152 thoughts on “Partition of India, the pain.”

1. Hi Shekar,
   Your story touched me. I am a Hindu and have nothing to do with Partition, but I feel this great kindred with Muslims, I have felt comforted by their prayers, I think sufi music and poetry is a treat for human heart, I have friends with whom I have shared many a meal and have relished their kheer and biryani. We are such an integral part of eachother yet even to this date and time, communal fights break us apart with so much force…Like you, I too take refuge into political instigations and such other, but if each one of us took responsibility to respect eachother, both India and Pakistan would be so much better off.

2. it reminded me of a film… SHOP ON THE MAIN STREET…great film…i think its Czech film…
   A doctor in times of the partition…searching for Morphine…will he get it to save his arch enemy? or beloved…or a friend? he goes deep into riot prone zones…just to find medicines for wounded people… His son 7 years old is with him in this journey…
   OR
   Doctor and Nusrat are childhood friends…both are poets and they used to write a poem alternate week and used to tell each other their poems and who ever writes a touching good poem would pay the booze bill that day…
   its doctor’s turn to tell the poem but RIOTS break out…
   Doctor is busy transporting families of his Muhalla to some unknown camp…
   Nusrat is the leader from that Muhalla…
   the kid has a letter in his hands and is searching for Nusrat to hand over the letter…
   Nusrat knows that Doctor has killed his entire family and is looking for the doctor…he has seen with his own eyes that doctor is handing over his entire family to a HINDU fanatic… he contacts higher authorities to search and kill the doctor…doctor has a friend there…he tries to prolong the order to find and kill the doctor…(something like that…)
   doctor on the other hand is busy shifting families…he is secretly transporting them to the deadly camp where they will be killed by Hindu fanatics…
   the camp is hidden…
   finally Nusrat and his gang find the doctor and kill him…
   the kid reaches there and hands over the letter to Nusrat…
   its the last poem Doctor has written… its a secret CODE to the camp…Nusrat realizes this as he too is a good poet…
   he escapes secretly and goes to the camp and finds all the families including his safe and sound…doctor’s wife who too is a doctor taking care of them and helping the wounded people…Hindu fanatic has changed because doctor has saved his family too…but there was no chance for Nusrat to know this… he has already killed his poet friend…
   some thing like that…hahaha…bit bizarre…too weak…the conflict is not clear in this second idea…what would doctor be doing through out the film… also it sounds like a Schindler’s list treated in a mystery form… but its fun to brain storm…:)
   amm or what if we already know what doctor is doing…rather than a mystery it an open secret for the audience…only Nusrat doesnt know it…
   thank you for a wonderful post…
   kedar…

3. the pain of India
   Why do I feel a stab of pain each time I hear or see anything on the partition of India ?
   I am a partition baby, but I don’t really remember anything
   whenever I see people from the other side looking and speaking exactly like my grandfather,
   I can’t help shedding tears …
   What happened to us
   .. so I escape
   all the killing.
   It was us. Our forefathers.
   There were not enough doctors to treat the wounded and the dying.
   I would see the pain …his face lost in time
   It was a moment I will always remember.
   Everywhere I walked I imagined myself as one of everyone.
   what turned us all into such beasts ?
   ~~~
   Sending a prayer of healing loving energies to your Mother…and all others who suffer in so many ways.
   Cinda

4. Yes, the whole talk about partition is the bane of this subcontinent. I also sorts of end up blaming the conning British but truth is that it is the people of the subcontinent who are responsible for the partition. Sadder part is that we refuse to accept the bloodied past and end up blaming each others religion for it leading to more blood shed. Sad indeed.
   PS: I read somewhere that you are related to Shri Dev Anand, is that so?

5. yes rashmi, dev anand is my mother’s younger brother, shekhar

6. Dear Sekhar,
   I can very much relate to what you are telling.It also gives me an enormous amount of pain when ever I see the amount of warfare that happens especially in the name of religion.
   And my question would be is religion at all necessary.Is’nt it the perfect opium for masses like karl marx quoted.I have no problems with believers of god here.But what has one’s belief in god got to do religion.Even the self proclaimed non extremists as well, consciously or unconsciously do lot of things which add enormous amount of power to temples,churches or masjids.
   Is’nt a non existence of religion the only solution to all these problems.

7. The partition story only tells us that we were, and still are nothing but hooligans. I don’t see any reason to put that softly. Excellently put Shekhar. After reading this, the thought that came to me was I wish deepa mehta’s Earth was made by you. But just one question – I have heard and read so many such wonderful stories of the glorious past of Lahore or karachi from the Hindu refugees. Has anybody come across similar accounts of delhi or chandigarh or patiala? (Friendship, Love and also hate are best only when mutual.)

8. hi Shekhar,
   what turned us all into such beasts ?
   Two basic internal enemies of human..Greed & Revenge.
   It started with greed and revenge turned them into beasts.
   All the wars and massacres in the history of human civilization were because.. one of these two.
   Now the question is how to get rid of them?
   Is knowledge of history enough?
   – Kabeer

9. I choose you as my leader as i feel i need the guidance to brighten up my life. I trust you will make the decisions that i am not able to make because of the burden of egging out a life. I will follow your words as i am gullible and of ordinary intelligence. I hope your wisdom will put me and my family on a better footing. Your words inspire me to great levels and provoke me to spontanous insanity. My subconcious can be altered by your very words – driven to acts of violence and terror.
   Your will be revered forever if you can truly lead me to the path of enlightment which i can never be able to find on my own. However you will not be held in a court of law if you turn my life upside down. I know to hang on to power you can sow the seeds of rage and doom – you can justify all your actions by your poetic words. I can only hope that you lead me the right way cause i elected you – hoping that your conscience mirror the words the flow so effortlessly.

10. Hi Shekhar,
    Is this Dev Anand, the actor?…
    If so, my husband’s mother Hansrajie (Mona), named her son (my husband) after Dev Anand. Except, she spelt it Davanand.
    So now, our son Aaravinda, carries part of that name, but as his surname, Dev.
    So my son’s surname is Dev and my husband’s first name is Davanand, all relating to
    Dev Anand, how interesting!
    Sorry, no disrespect to this post. I was just reading your reply #5 to Rashmi.
