My Dream Girl

MY DREAM GIRL

Harvinder Kapoor

'Till We Do Part At Death'

 On Valentine Day 2010

Reclaiming of Lands

Reclaiming of Maru Land- Part II

Continued from: Reclaiming of Land-part I...

Harvinder With Jania and Preet Mohan Singh on Maru Land as developed today

Harvinder and Jania enjoyng the hard bed

I shall pick up the bi-cycle and immediately ride it to Nehri land and make round of my fields and on the way talk to the neighbors and our cultivators and get all information. Poor people will give me very honestly all the details and their advice which cost me no penny. They will meet me with folded hands. And when an old man also bowed to me with respect, I felt embarrassed and awkward. Some times I shall have a cup of tea or a rural food with them. Believe me that the food was really tasty.

After a flash visit in the Nehri land, I shall pick up my bi-cycle and ride it further one &1/2 a mile on the road and before reaching Hari Garh Canal, I shall make a right turn along a culvert which was formed on the rain-drain. I shall go for another 3/4 th of a mile and reach 'Maru land' all along the side of the drain. While doing so , I shall pass my uncle's land which was now converted to a awfully green patch. I would make a wish here, If I could also develop my piece of land on same or even lesser level.

So, Charanjit Singh was my Chief of operations. He advised me to start grading the land at the top- most point near a grown up tree on the top of hill which I had named it as 'Mount Everest'. When I reached at the site it looked as if Charanjit had done nothing during the past week. I just gave him some encouraging words as a matter of routine and felt he had a whole awesome work to do in leveling the the big hilltop. After discussing a few things for a while, I came back the Badbar bus stand.

I had to take stock of the development work with my other cultivator and spent about one hour with him and promised to come again after a week. I shall take a Haryana Roadways Bus which will go back via Patran, Nirvana, Jind, Rohtak and reach Delhi Inter State Bus Terminus at around 9.00 pm. My help would load some bags of grocery etc at Badbar, and now on return I shall take Auto Rikshaw and pay about Rs 17/- and reach Jangpura Extension home where Our servant Kamal Bahadur 'Kancha' will take care of the same and store it where ever Harvinder would desire. I would also invariably share that grocery with my sisters.

The trip to Badbar was very quick, effective and very successful. Next day I shall take rest or attend some social gathering and was fresh to attend office in time on Monday. So it was a ritual every week for about months.

Quickest Trip.

One day the trip was really short and quick. As usual I left the home with fresh & cold mangoes and food and reached the Delhi Railway Station on time. Jummu Tavi train was parked on the allotted Platform. I just checked it with the ticket collector after saying hello to him and did not need to check the departure time as it always started late. He welcomed me and told me to occupy the sleeper comfortable. As I laid down on the upper deck of the bunk, I went to sleep pretty quickly. I slept really deep. In mean time the train were still shunting and consolidating the buggies. At one stage, as the engine came with a push to connect itself with the rest of the buggies, it made a lot of hard jerk and loud thud. This made me to get out of my slumber. I had presumed the train was running and was almost near to Sangrur as I had slept for over two hours by now. But when I checked from my co-travellers who were resting on the lower berths, they started laughing. They spoke out sarcastically that the train was still at Delhi and had not even steamed off. I checked up my watch and noticed that it was around 5.00 AM.

With new schedule I had no chance of returning the same day, while I had to attend some thing urgent on Sunday in Delhi. I decided to abandon the trip and return. I returned the ticket and took the bus back to Home. As I knocked the door bell, inquest enquires came from inside, as who the hell it could be so early in the morning.

Harvinder was excited to see me back and asked me how come that I was back so early. I told her that earlier I was making quick back and forth trips and today it was the quickest of them all. I narrated the whole story to Dad and to my sisters and everybody had a hearty laugh of this so called quick trip to Badbar and back, as I might have had a chartered plan to undertake this.

Coming back to my development of land project. Next Saturday, When I reached Badbar bus Stand at around 7.30 AM. To my pleasant surprise, Charanjit Singh was there to receive me with our tractor at the Bus Stand Badbar. That was nice. I felt flattered. I took a comfortable seat near Charanjit, and we started going to the fields on the same tractor. What a Treat. I felt as if I was not sitting on the tractor but on the top of the word. Many known fellow villagers would wish Charanjit Singh and would also turn towards me to offer their wishes. I was a new kid on the block.

