My Second Sister

My second Sister Amarjeet Kaur

Amarjit Kaur

There was a lot of enthusiasm in our family now that one more son should be born to complete a pair of sons. A brother to me was the talk of the time. An associate who will live all along in sorrows and pleasures was a must, as desired by the thought of the family. So my mother got pregnant again in 1948. This was a hard pregnancy. She almost lost her life. She delivered a dead male baby – a boy the family was so badly wishing for.

In the process she really got very sick. Her right leg was in swear pain. There was no relief to her from local doctor. We had a family Doctor Jyoti Prashad. He could not help much. A word was sent to my mothers sister Smt Shakuntla Bai who also reached Panipat in no time. On her arrival, It was decided to call Dr Sri Krishan Dhamija the only MBBS doctor who practiced in the whole town of Panipat. He charged an enormous amount fee of Rs 5 for one visit.

Dr Sri Krishan Dhamija was a very learned and renowned doctor. He was tall, fair and looked like an Englishman. He walked and dressed very nicely. Charismatic as he was, words came out from his mouth very softly. He looked as if an angel had arrived from the heaven. So his visit was half treatment. He inspected her thoroughly, took her blood pressure, checked her lungs with a stethoscope touching on her chest and looked into her mouth for throat infection. After thorough scanning her body, he declared that she was suffering from a disease called ‘white leg’ meaning extreme edematous swelling of the leg following childbirth due to thrombosis of the iliofemoral veins. I got these meanings from the research later, but I remember she was in acute pain and was always lying on the bed. Dr Dhamija recommended that she should be immediately taken to Lady Harding Hospital in Delhi.

It was another problem to transport her at a distance of 50 plus miles. There were no ambulances, no vans etc. So my father being an important government functionary talked to a Bus Company Called ‘The Ithad Bus Service Pvt Ltd’ which used to shuttle between Panipat and Delhi and the company was kind enough to help her in transporting the patient.
A special narrow ‘charpaaee’ was custom built and with great difficulty placed on the top of the backside of three-seater part of the bus and was tied by ropes with the handle bars of the backside. The ‘charpaaee’ took three such three-seaters to accommodate itself. A cotton mattress and a plane sheet was placed before my mom was laid on it. Smt Shakuntla Bai and my father S Vas Dev Singh accompanied her to Delhi.

Me and Bhagwant remained in Panipat, my grandmother Karam Devi was made responsible to take care of us. She would give us baths, oil & comb our hair. She would send me to school. She took pains to take care of us, but aunt Smt Shakuntla Bai and my Mom were not happy. They felt the kids have been badly neglected. Their hair were full of head lices. It took a long time for Mom to clean up our hair and all the times she would be unhappy with grandma.

After a month or so, my dad returned with a healthy mom. We all were happy again now. The doctors in Lady Hardinge Hospital that she should restrain from pregnancy in the near future. As there were hardly any family planning modes, she was strictly asked to come to the hospital for any eventuality.

Life carried on in a nice way for some times. My grandmother Karam Devi used two dwellings one in Simla wth uncle Inder Jt Singh and the other in Panipat wth my Dad Vas Dev Singh. It was appropriately decided that she will move to Simla during the summer while in winter she will have her abode in Panipat thus sharing her intimacy equally with the families of both brothers. Her glands(harmless) in the neck were also surgically removed on one side in Simla and on the other side in Panipat Civil Hospital. But such a microscopic division was not understood by me, when Panipat medical facilities were well known as far inferior.

My mother got pregnant fourth time. She was immediately taken to Delhi for a thorough check up. The doctors advised my dad to bring her to the hospital when near to the delivery time. So in the end of July 1950, myself, Bhagwant, Mom and Dad moved temporarily to Delhi. Savitri Devi was admitted to the Lady Harding Hospital in the last week of August. There were signs of leg pain again. But the medical treatment was on the top it, as this being the top Hospital in the country. So everyday my dad will take both the kids by bus and reach Madras Hotel Connaught Place. All the three would walk down through Panchkuan Road for about one Kilometer or so and reach a big iron gate painted red. There was a small window which was controlled by a security guard. We reached well ahead of 4.00 PM. And waited at the gate holding the iron bars. At this time many more people will join us at the gate to see their patient.

At exact 4 ‘O clock, the guard would let all of go in. Lady Hardinge was a big Hospital only for Ladies. We shall enter a verandaha and pass through a couple of zig-zag buildings before a door with an iron net opened to a big Halls where my Mom was admitted. There were about ten beds on the right and ten beds on the left with full of patients on all of them. My Mom’s bed was 3rd or 4th on he heft hand side. I shall just run fast to be near to her ahead of Dad and Bhagwant to be near Mom as quickly as possible. She will hug both of us. It was at this stage I saw a luster in the eyes of my mother full of happiness to see her children. I liked this in her and still remember the flash in her eyes.

My Dad will immediately open up the home cooked food for her and help her eat. She will also turn by turn feed me and Bhagwant. Bhagwant will jump and sit on the bed, while I was hanging around the bed. My dad will also get some Samosa from the shop on Panchkuan Road for my mom. She will not eat much but feed us all. Dad was very fond of eating and would relish the left overs. The time will fly away like this.

