The evening of March 23, 1931

THOSE born after August 1947 have often heard first-hand accounts of India’s Partition from parents and relatives. Right from my childhood, I used to listen to the daily group conversations of elders. An era when there was no radio or television or phones, the only mode of communication was this warm gupshup with friends or neighbours.

No one discussed politics or crime in those days because politicians then used to be role models for everyone and society was largely crime-free. Discussions usually revolved around the chronicles of Partition.

I still clearly remember an interesting discussion my father had with his closest friend whom he met after a long time. These two childhood friends belonged to Bhera village (Sargodha district, Pakistan). After school, the duo shifted to Lahore.

Father joined Punjab University, Lahore, in 1930 and his childhood friend, Vohra sahib, got a job in the Lahore Jail Press. While returning home from the university, the friends would give each other company every day. As both were unmarried at the time, they loved to take a round of Anarkali Bazaar, which was a convention with most Lahorians.

In the early 1960s, destiny once again played a surprising and pleasant role when both friends shifted to Chandigarh along with their families. Old friendship once again started blossoming. This golden decade of 1955 to 1965 was the time when homes were small, earnings meagre but people were large-hearted. During this period, both the friends used to sit together for hours. Conversations, naturally, revolved around the old sweet and sour memories of Lahore and Sargodha.

I was a kid at the time and usually took a keen interest in these conversations. Both the friends, perhaps, were not aware of the fact that their daily chitchat was not casual but was part of undocumented history.

Many a time, these old memories brought to the fore some insightful moments like those of Bhagat Singh and his comrades’ imprisonment in Lahore jail. Vohra sahib, who worked in the printing press of the jail, would often speak about how Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were kept in different cells of the jail, but usually near each other. The trio would talk to each other by shouting. To put an end to this practice, the jailor shifted them to barracks which were at a distance. But even after this move, these three inmates remained undeterred. They now used to communicate with each other by virtually screaming and this method worked well for them.

This touching conversation would often proceed like this, “Anand sahib, do you remember that it was a Monday, and on the evening of March 23, 1931, you were waiting for me outside the Lahore jail. When I came out, there was a big crowd outside the prison with gloomy faces. We, too, joined them. From inside the jail premises, we could hear the loud voices shouting ‘Inquilab Zindabad, Inquilab Zindabad’. These slogans stopped suddenly and everyone in the crowd had tears in their eyes and murmurs of ‘the trio has been hanged’ could be heard all around.”

Some memories cannot be erased, they are an essential part of our national ethos.

— The writer retired as a librarian from Panjab University, Chandigarh