Shamlu Dudeja, kantha revivalist

nI’ve been on several beautiful holidays ? right from the very first trip I took with my late husband to Darjeeling, to our last getaway together in Australia. But there’s one particular holiday on which I went when I was just 12 that has stayed with me over the years.

It was post Partition. My parents and three of us siblings had gone to the village of Jalalani Sharif in the interiors of Sind to visit my father’s guru who was a Sufi Muslim. What makes this trip so special is that it changed the way I thought about life. Whilst there, we would recite couplets from The Koran, and at the same time, our night prayers would include a prayer from the Sikh text, Sukhmani. My father’s guru also initiated us into pranayam meditation. That’s what was so wonderful! He was so open about religion. In that village, there were no distinctions of caste, creed or status.

I remember it being ramzan time and I actually sat with the other girls for a roza. That very night, I dreamt of Krishna on horseback. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a picture of him on a horse. It was most one of those memories that have endured. Indeed, that trip to Jalalani Sharif was one of the most significant in my life.