Our Early family Days
A happy family portrait in 1954 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.
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.
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