Charanjit Singh, on the way, would narrate me report of happenings during the past one week. He told me this time that although he worked very hard, but the progress was very meager. His neighbor had remarked that with such work load, Charanjit was asking early departure to Almighty. with the deployment of one tractor, there was hardly any progress and it will take many many months of exclusive and dedicated use of one tractor.

I asked a solution. To which he said that we will have to deploy 10 tractors all at once for consecutive 30 days to make a little dent on the progress. He had already talked to some owners of the tractors and wanted me to talk to the Sarpanch for helping the project. The Sarpanch will easily manage the arrangements of tractors and Diesel, labor and spare parts. While I was the one to make available the finances. The persons on Job will have to be provided with food and drinks which will be arranged by Charanjit while I shall again fund the expenses. My Dad had already cautioned against provision of manual help for this, as we and our woman folk can not do and manage such huge village cooking. The village woman folk are very capable and do such assistance admirably.

So on our return from the fields, we had decided to see Sarpanch, whom we met at the Bus stand Badbar. He greeted me with a big and tight hug and offered me some cold drink, which was smartly arranged by Charanjit by ordering to the near-by shop. In came the cold drinks, while we talked. The Sarpnach was more than happy to provide his help and services. He would be glad to voluntarily lend his own tractor on exchange basis and our tractor will go for the same period of time for doing Job for the Sarpanch on exchange basis. That was fair and fast. he even postponed his own work for a few days and promised to send the tractor next day in the morning.

Charanjit Singh with the help of Sarpanch arranged ten tractors in all and deployed them from Monday to push up the work. Charanjit Singh's wife along with other woman folks got busy to cook food at the site. The little kids will doing so many chores. In turn, I promised that I shall materially and financially support when his daughters get married. Which I did when his first daughter got married.

When I came back from Badbar that week, my Dad and Harvinder had a lot of questions. Dad would come to my bed room and sit there to ask the progress. He was also very happy to learn that such a large scale development was being undertaken during his life time. It was he who encouraged me to take this bold step. None of my cousins, although who had been solely doing the farming work, would dare to undertake such a huge development work at this level.

My cousins later approved of my action and praised my dad for encouraging me. Dad was a visionary and was passing on the baton. This was risky but I was as usual in my positive state of mind and was pushing ahead with unprecedented thrust shown by my Dad. This is often done by the farming community and not by a landlord.

Charanjit had taken a promise from me that after the development of the land, he will be exclusive contractor for that part for a minimum period of three years. I had also agreed keeping in mind that he deserved even more. As he intended to earn from the wheat crop next year, The present year paddy crop will be hardly produce any thing worth since it being the first ever crop from a new land.

So, we prepared ourselves and laid down lots of gypsum and graded the land, made aqua routes for irrigation of the crops for Paddy. The water from the new well was gushing out and it was thrilling to see Charanjit very happy while showing me the preparations for "paneeree" a process when seeds are sown in a small portion of land. As the seedlings were growing up by 3-4 inches, the spot was visible from a distance as green, lush and vegetating. A special treatment of fertilizer and care made this happen. As the rains start and water is clogged in each Acre, the transplanting of the seedlings are done by expert labor usually from Bihar. It is a treat to see this being done.

To be continued and edited...

© preet mohan singh., all rights reserved.

Reclaiming of Maru Land

Reclaiming Of Maru Lands

Shivpreet Singh with Gobind Singh at the Tube-well

S. Preet Mohan Singh, S. Gobind Singh, S. Shivpreet Singh, at vast leveled Maru Land

S. Shivpreet Singh, S. Gobind Singh, Srdn Dashminder Kaur, and Jania Kaur

Maru Land 14+ acres Parcel, As It Looks today

My father had also owned about another 25 Acres of Maru Land (a short name for Marusthal meaning desert). The crops from this part of parcel of land always depend upon the rains. The land was full of hilltops all around and hardly any two acres were at level which is the prime condition of fruitful farming. There were sand and pebbles all around. You will not be able to see a tree for miles. The water level available was very deep and if available it was very salty, sour and of inferior quality. At times when God was pleased, we used to have some crops of ground nuts or corn on a few spots. Most of the times, it will not rain for years, and when it rained, it rained excessively resulting in floods which will create havoc. All the lands around will be seized by water and nothing else.

