YSA RETREAT VI
June 1- June 3, 2007 - Houston, Texas
Five is the number of the human being and is the symbol of human microcosm.
The human body forms a pentagon when arms and legs are out stretched. The
pentagon is endless representing perfection and the power of the circle. The
number five also epitomizes meditation; religion; versatility.
In music, a perfect fifth is the most stable harmony and is the basis for most western tuning systems. Shiva, the third deity in the sacred Hindu triad (along with Brahma & Vishnu) is said to have five faces, corresponding to his five tasks: creation, preservation, destruction, oblivion, and grace. His five faces are associated with the creation of the sacred syllable Om.
YSA's fifth anniversary Retreat in San Francisco was orchestrated to the tune of a musical masterpiece with divine perfection. They flew across the world's five oceans from London, Spain, Bangkok, India, St. Maarten, Canada, Dubai, Mauritius and many more international destinations landing at the fabled city by the bay.
Friday afternoon started with a frenzy of registrations and the evening progressed with a west coast vibe as YSAers mingled and danced to world renowned DJ Cheb I Sabbah. Live tabla beats added a true San Francisco Bohemian flavor courtesy of Meena Makhijani, one of YSA's very own. Night turned to morning with eyes wide open.
Didi Mohini Gurbuxani started the weekend sessions by examining the components of Sindhi Cultural Heritage and what they mean to Young Sindhi Adults today. The following workshop was dedicated to Portfolio Capitalism, Investment Banking and Global Trade in Early Modern Sindh headed by Dr. Scott Levi, a professor of history at the University of Louisville. In his studies, Dr. Levi was surprised to find that Shikarpur, Sindh was the epicenter of an intriguing commercial network of Indian merchant-bankers with a vast network that stretched from East Asia to the New World. This was one of the most expansive merchant diasporas of the pre-modern world leading to the story of the Shikarpuri Diaspora which was eventually fractured by the traumatic partition of India and the Pakistani control of Sindh.
Entrepreneurship, the main protein entwined around the Sindhi DNA, mutated with Silicon Valley to produce the final session of the evening, Entrepreneur Valley. It was an inspiring look at young Sindhi professionals, their personal experiences & record-breaking success stories, along with future trends in technology. The San Francisco sun set softly when all of a sudden ... it was Saturday night live! YSAers captured both the bay and its nightlife turning one of its most popular hot spots into the only spot that mattered.
"The two Sunday skits, the two Sunday skits" are all anyone could talk about now. The morning act showcased the events that brought Jhule Lal to be. No words in any language could describe it. An absolute show stopper in every way-entertaining, resolute, educational. One just had to be there! The sold out crowd rose to a standing ovation. Brunch was next on the menu highlighted by "Five @ 5", a sentimental lookback at the first five years of YSA.
Real life partition experiences as recounted by three young men who lived through it in 1947 took center stage next. Partition was the largest mass migration in history killing millions and displacing million others. Imagine being FORCED to leave your birthplace, to leave your family, to choose only a handful of lifelong valuable belongings to take with you, to lose your home, to give your housekeys to your neighbor, to leave your longtime friends for good, to have your life interrupted permanently, to have no education, to disguise yourself and live against your own beliefs just to survive ... imagine. An absolute atrocity, appalling, & unimaginable. YSAers were silent.
The evening finale titled 'Social Sindhi Sightings' starred the local San Francisco Host Committee who put the combined talents of Hollywood & Bollywood to shame. It was all that climaxing with a dance production unmatched by any Broadway Musical. Not only did they represent, they raised the bar! The room rose into a wave of yet another standing ovation! YSAers then danced the night away at one point professing so the whole world can hear them: "Ayo Lal, Jhule Lal, Ayo Lal, Jhule Lal"-a spontaneous impulse started by a few in Toronto last year which morphed into a tradition this year.
Strange how life works.... YSA Retreats traditionally run three days (Friday - Sunday) but because of the 4th of July holiday on Tuesday, this year's celebration ran-YOU GUESSED IT-five days with all five senses aroused, provoked, tantalized, enticed, and stimulated. My sixth sense tells me YSA RETREAT VI is the place to be next year. For details, vist YSA's website regularly: www.YoungSindhiAdults.org.