is forbidden to teach the Sintidikis language to anyone who is not Sinti. This is because they feel it is a safe space to rescue from persecution. The boy is well learned about the culture of Sinti and discloses, “our language has 80% Sanskrit words and 20% mostly Greek, Armenian and Persian language words with very few German and French loanwords, but our language is dying out only one of three people who are Sinti can speak it well, because our language is just an oral language without any alphabet and system of writing”.I asked from him through questionnaires and he told in the answer of questions that; they are Thomaschristians from Sindh because they call their God; Baro Devel (Barra Devta in Hindi) have a caste system and believe in the spirits of their saint which is Kali Sara and the cross of Jesus is named Trushl like Trishula in Hinduism. As per him they were persecuted by Christians in Europe and never were converted by them. Later, they had entered the Ottoman Empire and were enslaved in the Christian Slave Army of the Janissaries. Hence, they were Christians before entering into Europe and Christianity has a Long story in Kerala as in Sindh during pre-partition era.He can read Sindhi in Devanagari alphabet and also Urdu language in Devanagari alphabet, in addition to his languages like; Romenes/ Sintidikhes (The Sinti language) and Hindi ?????. He does not know Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai but knows well about the Indus valley. However, he is also learning Sindhi with Roman and Arabic Alphabets.He says that Sinti suffered a lot and never lost their pride. They got called with Slurs Like Zigeuner and Gypsy but actually they are Sinti .He said that he himself came from a very old and little Sinti Family and his Mom is hungarian-german-prussian . They do not have contact with her Family because they are Nazis and his Sinti parental side is no more except his aunt and father have remained. Mr. Sindhu has only one brother and three half siblings and all of them are not able to speak Sinti language, due to the lack of interest. The Sinti name of Sindhu is Schneck which is a rare Sinti name. There were more Schneck killed in the Holocaust than Sinti are alive with that name today. He was raised among old Sinti and never met anyone Sinti in his age. First time, when he was in 9th Grade, then he knew that how less Sinti exist? Many assimilated today as a result of the Nazi-Regime. He tries to keep their traditions alive on YouTube Channel “Sinti Schneck”. Information from Sinti to Sinti in the Sinti language and for Pakistanis and Indians in Hindi including one video in German are present there.He said surprisingly that the Sinti people are neither Roma nor Romani, because they are from Rajasthan and are so different from the Sinti. He has visited France to visit the birthplace of his grandfather and twice visited Italy and Czech Republic with his school. He applied for a Pakistani visa in 2020 and booked a plane too but suddenly it was rejected because he had no invitation letter from friends or family in Pakistan. However, for a visit visa, it will take a lot of expense and time. He also booked his hotel accommodation, which he lost 600€ as well. While as for the Indian Visa, any German needs just a Hotel booking confirmation without paying. He looks like a ‘fish out of water’ to visit his ancient home ‘Sindh’ which he has never visited Sindh. He needs to reconnect and see where his ancestors lived and were like? He also wants to visit the Indus River, Mohenjo-Daro, Thatta and the places or remains of the temple of Raja Dahir (called Bin Qasim Mosque), capital of Sindh “Karachi”, Hyderabad and all Sindh. He shall visit Sindh very soon as the Corona virus restrictions are no more! This is for the first time in the history that a Sinti is contacting Sindhi people whom he knows and considers as ancestors. This is also for the very first time in the history of Sindh that such a person from Sinti is also trying to reconnect other Sinti people with Sindh and loves Sindh Pakistan too! Hopefully this would be beneficial for the Sindh studies scholars all around the world.
