Murli Melwani, a former English literature professor-turned-businessman-turned author, has just scooped the International Impact Book Award: Contemporary Fiction-Literary Fiction for his book Beyond the Rainbow. The recognition puts the Hindu Sindhi community front and centre. Displaced by the Partition of 1947 and scattered globally, the Hindu Sindhis became entrepreneurs, while their deeper identity and losses went untold.

Melwani’s book is a collection of short stories that blend fiction, memoir, sociology and humour, tracing life across continents. From Hong Kong and Taiwan, to other parts of the world, Melwani’s characters are drawn from Sindhis he met while travelling across the globe for his business. Through stories rooted in the lives of real Sindhis, the collection explores themes of cultural loss, global mobility, economic resilience and identity, while offering strangers a first look at how Sindhis conduct business.

“Sindhis are largely misrepresented as being flashy, owning big cars… You know, in India, there’s a saying, ‘If you see a Sindhi and a snake, then beat the Sindhi and spare the snake.’ My stories show the other side of Sindhi nature. I have observed Sindhis as hard-working and enterprising. The older generation misses Sindh and what a paradise it was. I felt that that should reach a wider audience,” says Melwani.