PUNE: While Gudhi Padwa marks the New Year for Maharashtrians as per the Hindu calendar, which falls on the first day of Chaitra, the Sindhi community welcomed the New Year on Sunday. The ‘Sindhu Seva Dal’ carried out a procession dedicated to Lord Jhulelal as people sang Sindhi songs and bhajans.7

The procession started from Sindhu Seva Dal (SSD) temple at Pudumjee Compound and went via MG Road and returned to the temple. More than 300 people participated including 150 students from BT Shahani Navin Hind High School, Bhawani Peth, in addition to members of Sindhi community from Pimpri-Chinchwad. A group of 50 made up the legim band from Vele village of Satara district. 

There were four tempo trucks in the procession. The first had people from the community singing songs. The second had women singing devotional songs. The third had a statue of Lord Jhulelal and the fourth a person dressed as Lord Jhulelal. 

Deepak Wadhwani, President of SSD, said, “Our Amotive has always been and will be to promote our community and spread the culture everywhere. By taking out such processions in areas where there are residents of other communities, children and elders of those communities get to know about us.”

‘GRAND PROCESSION’
- Kanchan Kivalramani, who participated in the procession, said, “We take out such a grand procession only once a year, and we spread social messages so that people get united.”
- Akshita Pathak, walking with the procession, student of  BT Shahani Navin Hind High School of Std VII, said, “We participate every year in this procession which makes us believe that if we are united any hardship can be solved without much effort.”