The Government tried to take measures to control the floods but was not very effective due to paucity of sufficient funds. And even these reforms would never reach to the parcel of land we owned. A brick lined canal was laid down, which did help us a little during the floods. But the sub soil water level raised to a very high level and the land almost converted to marshy conditions. One could easily dig a few feet to reach the water. The irrigation department of the Punjab Government planned a Open Rain drain and constructed the same through our Parcel. Thus about 8+ Acres were on one side of the drain, while 14+ acres came on the other. The drain consumed about 2-3 Acres of our land and we were nominally compensated. to prevent the soil erosion, they planted 'kikkar trees on either side of the drain. We did use this 'kikkar' for brushing our teeth free - another perk for owning lands.

The land of 8+ Acre was better leveled and cultivatable, and a few people got interested to rent the same for cultivation. But we hardly made any money, it was just negligible. While on the other side, the 14 + acres were either hill tops or deep slopes. To make it worst, during the rainy season, the flooding water will bring lot of pebbles and loose soil and sit on our part of land. After the floods, the land will become so hard that no cultivator will dare to plough the land and only a paste of white 'shora/Cullar' will cover the entire land.

I remember my Dad will bring that 'shora' from his lands in a Jute bag from all the way to Panipat and we shall use the same for washing utensils. It was really effective on them. It was in great demand by friends, neighbors and even relatives who will not mind to take the so called 'shora' to Delhi for such a use.

After the death of my Mom in Jan 1985, my Dad started showing less interest in lands and one day handed over the charge to me. But he wanted me to give him Rs 10000/- per crop ( two in a year) from the income of lands. Major part of the job was to pay for the expenses being done during the cultivation process. Our persons will normally take the money from the 'Aarati' while I shall pay back to the 'Aarati'. I shall keep the accounts as being done by my father. That is the way my Dad taught me everything just giving me free hand while supervising me.

I made many visits to this parcel and tried to study to rectify the problem. I found that some cultivators who had migrated from Distt Ludhiana had stared improving their newly purchased lands. That was a good sign. I consulted my cousins who had been doing farming all their lives. I found that the migrant cultivators had sold out their lands in Ludhiana at exorbitant prices and with the same money they had acquired larger parcels here in Badbar and were cash rich. They used that cash on the improvement of lands by way of spending on equipment like tools, tractors, trolleys and fertilizers and labour. The land sold by my uncle Sh Inder Jit Singh was simply converted into lush green crop yielding fields.

On every visit, I was pleasantly surprised by the new environment and tried to mingle with village folks and often praised them for their hard working habits. When asking for an advice, the learned friends and relatives will make a fun of me as they were sure that a white collared bureaucrat like me was only walking in the dark. They remarked that how could I be successful while sitting at a distance of 250 Kms in Delhi. Many times it took me more than 12 hours to reach my village Badbar, besides I had a regular government job to attend to. Now a days, he will only direct me from Delhi and teach me the tricks of the trade. While the people in charge will hardly listen to me and would most of the time pass me off and leave the decision to check from the Dad before really initiating any action.

So I made a plan to reclaim the land and reluctantly went ahead to discuss it with Dad. I knew he had worked all his life on farming and knew every ins and outs of the industry. I told my Dad that we wanted to dispose off the oxes as we could not maintain them, while the servant's animals were all fed on our lands and our animals were week and died every other year. We had to spend to buy another set of oxen and would continue to lease one acre of land free to the servants. Thus a lot of revenue was bleeding in the process. On the other hand. the cultivators will not undertake to cultivate our lands. We were so much dependent on them.

We, the people from city, will not dirty our hands and dare to plough ourselves. We had never done this ever in my last ten generations. To do physical work was really very difficult and arduous. Hence I felt, we were so much influenced by them that we carried on to do the same way for ages. How can we be slaves to their backward habits for so many ages, I cried again and again. I tried to study the history and found that we were following the same process of farming as being done since the Akbar era. In other words, we had not moved forward at all for hundreds of years.

Now the times had changed, new technologies are being developed and have been proven for progressive farming. First suggestion was to buy a tractor. That is good, my father reacted. Where will you get the money, the driver, maintenance and running expanses and day to day supervision. I had the answers to all of them.

The plan was like this:

• To dispose of a part of land.
• Invest this money on development of land by making two -three overall levels by dividing into various pockets at ONE GO.
• Get rid of the animals, engage sub-contractors for seeding and deploy harvesting combines on hire.
• Buy a Tractor in partnership with the cultivator.
• Give the cultivator more responsibilities.
• Get a deep tube well.
• Get the fruits in three ears.

