BLURRED VISION: April 2016

Newsletter No. 5.

April 6, 2016

Dear Family n Friends:

The inevitable happened. Our Sambandhi, Ranbir Singh ji breathed his last in the early hours of March 3, 2016. He had been ailing for a long time. He had been in and out of Hospital several times. We thought that he would win out this time too. Alas it was not to be.

Simran, Ira, Harkirat, Rohan your beloved Naanoo went away to a better world.

The earlier day, Mickey had texted that he was on his way to Delhi. The funeral was set the same after noon. I took a late morning flight and was able to attend the cremation. The family had taken his passing away bravely. Family and friends surrounded them. Yet, they were able to hold their grief within themselves.

Next day Anil n Mickey, did the duty of immersing the mortal remains in the Yamuna. The same morning Akhand Path Sahib Paath was started and culminated in Bhog on Sunday and a public Antim Ardas later the same afternoon.

Vicky landed Sunday morning accompanied by Anu and Sukhjit and they joined the Bhog ceremony. Anu n Vicky left the same afternoon since they had commitments in Mumbai. Sukhjit stayed over and both of us returned on Monday after marking our attendance at the revered Bangla Saheb Gurudwara.

The attendance at the public prayer was tremendous. Most of his erstwhile colleagues n friends of Tea Industry in Assam had turned up as they got word of his passing away. Having worked and played together, these loyalties endure a long time. A few of our nephews/nieces showed up too.

All this while, Dimple, and her household did the hospitality duties admirably. Manju n Venus had kind words for my humble efforts. But then what is Family for.

It was a fitting farewell to a fine gentleman, a great sportsman, and a tall member of our extended Family.

Rest in Peace, Big brother.

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Whilst in Delhi, my Twitter friend, Ravinder Singh came out to spend some time together. He stood lunch at the Mainland China nearby. We were able to take our relationship from the e-world to the real-world. Ravi is a gem of a gentleman and good friend. Thank you Ravi for the interlude.

The rest of March went away in humdrum daily life. Sukhjit and I spent some time in Lavasa.

Then suddenly a project that was in the mill for a long time, came to fruition. Our friend Ratnesh Mathur had long ago suggested that I participate in a project to preserve the history of India’s partition in 1947. The Archives’ management deputed Aalisha Sheth, a bright young lady to interview me and do an audio visual recording of my recollection of Partition, life before and after. She is a multi talented young lady: a writer, in Theatre, TV n so on. The actual story telling happened on 4 April. It was a longish session, albeit with breaks. Yet the actual recording time might have been long two hours. The Archives will upload an excerpt on their FB page in due time. I shall share with you, when I know that it is up there for us to see.

Of course, Sukhjit’s family had a much closer brush with Partition. But then that is another story for another day.

Aalisha Sheth - the hard working Interviewer

Aalisha Sheth - the glamour quotient
The truth is somewhere in between.

Essence of my Life : Two great ladies and one spoilt brat.

I recap briefly, for those who came in late:

Our family history is recorded in my Blog and can be seen at

https://rajahluwalia66.wordpress.com/category/family-tree-of-hardit-singh-n-descendants/

Our small family, ie papa ji, bibi ji and I were located in Singapore. Around 1938, with WW II looming ahead, Papa ji relocated the famiy to Quetta Balochistan. We had my grandfather and grandmother join us over there. Bhabi ji passed away in 1942. We had a peaceful life in Quetta. The family grew: two sisters came around. A brother died in infancy. Quetta had an early warning of the things to come: Hindu Muslim riots had broken out in Quetta in August 1946; the same as in Calcutta. Papa ji and my cousin Manmohan Singh were caught up in that turmoil and had taken shelter in the Sikh Jhatka Market. We in the family were worried to death not knowing about them. We could hear gunfire and explosions. Rumours had filtered in to us of the happenings in town. We were relieved when both of them showed up late night. Earlier we could see military trucks moving around.

Those riots must have made up papa ji’s mind and he decided to move. So the family moved out of Quetta early months of 1947 and relocated to another cantonment; Dehra Dun. I spent a few months studying in Multan and then in Sialkot with my grandfather. Bhaiyya ji, brought me to Dehra Dun to join the family some time in July 1947. And, he went back to Sialkot. Hope was around that Sialkot and Gurdaspur may fall within India and that must have driven him back.

Alas it was not to be and he was in the thick of Partition. For months the family had no news of him and we were worried sick on his behalf. One day in late 1947, he showed up at our Dehra Dun house with a bedroll on his head. What a relief. We learned that he had walked all the way from Sialkot to Amritsar and thence by train to Dehra Dun. Thankfully he knew where the family was.

This was our ‘direct’ brush with Partition.

Of course other branches of our extended family had taken huge losses of life n property. We know of lives lost in Harnam Singh’s family. We know of huge landed and other property lost by our own uncle Gurcharan Singh, father of Manmohan Singh and our other cousins, Harmohan n Billa. We had lost the family house in Siakot and its hoard of family’s possessions and memories. We did get a modest compensation years later.

In the recording we covered all of this and the journey of our immediate family to the 21^st Century. I confess I had some emotional moments when I recollected select tender memories.

Of course there were lighter moments too: like How Sukhjit and I met. You know of How I met your Mother? I bet, given the Indian culture scene of 1960s, there is a movie lurking in that. I told the young lady: I hold copy right of that one.

There was some coverage of how life would have been if Partition had not taken place. Who can tell?

I have given them some pictures of our family. They are in the photo gallery below. You have seen most of them already.

Having got all this behind me, I plan to go to Lavasa in a day or two to recoup my health. Uff , Mumbai air is not for an asthmatic person. But then Family calls.

Bi for now: more later.