    From Calcutta India, my greatgrandmother was taken to Trinidad, by boat. She lived to be more than 125 years. I was able to have some treasured memories with her, even though she spoke Hindi and I spoke English…then eyes and gestures become the universal language. She remains a great soul and legend, in my heart.
    Last year, my daughter Anjalee, was able to visit Calcutta India…and utter a prayer on behalf of all those of us who decended from her and to those before her.
    This is my known connection (physically) to India.
    Cinda

11. Dear Shekhar,
    My roots belong to Lahore as well. I am the grandson of Lala Ralya Ram Bajaj of Lahore whom people fondly called Bhagatji. I never got to see him. Even my father doesn’t remember much of my grandfather as he (my father) was just about four years old when my grandfather died. He was a well-to-do Iron & Steel merchant having many shops, godowns and houses. But my father never got to enjoy my grandfather’s wealth as everything was left behind in Lahore during the partition. I faintly recall my grandmother telling me stories of Lahore when I was a kid. She died around 1984, I think. She said they left behind ghee cannisters full of gold and silver in their house backyard. If the partition hadn’t happened my father would never have had to work. But he had to work hard when they came to India as refugees. My grandmother raised my father on the compensation money she received from the government and some of the jewellery which she managed to bring with her to India.
    My father never had the chance to go back to Lahore and see their house, which was in some Paranthe Wali Gali in Lahore, if I remember correctly. I’ll check about the gali with my dad. LOL.
    Even though I never witnessed the partition or the gruesome killings attached to those unreal times, your blog has touched some raw nerve somewhere. I had never wanted to visit Lahore till date. But somehow, after reading your blog, I have this sudden urge to go see my ancestral house in Lahore at least once. After all, there is a famous saying……..Jinne Lahore nahi vekhya oh jammya nahin!
    Cheers!
    Navin

12. Our parents and grand-parents have likely witnessed the world endure barbaric and inhuman massacres of epic proportions in their lifetime. The 1940s particularly were cursed moments of civilization…I had the opportunity to visit what was once a concentration camp @ Dacau, Germany, a few years ago. Walking through what remains of the emancipation center and gas chambers was a disgusting experience. It was depressing to see the exhibition of dark images of the holocaust. It’s one thing to read about massacres in textbooks. And another, to stand in the piece of real estate that witnessed them, and have the frames of what must have been living hell for millions, scroll through your mind’s screen. What with scrawny, emaciated bodies discarded flippantly like pieces of bones, to stack up like a pack of cards. It was nauseating. It was sickening. It was disgraceful. I don’t believe there are words in the dictionary to express the collage of feelings and emotions that surge when you walk through the camp and its exhibits/archives displaying the abominable techniques used in the rape of humanity and human dignity.
    It’s hard to come back from such an experience without trails of images inerasably etched in memory. Each time I see emaciated kids, maimed human beings, my heart goes out to them. Why them? Why kids? Seeing their disposition is like a deja vu moment…of the indescribable ugly moments @ Dacau fading in to the foreground. Yet another part of my brain asks if their current state is divine retribution of sorts for possibly their past crimes against humanity?
    Through all this pain, in all the inhuman crimes and massacres,as in the partition of India,I wonder…whose hands are bloodier – those with the beastly and barbaric intentions, or those that simply executed their intentions? Those who triggered the beastly acts, or performed them? The architect, or the pawn in the game? The mind behind it or the body that did it? What we escape TO is a function of where we ARE on the canvas, no?
    Can each of us ask ourselves how we — in our own lives with family, friends, colleagues, social & professional networks — ensure that we don’t serve as a pawn in the game of partitioning, or succumb to serving interests that cost human relationships, dignity and grace? For, isn’t it the individuals that make the collective…?

13. One of my best friends was born in Lahore. We met here, in Canada. I was 15 at the time. She knew my roots came from India and I knew hers from Pakistan…it mattered not to us. Her parents treated me as their own daughter and my parents treated her as their own too. We were “sisters” then, and we remain sisters now.
    This is how we still end our emails to each other, she lives in the U.S. now and I live in Canada…always, from your sis, Sultana.
    After Sultana moved to the U.S., her mom and dad still lived in Canada, and quite often, her mom would call me…she kept in touch and always asked how everyone was doing. It was only until after Ame died, did I realize how important those phone calls were.
    Pakistan, India, China…where ever,
    it’s about the relationships we have with each other, beyond any boarders created by human. I believe, it is until we feel this truth inside…then we have made some progress.
    Cinda

14. Yes chandra,but it’s all part of evolution.Belief in God for the majority of the masses comes through certain- milleniums or centuries old- books(Koran,Bible,Gita,Granth Sahib,Hebrew texts etc.) written by self-realised saints in different regions of the world for their times.
    These books attracted and gathered masses around them and gave birth to what we call religions in their respective regions.
    The last century has made instant communications and air-transportation between these regions easily possible for the masses.
    Its almost like the tectonic shifts of earths plates causing earthquakes and tsunamis.These human tsunamis(religion inflicted violence) happens more at the mass psychology level although it is only the edges of the plates that strike eachother.
    However good the books might have been for the past, if today we do not find common goodness between them and keep fighting for the differences we are doomed.
    But believe u me good things are happening-Global conferences on world religions is a great step forward.
    I also agree with u that belief in religionless God is better than Godless religion.

15. huun.
    shekhar, thanks.
    Not all our forefathers were wrong.Don’t we praise and emulate Nehru and Gandhi and many more who showed light not only to India but to the whole world.
    Lahore became great under two great philosopher Kings/rulers-Akbar and three Centuries later Ranjit Singh.
    Akbar tried to reform Islam and delved into Din-i-illahi which the people of his times could not understand or the people after him did not find profitable.
    Ranjit Singh was also totally secular and had people of all religion in his court,personal service as well as army and administeration at all ranks.
    Akbar took a hindu wife and Ranjit Singh a muslim one.
    Only their times were rougher than those of Gandhi and Nehru.
    harpreet.

16. Shekhar-
    The documentary you are talking about, has had earlier episodes as well; where they have taken us back to Pre-independence days through the eyes of British people who worked in Indian Civil services in India, in those days. Its interesting, how they talk about the Partition-with pain as well. They talk about how people they had worked with changed suddenly around 1945-46 and that these Britishers had to flee and come back to Britain because staying in India had become difficult. And, some who did stay back also talk about it with pain and disgust.
