SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2010
The Story of Veena Sahgal
Name: Veena Sahgal
DOB: 26 June 1940
Place of Birth: Amritsar
Ancestral Village: Amritsar, 41.8 kms from Lahore, 28 kms from the Indo-Pak border
Education:
1944-46 Sir Gangaram High School, Lahore
1946-1952 St. Andrews Girls High School, Mumbai
1952-56 St. Annes High School, Mumbai
1956-60 St Xaviers College, Mumbai BA (Hons) Psychology
1960-61 University College, London M A Psychology
Parents:
Father : Amirchand Sahgal (1913-1994) –
his father- Ramchand Sahgal
his mother- Phulwati Sahgal and before marriage her name was Subhadra Kurich.
Ramchand Sahgal was a wealthy cotton trader. His business collapsed when Indians stopped buying the British finished cotton. The family was reduced to almost penury. However being principled, Ramchand Sahgal sold all of the family’s gold to pay off the loans.
As a result, his sons had to look for any job they could find- they gave tuitions to those who wanted to learn English. A family friend liked Amirchand and so employed him in Prudential Insurance. He moved to Mumbai to set up the Prudential branch there in 1946. That was a year before independence.
Mother: Raksha Sahgal(1919-2007)–
her Father- Sanjhimal Nayyar (from Rawalpindi) and
her mother- Basant Kaur Nayyar nee Verma. She was active in the Arya Samaj and this was followed in the following generations.
Family Life and Early Memories:
I had 1 brother, 2 years younger than me. My family lived in Lahore. We lived upstairs in a house and my uncle (father’s brother) lived downstairs in the same house with his family of 5 children. We had a large courtyard and the land lord lived on other side of the wall. I remember we had a large store room which we would raid for pickles. The bathrooms were all outside in a row. I have fond memories of all the children doing things together. We attended the same school. Our school was a large, prominent school.
Learning English was important in my family, in fact my uncle taught English. These were the reasons both he and my father could join a western company like Prudential Insurance.
There were many in our family involved with the freedom movement. My father’s uncle was actually in Jalianwala Bagh and was one of the lucky few who escaped. He said that the people formed human ladders – one on top of each person’s shoulders, the only way of escape.
The family used to read newspapers and listen to the radio. We wore khadi and went for Congress meetings.
My father was sent by Prudential Insurance to set up their Mumbai office in 1946. The family joined him later. I remember the train journey, we had large trunks and my uncles came to accompany us. My father had got a small temporary flat on Garden Road, in Colaba. I remember the flat was so small that the space under stair case was used to keep the stove. We moved to a larger house in the suburb of Bandra a few months later.
My uncle who we all called Pitaji did not want to leave Lahore. When the riots became worse our landlords, who were Muslims, convinced Pitaji that it was too dangerous to stay. They packed whatever they could in one small suitcase and left immediately. The landlord took them in their own ‘tonga’ to the train station at great risk to their own lives. They moved to our family house in Amritsar. After which they moved to Shimla until Pitaji got a job with Prudential Insurance in Calcutta.
Some of the real life experiences of the time-
1. My grandmother was a great story teller, she told us stories of the freedom movement. I remember in Lahore and Amritsar, all of us cousins would sit around her- rapt and completely engrossed in her stories. One such story was: During the fight for freedom, most thinking people supported the freedom fighters and worked silently towards that end. The people in our community had a closeness built by a common language and culture. Religions co-existed and fought equally against the foreign rule.
She described the story of three heroes of the freedom struggle, a Hindu, a Sikh and a Muslim who fought for Independence, together-
- Prem Kumar Sehgal- a Hindu,
- Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon- a Sikh,
- Shah Nawaz Khan- a Muslim.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prem_Sahgal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurbaksh_Singh_Dhillon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shah_Nawaz_Khan_(general)
The story was when these heroes were based in Durgiana, Amritsar where the family house was. She would describe how the houses had flat roofs and were right next to each other. These heroes would jump from roof-to-roof to escape the British soldiers. All of people hid inside the homes anxious that the heroes escape. I was born on 26.6.1940 in that house!