My Dad reacted, that this was only a plan which will be successful in the dreams. Who was going to buy this rotten land. I immediately replied him that there was a customer who wanted to buy our 8+ acres parcel of land. This was a pleasant surprise for him. Two years back, my uncle Sh InderJit Singh had sold his part of land in the Maru for Rs 13000/-per acre and my father had arranged the customer a cultivator from Ludhiana. He was so thrilled to get that rate and was feeling elevated to have won the lottery. So he allowed me to initiate the negotiations on my next visit.

I pre-poned my visit the following weekend. I had couple of meetings and pressed the customer to offer Rs 27500/- per Acre and promised to close the deal after consulting my Dad next week. My Dad would not believe that the offer was actually there. As promised, I took Rs 1000/- as advance came back happy after clinching the deal of selling of 8+ Acres, the balance money was to be paid at the time of next harvest in April, 1988.

The hectic project of improvement of land started immediately after the Crops harvesting. I bought a Tractor in partnership with one Charanjit singh, a very honest and hardworking ex-army man from Ludhiana. He badly needed a tractor, as he had lost the rights of owning the tractor his brother on distribution of his family assets. He had his own land also besides he worked for us. I asked him to get his1/2 acre mortgaged along mine 1/2 acre. We became the proud owner of new Red Coloured Fergusan tractor after buying it for Rs 140000/-(through loan). He arranged all loan papers and finalized the deal with a Tractor Dealer in Sangrur. He also purchased a trolley and many other associated parts etc.

Charanjit singh was a crack shot for me. after using the tractor for my Nehri land and also lending to others started making money. This money was used in buying some accessories for tractor. Now the need for the animals was eliminated. After the leveling and consolidating the various acres into bigger lots, our tractor worked wonders in the Nehri land. suddenly my status of a farmer was upgraded to a progressive former.

now the plans of developing the Maru land were drawn and we were waiting some rains to start so that the digging and grading works can be smoothly done on a wet land. I decided to visit the land every week end not to check Charanjit singh but to give him moral and financial support. Part of the money received from the sale of land, I purchased a two bed room flat for Rs 145000/ - Sidharth Extension near Bala Sahib Gurdwara and rented the same for Rs 800/ pm.

Normally after dinner on every Friday, I shall take a DTC bus to Delhi Railway Station and catch a Jammu-Tavi express which was scheduled to reach 5.30 AM at Sangrur. This train was typical, it never started on the same date. As the schedule time to start was 11.50 PM, it never ever will stream off that day. Invariably it will start 2-3 hours late. There was hardly any rush, only a few business man with goods from Delhi will use this train.

It was summer time, some times very hot and sultry. But being the mid of night, it was a little consolable. Harvinder will give me some package of lunch and mangoes for my consumption the next day. That was the only luggage besides a inflatable pillow. I shall go to the conductor and take his permission to use one sleeper. He was always glad to accept the offer, meaning that he will wake me up a station called Tiwana and we shall take a cup of tea and I would pay him Rs 5/- for allowing me the luxury of sleeping without booking. The journey was in a way comfortable.

I shall reach Sangrur early morning depending upon the mood of the driver, guard or the system. From Railway station Sangrur, I shall avail a morning walk for about half a mile and reach the Bus stand to catch a Punjab Transport Bus for going to Badbar at a distance of 10 miles. Most of the time I could take the very first Bus starting at 7.00 AM and was there in Badbar by 7.30 AM. On the way came important mile stones like Badrukhan. Badrukhan is about 5 km from Sangrur, the district heaquarters, on Sangrur-Barnala road. There are two versions about the nomenclature of the village. One is that it was named after Badru, a pandit of this village, by Raja Gajpat Singh. Another version, which is more believable is that when Raja Gajpat Singh took control of these villges,(Vada Agwarh, Vichla Agwarh, Dalamwal, Dhaliwas and Thagan wali Patti) at that time very big trees Rukh were standing here on the basis of which it came to be called Badrukhan.