    I was surprised when I saw that..I have always heard/seen Indians who have been through it talking with tears in their eyes but Britishers!!!
    Its amazing how Britishers talk with so much of pride and happiness of the days they have spent in Pre-independence India and then follow it up with sad statements about the partition.
    No one knows who got peace and happiness in the massacre of the Partition; yet it happened.
    No one is getting peace and happiness in the communal war that is happening nowadays, yet it happens.
    May God give peace to all and Bless all of us.

17. …And moreover I never escape into blaming the Brits for Partition.The story is much longer than that.
    The British arrived very late in the beginning of the 18th Century.
    The struggle between the civilisations of the subcontinent(Indian) and that of the Muslim Cresent(Islamic middleeast to central asia) was on for 10 centuries prior to that.
    It started with the first successful invasion of Sindh by Ibn Qasim in 712-14 AD to expand Islam with a missionary zeal while Ibn Tariq was doing the same in the west crossing over the Gibralter straight to conquer Spain.
    This religious Islamic expansion ballooned to its peak in Ottoman’s time(1680s). In the Indian context this balloon was pricked in 1681 when Aurangzeb’s Deccan campaign failed in the face of Maratha resistance.
    In the north Punjabis had to face many extremely harsh invasions of Nadir Shah and Ahmed Shah Abdali in the 18th century after Aurungzebs death.
    Almost like the last and most deadly attack of a dieing campaign.These final invasions were for loot and plunder of Delhi which had grown weak after the strict Mughal’s death.And Punjab came in the way.
    This same 10 century old campaign which became a cause for the Chritian crusades in the west was put to an end by Ranjit Singh on the eastern end of the Islamic world.

18. …As destiny would have it Ranjit Singh’s father’s estates(villages which paid him for protection) in Punjab were the most hit in each invasion as it laid right on the way in Punjab between the Hindu kush passes and Delhi.
    Divine providence helped the young ugly looking smallpox infected one-eyed Ranjit as two of Abdali’s son’s invasions were failed just after starting by inter-sibiling rivalry caused coup behind at Kabul.
    By the third invasion(1798) during Ranjit’s time he had united all Sikh misls and Punjabis(who had earlier preferred a disorderly guerrilla fighting)into a nation to take the invader head-on.His daring and courage worked and finally by the end of his rule/life(1839) he had put a sympathetic government in Kabul thus ending the invasion drama once and for all.
    This 10 century old backdrop is the real background behind the partition.
    Everything(peoples and religions and ethnicities) got mixed up under the British between 1857 and 1947. The first opportunity extremist leaders got to seperate the two warring civilisations into border tight compartments under the WW2 weakened British,they availed it.

19. Harpreet-
    Just a small correction in one of your comments above.
    The britishers arrived as East India company in 1600AD.. and it was the Raj of Queen Victoria which came post 1857 – after the mutiny.
    Though, I agree with what you are trying to say 🙂

20. The following succinct ‘research note’ from my research on Ranjit Singh should put the second millenium into perspective as far as the civilisational conflicts in the Indo-Pak region are concerned from an unbiased human point of view.
    The defacto fault line of these civilisational plates can be regarded as the Radcliffe line(Indo-Pak border).Here the virtual role of the British(or western civilisation in Samuel Hutington’s terms) is conspicuous.
    RESEARCH NOTE:
    “From a human perspective the Islamic invasions, broadly speaking, made their point to the confused, heavily ritualised and inter-bickering Hindus of those times who idolised numerous gods that there is just one God.
    As happens when tradition and a new thought comes into a zero sum conflict with each other-a newer, synthesized and more evolved thought takes shape.Thus Sikhism was born at the conflict line between Hinduism and Islam.Its saints incorporated the best in both religions and avoided the obsolete or confusing elements.
    To counter the mercyless violent Jihadic tendencies of Islam, Sikhism later adopted ‘the saintly warrior’outlook.
    Adversity in the form of oppression of the Mughals first and then the Afghan invaders(who did it for loot hideously under the banner of Jihad which would render them armies for the purpose)produced the man in Ranjit Singh.
    The invasion of Kabul by armies of the Khalsa Durbar at about Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s death, hit back with the Islamists that their point has been taken but they too should correct their folly that any one prophet or people has a monopoly over the one God.
    Taking Universe/Nature to be perfect in its evolution,as soon as the problem of God had been solved,this part of the Earth was ready for the advent of new science i.e. how having complete faith in one God can this material world be best utilized in the service of humankind as a whole rather than seperate peoples.
    The Europeans and their new science born in the French enlightenment and renaissance had already landed on India shores.
    Then British Raj…birth of the infrastructure- both physical and administrative…Gandhi… birth of united secular scientific Indian nation…and birth of Pakistan.
    ***********
    Finally today’s world where the cutting edge people of all races and communities understand the importance of one God as well as of channelising nature harmoniously for the greater good.And probably all violence in the world today is for the general masses to reach the new understanding-‘HARMONY AND ALL INCLUSIVE PROSPERITY’

21. thank u shruti.
    I was writing of the British as a political force(1700-) rather than the trading one(1600-1700).But thank u none the less.In the next comment I am posting the chronology of the Raj just to document it under this post for reference.
    Are u an old yadvendrian.

22. Chronology of British Raj:
    a list of the main historical events effecting the British role in India from the foundation of the East India Company in 1600 to the final withdrawal of Britain in 1947.
