India-Pakistan 1947 Partition

 

This chapter describes the family during 1947 partition times. It was the toughest time for millions in Punjab. Chaiji had a knack of sensing the opportunities around her. She would grab them effortlessly and swiftly.

Our rented house, at the time, did have the electricity connection. But it was very costly, so we had to depend on lanterns. The landlady of the house was tough and rather rude. Chai ji, for her own benefit and ours, chose to ignore landlady's harsh words. Instead, she would routinely give household advice to the landlady on different occasions. The landlady started trusting Chaiji. She started considering Chaiji as an intelligent well wisher, a sincere quasi-mother-in-law. Chai ji took advantage of this new relationship. Chaiji could sweeten any tough situation to her advantage. In the hot summer, Chaiji was invited to sleep in her landlady's drawing room -- under a fan. Luxury!

In August of 1947, Babu ji was on a trip to Karachi for some business purpose. India was partitioned on 14th August, and its Independence Day was declared to be on 15th. Amritsar was on the border of two countries and riots were rampant. Out of fear, Chai ji along with her six children took shelter in the Golden Temple, which was very close to our house. Taya ji remained at home to protect the house.

Within two days, Babu ji came back to Amritsar, and we were back at home. )ne of Babu ji's friends suggested to shift to Jaipur temporarily till the situation calms down. Babu ji rented a house, and we all traveled to Jaipur. Our maternal uncle has also come from Sialkot, Pakistan. Babu ji asked him to accompany the family to Jaipur. Money was not a problem, because Babu ji had Rs. 16,000 in reserve!

We reached Jaipur along with our eldest maternal uncle, Lala Hans Raj ji Jain. We had a four-room floor on the second floor. After staying for two months, Babu ji made a out-and-back trip to Amritsar. In his absence, his employees were handling his business. We, kids, were admitted to a school, which had only one room, and all classes were held in that room from the first grade to fifth.

My maternal uncle was a reputed and rich businessman in Pakistan. He was skilled in cloth trading. My father suggested him to start a cloth business. However, the shops were very costly. Babu ji suggested to build a makeshift small hut for a shop right on the roadshide. Mama ji flatly refused to do business on the road, as it was below his prestige. However, Babu ji, a very shrewd businessman, convinced him to take a step towards new beginnings. He assured his brother-in-law that he himself would setup a shop next to him and they both will do business without any partnership.

Babu ji, with his skills, persuaded a wholesaler to lend them two Ganth of fabric, one for Mama ji and one for himself. Ganth is just like a big roll of Than i.e. a fabric roll on a wooden frame. One could roll approximately 100 yards of fabric on it. About 100 or more pieces are placed in a heap and tightened by Bardana,  a rough-like cloth used to lay on the floor for sitting. To attract the customers, they both decided to sell at cost price and only save Bardana, which was valued at nearly Rs. 100. They sold the whole Ganth in one hour. This was encouraging.

Babu ji told his brother-in-law  that he would sell his Ganth only after Mama ji had sold all of his. The business flourished, and Mama ji was able to sell more than 10 ganths a day. Babuji never sold more than one Ganth. He was not there to make money; he was there to make a man stand up on his two feet. Babuji left Jaipur in fifteen days, but we stayed on there waiting for the situation to become normal. But nothing stayed normal - not for us, for the country or for the world. A man had shot dead Mahatma Gandhi when he was praying in Birla Mandir, 30th January, 1948.

We returned to Amritsar sometime in the summer of 1948. I was now an eight year old, a student of 3rd grade.