01-08-2007, 08:29 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Kosovian traces 1000-yr-old lineage
Smitha Nair
CNN-IBN
Posted Sunday , January 07, 2007 at 08:59
Updated Sunday , January 07, 2007 at 13:11
New Delhi: The 5th edition of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas kicks off on Sunday. The cultural network of the diaspora has started a programme to help immigrants trace back their ancestry and among those rooting for their roots is a 24-year-old Kosovan girl who traced her roots back to the gypsies who left North West India a 1000 years ago.
She could be passed off as any other Indian girl shopping in Janpath â but she isn't. Meet 24-four-year old Miradiya Giozic who is from Kosovo and her interests in India travel far deeper than any other backpackers. She is here to trace her â believe it or not â Indian roots. And this is why she is not confused.
"We also say purdhan for curtain and purana for old. I am sure I came from here," Giozic says.
Her genetic memory is more than 750 years old. There are others like her from the minority Roma gypsies in Kosovo who talk about their migration from Punjab or Rajasthan centuries, probably a millennium ago.
Giozic adds, âItâs well documented that gypsies left India 1000 years ago making their way through to Europe. There the lohar caste in India we are blacksmiths too."
In India for the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, Miradiya is getting her DNA tested by the Diaspora Cultural Network. Now it's no longer a third generation quest. This particular search for ancestry goes back eight centuries. The newly set-up Diaspora Cultural Network is optimistic.
Diaspora Cultural Network advisor Suresh Pillai says, âCommunity identification, we hope she finds her people."
Time may have wiped out her exact lineage and her cousin would probably be fifty times removed but Miradiya insists there are uncanny similarities.
âEvery house has a house snake which protects it if its killed we would lose a family member, " Giozic says.
She has survived in strife-torn Kosovo. The Roma tribe has been persecuted through history with nearly three-fourths of the population wiped out. She doesn't see any future in her divided nation.
Talking about living in India she says, âI would live in India if get a job. At least I wonât be discriminated. You have the same color of skin I feel like I belong."
For Giozic, her future could well in her past.
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/kosovian-trace...op/30523-3.html<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The gypsies may no longer be Hindu but it's good to see some of them rediscovering their roots.
Smitha Nair
CNN-IBN
Posted Sunday , January 07, 2007 at 08:59
Updated Sunday , January 07, 2007 at 13:11
New Delhi: The 5th edition of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas kicks off on Sunday. The cultural network of the diaspora has started a programme to help immigrants trace back their ancestry and among those rooting for their roots is a 24-year-old Kosovan girl who traced her roots back to the gypsies who left North West India a 1000 years ago.
She could be passed off as any other Indian girl shopping in Janpath â but she isn't. Meet 24-four-year old Miradiya Giozic who is from Kosovo and her interests in India travel far deeper than any other backpackers. She is here to trace her â believe it or not â Indian roots. And this is why she is not confused.
"We also say purdhan for curtain and purana for old. I am sure I came from here," Giozic says.
Her genetic memory is more than 750 years old. There are others like her from the minority Roma gypsies in Kosovo who talk about their migration from Punjab or Rajasthan centuries, probably a millennium ago.
Giozic adds, âItâs well documented that gypsies left India 1000 years ago making their way through to Europe. There the lohar caste in India we are blacksmiths too."
In India for the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, Miradiya is getting her DNA tested by the Diaspora Cultural Network. Now it's no longer a third generation quest. This particular search for ancestry goes back eight centuries. The newly set-up Diaspora Cultural Network is optimistic.
Diaspora Cultural Network advisor Suresh Pillai says, âCommunity identification, we hope she finds her people."
Time may have wiped out her exact lineage and her cousin would probably be fifty times removed but Miradiya insists there are uncanny similarities.
âEvery house has a house snake which protects it if its killed we would lose a family member, " Giozic says.
She has survived in strife-torn Kosovo. The Roma tribe has been persecuted through history with nearly three-fourths of the population wiped out. She doesn't see any future in her divided nation.
Talking about living in India she says, âI would live in India if get a job. At least I wonât be discriminated. You have the same color of skin I feel like I belong."
For Giozic, her future could well in her past.
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/kosovian-trace...op/30523-3.html<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The gypsies may no longer be Hindu but it's good to see some of them rediscovering their roots.