    Part One – the East India Company
    1600 Elizabeth I grants a charter to the East India Company
    1612 The East India Company establishes a factory at Surat
    1640 The East India Company establishes a factory at Madras
    1661 Charles II receives Bombay from Catherine of Braganza as part of her dowry; the East India Company establishes a factory there
    1690 The East India Company establishes a factory at Calcutta
    1756-63 The Seven Years War
    1757 The Battle of Plassey – the British defeat Siraj Ud Daulah
    1760 The Battle of Wandiwash – the British defeat the French
    1761 The Battle of Panipat – the British defeat the Marathas
    1764 The Battle of Buxar – the British defeat Mir Kasim
    1765 The Treaty of Allahabad – the British granted Diwani Rights in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa
    1767-1769 The First Mysore War – the British are forced to concede a peace treaty with Hyder Ali
    1772 Warren Hastings appointed as Governor of Bengal
    1773 The Regulating Act passed by the British Parliament, creates post of Governor-General of India
    1774-85 Warren Hastings Governor-General of India
    1774 The India Act
    1775-1782 The First Anglo-Maratha War
    1780-1784 The Second Mysore War – the British finally defeat Hyder Ali
    1784 The Government of India Act establishes a Board of Control
    1786-93 Lord Cornwallis Governor-General of India
    1790-1792 The Third Mysore War between the British and Tipu Sultan
    1793 Cornwallis’ permanent settlement of Bengal revenue
    1798 Lord Wellesley appointed Governor-General of India
    1799 The Fourth Mysore War, once again between the British and Tipu Sultan; The Battle of Seringapatam – the death of Tipu Sultan and the Partition of Mysore
    1802 The Treaty of Bassein
    1803 The Nawab of Oudh cedes the southern and western parts of his territories to the British
    1803-1805 The Second Anglo-Maratha war – the British defeat the Marathas at the Battle of Assaye
    1804 The Mughal Emperor at Delhi is placed under British protection
    1805 The Treaty of Amritsar
    1813 The East India Company’s charter is renewed but it’s monopoly over Indian trade is abolished
    1814-1816 The Anglo-Gurkha War
    1817-1818 The Pindari War
    1817-1819 The Third Anglo-Maratha War – the Marathas fmally crushed by the British who are now the paramount power in India
    1824-1826 The First Burmese War
    1828-35 Lord William Bentinck as Governor-General of India
    1829 The prohibition of Sutee
    1829-1837 The suppression of Thuggee
    1831 The Raja of Mysore is deposed, and Mysore annexed by the Britsh
    1833 The Charter Act and the abolition of the East India Company’s trade
    1835 The Education Resolution
    1838 The Tripartite Treaty between Shah Shuja, Ranjit Singh and the British
    1839-1842 The First Afghan War
    1843 The Gwalior War; the British annex the Sindh, Hyderabad and Khairpur
    1845-1846 The First Anglo-Sikh War
    1848 Lord Dalhousie becomes the Governor-General of India
    1848-1849 The Second Anglo-Sikh War
    1849 The Annexation of the Punjab
    1852 The Second Anglo-Burmese War
    1856 The complete annexation of the Oudh
    1857 The Indian Mutiny, otherwise known as the Sepoy Uprising or Rebellion, or the First War of Independence
    1858 The final abolition of the East India Company
    Part Two – the British Raj
    In 1858 The last Mughal emperor of India, Bahadur Shah II, was deposed as a result of his support for the Indian Mutiny and exiled to Burma. The British government now imposed direct rule on India, appointing a Governor-General or Viceroy to act as the crown’s representative.
    1861 The India Councils Act divides the government of India between a Secretary of State and a Council based in London, and the Viceroy and a Legislative Council based in Calcutta. Indians are only permitted to attend the Legislative Council in an advisory role
    1869 The birth of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
    1876 Queen Victoria is proclaimed Empress of India
    1878 The Arms Act forbids Indians to carry arms
    1878-1880 The Second Afghan War
    1879 The murder of the British Resident in Kabul
    1882 The Resolution on Local Self-Government
    1883 The Ilbert Act
    1885 The formation of the Indian National Congress
    1886 The annexation of Burma
    1892 The Indian Councils Act that allows Indians to be full members of the Legislative Council
    1893 The establishment of the Durand Line now fixes the frontier between Afghanistan and British India
    1905 The First Partition of Bengal
    1906 The foundation of the Muslim League
    1909 The Morley-Minto Reforms increase Indian representation on both the central and provincial councils
    1911 The Coronation Durbar; King George V visits India ; transfer of capital from Calcutta to Delhi; the Partition of Bengal modified to create the Presidency of Bengal
    1915 Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, now known as the ‘Mahatma’ returns to India and begins his campaign of passive resistance to British rule
    The Defence of India Act
    1916 The Lucknow Pact; Congress and the Muslims League unite to demand Home Rule
    1917 The Montagu declaration establishes that the British government intends to develop self-governing institutions in India
    1919 The Amritsar Massacre and the Third Afghan War
    The Montague-Chelmsford Reforms offer a limited form of Indian autonomy
    1920 The launch of the Civil Disobedience Movement
    1922 The Civil Disobedience Movement suspended after the Chauri-Chaura violence
    1927 The Simon Commission appointed
    1928 The Simon Commission visits India
    1931 New Delhi becomes the capital of India
    1935 Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the head of the Muslim League demands a new Muslim nation of Pakistan
    1939 Congress refuses to support Britain during World War II
    1940 The Muslim League adopts the Pakistan Resolution
    1941 Congress offers its support in return for Independence. Gandhi disapproves and leaves Congress
    1942 The Cripps Mission to India fails; Congress launches the Quit India Movement; as a result many Congress leaders, including Gandhi, are imprisoned
    1946 Formation of the Interim Government, later joined by the Muslim League
    1947 Lord Mountbatten appointed Viceroy and ; on the 14th, the Congress accepts the partition of India and the creation of Pakistan.
    3rd June 1947 Lord Mountbatten announces the British government’s decision to grant India independence on the basis of partition
    3rd June 1947 Congress announces its acceptance of partition
    15th August 1947 India gains its independence from British rule, but partitioned into the separate states of India and Pakistan

23. Hey shekhar I didn’t read any other comments, because what you wrote is so perfectly making sense, with hell lot of pain in it.
    And about beasts…what can I say…we all are beasts…I’m a writer who would use any personal story as my story…and add my fiction to it…ain’t it beastly? What happened through out the history is the indulgence in our belief that whatever we do is RIGHT and whenever the RIGHT has been questioned it was given one answer – WRONG! wrong things done…wrong people dead… the culprits escaped…until they found their graves peacefully with all due respects of those who believed in them… the people who survived live…only wondering…why…it will be done again… may be thats why the survivors CREATE a GOD to pray that such things shouldn’t happen… and thats the ONLY solution…an escape called GOD an escaped called another belief…another cycle due…till this belief is questioned!
    People like us can only ask…but we will never find an answer!!!

24. Dear Shekhar,
    Thank you for ur thought provoking lines.