The present village Badrukhan consists of five small villages, which, daring the times of Raja Gajpat Singh, were amalgamated and came to be known as Badrukhan. Prior to it, these villages were in Badbar thana and were being ruled by Nawab of Malerkotla. The residents of these villages were feeling insecure on account of the dacoities committed by Muslims. The leaders of these five villages, under the leadership of Pandit Badru, approached Gajpat Singh, the Maharaja of Jind, for their security and gave him 1700 bighas of land. Maharaja Gajpat Singh amalgamated these villages and named it Badrukhan. In 1763, when Gajpat Singh captured the town of Jind, Badrukhan was made the capital of Jind State. He also built the fort here.

Badrukhan is believed to be the birth place of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Raj Kaur,daughter of Gajpat Singh gave birth of Maharaja Ranjit Singh on 13 November 1780 here. Maharaja Hira Singh of Nabha was also born here, Lieutenant General (Retd.) Harbaksh Singh (Vir Chakra). Major General Gurbaksh Singh (DSO and OBE)-and Major Rajnit Singh also belong to this village.
In the village, there exists a smadh of Baba Guddar Shah who is said to have taken out the body of Raj Kaur, daughter of Maharaja Gajpat Singh buried in the large earthen vessel. Maharaja Gajpat Singh distributed large sweet thick cake of bread. Every year on the anniversary of Baba Guddar Shah, large sweet thick bread is baked and distributed as prasad.. Then comes a a very famous place called 'Mastuana sahib' which has been developed a great place of learning for college going students of the area. Mastuana Sahib, established in 1923, by Sant Attar Singh, is not a historical shrine as such hut a prestigious institution for training young scholars in the theory and practice of the Sikh faith. It is a vast complex comprising dormitories, rows of cubicles, a dining hall, an agricultural farm and a magnificent Gurdwara with a large assembly hall. All these shrines, other then Mastuana Sahib, are under the management of the Sh - Gurdwara Parbhandhak Committee, which took over control in 1963 from the family of the - Captain Ranjit Singh of Shahzadpur. My dad and my grandmother will visit once every year in April and present the first harvest to the Gurdwara Saheb.
I used to pray here to the 'Waheguru' while sitting in the Bus for giving me strength and vision to be successful for this project. I would love the view on both sides of the road. The air was cooler and fresh and scent of wheat smelling all around. In late fall, it was all smelling rice, as if the almighty was cooking the rice in His kitchen for feeding his subjects. The views had various rainbow colors at various part of the year. It was a wheat green in January, dull brown in march and glittering gold on the ground and deep blue in the sky in April, dark grounding black in May/June with some patches of soft green and red blood sun set in the evening, lush green in August/ September and smoggy purple & green in winter. My grand mother and my Dad and my uncle will inhale in this fresh and unpolluted air and at times, I would smell them in the same air and at times, I would also smell of their bodies cutting across the fresh breeze which passed, jumped and crisscrossed through the fields laden with various crops at all the times. I thanked Almighty for the fresh air, developed in these fields, which kept my Dad and his mom and his brother safe and healthy. I myself felt invigorated with this scented air while thinking all this. By the time it was 7.30 am and I would reach Badbar. What a change from a polluted air, contaminated atmosphere, and foul environment of a city called Delhi.

Somebody had pushed me into a heaven called Badbar.

to be continued and edited...

© preet mohan singh., all rights reserved.

When Harjeet Mehndi sings on Gobind 5th BD

My Mom, BiJi

Youngest of the six children, my Mom Savitri Devi was born in 1926, hence being the favorite of her Dad Lala Kanwar Bhan. She was in a way pampered too. She would drink a 'Soda Bottle' everyday a luxury in those days. There was no man made manufactured ice available commercially to cool the marble-necked-bottle filled with carbonated sweet drinks which were kept in cold water stored in a big jumbo size earthen pot. She was ever proud of the same and often told the delicious taste to her kids. 

She graduated from a middle school proudly and even knew many English words. Her dad was proud of this fact. Where as he complained that all his four son-in-laws had little knoweldge of English language and were educated not beyond 'TataPur', a railway station falling next to Multan Junction. Being fluent English speaking himself and having served with English officers of the British Indian Army, he was all too dominating. On important occassions, he will dress himself up in full Army uniform with all his accredited medals properly decorated on his front pocket. 

He married off his daughters to the families whose social status was lower than that of his own, so that he could keep all his son-in-laws under his thumb. That's the way it was, as there were more boys than the girls in the close knit family and he did it well to pick the grooms of his liking, as the weddings will be arranged among the family only. bThe women in his house had a big say and it was well known to the entire neighborhood of family.