One day as we reached, a good news was broken to us, it was a girl, a new addtion to the family. A very cute little and fair looking girl. We all were excited. Everybody in the family was saying that this girl was fair looking as against the two older kids who were darker and wheatish. A fair color is/was very much liked in our society. All of our kiths proudly said as she was born in an English Hospital and with the assistance of English doctors and nurses, her complexion had a bearing of those people. This happened on September 1st 1950.

Ambu was ever in the lap of Shaanti our in-house neighbor

One sunday morning, the family went to "Khail Bazar" Gurdwara Sahib in Panipat and requested the priest to offer an Ardaas (Prayer) for gettng Guru's order from the Grant Sahib. The first word of the Guru's shabad was a guidance to name the child. This time it was 'A'. My Dad as usual decided to decide the name on the basis of this word 'A' after deliberating with in the family and friends. As the name of "Amarjit Kaur" was zeroed down, a final announcement and again a prayer was done. All of us started calling her Ambu a short of Amarjit Kaur.

As is the tradition, my father went to a local Pandit Ji in Panipat to get a 'Janam Kundli' for this new baby girl who the family had named 'Amarjeet Kaur'. The Pandit Ji was aghast to inform that this girl shall not live beyond 16 days. Even if she survived, she will be living a very sick life and would be no more by the tme she is 16 months. Usually the infants lived unhealthy in those days because of unhygienic and dirty environments. We some how believed that this baby is not going to survive for long. After she had crossed those crucial 16 months, my Dad was asked again to enquire about her welfare fro the same Pandit Ji.

This time the Pandit was perhaps tired of him and told my dad that this baby had a very dangerous combination of stars and was bound to under tremendous influence of evil stars and in no case survive after 16 years of age. With this my dad came back and we were relieved till she reached 16 years and perhaps the Pandit Ji got rid of us for his false prediction for a good 15 years. Most of us laughed on his statement and would inform the Pandit's story to one and all.

While I at times was scared from my inner self and was reminded of Pandit's statement that this sister of mine would be snatched away from us so early. She was hardworking, intelligent, very jovial, organized and had lot of friends. She was southpaw but had a very beautiful hand writing. She was her dad's favorite girl and remained clunged to him after he reached home in the evening after office and would sleep wth him on his bed. When ever some body troubled her, she would retort and say that she is going to complain to her Dad who could fix any body. My Dad was always seen with her in his lap.

Whenever, we had some guests, she would run away to our neighbor's house and stay with 'Shanti'. At times, she would be even fed from Shanti's mom breast milk, as Shanti's younger brother 'Channi' of 5-6 years of age was still being fed on her. She would return to our house only after the guests had left us.

Amarjit Kaur 4 in Simla

My Dad affectionately called her 'Amru Nithawan' just symbolizing the Third Guru Amar Dass ji. Perhaps he was blessing her a long life like Guru Amar Dass Ji. (I am told many Gujaratis are ardent followers of Guru Amar Dass Ji and are keeping his pictures all the times for getting a blessing of long age. Third Guru of Sikhs, Shri Guru Amar Dass Ji is believed to have lived 90+ years). Certainly, she is healthier than other sisters who are younger to her in age though. Pandit's astrology failed against the blessngs of our Dad.

She is the one who first time ever started addressing me as 'Kakaji'. The Kakaji is singular in meaning and is not like Kaka Ji. It is addressed to your elder brothers as per the tradition in Multan. My sisters after her also address me the same way. May be this is the last generation to be addressed like this. This word has since been replaced by ' Vir Ji'.

Only daughter of Amarjeet and Amrit Dhir, Jasleen happily carrying her son Nihal and Gobind who is tilting her neck with his weight. Nihal and Gobind are best cousins ever born. May Waheguru bless them always like this





On the first wedding anniversary of Jasleen

To be continued and edited...

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© preet mohan singh., all rights reserved.

Gobind walks to Live Oak Elementary School 2008

Gobind walks to Live Oak Elementary School, San Ramon and gets rewarded by the Police Officer with a Police Badge.

Marriage Alliance

Marriage Alliance

One day, I asked my dad(when he was bed ridden during his final Journey) why Sh Sham Dass and Sh Bhagwan Dass did allow Sh Murli Dhar to get exclusive control of prime property in Loyalpur at the first instance. He told me that as the two older brothers were educated and had reached high government positions, the youngest brother will not be doing any serious work. So he was told by his brothers to go to Loyalpur and just manage the property which was a cash cow. They also managed a private privileged job of a manager for young Sh Brahm Dass in Loyalpur so as to attract him for moving to Loyalpur. They, in fact, were initially reluctant to leave a cozy place like Multan where the family had lived for Generations.

Sh Murli Dhar and his son Sh Brahm Dass settled quickly in a place which was recently being developed into a big commerce center. There were a lot of opportunities for everybody. As there was no one to supervise or check them, both father and son became very powerful. Sh Brahm Dass was of very dominant nature, and stopped listening to his Dad. He overpowered his dad and grabbed all the powers in his own hand.

