Partition wounds etched on nonagenarian Dara Singh’s soul forever

Tribune News Service

Sameer Singh

Bathinda, August 13

Nonagenarian Dara Singh, who originally hailed from Chak-64 village in Montgomery district of Pakistan, burst into tears as he recalled agonising experience as a 14-year-old kid at the time of India-Pakistan Partition.

Singh who lives in Mehma Sarja village in Bathinda district has been selling iron spades for a living.

Born in Sahiwal Montgomery in Pakistan, Dara Singh has three brothers and two sisters. His two elder brothers have passed away and two sisters have been married.

Talking to The Tribune Dara Singh said, “Wounds are still afresh in my mind and etched on my soul forever and will remain there till I die. Many years before the Partition, my uncle from Moga took my father Sucha Singh and mother Mano to Pakistan. My father worked as farm labourer in Montgomery area. When the word about Partition spread, a group of men came in a bus to Chak-64 to take us but my father was adamant on staying back. Later, a group of Muslim men came there with sharp-edged weapons and surrounded our house. My father along with family members managed to escape through the cattle shed and he hid himself in a house nearby village. There an enraged crowd tried to kill us. The owner of that house, a Sikh hopped on his horse and aimed his rifle at the mob and dared them to face him prompting them to flee.”

Singh added, “The mob went looting and killing people around our area. They threw sacks of wheat into village wells. One day we were hiding in a mango orchard and the other day we were in hiding in sugarcane fields. Sikhs and Hindus have even got their kids killed from each other in order to save their own lives from enraged mobs. The armymen announced that a train would leave to India at 8 O’clock in the night. They even transported us to the railway station. Since railway line from Pakistan to Hari Ke Pattan was removed, they reached Ludhiana via Vyas area. We spent first night at Attari in Amritsar, second at Ludhiana and third night at Ferozepur and then reached at Goniana in Bathinda the next day.”

When asked about any childhood memory from Pakistan, Dara Singh who has mild hearing impairment owing to his old age said, “My elder brother’s friend Rehmat used to come and play in our courtyard. Chirag Ali used to brew home-made illicit liquor in fields. My mother had passed away so my father got married again after coming to India. I along with my brothers worked as farm labourers while spending rest of our life at Mehma Sarja village in Bathinda.”

Dara Singh may have turned 90 but he does not sit at home. He moves around in different villages on his bicycle to sell iron spades and axes for livelihood. He has three kids but as per his principles he does not want to depend on anyone to meet his expenses.

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