– Anchal Malhotra, historian.
Partition of India was an invisible inheritance. What comes to mind when we talk about ‘inheritance’? Heirlooms; ornaments studded with rubies, lapis lazuli rings, collector’s antiques, Renaissance paintings, property deeds, or maybe even a cash or bond bequest?
However, when we talk about ‘Partition Heirlooms’ I mean a latent, painful, deep-rooted trauma. These are small words though, for the feelings cannot be described in words. Nor can those memories be reconciled with. They still remain. Always will. I call the people who ‘survived’ the ‘Partition inheritors’ because although we cannot see that bequest physically, it is deeply imprinted in the memories of those who braved it.
The memory of Partition is fundamentally a memory of displacement. Millions of people were uprooted overnight, evicted from their ancestral homes, not having time to plan their escape. They had no choice but to accept their bleak fate. As the boundary commission demarcated borders on August 17th, 1947, millions of Sikhs and Hindus left their homes and hearths behind, just tied up their few belongings in bundles, and set out. They traveled kilometers upon kilometers on foot. Always wary. Worried about their safety. Their honor. They walked on. Hungry. Diseased. Tired. Hopeless.
Once Pandit Nehru, accompanied by Liaqat Ali, passed a procession of Sikh refugees, almost three miles long. Battered and exploited Sikhnis; their clothes bloodied and torn, trying to upkeep the little semblance of dignity they were left with, the once-proud, straight-backed Sikhs; turbans askew, hair shorn off.
It was a tragic sight.Those who survived the riots and violence managed to reach refugee camps, hoping their sufferings would shortly come to an end but the sights and conditions that awaited them were ghastly.
Some camps were, fortunately, set up amidst the rubble of recently vacated houses. These were thought of as ‘striking gold’ as people used bricks, wood, and broken furniture from these sites to create a semblance of civilization for themselves.
As thousands of displaced Sikhs and Hindus reached refugee camps across, in East Punjab, food became scarce and diseases rampant. Even chapatis had to be rationed. Each person was entitled to two ‘rotis’ a day! People who lost family members to diseases or natural death often did not declare their demise, fearing the loss of the two life-giving rotis!!
The newly-formed government was doing what it could. There was help from other countries as well, but the severity and sheer numbers of displaced people had been seriously underestimated. Eventually, things became better. The memories blurred a fraction. The scars healed gradually. People settled in other parts of India. But Sikhs never really forgot.