Sh Brahm Dass was very tall, fair and handsome and belonged to a wealthy landlord family. He was the most eligible bachelor and many in the power and established families wanted to have marriage alliance with him. A proposal for his marriage came from Amritsar. Sh Brahm Dass went to Amritsar to have a look at the girl. He got so much charmed and won over by the young and very beautiful city girl from Amritsar, that he wanted to marry her at the spot without waiting for any ceremonies. Many members of the family did not approve the family with the alliance this way. As the alliance was proposed from different out of our 'Biradari', the wiser and old wanted to know more and investigate the new family who looked suspect. Sh Brahm Dass will not budge from his intentions. Finally every body had to accede to his stubborn attitude and the marriage was agreed to.

There was a grand marriage, and many family members came all the way from Multan and Muzaffararh to Loyalpur for proceed to attend the marriage ceremony at Girl's place in Amritsar. The 'Anand Karaj' took place with great great tradition and rituals. The problem started in the next morning, when the bride was ready to go in a 'Doli' on its way to Loyalpur. There was a lot of hush hush and ear talk. The boys family came to know that everything which was offered in the shape of dowry like jewelry and costly silk clothes were found missing during the past night.

On knowing this, Sh Brahm Dass got furious, and asked for explanation from his servants he had brought from Loyalpur and Multan. He abused them and even hit them with a hunter very badly before Sh Kanwar Bhan his maternal uncle intervened and tried to stop him from being so harsh. Sh Kanwar Bhan pressured his mom (his sister) to control and stop him from the madness. Now he had lost everything like the jeweler, the silken clothes, the utensils and what not.

Sh Kanwar Bhan being an army man was alert and found out from his own investigations that the girl's side had malice designs. They had pre-arranged all this and had returned everything to the shops they had bought from. This became a talk of the town in Multan.

To be continued and edited...

© preet mohan singh., all rights reserved.

Historic Court Case in the Family

Court Case In The Family- A Record

My grandmother Karam Devi became widow in her teens. Inder Jit Singh was born posthumously to her in 1920. Hence her sister -in-law Kishoree Bai took upon herself the responsibility of heading the family. She ruled with an iron rod and authority. She fought vehemently against her younger brother Lala Murli Dhar and his son Lala Brahm Dass who wanted to exclusively grab the entire assets of my grandfather Lala Bhagwan Dass. Brahm Dass wished to eliminate the little kids and send back my grandmother Karam Devi back to Shikarpur in Sindh where her family belonged to. 

My grandfather Bhagwan Dass when near to his death, summoned his brother Murli Dhar and gave him clear instructions to take care of his wife Karam Devi and young toddler son. At that time my grandmother Karam Devi also expecting another child. It was left to Murli Dhar to take up the responsibility after his death. He was told to make available sufficient facilities as Bhagwan Dass left behind a big fortune in terms of income from their rental properties and farm lands. As one estimates indicates, there was an income of Rs 700 per month from one commercial property in Lyallpur. For understanding the value of money in 1920, a family could easily make both ends meet with a monthly income of Rs 5. Murli Dhar gladly accepted the orders of his older brother and promised that he shall send his kids to England for imparting higher education. But at the time of Matriculation examination, my father Vas Dev Singh did not have enough money of Rs 20 to submit for examination fee. At this, my maternal grandfather Kanwar Bhan paid Rs 20 for his examination fee as Vas Dev Singh was engaged to his youngest daughter Savitri Bai. 

After the death of  Bhagwan Dass, Murli Dhar and his only son Brahm Dass turned turtles. Perhaps it was the greed of wealth which made them blind to all virtues. Brahm Dass refused to extend any help and will not give Karam Devi any help or money. It was very difficult for them to survive without any finances. He even sent for the poor father of Karam Devi to come and take their daughter back along with her kids. The old father came running from Shikarpur to know what was happening to his daughter and her kids. It is at this time that Kishoree Bai, my Dad's Bhuaa took up the stand and challenged her own younger brother Murli Dhar to part with wealth of little kids.

In mean time Murli Dhar had mortgaged the major property at Lyallpur in the guise of development of the property. Flamboyant as Brahm Dass was, he wasted money. He got into bad habits of gambling. In no time he lost a good junk of money by bidding high stakes in gambling. When asked to hand over the share of income and property to his cousins, he became furious as he was in no position to return the money and get his property back. He had been bragging and boasting lately he was the only heir to the whole of property. So he thought that it would be easier to get rid of these two kids and their mother and grab the entire estate.

The famous Clock Tower In Lyallpur

Sham Dass the oldest brother of my grandfather was posted as Tehsildar when the town of Lyallpur was being conceived. The present day city was founded by the British Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab, Sir Charles James Lyall for whom it was originally named Lyallpur. Prior to the British making the area into an urban center, it largely consisted of various villages. However, the construction of various canals allowed the area to be irrigated. After the founding of the city, people were invited to the city with promises of land if they were to work it. This allowed the city to grow rapidly.