    I have just gone through all the comments,insights,history,opinions,point of views etc. etc. etc. and I am rich by knowledge and perspective on partition.
    Thank you very much for this opportunity.
    Mahesh.Kathi

25. hi there,
    do you know when we become beast,why will kill,why we become barbarians,not to kill a hindu or a muslim,a sikh or a terrorist,we become to satiate the barbarian that lies dormant in each one of us,which circumstances,ignite,and we are unable to tame ourself,and when everyone around becomes a wolf,the wolf in us to gets the call,and there we go,isn,t it whts mob riots are all abt. we direct our energy to kill someone,and we beleive our troubles are over.
    until next time,keep questioning…..there is a buddha in each one of us,enlighten thyself.

26. im glad Lahore welcomed you (like it always does) and yes, i did find the familiarity of delhi almost uncomfortable (beign a pakistani), and yes, i do (i think) understand the pain you speak of….but, what do you say to a people formed –a whole identity created out of such a moment?
    im not sure if im making any sense (babbling)…ill probably get back here with more!
    Kinnaird College(the spellings)
    cheers!
    PS: oh, and it was great to meet you today at hyde park!

27. Thank you, zebunissa

28. Punjabs genes are the multicultural mix of the Mongloids under Changez Khan and his armies,Caucasians under Alexander and his armies and Negroids under the aboriginal Dravidians- the only three human races on Earth.
    The artificial multicultral mixes which are being tried to be manufactured in London ,Singapore & New york etc-the much applauded multicultural multiethnic melting pots of the 20th Century are no where near the quality of natural genetical mix of all races that can be found in Punjab- in its people’s diverse features, emotions,thoughts and attitudes.
    Dear shekhar, just to balance the post,if u feel sorry for ur Punjabi genes I would say I feel proud for the same.Although I know both feeling sorry and proud for ur genes is being equally partial and biased in todays global society which is trying hard to transcend over racism.

29. Shekhar, being a child of the partition, your pain at the violence must be especially acute but I too find myself very moved and hurt whenever I read or watch graphic violence between people of the same culture (as in Punjab and Bengal for example). Religion it seems has a power to usurp cultural, linguistic and nationalistic ties among people. It is all the more ironic because while culture and language are useful and important aspects of civilization, religion is mostly an accumulation of stories and fancy speculation about an unprovable God. That such speculative information can violently vanquish centuries-old cultural and linguistic ties among people is a testimony to the bestial and pervasive ignorance (avidya) in many people around the world. At the root of all such violence is religion whose sectarian concepts of god is designed to make a selfish and insecure human even more selfish and insecure. Of course religions exist because people around the world seek ideologies that will allow them to indulge in their bestial violent nature with the sanction of ‘their’ God and thus feel no remorse or pain at their violence. The world will not be a beautiful place as long as even one person believes in a (sectarian) fantastic god.

30. hello all esp Shekhar Ji,
    if u ever happen to go through my post be sure that i am an admirer of your talent and every one of us have some time of extreme grief, be it our own or not, but we do.
    i love reading this entire page and i would always do the reading……
    why blame anyone for what has happened???…..we cannot solve but we can indeed worsen things Sir….
    my apologies if this hurts anyone….i am an INDIAN….but in some way i do not like think of the present day India…

31. Dear Shekhar, Your post made interesting reading. North India is clearly more tested than South India by invasion, partition and aggressive encounters with foreigners. On a personal level it would impact one even where there was no direct experience. Take for example, my reaction to the paintings at the National War Museum in Scotland, where almost every painting depicts a colonial victory in India. The painting that made me weep was the one celebrating Cornwallis’ victory over Tipu Sultan. I am 2 generations removed from any direct experience of British colonialism but I remember my grandfather telling us about his participation in the Swadeshi movement. These memories can be benign if one feels pain and not hate.

32. Dear Shekhar
    Greetings from Dev! Iam extremely honoured to comment in your blog. It just amuses me so much that you will be reading my comment.
    When I watched “Bandit Queen ” in 1996, as a 20 year old teenager, I was thrilled and motivated par limits; The movie convinced me- an unsure dreamer – that my ambition of making “honest” movies is on the right track.
    What you wonder about partition riots is so true. It’s a question which has baffled me as well. After coming to North America, my best friends have been fellow Punjabis from Pakistan. I just cannot fathom that how can we guys behave like this in not so distant past. I was talking regarding this with my Uncle -he knows a lot about Indian history during partition. Here is what he told me regarding the background of partition riots and why people-so similar & loving- behaved like demons.
    Since Sikhs/Hindu Punjabis were going to be severely affected with partition, Sikhs, under the leadership of Master Tara Singh, were the most vocal supporters of United India during those volatile months of 1946 and early 1947. They severely objected creation of Pakistan. Mr Jinnah tried to win over them by offering Autonomous state and host of other benefits in to be created Pakistan; It didnt work;
    By early 1947, it was becoming clear to all those people who wanted Pakistan that Sikhs are coming in their way; Also the Psychohistory ( Centuries old conflict between Mughals and Sikh Warriors) comes into play during such conflicts. In March 1947, goons of Muslim League killed and raped Sikh Men and women in few villages in East Punjab. Sikhs retailated in the same manner in western side of Punjab. One thing led to another and rest , as we know, is sad history.
    My point here is that sometimes few people decide the fate of millions of people without anticipating catastrophic outcomes of their decisions.
    I would love to hear from you about your views on certain events precipetating this kind of unexplainable behaviour and not the other way around.
    Regards
    Dev
    lallopallo.blogspot.com

33. thank u Radhika for understanding the pain Punjab has gone thru to save and protect the Indian peninsula and its values.

34. thank u Dev for the same.

35. Funny…dear swapnachandna…the self-contradiction.
    U write:
    “I didn’t read any other comments, because what you wrote is so perfectly making sense, with hell lot of pain in it. ”
    and then:
    “People like us can only ask…but we will never find an answer!!!”

36. Dear Shekhar,
    Too much dark out, but still there are people like you, who are trying to make some sense in this realm beyond sense!(your post).I would like to share this video of Kunwar Mahender singh bedi on you tube . He has seen that time of tragedy, but hats of to this man.He is still trying to make sense in this realm beyond sense, and thats the only thing we can do Shekhar as helpless, poor and victims of all these power games.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYra7NsaaM4
    Sanjay

37. Dear sanjay,
    once we realise the Omnipotent we remain helpless,poor and victims no more.
