Pak writer Rashid walks down city’s memory lane
Rachna Khaira
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, August 5
“Ho koyal kuke hook uthaye Yaadon ki bandook chalaye, Baagon mein jhoolon ke mausam Vaapas aaye re.. Ghar aaja pardesi tera des bulaaye re..” This post on twitter seems to have revived the old memories of well-known travel writer Salman Rashid from Pakistan whose family left its ancestral home situated on Railway Road in Jalandhar during the Partition.
“Rullao gay kya buddhay ko,” came the prompt reply from Rashid in reply to the post tweeted by one of the twitteratis.
“….Only I, who was born four-and-a-half years after the Partition, still root for it. For me, Jalandhar and the house on Railway Road are still home,’ tweeted the author of ‘A Time of Madness,’ a memoir of the India-Pakistan partition.
His grandfather, Dr Badaruddin, two aunts and a few other relatives lived in their ancestral house in the city when the Partition gobbled up the city. They were never heard of again.
In his book, Rashid gave a detailed encounter of his journey undertaken with a grainy photograph of his old home from Lahore to Jalandhar in 2008 and then again in 2010.
He wrote about his encounter with old family friends and also some ‘heart-wrenching facts about his family’s servant Eidu whose two-year-old son was tossed to death by rioters from the terrace to the courtyard on the ground floor!
The celebrated author also gathered up courage to come face to face with the son of the man who led the mob to kill five members of his family and seven of Eidu’s family. While the rioter’s son tendered an apology from heart, Rashid even forgave him for the catastrophe!
“Saab ji lagta hai apke 600-year-old Hindu genes activate ho gaye hai (it seems like your 600-year-old Hindu ancestral genes got activated),” asked another twitterati.
“Arey yar, woh to kabhi marray he nahi they. Lekin such yeh hai kay dharam say zyada dharti ki khainch hai. Dharti dharti (Oh friend, They were never dead. But more than religion, It is the land that attracts me…Land land…),” tweeted Rashid.
The writer has also raised concern over the extinction of the Punjabi language in Pakistan’s Punjab.
“On my last visit to Indian Punjab, I saw most Punjabis still speaking their mother tongue. Here (in Pakistan) rich kids think Punjabi is the language of servants. Recent census and all rich Punjabis mentioned Urdu as their language,” Rashid tweeted.
The writer wrote that the younger generation in Pakistan is ashamed of their mother tongue.
“They think the language is low-class and ‘paindu’(rural). They don’t learn it. When I speak Punjabi to salespersons in big stores, they are shocked. They respond in Urdu, I keep to Punjabi,” said Rashid.
He has also asked his friends to learn ‘Potohari’, the “beautiful, Jalandhar Doabi dialect from him.
Left Jalandhar during Partition
Well-known Pakistan travel writer Salman Rashid’s family left its ancestral home situated on Railway Road in Jalandhar during the Partition. His grandfather Dr Badaruddin, two aunts and a few other relatives lived in their ancestral house in the city when the Partition gobbled up the city. They were never heard of again.
The tweet
“….Only I, who was born four-and-a-half years after the Partition, still root for it (Jalandhar). For me, the city and the house on Railway Road are still home,’ tweeted Salman Rashid, the author of ‘A Time of Madness,’ a memoir of the India-Pakistan partition. In his book, Rashid gave a detailed encounter of his journey undertaken with a grainy photograph of his old home from Lahore to Jalandhar in 2008 and then again in 2010.