Sham Dass Tehsildar was also responsible for the development of the town. As I was told the town was designed like an umbrella, with a Clock tower in the center and eight members of umbrella as its main Eight Bazars. Sh Sham Dass also purchased a way side pool which became a part of the 'Kachehri bazar' later on and thus a fortune developed. Kacheri Bazar was the top address in a modern town and highly desirable property. Sham Dass had no children of his own and adopted my father Vas Dev Singh as his legal heir to his estates. Sh Brahm Dass will never allow this gold hatching hen to be shared with any one. So the evil ideas started pouring in his otherwise brilliant mind. Instead of using the mind for productive and positive direction, he treaded towards greed and malice. The things actually changed after the sudden death of Sham Dass. As long as Sham Dass was alive, he could not dare to confront or challenge his older uncle, nor his dad Murli Dhar had the guts to utter a single sentence in the presence of Sh Sham Dass who was extremely powerful and strong.

In fact Brahm Dass gate crashed into our house when he came to know that another son was just delivered by widow Karam Devi. He took out the sword from the case to eliminate the newly born. The paramedical help known in those days as midwife ('Daaee') was still cleansing up after the birth of the child. He came and suddenly started shouting and asking for the newly born. But Kishoree Bai, a visionary, always thought a step ahead of his estranged nephew. She pushed my grand mother Karam Devi along with the newly born and older brother through a interconnecting window to the neighboring house of Nanaki Bai ( Kishoree Bai's younger sister Jamuna Bai's daughter) the mother of Partap Singh. Incidentally Partap singh also suffered a similar fate as his entire estate of about 250 acres was devoid of rights by his uncles for two decades. Both brothers Vas Dev Singh & Inder Jit Singh and their cousin Partap Singh had a parallel turn of events in their lives and hence remained close friends also. It was one of the reasons that Partap Singh's younger son Brijbir Singh's wife Bholi proposed her sister's daughter Dashminder for my son's Shivpreet marriage. Our closeness in the family played a big part in making a decision for the marriage alliance.

Kishoree Bai was determined to prove her own brother wrong and get justice by getting the legitimate rights of agricultural and other property in the names of infants of the brother who was no more in the world. She fought a determined and hard courts battle for 20 long years by spending her own money, time and efforts for fighting the costly litigation. Even the court fees for huge assets will run in thousands in 1920-30s. Kishoree Bai mortgaged her own personal assets to make deposits in the courts for initiation a court case for getting justice for her nephews. She often said that she could not allow the infants of one brother to develop like insects in the dirty lanes, while the offshoots of another brother enjoy in palaces.

With a veil on her face and two kids held tightly in each hands, she will go from pillar to post to request the court employees for favors and requesting for a pity on the kids. While her other brother will spend lot of money for getting trifle jobs. He was pretty sure with his might of money, power and authority; he will be able to prove that the kids were having no rights to inherit the left over property with a plea that they were not the legitimate children of his brother. He never wanted to hand over the possession of any of the property in Multan, Muzaffargarh and Kachehri Bazar prime property in Lyallpur at any cost to lowly kids.

photo courtsey: Smt Pushpa Butta Agnihotri and Sh Umesh Agnihotri

Top row L to R: Mohan Lal, Jaswant Kaur, Pritam Kaur, Mahesh Singh.

Standing Lto R: Dharam Chand, Amir Chand, Jagat Narayan, Inderjit Singh, A friend, Mohan Narayan Singh, Atam Narayan Singh, Vas Dev Singh with Preet Mohan (lured by a biscuit in hand, Dad diverted me from crying) in lap, Sundar Lal, Jai Singh with Bhupinder in lap.

Sitting L to R: Gyaan Devi with Manorama in lap, Lachhami Bai, Shakuntla Bai, Joginder lal (Goga), Kanwar Bhan, Pushpa, Kesar Bai with an infant Saroj wrapped in a sheet(hardly visible) in lap, Savitri Bai, Hari Bai, Jaswant Kaur.

Sitting on Floor L to R: Balwant Kaur, Satwant Kaur, Arjan Singh(Boni), Hari Narayan Singh(Groom), Har Kaur(Bride), Jagdish Chand, Anand, Prema, Amrit.(Only two persons were missing, i.e. Harish Chand was unavailable and Prem Kaur expecting a child)

The long court battle went on and on. In a crucial witness, my maternal grandfather Kanwar Bhan played a significant part. He had retired from the army after participating in the World War I. He had many medals which he would display at important occasions. It will be interesting to note here that his real sister was married to Murli Dhar the youngest brother of Lala Sham Dass and Bhagwan Dass. While his own daughter Savitri Devi was betrothed to Bhagwan Dass's Sh Vas Dev Singh. So on one side was his sister and on the other was his daughter. Kanwar Bhan had a big decision to make while appearing as witness in the court.

On a stipulated day, Kanwar Bhan got dressed up in his Army Uniform and decorated it with all the medals he had so proudly won. He went to appear in the court. The Judge welcomed him and took him to the retiring room for recording his statement in person. Kanwar Bhan made it amply clear that the Late Bhagwan Das had actually married Karam Devi and Vas Dev Singh and Inder Jit Singh were their legitimate sons. That vital witness removed the confusion and shortly after some time, the judge announced a verdict in favor of my father/uncle Vas Dev Singh and Inder Jit Singh. I was also told by my Dad that his uncle Murli Dhar in the later stages felt pained and ashamed for what he had done to little kids all those years. But his son Brahm Dass was very adamant and would like to pursue rigorously and was against giving any due rights to his cousins.