Lala Kanwar Bhan brought a German built Harmonium (Petti) on his return from the World War. He taught  her youngest daughter how to play the same by pumping it with feet while simultaneously playing with both hands. She learnt to play and sing at a very young age. My other uncle, much older to my  mom,  Sunder Lal Kapoor often used to say that Savitri was his teacher who taught him how to play Harmonium. But I oftenly saw uncle Sunder Lal Kapoor who was much adept in playing his hand driven Harmonium while his own kids and other family kids singing to his tunes. But Savitri Devi was  fluent and played the harmonium incredibly. Appropriately, she was gifted the Harmonium in her  wedding dawry.

Her dad also got her a baby deer which she often rememberd and told the kids how cute, cuddling and playful the little animal was. She had a gala fun time in her parents house. 

Finally after the long court battle for a couple of decades between his uncle and cousins, the verdict of case my was announced in favor of my father family. Lala kanwar Bhan went to My grandma Karam Devi to offer the hand of my Mom for her older son Vasdev Singh, my Dad. Grandma jumped upon the idea and the  wedding  took place in 1941 when Mom was 15 years of age and Dad was 22.

The things did not go smoothly for a long time. Savitri Devi was the youngest and pampered child, while my grand mother was a boasting mother supported by two young sons. In mean time Lala Kanwar Bhan's health was detoriating and had worsened his eye sight due to Cataract. He felt alone and would request my grandma to send Savitri Devi for a visit to her parents. To which Grandma invariably refused. I am told Atam Narayan Singh who was of my mom's age and a nephew to her would be sent to bring her to her parents house. This often led to triffles. Grandma will call  Atam Narayan Singh a 'Kaashid' who was to help her walk to her parents. 

The marriage was in such a sad state of affairs. In a fit of rage, my Mom came back to stay with her parents for about two years. After many swerely faught trifles between the two families, she finally settled down to stay with her in laws. It looks she was a like a goat who would be tied to a peg, the place of which was decided by the owner. Unfortunately at the times she had no say of her won. She would often accuse my Dad for all the irrational  decisions he took to side with his mother. This factor had always troubled my Mom who will never forgive my Dad for the mental torture he had conflicted on her in her early wedding days

Lala Kanwar Bhan will daily go to Gurdwara and sing "Asa Ki War' in the morning. After the 'Ardaas', on the way he shall always pass through Savitri Devi's In law's house and enquire about her welfare. One Saturday morning on 29th July 1944, as he was on his way to his home, he saw some hectic activities in Savitri devi's inlaws house. He was informed that a boy has been blessed to Savitri Devi at around 7.00 AM. He also informed that both the son and his mother Savitri Devi was perfectly normal and healthy. This is how I came into this world.

Lala Kanwar Bhan went back to Gurdwara instead and and did his thanksgiving 'Ardaas' for this greatest gift the God had bestowed on him. My mom told me later that Lala lKanwar Bhan was very happy as the God gave him the news of the birth of a son suddenly, he did not have to listen the pains(labor) of his little daughter when he was busy praying for her welfare while singing "Asa-Ki-War'. And at the same time, he was not himself as active and healthy to be of any help at this stage of his life. Never in his life he had felt so week. He was extremely happy now, the God had filled his lap with enormous wealth of jewels with utmost ease.

There was happy time all arround. My dad was happy, so was my grandmothers on bothside. My uncle Sh Inder Jit Singh's joy was overwhelmingly errupting. The sweets were distributed among the near and dear. A date was fixed with the consent of all to do "akhand path' and announce an appropriate name to the newly, born child. My uncle Jai Singh's  brother-in-law was visiting Multan from London.  A first word of the 'Guru's Order was picked up to guide the name as per Sikh rites. Our Aunty's (Jaswant Kaur) brother suggested to my father the name of the newely born Child as 'Preet Mohan Singh' . The suggstion was accepted by all and an annoucement with a loud 'Jaikara' was given, the little infant from now onwards would be known as Preet Mohan Singh. The family affectionately called him 'Preetu'.  

After the partition, my Dad got a Rationing Inspector Job and settled down in Panipat. After initial tough living, soon the comfort zone arrived we had grown up to a big family with five kids of different ages. On one occasion when we had a good crops income from our lands, my Dad presented a Harmonium costing Rs 100.00. 