When these heroes were being tried in the Red Fort Trials, we would all listen to the news. My grandmother would start singing “Lal Qile se aaee awaz...” and we would all reply, in chorus “Sahgal, Dhillon, Shahnavaz!” I only remember snatches of the song.
The words are the chorus said with great exuberance and force- the tune rings in my mind even today as she was a good storyteller!
The translation- “As the word comes from the Red Fort” and the chorus was the names of the three young freedom fighters.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INA_trials
2. Mr. G. L. Dhingra, a friend of my father, was a senior Director in General Insurance. Their story was dramatic. They were attacked in the night by a mob of Muslims and so the family ran out on the streets. All 4 of them i.e. Mr. Dhingra, his wife, his brother and his brother’s wife were chased by Muslims with huge scimitars. His wife lagged behind. She was beheaded. Mr. Dhingra looked back and saw all this. They eventually moved to Delhi.
3. After we moved to Mumbai, one day my mother’s eldest brother arrived at our house unannounced, with his family- their only possession was a blanket. He was a rich landlord or ‘zamindar’ in Rawalpindi, Pakistan- they travelled in a train stuffed with people. Even the getting onto the train was a harrowing experience when his son got lost and they found him in the nick of time. He was a broken person after this and led a frugal life.
4. I remember it was hot in Lahore and so we slept on the roof. We had to collect stones and knives and keep them near us in the night. All night we heard processions passing by shouting “Allah ho Akbar.”
5. I also remember when we were visiting Mr. Sohanlal Sachdev, in Model town, Lahore, we were taken to the boundary wall and told that if the grown ups tell you run- we had to run to a specific spot, step on a stone kept there and jump over the wall.
What was the impact of Independence and Partition? Although some of my memories are quite gruesome, the feeling of patriotism and pride in the identity of being Indian are even stronger. I met Uzma Gilani, a Pakistani and I was surprised to see that she was nostalgic about her ancestral home in Delhi. I met another girl in a train once who had stories about the Hindus killing her relatives. So I don’t really hate the Muslims. I think all these stories and of course others, may have been the reason I am interested in understanding human psychology.
The Story of Veena Sahgal
Name: Veena Sahgal
DOB: 26 June 1940
Place of Birth: Amritsar
Ancestral Village: Amritsar, 41.8 kms from Lahore, 28 kms from the Indo-Pak border
Education:
1944-46 Sir Gangaram High School, Lahore
1946-1952 St. Andrews Girls High School, Mumbai
1952-56 St. Annes High School, Mumbai
1956-60 St Xaviers College, Mumbai BA (Hons) Psychology
1960-61 University College, London M A Psychology
Parents:
Father : Amirchand Sahgal (1913-1994) –
his father- Ramchand Sahgal
his mother- Phulwati Sahgal and before marriage her name was Subhadra Kurich.
Ramchand Sahgal was a wealthy cotton trader. His business collapsed when Indians stopped buying the British finished cotton. The family was reduced to almost penury. However being principled, Ramchand Sahgal sold all of the family’s gold to pay off the loans.
As a result, his sons had to look for any job they could find- they gave tuitions to those who wanted to learn English. A family friend liked Amirchand and so employed him in Prudential Insurance. He moved to Mumbai to set up the Prudential branch there in 1946. That was a year before independence.
Mother: Raksha Sahgal(1919-2007)–
her Father- Sanjhimal Nayyar (from Rawalpindi) and
her mother- Basant Kaur Nayyar nee Verma. She was active in the Arya Samaj and this was followed in the following generations.
Family Life and Early Memories:
I had 1 brother, 2 years younger than me. My family lived in Lahore. We lived upstairs in a house and my uncle (father’s brother) lived downstairs in the same house with his family of 5 children. We had a large courtyard and the land lord lived on other side of the wall. I remember we had a large store room which we would raid for pickles. The bathrooms were all outside in a row. I have fond memories of all the children doing things together. We attended the same school. Our school was a large, prominent school.
Learning English was important in my family, in fact my uncle taught English. These were the reasons both he and my father could join a western company like Prudential Insurance.