Ultimately the court order prevailed. Murli Dhar lost everything he had by of loans and mortgages of his assets. One time a wealthy man with so many assets and property, had no shelter for him or for his four daughters and two sons. Immediately after the court verdict. When Murli Dhar left for his heavenly abode, I am told his sister Kishore Bai also followed him and passed away. The people openly were found making a comment that this sister is going to fight her brother even in the heaven.

Kanwar Bhan advised my father Vas Dev Singh not to be cruel the same way as his uncle and cousin had been to them. So my father and uncle allowed them to own one of the houses in Multan. My father also divided the agricultural land in three parts, one each for Vas Dev Singh, Inder Jit Singh and Brahm Dass.

Good Times came and my father and uncle got Government jobs in Multan District courts before the country's partition engulfed them again. In mean time immediate after the marriage the families got united when Bakhshish Singh the elder son of Brahm Dass was married to my Mom's elder sister's daughter Pritam Kaur (Sindho). Their children and us again began to have very close relations because of double connection and are still very close to each other. We do meet and join on sad and happy occasions from time to time. Their family is now settled in Troronto Canada.

I went to see Bakhshish Singh in Tronto when he was on his last journey. I had a lot of love, affection and respect for him as he also reacted the same way towards me. He always made it a point to see me whenever he visited USA on couple of occasions.

While convalescing in the nursing home, I put up a question Bakhshish Singh with a lot of respect, and asked him if he knew the reason that his father Brahm Dass had lost that all important court case. To which he replied that it was due to some legal technicalities. The case was no doubt fought on strong grounds equally supported by both parties. But in the end justice prevailed. Wish his soul rest in peace wherever it is.

Note and disclaimer (The details are as per the oral stories I heard from my father Vas Dev Singh, uncle sh Inder Jit singh, Bai Ji(Shakuntala Bai), and my maternal and paternal grandmothers. Many other senior family members also corroborated to confirm many part of the stories. If some one has any other opinion to any part, I shall be glad to remove the same from the blog)

© preet mohan singh., all rights reserved.

Some more Family Members

Other Family Members

After the set backs in Faridkot, it was decided to for the fily to look for settling down. All of my Mom's three elder sisters had been settled down in Delhi. The eldest of them all, Smt Shakuntla Devi ( popularly known as Bai Ji) along wih her five of the six children, was living in Lodhi Colony as her husband (Subedar Jagat Narain Kapoor) was in those days posted in New Delhi.

It was a palatial bungalow supported by a separate dwelling room at Barsati was allotted by the Government to uncle Jagat Naran Kapoor. Hence two of my Mom's sisters Smt Hari Devi and Smt Lachchami (Lakshmi) Devi along with their family and about half a dozen children also came along to live with them. My grandmother Smt Kesar Bai also moved to live with her daughter here.

Sh Harish Chander eldest son of Sh Dharam Chander also came down to live with them in Lodhi Room. After a few days, Sh Harish Chander rented a separate servant quarter to live with his maternal grandmother in the same neighborhood in Lodhi Colony. It is here that he prepared for his IAS examination.

In mean time my older maternal uncle Sh Dharam Chander Khanna got himself transferred from Multan to Simla in the office of Inspector Heneral of Police. The younger uncle Sh Jai Singh got a clerical job with Financial Commissioner office of Punjab that too in Simla. 

Slowly, my aunts families moved to live in rented places across each other in Ali Ganj, (a government colony near Lodhi Road) earmarked for allotment to Class IV employees. While Sh Harish Chander Khanna along with his maternal grandmother moved to one of those servant quarters. 

As Sh Harish Chander Khanna was highly educated and ambitious, prepared for IAS exams here, while working as a Programme Executive with All India Radio. He finally cleared IAS exam and opted for Punjab. Later he was allocated to Haryana and during his career he served Also in the central Governments at various high levels. He retired as Additional Secretary to the Government of India. His last posting was as Director General of Doordarshan at New Delhi. Harish Khanna was the brightest son born in the family and was responsible for uplifting his remaining three brothers and four sisters. He was mainly responsible for helping another cousin of mine Sh Joginder Lal Kapoor(Goga) who was falsely implicated in a long fraud court case. He was very friendly to me although older to me and being of my Mom's age. He often crossed me in the various governmental places in Chandigarh, Nirman Bhawan, Shastry Bhawan and other offices. Being in the Power Industry I often met him frequently as he being the Chairman of Haryana State electricity Board while I served as a Deputy Director with Ministry of Power in New Delhi.

Although very powerful and influential Sh Harish Khanna was, he still picked me up to make arrangements for "kirtan" at the last ceremony at the death of My uncle sh Dharam Chander Khanna.

