Then and Now – Part II

Silvertalkies turned one on August 15 and to commemorate our first anniversary, along with Independence Day, we invited our readers to send in their views on ‘Independent India, then and now.’ In the second part of this two part article, we share the recollections of Prabha Kamath and Devinder Mehta. They told us about their nostalgic memories of Independence and of this very special day.

Prabha Kamath

This 15th August it will be 65years since we got independence. I was a child of 7 years then. My father was a follower of Indian National Congress. We were staying in Ernakulam, a sleepy town of Kerala then. I still remember the D-Day filled with lot of enthusiasm, excitement and new hopes, arising from a new independent nation. There were celebrations all around, in all the houses, schools, colleges, institutions, both government and private and at all social meets. Children like us walked around wearing the tricolor flags on dresses and enjoyed the day with full vigor, even though we were not aware of the exact meaning of freedom at that time. My father bought a bundle of flags, made of silk, in different sizes to distribute in and around the neighborhood. I still remember the day, when we rushed to the M G road to catch a glimpse of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Lord Mountbatten, who visited our town, the same year.

Those were the golden days of free India and those memories cannot be washed away from our minds. Our leaders had launched many projects in different fields to generate employment and provide better education. They even formulated 5-year plans to benchmark the progress in various fields and achieve the developments required for the country as well as for the welfare of the countrymen. People were full of patriotism and were fully prepared to contribute their bit to the nation. Though people were not very well off, their value systems prevailed to a large extent. Various cultures were safeguarded equitably to the best extent possible. Brotherly feelings and affection were shared by people. There was peace and happiness all around.

Country had started progressing slowly. Talented people got good education. There was development in every field. Talent and merit carried weight for getting an admission in a school or college, getting employment and even in one’s career. There was a feel-good feeling pervading all around.

There were great hopes for a great India amongst the people.

Prabha Kamath is a resident of Pune and an avid blogger on several subjects, though her primary interest lies in food blogs. She is also learning spoken Sanskrit.

Devinder Mehta

I was around 12 years old on 15th August 1947. For us that day does not hold any special memories because it was a time of fear and terror, with riots and horror stories unfolding each day. We knew that India and Pakistan had been divided and we knew we had to leave Lahore in Pakistan, where our home was. So it was a tension filled time for us. My father was an employee of the North West Railway and even after the partition, they asked him to continue working in Lahore. We lived in a lane that was adjacent to a Muslim area and when one by one all our Hindu neighbours moved to India, the Muslims coming from India started occupying their empty houses. Even though some of them threatened us, we had protection from our original Muslim neighbours who told us not to fear anything and continue living where we were.

In November 1947, the Muslims who were protecting us approached my father and said there was a lot of pressure on them to make us empty our house. They said we had no choice but to leave our home but invited us to live in theirs so that they could protect us there. My father decided then that we would move to India and applied for a transfer. The process took a month and eventually he was transferred to the North West railway office in Delhi.

We left Lahore on December 1947. On our way to the border by a Tonga (horsecart), we were stopped near and village and asked to leave all our possessions behind. We were only allowed to carry Rs 10 each and a few essential items in a small bag. Me, my father, mother, brother and sister gave up everything and came walking to the Wagah border. There were camps by the Indian government at the border where took refuge for a few days. Eventually the camp authorities dropped us to Amritsar station from where we reached Jalandhar where we had a few relatives. We borrowed some money from them and reached Delhi, where we stayed with a relative in the initial days, till my father found a house left by a Muslim for us to stay in 1948. It was a small house but in those hard times it was enough.

My father was soon reinstated in his job but those were difficult times for us and the first few months went in paying off the money we had borrowed. Our education was suffering but the main concern then was how to live from day to day. I was 13 then and to supplement the family income, started selling balloons and small toy items for children near my house. By the end of the day I would earn about two and half rupees which in those days was a lot of money. My brothers did similar things.

Slowly I restarted my education by joining a school for refugee children in Karol Bagh. It was an evening school so after selling my wares, I would walk from Sadar Bazaar were to stayed to Karol Bagh everyday. Our house did not have electricity in those days as the government hadn’t allowed electricity in houses that had been left behind. In other words, that was a difficult time and though we were aware that something momentous had happened our focus was on living from day to day.

Devinder Mehta is a retired official from the law ministry. He enjoys writing and lives in Delhi with his wife. He is 77 years old.

(Flag photograph: Nidhi Chawla)