Raj Daswani was born on 14th November 1932 in Quetta Baluchistan.
He schooled in Karachi, (before Partition India) and graduated from Bombay University, India.
In 1952 Raj started Meeraj Sahitya Malha, a publishing house, with help of Mohini Vaswani. Meeraj Sahitya Malha, primarily printed Sindhi books which are in circulation even today.
Between the years of 1957 to 1962, Raj worked in Western Railway, during which time he came in contact with Gobind Malhi who had started Kalakar Mandal, a drama and music group. Raj joined Malhi as a drama artist and a play writer. Raj successfully worked as a Radio and Stage artist and continued to write Radio and Stage plays for many years.
During this time Raj also became the Secretary of Sindhi Sahit Mandal, a group that was started by all progressive Sindhi writers of that time and still in existence today.
In 1958, Raj got married to Miroo, Mohini Vaswani, who after marriage was known as GeetaRaj. Geeta joined Raj in Kalakar Mandal as a stage artist and participated in All India Radio and Film Division of India. Geeta would later go on to act as the main lead in two Sindh Films, Hojamalo and Naqli Shaan.
Between the years of 1962 to 1965, Raj Daswani entered the arena of construction, bought land, formed and built four Co-Operative Housing Societies in Bombay, India, Raj Co-Op Housing Society, Rajshree Co-Op Housing Society, Raj Laxmi Co-Op Housing Society and Ram Kutir Co-Op Housing Society.
In 1966, Raj moved on to produce four Bollywood movies. His first experimental film was Uski Kahani, which won “Best Picture Of The Year” by Bengal Journalist Association. His second was a Sindhi movie, Hojamalo, the first picture to exempt entertainment tax. The other two were Tyaag, and Badnam Farishtey, both staring Bollywood legends Rajesh Khanna and Sharmila Tagore.
Raj went on to start Indus Arts in 1970, a cultural organisation aimed at recognizing art. One of the first events organized by Indus Arts was an award function at Sanmukhanand Auditorium in Bombay, India, where awards were given to movies like Aradhna, and stars Rajesh Khanna and Sharmila Tagore, Director Shakti Samant, Music Director S. D. Burman, Singer Geeta Dutt. Also honoured was the Sindhi film Hojamalo, Singer Master Chander, Stage Artist S. P. Mengani, Stage Artist GeetaRaj and Music Director C. Arjun, among the Sindhis.
In 1971 with the encouragement of legendary Bollywood stars, Rajesh Khanna and Sharmila Tagore, Raj was offered to collaborate in partnership with Yash Chopra to form the now famous production house YashRaj Films. Unfortunately before the collaboration materialized, Raj left India.
Moving to Sierra Leone, Africa, Raj started his own business for a brief time before moving again to London, England, where he started a Sindhi Association, consisting of 1200 Sindhi Members.
Shortly after that, Raj started a monthly newsletter called Sindh Times, and came into contact with Sindhi leaders who were in exile from Sindh, Jam Sadiq Ali, Mumtaz Ali Bhutto, Hafiz Peerzado and Atta Ula Mengal. Together they formed Sindh Baloch and Pakhtoon Association, which was a political movement to separate Sindh, Baloch and Pakhtoon from Pakistan.
Raj was in 2004, appointed Chief Co-Ordinator by Sindhi Association of UK to organise a three day International Sindhi Sammelan which was held at Wembley Conference Hall, where Sindhi guests and artists attended from all over the world. He continued the next year in 2005, in association with Ranjit Butani of Sindhishaan and Ram Jawhrani of Sahyog Foundation to aid in the organisation of the International Sindhi Sammelan in Bombay, India.
Raj continued his passion for Sindh and Sindhis and organised a Sindh Yatra, a 7 day visit to Sindh with 23 elderly Sindhis who were born in there. They visited many iconic sites such as Sherawali Temple, the ruins of Bambore, Keenjer, Makali, Sindhology Jamshoro, Nawabshah, Sadhubela Sukkur, Darazan, Shikarpur, Saeen Satramdas Dham in Ddaherki, Moen-Jo-Daro, Larkano and Sewahan.
Today Raj having enjoyed and pursued his passion and love for Sindh has retired and written various books Non-Fiction on Sindh, Sindhi martyr, Poetry and Fiction.
