It was an amputation, not Partition, says poet Sarbjot Singh Behal

Neha Saini

Amritsar, August 8

“While we celebrate 75 years of freedom and Independence as a nation, it’s our duty to remember the pain and suffering of those who lost everything at the cost of that “azadi”. That’s our intangible heritage too,” said Prof Sarbjot Singh Behal, an eminent poet. His poem “Main Gujjaranwala Chodh Aaya”, now a considered classic, gives an account of his father Avtar Singh’s painful journey to cross the border during the mass exodus of 1947.

Recites his poem

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My father was 17 when he had to leave his home in Gujjaranwala and reach at a refugee camp in Amritsar overnight. The poem ‘Main Gujjaranwala Chodh Aaya’ is a dedication to all those who were uprooted and never returned home. — Prof Sarbjot Singh Behal

Behal opened another recital of his poem by stressing on how the celebration of “azadi” and its painful pangs go hand in hand. “My father was 17 when he had to leave his home in Gujjaranwala and reach at a refugee camp in Amritsar overnight. The poem is dedicated to all those who were uprooted and never returned home,” he shared.

Avtar Singh is now 92 and is suffering from dementia, but Prof Behal said the only thing he still remembers is his home at the Abadi Mohamad Baksh, Gali No. 2 (sixth house on the left). “My father had to rebuild his life in Amritsar. He worked as an employee in the Railways.

He always used to tell us stories of his childhood days spent at his Gujjaranwala home and their neighbours,” he said.

At the end of his poem, Prof Behal says: “Main peeche pashim me apna bachpan chodh aaya, main munnare wala chodh allah-taala chodh aaya, main nooran chacha-saki khala chodh aaya, main darwaze par laga kundi tala tod aya, main hamesha hamesha ke liye Gujjaranwala Choodh aya.” These words not only strike an emotional chord with listeners, but also describe the pain his father went through realising that he could never go back to his home again.

Prof Behal had recently visited Pakistan for the Faiz Literary Festival and recited his poem to a resounding reception. “Over the years, we have come to live with the geographical division. But in my opinion, the word partition doesn’t define the emotion to describe what happened back then. It was amputation of a limb that was once a part of the body and the sense of loss can never be compensated.”