1947

Sometime back I got to meet a few people who shared with me their first hand experiences around the partition (1947). Even after so much time has passed, the disillusionment and tears in their eyes - as they recalled incidents with horror and grief - were very real. A few thoughts that remained with me post those interviews – I guess I will never forget.

I cannot even begin to imagine / understand how it would have felt to be leaving one’s land…one’s home knowing (but perhaps not consciously accepting) that one would never return. They had not known of life anywhere else. Some were made to believe, while others held on to the belief that they would return someday. That the transition was temporary till the riots settle down. As the thought sank in - that their life in a new strange land was a reality they had to live with – many lived and died in the pure hope that some day they would be able to return – to just see what they had left behind.

I imagined what it would be like to visit one of the many abandoned, desolate homes there. It is possible to oust people out of their cities, their dwellings – however in the nooks and corners of such houses the spirit and the memories of the people who inhabited those continue to live.

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Chaukhat ke ek kone mein
Dekha…
makdi jhalar boon rahi thi
Oopar haath tatola
Dekha…
Killi ab tak wahin padi thi

Darwaze par lagi dhul ko
Ponchkar, dastak di
Andar jhanke dekha…
Angan mein to koi nahin tha
Par rassi pe jhul rahe kapde the…
Ab bhi taaze
Shaayad koi yahin kahin tha

Mitti ab bhi taazi geeli
Pairon pe woh chipak rahi thi
Jis par
Maachis ke dibbon mein kankar wali gaadi
…Khamosh khadi thi
Aur sannate ki awazein
Kaano mein kuch goonj rahi thi

Door farsh par…chat se aati
sooraj ki kirne chamkati –
maile peele zevar the woh
Jo ek ched se taank rahe the
aadhe andar aadhe bahar gade pade the
chukar dekha – parat ab tak sili hui thi
mano pehen ke abhi ootare
Aur rakhe the

Rasoi ghar se kisi cheez ke
jalne ka ehsaas hua jo
Chuleh tak jaakar dekha to
Thandi bhuri raakh padi thi
Thandi aag mein chehre dekhe
Kuch jaane the kuch anjane
Cheheron mein aankhein thi…
Jaise gehri peeli
Aahein ab tak sulagh rahin thi