    Its only our perception and understanding of Truth that needs to change.
    Nothing is imperfect in the Universe’s garden.
    But yes being humans we all have karma to do as per our dharma- and that we do surrendering the results to the almighty thus in perfection.

38. Dear harpreet,
    Did you mean that Gandhi,Nehru,patel AND qayed-e- azam(Jinah)…They never realised the Omnipotent.Or may be they realised so they din’t had to loose nothing BUt they gained power and became heroes.It was the common man who dint realise the omnipotent and they got killed,One of them was my grandfather too,who was coming to india as refugee.
    This world is operating the way Guru nanak described…”Kare karawe ape aap manas ke kuch nahin haath” GET use to in living in it.ANd just keep doing the karma as per your dharma.
    Regards
    sanjay

39. Dear sanjay,
    Is there one person on Earth who has lost nothing or gained nothing?
    The grass always looks greener on the other side.
    Each one of the names mentioned had their own losses.People later on called them heroes or not.They did not derive any special advantage out of being who they were.
    The power they weilded was a part of their dharma and karma.
    And ‘doing the karma as per your dharma’ is not really as remorseful and miserable as sounds from ur comment.
    Self-pity is not really a virtue.
    Please forgive me for not being able to share the sense of doom and despair.
    Things happen…and we outgrow them…although its not as simple as it sounds…but do we have a choice.

40. Dear Shekhar,
    Something interesting has happened in my life during the writing of this blog regarding partition.
    You see, in Punjab, I have been mostly residing at Muktsar or Patiala while doing my research on Ranjit Singh.
    Suddenly and serendepitously I have been posted at Amritsar in my present job as a senior sub-station engineer with PSEB.Well I always felt that my research from all sources would be incomplete without being to Amritsar among its people,its meusiums and libraries for which I could not arrange as yet.
    And lo I am posted here… out of the blue.More over it seems like a punishment posting from the authorities point of view as I have been posted away from both my permanent and temporary addresses.
    But the feeling I am getting is that of a boon and encouragement in my endeavours towards the completion of my dream- international quality Film- project on the Great Wall of India: Ranjit Singh.

41. Dear Harpreet,
    Yes we do have choice, The real karma and Dharma in today’s world is “Not to flood this world with New philosophical and spiritual theories any more”, The real dharma would be if we could understand and interpret those theories right ,which were already been given to us by great people like Kabeer,Nanak,Budha,Jesus and Mohamad.
    Regards
    Sanjay
    NJ

42. Exactly dear Sanjay.
    Kindly refer to comment no.14 under this post.Especially the second and third last lines.
    thank u.

43. Shekhar ,
    Moving account , no doubt – and all that human suffering has identifyable and clear causes which even the most educated , enlightened minds wont see.
    The history of India( now , the South Asian subcontinent) of the last 1000 years – is a saga of relentless blood stained conquests – religious and imperial.
    In a sense , the downfall of the Vedic Dharma due to insufficient intellectual discourse and denial of the martial spirit due to widespread Buddhistic value system and to an extent denial of the lower classes to knowledge and dignity – caused a wheel of purposelessness in the Great Indian tradition and way of life.
    It is that deep – the Hindu haulocaust at the hands of Islamic invaders is documeented and known and is only recently finding space of publicity, long suppressed for fear of antagonising dubious secular credentials thrust upon India by its irreverent Nehruvians.
    Infact , Shekhar , India of the last 900 years is a study in blotched statecraft , misguided idealism , tendency to invite disaster – almost suicidal , and lack of intelleectual clarity in the Vedic Dharma – which is what led Prithvi Raj Chauhan chivalrously grant Mohammed Ghori pardon. After the death of Prithviraj , India was now open to vandalism by muslim invaders , who brought an hitherto unknown kind of barbarism and violence into civil life. Thousands of temples were broken , people forcibly converted , jazia imposed and the Vedic way of life was pushed in.
    It was the Musilm rulers who invited the British to trade in india – and one Barbarian power was replaced with another barbarian power – only slightly more organised and intellectual than the other.
    The British rule in india , ensured the end of Islamic rule in India , and inspite of the misrey of both , the British rule did Indic culture relative good compared to the stifling Islamic imposition . Let us also not forget the Portuguese inquisition in Goa .
    In short , shekhar , we need constant re-counting and reminding of our true History if we are to even start thinking of how this barbarism of Partition was possible ? The seeds lie there – the seeds were sown by the unparalleled haulocaust Hindus faced at the hands of Islamic , and European conquiscadors.
    So with all that Historical and civilisational baggage and the total emasculation of the memory of the Muslim converts of the Indian subcontinent ( 90 % of whom can trace their blood lines to Hindu forefathers ) , the venom was already there waiting to explode.
    It was only helped along by insufficient intellects of ‘Mahatma’ Gandhi ( with his selective insomnia to Muslim intransigence ) and the debauchery and Stupidity of Nehru and Jinnah ( whose forfathers were , by the way Gujarati Brahmins converted to Islam ).
    Partition of India is a mistake of collossal proportions – and it is not even a partition , only a partial partition.
    If Pakistan is the homeland of the muslims of india , then what are 140 million of them doing in India ? Secularism ( distorted or otherwise is unthinkable if India was 80 % Muslim). India is secular and still continues to give unbridled access to tamper with the way of life of India , only because India is 80 % Hindu.
    The day India is 50 % or less of Hindu, we can expect a second or theord partition . and Shekhar , you wont even identify with the kind of civil strife and violence when that happens – the partition of India in 1947 will seem like a gentle tap on the wrist.
    Let us all pay homage and think of all the Hindu wwomen who were sacrified or sacrificed themselves in johars of different kinds , to the children and men who were put to death and conveerted on the point of sword – to Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev and rajguru – who are greater Patriots than Gandhi ever was. Lets face up and look upon the Partition as another example of the resut of appeasing the devil fo Islam.

44. Visited the Ram Bagh at Amritsar today.In it the Maharaja Ranjit Singh panaroma-a beautiful light and sound show produced by the National Council for Science and Meusiums……beautiful original paintings…sculptures…models.
