After Partition, starting all over again

Roshni Johar

DURING Partition, a Sikh man’s Muslim employee safely led him from Murree (near Rawalpindi) to Poonch. From there, he went to Delhi. But he was not alone. He just couldn’t part with his buddy, a pet parrot. So he brought Gangaram along with him. He was a game-hunter too, having guns. Gangaram was familiar with the boom of guns as shikar used to be the family’s pastime. When rebuked, Gangaram would fly into a terrible temper, shrieking, ‘Dha…dha…dha’ (sound of firing), implying, ‘I will shoot you!’ Gangaram lived for 45 years.

I had first met this person when he visited us, looking for a bride for his son. After the initial niceties, he saw a large photograph on the wall, and enquired about it. Daddy proudly answered, ‘My father.’ The visitor announced, ‘Then all is okay.’ This is how family background and reputation mattered in those times.

Always impressively attired in a suit and donning a shamle wali turban, his ‘dedh foot ka turra’ was a symbol of his commanding personality. He was a prominent second-generation hotelier of Murree, having three hotels: the 105-room prestigious Central Hotel (formerly Wyoming Estate), Imperial and Chambers. In addition, he ran the railway catering business at Jhelum, Taxila and Rawalpindi stations. But fate snatched it all during Partition.

Not one to give up, he chose Shimla for his new venture in India, being among the few hoteliers in the Queen of Hills in the 1950s. His railway catering business was now at Delhi, Ludhiana, Hardwar and Mukerian, wherein he absorbed many from his uprooted clan, giving them security and shelter.

His green fingers remained evergreen, buying a white rose plant from London (quarantined at Delhi airport) whose huge catchy bush later cascaded down from the high hills, where birds flitted and tweeted.

Just before fleeing Murree, he brought 500 amri apple saplings from Kashmir to plant them on his hotel estate, which he surveyed daily on his horseback. In Shimla, his blue hydrangeas’ unique hue was given by digging iron filings in their soil. His family donated a running trophy in his honour to the Shimla Amateur Gardening Society as the award to the best succulent grower.

A keen traveller, the year 1962 saw him sail with his family for a Hong Kong holiday; he later passed away on a London trip. He was my father-in-law, Sardar Santokh Singh Johar.