My mom was an excellent singer herself and also could play Harmonium with both hands. I shall repeatedly pump the harmonium and she will play and sing mostly the songs of KL Sehgal, Srriya and Lata Mangeshkar. She was a leading lady in the ladies sangeet in the Gurdwara at Khail Bazar Panipat every Thursday. She was also adept on 'Dholak'. Without her the weekly program will not be successful. Thus she made lots of friends in the community and was always known hilarious among her friends. 

Oh yes, she was very fond of Movies. On every Tuesday, a special show for ladies will be played and she participated it whole heatedly. It cost only 25 paisa (four Aanaas) each show at the only Movie theater called 'Naval Talkies' in the city of Panipat. Many time she will take my sisters also. Her friends will tease her often that the film show could not run without her participating. She was such a regular. She enjoyed the cinema even in Multan. She told me many times the evolution of cinema and how the Talkies came into existence. Prior to the Talkies, only the moving pictures were shown. She had the privilege of witnessing the first Talkie 'Alam Ara' in Multan. The earlier theaters, therefore, were known as talkies.

We, the kids in early years, were allowed to see one movie each year, that being the award for getting through the final exams. My dad some times will take us to the Theater and after showing the bill boards etc and bring us back. He will, however, get a wrath of my Mom for not showing the movie to the kids and will often complain to her sisters in her next trip to Delhi. Occassionally my Dad had the privilege of free Passes for the movies, at that juncture full family will go and enjoy the movie. I remember to have seen 'Jhansi Ki Raani' on my first such occasion.

Settling in Panipat after Partition

Settling in Panipat

When my uncle Sh Inder Jit Singh left to join his job in Simla, we decided to leave Faridkot and headed for Delhi. As our train halted at a station named Panipat, it did not move further for a couple of days. It looked it stopped for good. We came out of the station and camped outside at a huge open space. The city was about half a mile away.

There was shortage of literate people to run the government machinery. The Government was looking for people who could help them to restart and construct a newly formed country. During this period, one of the first priorities of the Government was to meet the requirement of basic food for its people. To organize that everybody gets his/her share equally, the government opened a Rationing Department. My father applied for one of the openings of a rationing Inspector. He was selected after an interview. He was posted as a Rationing Inspector in the city of Panipat.

He started going to the city making a round after round for his job and doing the inventory of the houses. He helped making a data base of the people living in the city. He was also given an official Identity card which will allow him to move around the city during the prevailing curfew conditions. The city was divided in Wards. He was allocated for doing the duties for Ward 9, 10, and 11 . He was a given 4 in by 3 in black painted iron plates( very thin like used in bill boards) which were nailed on every house that existed. A house number in white paint was marked on the iron plate on each house that existed.

Camping at the railway station Panipat, two more families were set up near by. One was Master Ganpat Rai and his wife with their three sons Sita Ram(from first wife), Yudhishtar(Banna), Bala and Tulsi. They were from Multan. The second family was from Shorkot. Lala Ganesh Dass and his wife(a jeweller) from Shorkot had three daughters Krishna, Kailash, Shanti and three sons Hari Krishan - Nathu, Ramesh and Chander. They had an older daughter Kushalya married to Bhuvnesh working for courts at Pipli, but were living separately. My father will leave my mother, grandmother Smt Kesar Bai and us two kids in their supervision and go for his job the whole day. The families became friendlier day by day and decided to live together in the city. As my father had a Government pass to move around in the Curfew conditions, was asked by these two families to locate a good house where all the three families could be accommodated and live together.


The newly formed alliance rejected many houses which my father proposed as they wanted to live in a place where security was at the top priority. So finally a big house number 391 in ward 12 was selected and my father being in the government job and influential and got the house allotted in all three names. My father got the best and bigger house which had a plateau as a Veranda and a big room with another small room with in the room. The inside room was so dark that we did not use the same for many years. My Dad selected this part and occupied. While Sh Ganesh Dass got one big room at two ft lower level. And we were separated by a brick compound to be commonly used. The entry was through another room called a 'Deuarhee' a nearly unusable room which opened to the outside street of about 70 ft leading to the main bazar. Master Ganpat Rai was adjusted for one room at first floor as Barsati. He had to go to his Barsati by going through ‘Deuarhee', brick compound, raised plateau and then the stairs for reaching Barsati' .

To be continued and edited...

© preet mohan singh., all rights reserved.