Sh Inder Jit Singh's wife and my aunt Smt Prem Kaur was also the elder daughter of Sh Dharam Chand Khann a my maternal uncle. It was quite common to have interwoven families in earlier days. So my sh Inder Jit Singh wrote many letters to his known friends and relatives for getting some or the other jobs. As the luck would have it, he got a response from Sh Jai Singh my other uncle that he had some opening for a job in the Financial Commissioner Office in Simla. As his father -in law was also posted in Simla, it was decided that sh Inder Jit singh along with his family should try out the Simla Job. Fortunately one day my father received a good news that Sh Inder Jit Singh had joined the F/C office at Simla. The things started going well now onwards. The bothers had Rs 8000/ lying in the bank which could be sufficient for many years to survive without job. My uncle Sh Inder Jit Singh assured my father that there were a lot of openings in the government and he will be able to get him also there.

So we started living peacefully and my father had a great job. Since many any people will start coming to our house to have his advice/favor for getting the ration which was scarce. so he became very popular and known among the neigborhood and community. We did not have light, now watter supply and no lavatory or bath room.

To be continued and edited...

© preet mohan singh., all rights reserved.

Our Early Partition Days

Our Early family Days

A happy family portrait in 1954

Chairs from L to R: Inder Jit Singh with Manjit Kaur(Toli) in the lap, Prem Kaur with Jag Mohan(Pappu) in the lap, Karam devi with Man Mohan (Mindi) in the lap, Savitri with Mohinder Kaur(Bobi) in the lap, Vas Dev Singh with Amarjit Kaur(Ambu) in the lap.

Sitting on the foor from L to R: Tarlochan Singh (Roop), Gurpal Kaur (Paali), Bhagwant Kaur, Preet Mohan Singh.

( The above picture is a copy of the Proof of a photo taken at Simla, but was rejected by the family and no more copies were made by the proffessional Photographer)

My father Sh Vas Dev Singh and his younger brother Sh Inder Jit Singh came to know many rumours in early part of year 1947 that the decision to partition the country on Religious lines was bound to happen. But they along with many others were of the view that since they had been living in Agha Pura Mohalla (A Colony out side the Delhi Gate, Multan) since many generations, there was every chance that they will continue to do so even after the partition. They were expecting some sort of turmoil and riots but ultimately hoped to survive and live the life ever as before. But that was not destined to be.

Multan has been a most important city of Hind and Sindh for a period of about 3000 years. It was strategically placed, on the main trade routes at the confluence the Ravi and Chanab Rivers, It has been a rich and well defended city for thousands of years. In 324 BC the Macedonians under Alexander invaded Multan and, it was here that he was seriously wounded, which caused his death later as he retreated.

On July 18, 1947, the British Parliament passed the Indian Independence Act that finalized the partition arrangement.

The things really started to begin horrific. So young and intelligent they felt themselves, decided to travel temporarily to the part of the country which fell under the proposed new India. On the way they visited many religious places before they reached one small town called Faridkot and rented a small portion of a dwelling where my grand mother Smt Karam Devi, my father Sh Vas Dev Singh, my mother Smt Savitri Devi, myself and a year old my sister Bhagwant, my uncle Sh Inder Jit Singh, my pregnant aunt Smt Prem Kaur and their one year old son Tarlochan settled down to wait and watch the aftermath of partition.

On the D day, actual partitions happened. There were riots all over. People were killing people. Mainly Hindus and Sikhs on one side while the Muslims on the other. Sikhs were conspicuous by their unique look and were easily the targets and were also obviously aggressive to retaliate. During this period when all of us were down with sound sleep and my aunt and mother were sleeping on adjacent beds, when an evil lady of the neighborhood pounced upon my mother and hit here with a 'Toka' ( a sharp tool to cut the animal feeder) on her head but was successful in making a deep wound on her nose. Immediately she came out with another round of attack and when my mother tried to stop her with her hand, the index finger of her left hand was chopped off in the process. At this time my aunt woke up, being stronger in built snatched the 'Toka ' from the attacker and threw it away. The evil lady had to beat the retreat and ran away without accomplishing any loot. My aunt Smt Prem Kaur easily recognised the evil lady in the morning but no body could press any charges. We immediately moved to another safer place. My Mom was taken to the near by hospital and given the treatment. I have a still a picture of her in my mind with a distress look having bandage over her head, nose and the first finger. I also remember her having baby Bhagwant in her lap with injuries still on her.

It was here in Faridkot that My aunt was blessed with a Girl whom we later named Gurpal Kaur. That was a very good news. We were happy to have another new addition in the family.

MY FATHER GETS TRAPPED

After these early happenings, we felt lucky to survive the onslaught of worst communal riots ever happened on the face of earth. Based on 1951 Census of displaced persons, 7,226,000 Muslims went to Pakistan from India while 7,249,000 Hindus and Sikhs moved to India from Pakistan immediately after partition. And about 1,000,000 persons died on both sides.

The family was now camping in a new location Faridkot. They had good amount of assets still scattered at various places like Multan, Loyalpur, Mujaffargarh, and Khanewal. The documents concerning these properties and agricultural lands were lying safely in our ancestor house in Multan. So it was decided (since my father being the elder one and well engrossed with the legal instruments) that Sh Vas Dev Singh should go back to Multan now in Pakistan and bring all the connected documents, while my uncle Sh Inder Jit Singh will stay back to take care of the family in Faridkot.

