I remember my paternal grandfather’s house near Chaura Bazar in Ludhiana, a small, triple storey house with a tiny room, a small kitchen, a courtyard on the ground floor and a toilet without sewage on the top floor. It was a queer-looking house that he got in claim in lieu of the property left behind in Pakistan at the time of the partition. No different is the story of my maternal grandfather who was allotted a house in Gurgaon in early 50s, much before it became a Millennium City. Both my grandparents, paternal and maternal, hailed from Multan, now in Pakistan. They were uprooted and had to leave behind their home and hearth, when they came to India as refugees. A huge loss! But how can I forget that the houses they got in claim were the ones vacated by Muslims who had to flee India under similar circumstances? Continue reading “Why relive the horrors of those dark days?”