The pandemic year of Covid-19 gave birth to his latest publication of an on-line digital newsletter called Sindhi Samachar, which covers global Sindhis and Sindhi happenings. Connecting and uniting Sindhis all over the world is what Raj Daswani knows best and Sindhi Samachar helps him with his passion.
Geeta Raj was born in Hyderabad Sindh.
Her childhood was very simple, as she wrapped her self up daily in books and knowledge; however, she always had a fire inside her to do something worthwhile. She joined the Woman’s Wing of R.S.S, which was known as Rashtra Swimsevak Samiti. Samiti was character building and taught discipline in life.
In 1947, Geeta migrated from Sindh and settled in Bombay.
As she passed her matriculation, she was asked to teach in the school she studied in, so she would both learn and teach at the same time. She passed the Sahit Ratan in Hindi and soon after that opened her own Hindi school while continuing her studies to graduate.
During this time she met her husband, Raj Daswani. Both started Meeraj Sahitya Malha publication through which together they both published many books.
Geeta also translated two novels, Swapnamaee written by Vishnu Prabhakar and another one written by Dvendranath Nirgun.
Raj, her husband was connected with Kalakar Mandal established by Gobind Malhi, and when Malhi was looking for a lady artist, Geeta fit that role perfectly, being the first lady artist appearing on Sindhi stage.
She acted in a play called Gustakhi Maaf, presented by Kalakar Mandal, for which Indus Arts awarded the “Best Sindhi Lady Artist” to Geeta. The award ceremony was held at Sanmukha Anand Auditorium, where other Sindhi artists like S. P. Menghani, Master Chander, C. Arjun, were honoured along with Hindi film personalities such as Rajesh Khanna, Sharmila Tagore, Shakti Samant and S. D. Burman.
Geeta not only worked with Gobind Malhi but she worked with Ramesh Janjani in his Sindhu Arts theatre and also with Sindhu Kala Mandar established by Moti Prakash, S. P. Mengani and Buddo Advani.
She continued to work in Sindhi dramas and recited her poems, which were relayed in Sindhi on All India Radio Mumbai.
Geeta went on to also become a Sindhi news reader in the Film Division of India, and along with that dubbed in Hindi for a South Indian mythological film.
She would travel extensively both domestically and internationally along with her fellow artists and groups.
Geeta continued to pursue her passion of acting and landed the main lead in two Sindhi films, Hojamalo, produced, directed and written by her husband, and Naquli Shaan, produced by Ramsay brothers, which was a remake of a Sindhi drama in which she had previously played the main role.
Geeta later would follow her husband to United Kingdom in 1974, where they both settled in the city of London along with their four children.
Upon arrival in the UK, she immersed her family in the Sindhi tradition and culture she always shared, surrounded herself with a Sindhi atmosphere and persevered preserving her Sindhi culture and language.
She worked with the BBC, helping them with translation and later also worked in two of their documentaries produced for the Asian community.
Geeta thrived in her new homeland and joined the boards of an Asian women’s group called Sangam, and a Sindhi women’s group called Sindhi Nari Sabha, where she organised many cultural programmes.
Both her daughters and sons would also become very active in the same as she continued to organise annual programmes and functions for Holi, Diwali, Janmashtmi and Guru Purnima.
She organised welcome cultural programmes in honour of Dadi Hari Devi and Dada Jashan Vaswani, and went onto to arrange Dada Jashan’s programme in the UK Parliament and on the BBC Radio.
Geeta was a huge catalyst in helping Dada Ishwar Balani open a Sindhi Mandir in London, which today is mainly managed by Kamla Roopchand, and frequented by many Sindhis regularly.
Geeta’s main purpose was always to bring the Sindhis of UK together and make them aware of Sindhyat, and her focus was the same when she started teaching Sindhi to all ages. Children would come from all over London to learn to read and write, the classes were a hit and till this day she has some students who come to learn Sindhi and some who are preparing themselves for PHD in Sindhi.
Her focus has remained the same whether she helped her husband organize the International Sindhi Sammelan, or when she invited their close family friends, Bhagwanti Nawani, Kajal Chandiramani, Mahesh Chander, Chandru Atma from India and Mohmad Yosuf from Sindh regularly and organised shows for the community.
This is how Geeta has continually united Sindhis and constantly strived to revive and preserve Sindhiyat and continues to do so even today by being one of the founders of Sindhi Samachar, an online monthly newsletter that connects and unites Sindhis from all over the world.
Geeta is certain with the constant efforts from us all, Sindhiyat will live for many Centuries to come.