Without caring the serious implications of the existing circumstances, Sh Vas Dev Singh started for Multan. He had to cross through the worst communal fire in an unfriendly and ferocious territory. One reason for his attachment with his assets was that both brothers had fought a long over twenty years of legal battle to get their legitimate rights from their cousin. The next battle was equally harsh and testing for him. He set his foot across to accomplish the task as capably.

Never he knew that this task was equivalent to that of Vir Abhimanyu of Mahabharat fame. Here like Amhimanyu he could enter the 'Chakravieu' and break it but could not return. So he reached Agha Pura Mohalla and found almost every house vacant except my maternal grandmother Smt Kesar Bai and a couple of more people. Every body was trying to escape by flying from Multan to any Indian city say Amritsar or Delhi or some other means. My father later told me that he had kept safely an amount of Rs 500 for making the air travel. But going to the airport from the house was equally dangerous. There were robberies and killings even in broad day light. Everyday they shall pray and plan for rescue.

On the other hand My uncle Sh Inder Jit Singh started waiting for safe return of his brother Sh Vas Dev Singh. After one week or so he started going to the railway station every day and wait for every train coming from the Pakistan side. He was always hopeful that next train will bring his brother back. The situation was worsening day by day. His anxious wait was turning to frustration.

Now he realised actual situation as he saw himself the trains full of human corpses with bodies badly cut into pieces. He also saw some living persons crying badly among the loads of dead ones. The voluntaries will pull out the wounded ones and treat them and feed them. But there were more others who were aggressively loaded with arms and swords for avenging the actions of opposite side. It was a mad world. Such conditions horrified my uncle Sh Inder Jit singh. (One day in later life he did tell me that he had cursed the day when he had allowed his brother to go to Multan for bringing the property documents.) Still he kept going to the Railway Station hoping for a reunion. Every evening he returned to his family members dejected and crying. He had no answers to many queries from my Mom and grand mother.

Every day in the morning as he bathed and prayed and did his routine 'Japuji Sahib', he repeated the 'ardaas' day after day for his brother's safe return to Faridkot. After his chores, he will start for the Railway Station for his routine task. One day on the way, he saw a Post Office. He thought of an idea to write a letter to a buddy of my father Sh Dalip Singh who was serving in the Indian Army. As the Army address was universally known " 56 APO", he shot a letter to him requesting for help in bringing his brother Sh Vas Dev singh who was trapped in Multan. And that was an ace he played. The letter reached Sh Dalip Singh(Retired Captain), who immediately approached his boss for permission to use army truck for rescuing his dear class mate. The boss was gracious and Sh Dalip Singh dashed to Multan after passing through many hurdles. At one juncture(as he told me later), a big crowd loaded with lathies and arms, waited to confront the Army truck. He kept his cool and fired with his army gun in the air instead of firing at the crowd. This scared the crowd and they retreated back to their village. Thus a possible confrontation was avoided and he carried on the mission driving cautiously and carefully just himself. He was, however, lucky to be in the Army Uniform and in Army Truck. Sh Dalip Singh finally reached Multan without caring that he had put his own life at risk.

From L to R standing: Lala Bhagwan Dass, Lala Sham Dass;

Middle Row:Sh Aasa Singh in the middle;

Sh Jaswant Singh's dad and an unidentified person

Not only they were known to each other very well, but were best friends. The friendship between the family ran for generations. Sh Dalip Singh's father Sh Aasa Ram worked for my grand father Sh Bhagwan Dass. My grand father used to carry Sh Vas Dev Singh on one shoulder and Sh Dalip Singh on the other. One day, both the kids were made to wear red clothes and converted to mini 'Hanumaans' and had a real joyful ride on the shoulder of Sh Aasa Ram on the occasion of 'Dushehra'.They went to same school together and were in the same class and section. Even used to sit on the same bench of three seater, where in Sh Jai Singh my maternal uncle occupied the middle seat.

Seeing Sh Dalip Singh at his door step, my father was shocked with pleasant surprise. Sh Dalip Singh seemed in a hurry and asked him to get into the truck without any luggage. He also took my maternal Grand mother Smt Kesar Bai along with them and started the journey for Faridkot bringing with them a few more people from Agha Pura Mohalla.

The joy of family knew no bounds as my father reunited with his family in Faridkot. This was rebirth of my father Sh Vas Dev Singh. I remained indebted to Sh Dalip Singh for his brave and timely act, but for him the things would never have been the same for our family.

I tried to record my gratitude to Sh Dalip Singh, when he was requested to be made chief guest of honor at the time of marriage of my son Shivpreet Singh. Sh Dalip Singh very kindly agreed to wrap the 'Sehra' on his turban and bless Shivpreet Singh.

To be continued and edited...

© preet mohan singh., all rights reserved.

My First Sister

My First Sister Bhagwant Kaur

Bhagwant Kaur My First Sister - growing wiser gracefully

Bhagwant was born in August 1945 about a year after me. Unfortunately the exact date of birth is not known. When pressed, my Dad will jokingly say "she was, perhaps, dropped from the heaven and not born". While my date and time was properly recorded by my Dad and also by maternal grandfather Lala Kanwar Bhan who kept all the details of his offshoots meticulously.