    Beautifully laid gardens.
    God was being exceptionally gracious with the climate this afternoon…pregnant clouds…low speed breeze…hews of blue and grey…greens and flowers seemed to welcome me especially.
    And then the huge sculpture of the King himself riding his horse…looking out for the last invader.
    *******
    Come to think of it the Brits were no less beastly at the Jallian wala Bagh, I visited last week.Cold blooded genocide of a peaceful congregation to what end.That,probably,in 1919 was the beginning of the end of the British Raj.
    *******

45. Can the British genes be held responsible for a deviant Dwyer or Dyer?
    …But then how will we explain the Robert Owens and Quakers of the world.
    Nor can we really put all blame on the genes of the people of the Islamic world…For how will we then explain the great Sufi saints and Kings like Akbar and Suleiman.
    We’ve got to look beyond genes and races and religions and nationalities and civilisations…I’m not really sure that being too rational about such events can enhance understanding.May be the mystic and the esoteric have to be taken into account to intuit the complete picture.
    Looking far out might have to be complemented with looking deep within.
    Maybe the prisoners of history will first have to gain personal freedom from it and then guide it towards greater harmony.

46. Maybe God is once again needed to quantum jump humanity from the Kalyuga to the next Krita/Sat Yuga.
    The above outpouring needs to be complemented by a beautiful booklet-‘NOSTRADAMUS AND BEYOND-Visions of a Yug-Sandhi’ by N. S. Rajaram who has researched in both historical and scientific ways that the Kalyuga ended in 1999 and Kritayug has commenced but the period of next few years could be the Yug-sandhi(the period of transition).
    May be Kalki maha-avatar is the collective humanosphere of Self-realised souls.
    ***
    The Hindu : Study of prophesies NOSTRADAMUS AND BEYOND — Visions of Yuga Sandhi: N. S. Rajaram; Rupa and Co., 7/16, Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi-110002. Rs. 150. …
    http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/br/2003/04/29/stories/2003042900090300.htm – 16k – Cached – Similar pages
    The Hindu : Clash of values, not civilisations(The author’s latest book is Nostradamus and Beyond, Visions of Yuga-Sandhi, in which these ideas are explored further. It is published by Rupa.) …
    http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/op/2002/12/31/stories/2002123100030200.htm – 23k – Cached – Similar pages

47. Clash of values, not civilisations
    Terrorism is not a clash of civilisations. Vedanta describes a clash of dharmas, which is closer to reality.
    FOLLOWING THE end of the Cold War, several thinkers proclaimed that the world had entered a new phase in which there would be no major conflicts; Francis Fukuyama wrote a book proclaiming that it was the “End of History.” The idea was that in a unipolar world, with no superpower rivalry to fuel them, economic activity would be everyone’s prime concern and any conflicts would be localised and brought under control. This utopian vision was soon belied by the outbreak of religious and ethnic conflicts in many parts of the world including Yugoslavia, the Caucasus, Kashmir, Indonesia and parts of Africa. These, especially the conflict in Yugoslavia seemed to indicate that old ethnic and religious rivalries that had been kept in check under superpower dominance were now coming to the fore. Faced with this reality, some political scientists in the West tried to explain them in terms of civilisations rather than economic and political terms or ideologies that dominated the Cold War era. The most popular of these is Samuel Huntington’s clash of civilisations thesis expounded in his well-known book Clash of Civilizations.
    According to Huntington the world may be seen as being composed of civilisations that overlay nation states. He identifies several of these civilisations including the Western-Christian, Eastern-Christian, Islamic, Hindu and others. In the case of nation states like Germany and France belonging to the same civilisation, there is little likelihood of conflict. On the other hand, when two or more civilisations meet on the ground, as in former Yugoslavia, it can give rise to conflict. The boundary where two or more civilisations meet is to be seen as a `civilisational fault line.’ Yugoslavia furnishes a particularly good example as it is the meeting ground of three civilisations (as conceived by Huntington) — Western (Croatia), Eastern (Serbia) and Islamic (Bosnia-Herzegovina). This seemed to furnish a particularly elegant vindication of Huntington’s thesis when it first appeared. It was assumed that future conflicts would follow the same model.
    Unstated assumption
    With the growth of terrorism in the world, there has been a rush to identify and explain it on the basis of Huntington’s clash of civilisations thesis. The assumption in all this, though generally unstated, is that terrorism is to be equated with the Islamic civilisation. (Huntington himself rejected it, but it was too late to have much effect). There are several problems with this equation. To begin with, there have been and continue to be conflicts within Islam that make it difficult to identify it as a monolithic civilisation. Anyone who has travelled in West Asia can see that countries such as Iran, Egypt and Syria are worlds apart. In recent history, Bangladesh broke away from Pakistan and Iran and Iraq were engaged in brutal war that lasted nearly a decade. Also, with terrorism striking in places as far apart as New York, Kenya, Moscow, Afghanistan, Kashmir and Bali, there is no discernible `fault line’ where civilisations neatly fall in place. The reality is that terrorism represents no civilisation and follows no boundaries.
    Geopolitical theories like the clash of civilisations make the facile assumption that human beings everywhere think and behave the same way and have similar priorities dominated by economic interests. To scholars in the secular humanist West, it is inconceivable that people would lay down their lives for religious or cultural beliefs. So they tend to attribute economic and social motives to acts that lie beyond the realm of their experience and comprehension. As a result, their methods and models have a tendency to fail when applied to aberrant behaviour like terrorism or megalomania. There exist alternatives worth studying.
