Personal accounts of partition

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2010 Mrs.M. Bakshi D.O.B: 1938 Place of Birth: Rawalpindi, now Pakistan Education: St.Thomas School, Delhi, where I won lot of honours in sports                 Indraprastha College, Delhi Family Life and Early Years: We had a beautiful house in the cantonment area. We lived in a joint family. I had 7 siblings and I was the 6th youngest. My father was in the construction business. As soon as you entered the gate, there were buffaloes tied there for milk. Ahead was our personal tonga (carriage) and horse for taking us to school. We also had 2 cars. Then one entered the huge courtyard where we would play gulli-danda, chhicho, a makeshift high jump, gamp and gitta. We had a very relaxed life and no stress, unlike today. We used get up very early and then go to the Gurudwara (Sikh Temple) every morning. Only then could we have our breakfast. The whole family would be involved in everything. There was so much togetherness then. Everything was far more innocen

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2010 Mrs. R.Kapur's Account D.O.B: 23rd January, 1934 Place of Birth : Delhi, India Father: Hari Nath Mother: Rukmini Education: Convent of Jesus & Mary, Delhi                  Tara Hall, Shimla                  St.Bede's College, Shimla Family Life and Early Years I was the youngest of 5 surviving siblings. My 2 brothers and 2 sisters were much older than me. I was born at Number 8, Queen Marys Avenue, Delhi. Later we shifted to Number 12, Queen Marys Avenue and then finally to number 15 where we lived till 1952 when my father retired from Government Service. My eldest sister was already married when I was born and Vidya my other sister got married when I was 3 years old. In fact she brought me up as my mother did not keep good health. I remember being very upset when Vidya got married. My eldest brother was already in the customs in Karachi and Kailash, the brother closer to me in age, was in college when I was born and then l

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2010 Mr. R.Mehta from Ahemdabad D.O.B:  26th August 1930 Place of Birth : Ahmedabad, Gujarat Father: Chinubhai Mehta Education: St. Xavier’s school, Ahmedabad                  Law Family Life & Early Years I was the eldest amongst my brothers and sisters. I was 17 years old during this time period. The house I lived in was actually a bungalow called ‘Ramnivas’. It was later made into a mansion but when first built, in 1931 by Mr. Batley, a British architect, it had only two bedrooms. Over the years it expanded. Independence Since I was born, I was made to wear khadi (homespun cloth) only. My underwear, my socks, everything was khadi. After the 1942 Quit India movement the British government started discussing the idea of an independent India. In those discussions there were lot of different points of view. When the British arrested political leaders after the Quit India movement, many people were infuriated and started protesting. I took par

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2010 Mr.S.Sengupta's story Family Life & Early Years: I was born in Calcutta in 1929, the year of world economic depression. Now I am 81 years old. It was pre-independence age for India. It was before World War II. My childhood days in many ways were quite eventful. When I was about 10 years old the World War II started. Though we in India were quite far from Europe where the war was first hand, because England was a major party to the war, India, their colony came in the participation of war efforts. The British had major concentration at that time in Calcutta, as well as their army base.  I recall we were raided by air by the Japanese in 1939 in Calcutta. Dad packed us all, seven children, to Darbhanga in Bihar. Around 1942 when we were back in Calcutta, came the man made famine in Bengal. It was devastating. People from villages in and around Calcutta came in flocks expecting to get food and relief in dire distress. “ Ma  ektoo  fan  dao.” (

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2010 Mr.P.Kapur D.O.B.: 1925 Place of Birth: Muzzaffargarh (Now West Pakistan) Education: First batch of Doon School                  Government College, Lahore                  Banaras Hindu University (BHU) My father was the Inspector General of Police in Bikaner. We had a lot of property in Jhelum District (now in Pakistan). Partition changed my life and lifestyle- from a gentleman of leisure to having to fend for myself. I was admitted to M.I.T. but by then it was not possible for me to to study abroad. It took 19 years of court cases before we got compensation. When I was 13 yrs of age I met Gandhiji  for the first time in Shimla at Raj Kumari Amrit Kaur's house. Then again in 1939 I heard him speak on non-violence. In fact he asked me whether I believed in non-violence. I replied that if somebody hits me, I will hit them back. Later I started firmly believing in his ideals. I remember singing the national anthem prior to independence in sc

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2011 Mrs. & Mr. Biswas Mrs. Biswas was born in 1938 in Bajitpur, now Bangladesh. Education: Primary Girls School in Bajitpur, later she was sent to a school in Baranagar in Kolkatta and in 1948 she joined the Victoria Institute. In 1949 she went back to East Pakistan for a year of home schooling. Later she graduated in Science with Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics from Calcutta University. Family Life and Early Years: We were 5 brothers and 4 sisters. My father was a lawyer. My mother did not keep well and in 1948 she went to Bhubaneshwar , Orissa as the climate was better for her health, while I stayed in Baranagar with my aunt. She was there for 8 months before she passed away in 1948. My grandfather had a lot of property and we had close ties with our extended family. Bajitpur was a small town. Life was simple. Some days we even went barefoot to school.  We had no contact with the British as such; except I remember our school inspector wa