Although I am so proud of my sharp memory, I fail to remember her infant face though, I do have her memories of our times in Panipat where we settled down after the partition.

Both of us looked similar, roundish, wheatish towards darkish and healthy kids. But Bhagwant looked more sturdy and healthier. She appeared bigger in structure than me. And my Mom Savitri Devi had invariably introduced both of us 'clarifying that she was younger to me, while I was the first child'.

Peetu Guddi with their parents and granndmother in 1951

For convenience, our parents named us 'Peetu & Guddi'. Where ever we went or met relations, there was talk of Peetu Guddi as the names get synonymous for kids of similar ages. I carried on with this name till I went to High School, people also started calling me Preet Mohan. So slowly Bhagwant 's name also changed to 'Bhaggo'. She did not like this name of hers.

Pir Kalandar Shah Masjid, Bhagwant's First School

As was the trend, Bhagwant was admitted to only Girls school. The school was a make shift arrangement and operated in Big Masjid which enshrined famous tomb of Pir Kalandar Shah. This school was bigger and about 400-500 girl students attended. she went to the school very happily along with other girls of the neighborhood. Her best friend at that time was 'Krishna' a much older in age though, also a next door neighbor.

At this stage, she had a god sent toy in the shape of a lovely younger sister Ambu. She would merrily lift her and go to the bazaar and play. Ambu will sit on the extended board of the shops while she will play with her friends and keeping a constant watch on the little sister as well.

Bhagwant grew up fast. She was also on the heavier side. One day My mom virtually took her to a doctor and complained about her obeisance. The doctor rebuked my Mom sending her back that she should be fortunate to have a healthy baby rather having frail and week children as they were often seen due to under nutrition. Still my mom had put her on ration while I was pampered to all that nutritious food. The result was that I was ever a thin and week. It was I who used to be fed with extra milk and diet. During my exam days a regular dose of 5 pieces of Almonds a rare and costly commodity was fed to me and I enjoyed the same too. The sisters will have no access to almonds and other favorite eateries and were always happily eating usual home cooked food. Surprisingly no complaint what so ever. Who ever in my mom's friend circle met me, would complain to her that why she was not feeding their only son well. We all ate vegetarian food, not egg even.

In mean time my father started bringing besides grams and pulses, a big sack of unbaked groundnuts from our farms in village Badbar Distt Sangrur. Yes, all of us enjoyed them really well, after the dinner. At times I was mad with my sisters when they will leave behind the emplty shells of nuts all over. The house became garbage all over during those days. My mom will clean the house one time only in the morning.

Bhagwant Betrothed

Even before Bhagwant was born, my grandmother Smt Karam Devi was very friendly with the family of Sardar Nanak Singh who was reputed Post Master and was very well respected and well known. He was a man of high character and utmost honesty. I came to know later, he returned even after the partition of the country, a huge sum of Rs 10000/- to the person who had requested him to deposit the same in his Accounts in the Post Office, but could not do so. He settled in Rohtak after the partition. He had been blessed with a Son after five daughters. As my grandmother Smt Karam Devi went to congratulate the birth of a son. She impromptu proposed to marry the would be daughter of any of his two sons. After a period of about five years , a baby girl (Bhagwant) was born to my mom and a baby Boy(Tarlochan aka Roopa) was born to my uncle Sardar Inderjit Singh and aunt Smt Prem Kaur. At this stage the verbal confirmation was done between the two ladies with a vow to keep the promise.

Now the partition changed the entire scenario. No body was aware of the where abouts of their kith and kins. But some scant correspondence started between all the relatives staying in various cities on a Post Card valued at 4 paisas (one Aana). I remember my father and uncle will even forward the Post card to them and others by redirecting the post card by re-writing the address. This was mainly done to save money and pass on the info unambiguously.

Bhagwant came out brilliantly in her Middle and High school classes. She was even the monitor of the section of her class. She thoroughly enjoyed her studies and after school activities. On the day of results of Matriculation from the state Board, I went to collect the News Paper Tribune from the Railway station. A bundle of news paper containing the Supplement of the results only will be received at mid night by the train coming from the direction of Ambala where it used to get published. The entire young crowd of Panipat will gather to get the first opportunity to see the results. Only the boys from Arya High School, SD High School, Jain High School and Leiha High School will hang around outside the main gate of Panipat railway station to get the results of themselves and their sisters. No girls will ever assemble at the station. My mom will normally never allow me to go out at midnight, but on the result day it was special and I was allowed to go. So I went twice, once for myself and again for Bhagwant. That was a treat to hang around along with your friends, without spending a single penny.

As nervous I was, I could not find her Roll number in the paper and came back dejected that she had failed. But later on some body checked and congratulated our family that Bhagwant had not even passed but scored very high marks just missing the First Division by a few marks. That will be equivalent to present day straight A's with high percentile of 90.

After her brilliant performance, it was decided to enroll her for a professional Basic Teachers Training coarse in Panipat. She was very hard working and came out successful with a first class. After a couple of interviews in Panipat and Karnal, She was offered a govt job in a village called Kishan Pura about two miles from our house in Panipat.


To be concluded and edited...

© preet mohan singh., all rights reserved.