From Lahore to Ludhiana: Papoo Abnash’s Partition journey
City woman recalls how tragedy forced her family to cross the border
After many decades, Papoo Abnash Singh still carries vivid memories of the summer of 1947 when the lines drawn on the map uprooted millions, including her own family.
“We were six brothers and sisters, and I was just seven years old when the tragedy struck and we had to shift to India,” she recalls. Her grandfather was in the police force. Their sprawling house number 38 on Elgin Road in the Lahore’s Cantonment area was left behind as destiny forced them to cross the border.
The family first moved to Dalhousie, where her father served as an executive engineer in the Electricity Board. Transfers eventually brought them to Ludhiana, where Papoo got married and built her life.
Her husband, Abnash Singh, whom she lost a few years ago, carried his own scars of the Partition. He often recounted how Sikh boys were killed on sight in Sheikhupura, forcing his father to disguise them in suit-salwar as girls to escape.
The house on Elgin Road in Lahore, Pakistan, where Papoo Abnash and her family used to stay.
“Abnash’s father, Atma Singh, fondly called Lalaji during the freedom movement, had worked closely with Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. But the Partition broke him, he lost interest in life and worked only to settle his sons,” Papoo shares.
Atma Singh had owned one of Sheikhupura’s largest rice shellers but all was abandoned. His three elder brothers perished in the Partition violence. With the help of the Indian Army, he managed to bring his family and his brothers’ families safely to Amritsar. From there, they moved to Jalandhar and finally Ludhiana.
For Papoo, Independence Day is not only about freedom but also about survival and rebuilding.
“We lost everything but we found a new life here. That is the true spirit of independence. Every Independence Day, I feel gratitude to workers who helped at the border and I am grateful that despite losing everything, we could rebuild our lives in India,” she says with her voice steady yet heavy with memory.
