Welcome back to yet another issue of The Sindhian! It’s that time of the year when nature nurtures and cleans the environment around us. The rains cool the parched earth while we get respite from the summer heat that was by now really getting to us. Piping hot buttas cooked on hot coals show up at every street corner, and garam garam bhajiyas and the like suddenly take to the fore. Mumbai faces the wrath of the monsoons each year - trains running late or not running at all, flooding in many low-lying ares, monstrous traffic jams, pot-holes the size of mini plunge pools, and yet, Mumbaikars take it in their stride.

And as we were about to go into print for this issue, everyone was stunned as we heard of the passing of most revered Dada J P Vaswani, the head of the Sadhu Vaswani Mission headquartered in Pune. Such a brilliant light had gone from our midst. He was to have completed a 100 years on August 2nd this year. He was a messenger of peace and worked all his life in service of others. I had a few opportunities to meet him in person and was overcome by his boundless energy and his benevolence towards humanity as a whole. In his loving memory, we show his life in pictures in this issue. May his soul travel to the abode of the Gods and be at peace.

The cover story this time is that of a brave heart who set out to scale Mt. Everest, the world’s highest mountain peak, earlier in May. At 29,029 feet above sea level, Sandeep Mansukhani was on top of the world, literally! His feelings are indescribable, yet, we have attempted to bring his incredible story to you in the best way possible. Based out of Delhi, and not new to being at great heights, he is also a commercial pilot with Jet Airways.

Delhi also brought us to a woman of grit - a lawyer and human rights activist Indira Jaising, whose career trajectory has only pointed upwards, checking off a long list of firsts on its way. While scavenging for more interesting stories we found and talked with renowned urologist, activist, lecturer and teacher Dr. Jacky Lalmalani, whose career has spanned 34 years.

We have always wanted The Sindhian to be engaging and informative, but above all, we want to give our readers a platform to connect with others from the community. Inside, you’ll find a mixture of more features, some news, and regular columns on a wide range of interesting topics.

I hope you enjoy this issue!