    Alternative visions
    The major drawback of geopolitical theories, like Huntington’s clash of civilisations, is their failure to account for human behaviour, especially aberrant behaviour. Ancient Indian thinkers on the other hand have made a profound study of this aspect of conflict. It is surprising that Indian humanities scholars have by and large failed to take advantage of the vast body of knowledge available to them in their own tradition. Yoga, Vedanta and many other sources provide alternative visions based on insights into human behaviour. A study of Indian sources shows that conflicts like what we are faced with were not unknown to the ancients who had made a profound study of the causes and effects that underlie them. They analysed them from the viewpoint of human tendencies rather than as reflections of geopolitics. They characterised them as Daivic (divine) and Asuric (demonic) traits and saw conflicts as resulting from the clash of values (or dharma) deriving from them. In this context, it is a serious error to interpret dharma as religion or sect. Seen from this Vedantic perspective, what we are witnessing around us is no clash of civilisations, but a clash of values or dharmas. This is an age-old conflict, between the material and the spiritual. Most evil in the world is due to excessive preoccupation with the material wealth and power. This tendency is called Asuric by the ancients. The spiritual or the trait that seeks harmony is called Daivic. Krishna in the Bhagavadgita describes the Asuric traits as follows:
    “The Asuric (demonic) traits are ignorance, deceitfulness, excessive pride, ego, harshness, and rough speech. Such people know not when to act and when to desist from action. They believe in nothing, have neither truth nor purity. …Driven by desire and unsupported by beliefs these souls without enlightenment, with their terrible acts can destroy the world. …Immersed in endless worries that only death can end, they know nothing beyond self-indulgence without limit. They think only of accumulating wealth through wrongful means… In the folly of their ignorance they think: `I got this today, I have that more to get. I have so much now but I’ll get more. I have killed that enemy, but I have more to kill’.”
    It is not hard to see that the world today is in thrall to Asuric forces, no matter how we look at it. To counter the Asuric tendencies, what are needed are Daivic qualities, which the Gita describes as follows: “Fearlessness, purity, courage in seeking knowledge, generosity, restraint, learning, uprightness, gentleness, honesty, loyalty, compassion for the living, humility, fortitude and absence of excess pride — these are the virtues of the Daivic. The Daivic leads to freedom and the Asuric to bondage.”
    How are we to account for these traits, or what they stem from? The Vedantic view is that there are three fundamental tendencies (or gunas) that control human behaviour; the combined action of these on the people, especially the leaders, leaves an imprint on the history of any era. These tendencies are: sattva (light or purity), rajas (power or aggression) and tamas (darkness or ignorance). Any combination of these determines the history of an epoch. Particularly dangerous is the combination of tamas and rajas — aggression driven by ignorance. This is what we call fanaticism. Tamas sees sattva or light of knowledge as the enemy. Its goal is to destroy sattva and plunge the world into a Dark Age. This has happened many times in history. This is what forces of fanaticism are trying to do to the world today.
    Use of force unavoidable
    Tamas therefore is the great enemy of civilisation. This is also what ancient sages of India warned against. It is important to note that tamas cannot always be conquered by sattva alone. This means force or rajas must be employed, but employed judiciously. The ignorance of a child can be cured by education, but not the ignorance of a hardened fanatic. The use of force may be unavoidable though it always has to be the last resort. It is a serious error to think that fanatics bent on plunging the world into darkness will always respond to a gentle message. When faced with evil, sattva must always be backed by rajas, even if used only as a last resort. Sattva without rajas can only appease.
    Most of us calling ourselves `rational’ do not see the world in Daivic and Asuric terms. With that we have lost the rational basis for understanding the world that our ancestors possessed. Some modern sages like Sri Aurobindo had retained a vestige of it. This allowed them to see the forces of violence and ignorance engulfing the world. This is what we are seeing today in the war against terror — a combination of rajas and tamas ranged against civilisation. It is no clash of civilisations but a clash between Daivic and Asuric forces. For civilisation to survive, the Daivic forces — sattva and rajas — must combine to defeat the Asuric combination of tamas and rajas. This is the message of Vedanta.
    N.S. RAJARAM

48. To correct upon Dr. Raja Ram’s thesis: I would add that while
    Sattvic stands for wisdom;
    Rajasic stands for activity and not necessarily force;
    and Tamas for inertia and ignorance.
    Pure force has not helped the Western Civilisation to get their point of views and values accross to other civilisations but their prolific activity in the media both print and electronic has.
    If we sincerely believe in One God or One Universe we cannot loose faith in all that is in it since everything including all three Gunas are parts of the same underlying Oneness.
    Has the supreme Yogi not been advised in Bhagwat Gita to get above all three Gunas and reach God from whom they all originate for the specific purposes preordained by Himself.
    Yes Light will give light and darkness will accomodate rest and rejuvination.Imagine if there were no night and only day…no twinkling stars..no full moons…no time to hold the beloved …and remember the Beloved

49. Rudra..the destroyer indeed.
    As Shiva comprises the whole Universe don’t u think Islam and the West also are contained therein.
    May be our collective consciousness as human beings needs a paradigm shift.
    Maybe we need to listen to others and understand their views…and understand why must Universe have created them.
    Yes I perfectly agree that over ritualisation and lack of intellectual debate had rendered the hindus of those times impotent and incapable to guard against the violent invaders.
    So I am not once again expecting the sub-continent to be sagaciously weak.But gaining optimum power and influence we need to be different from the invaders given the depth of our civilisation.
    Its not that people of the world do not appreciate the mysteries surrounding India and its civilistaion.Most look forward to India to enlighten the path forward.
    For 60 years we have been convinced of the virtues of non-alignment and non-violence(No one is 100% perfect;violence for righteousness or in self-defence has been equated to prayers and worship in our culture).
    Vishnu -the preserver God of the Tri-deva also weilds a small mace and Sudarshan Chakra for trouble-rousers and recalcitrants.
    But an eye for an eye does leave everyone blind.
    Recognizing and celebration of the efforts made in Punjab to put an end to invasions in the 18th and early 19th Centuries would go a long way in telling the world that if Wisdom needs be protected we are adept enough, as we were in these Centuries.

50. India has the experience of 60 years of
    1.being a mixed economy-public & private partenership;
    2.’Unity in Diversity’ of language,cast,creed,race etc etc.
    3. being a peaceful and successful democracy although surrounded by instable democratic nations.
    4.being highly adaptive to the physical and administrative infrastructure and scientific education facilitated by the West.
    5.having good relations with all important stake holders of the Global society-West,Middle east,East and South-East Asia,Africa,Mercosur countries and Australia…and bartering none for the other.
    6.a heritage of assimilation of diverse genes and cultures of the Earth.
    7.Non-aggressive yet successful defence of its borders and values.
    8.Nuclear responsibility.
    9.being a benevolent,aid giving welfare state.
    10.being a leader in the third alternative(vis a vis capitalism or communism)-Corporate Social Responsibility.
    Is India not the natural born leader of the 21st Century world-a leader not self-seeking but sought by others.

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