There were many in our family involved with the freedom movement. My father’s uncle was actually in Jalianwala Bagh and was one of the lucky few who escaped. He said that the people formed human ladders – one on top of each person’s shoulders, the only way of escape.
The family used to read newspapers and listen to the radio. We wore khadi and went for Congress meetings.
My father was sent by Prudential Insurance to set up their Mumbai office in 1946. The family joined him later. I remember the train journey, we had large trunks and my uncles came to accompany us. My father had got a small temporary flat on Garden Road, in Colaba. I remember the flat was so small that the space under stair case was used to keep the stove. We moved to a larger house in the suburb of Bandra a few months later.
My uncle who we all called Pitaji did not want to leave Lahore. When the riots became worse our landlords, who were Muslims, convinced Pitaji that it was too dangerous to stay. They packed whatever they could in one small suitcase and left immediately. The landlord took them in their own ‘tonga’ to the train station at great risk to their own lives. They moved to our family house in Amritsar. After which they moved to Shimla until Pitaji got a job with Prudential Insurance in Calcutta.
Some of the real life experiences of the time-
1. My grandmother was a great story teller, she told us stories of the freedom movement. I remember in Lahore and Amritsar, all of us cousins would sit around her- rapt and completely engrossed in her stories. One such story was: During the fight for freedom, most thinking people supported the freedom fighters and worked silently towards that end. The people in our community had a closeness built by a common language and culture. Religions co-existed and fought equally against the foreign rule.
She described the story of three heroes of the freedom struggle, a Hindu, a Sikh and a Muslim who fought for Independence, together-
- Prem Kumar Sehgal- a Hindu,
- Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon- a Sikh,
- Shah Nawaz Khan- a Muslim.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prem_Sahgal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurbaksh_Singh_Dhillon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shah_Nawaz_Khan_(general)
The story was when these heroes were based in Durgiana, Amritsar where the family house was. She would describe how the houses had flat roofs and were right next to each other. These heroes would jump from roof-to-roof to escape the British soldiers. All of people hid inside the homes anxious that the heroes escape. I was born on 26.6.1940 in that house!
When these heroes were being tried in the Red Fort Trials, we would all listen to the news. My grandmother would start singing “Lal Qile se aaee awaz...” and we would all reply, in chorus “Sahgal, Dhillon, Shahnavaz!” I only remember snatches of the song.
The words are the chorus said with great exuberance and force- the tune rings in my mind even today as she was a good storyteller!
The translation- “As the word comes from the Red Fort” and the chorus was the names of the three young freedom fighters.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INA_trials
2. Mr. G. L. Dhingra, a friend of my father, was a senior Director in General Insurance. Their story was dramatic. They were attacked in the night by a mob of Muslims and so the family ran out on the streets. All 4 of them i.e. Mr. Dhingra, his wife, his brother and his brother’s wife were chased by Muslims with huge scimitars. His wife lagged behind. She was beheaded. Mr. Dhingra looked back and saw all this. They eventually moved to Delhi.
3. After we moved to Mumbai, one day my mother’s eldest brother arrived at our house unannounced, with his family- their only possession was a blanket. He was a rich landlord or ‘zamindar’ in Rawalpindi, Pakistan- they travelled in a train stuffed with people. Even the getting onto the train was a harrowing experience when his son got lost and they found him in the nick of time. He was a broken person after this and led a frugal life.
4. I remember it was hot in Lahore and so we slept on the roof. We had to collect stones and knives and keep them near us in the night. All night we heard processions passing by shouting “Allah ho Akbar.”
5. I also remember when we were visiting Mr. Sohanlal Sachdev, in Model town, Lahore, we were taken to the boundary wall and told that if the grown ups tell you run- we had to run to a specific spot, step on a stone kept there and jump over the wall.
What was the impact of Independence and Partition? Although some of my memories are quite gruesome, the feeling of patriotism and pride in the identity of being Indian are even stronger. I met Uzma Gilani, a Pakistani and I was surprised to see that she was nostalgic about her ancestral home in Delhi. I met another girl in a train once who had stories about the Hindus killing her relatives. So I don’t really hate the Muslims. I think all these stories and of course others, may have been the reason I am interested in understanding human psychology.
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