God does not Exist!
God is not a Reality!
My
Father and my Grandfather both served Patiala state in the regime of
Maharaja Bhupinder Singh as his close associates .Grandfather was 'Naib'
(Assistant)to Maharaja and father was 'Rozenaamcha' (Daily diary)
writer. Summer capital of Maharaja was Chail and our family used to
spend 3 months of summer's extreme weather in Chail. We would visit
Shimla quite often. We were a middle-class but a privileged family. The
salary structure of the state was like my father and grandfather were
drawing Rs.35 and Rs. 45, respectively as their monthly salary.
Maharaja Bhupinder Singh
'Scandal
point' in 'Queen of hills', Shimla, is a place with which I have an
associated memory. I wondered Why Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala
did not have Shimla as his summer Capital but a small town 'Chail'
instead .Since my childhood, I have grown listening to stories about how
the Scandal Point came into being and how it got its name. The story
goes that the then Maharaja (ruler) of Patiala had eloped with the
daughter of the British Viceroy from this junction of the Mall road and
the 'Ridge'. This had led to the Maharaja being banished from entering
Shimla by the British authorities. He countered the move by setting
himself a new summer capital - now famous hill resort of Chail, 45 km
from Shimla.
In
August 1947 I was seven years old, and as usual our family was in
Chail. My father happened to be in Patiala on some official visit and
was stuck there as riots had broken out after partition of the country.
In
Patiala Ours was the only non-Muslim house in a Muslim 'Mohalla'. The
public of the state in general was poor .They could not afford even
new clothes and used patches when a garment got torn out. New clothes
used to be got stitched for Eid only. Mothers used to get gold and
silver jewellery( received in their own dowry) polished to be given to
their daughters on the occasion of their 'Nikah'(Marriage)as they could
not afford to buy new jewellery. The price of one 'Tola'(10grams) of
gold was Rs.70.
Refugees,
mostly Sikh survivors from the holocaust from Peshawar and Bahawalpur
landed in Patiala. Most of them had lost their kith and kin at the hands
of Muslims in Newborn Pakistan . They were angry, revengeful, and
started killing local Muslims. An elderly neighbour, a true Muslim
decided to surrender to the will of Allah approached my father with the
request to approach the rioters to give one hour's lease of life and
thereafter they would assemble in a school's compound and make their
task easy. My father took along the Gurudwara Granthi (Priest) and both
requested the blood thirsty rioters in name of 'Waheguru' with folded
hands to grant the last wish of their victims. to which they agreed with
great hesitation after the elderly priest touched the feet of their
ringleader.
Picture for representation purpose only
After
about 455 minutes all the residents of the Mohalla dressed in their new
clothes wearing all their jewellery which they had got prepared for the
occasion of Eid and their daughters clad in wedding attire started
making bee line to the school compound dragging their feet as if they
were going to the gallows. Before leaving for the last journey, Zivi
'chachi' (Our next-door neighbor) hugged my father tight and instructed
him to give her love to her 'Ladoo' (That is me) and ran away
concealing her tears. They sat on ground and covered themselves with
sheet of cloth so that they could not see their loved one's while being
butchered before their eyes......and then the inevitable happened. The
school compound was littered with blood and human parts by inhuman
people. One of the 'Bhapas' ( As the Pishoris were called) had a blunt
sword he gave the most painful death to his victims.
-Tejinder Kamboj
My
father who was witness to all this massacre could not believe his eye
and ears and could not believe that God could allow this to happen to
his own creation. Coming back to Chail in a state of trance with the
horror he had seen. He spent many sleepless nights and often murmured,"
God does not exist". and thereafter he never did 'Paath' (Recitation of
the holy text) and never visited a Gurudwara throughout his life.
(1940-20??)
P.S.
I was the first male child in our joint family of 17 people.
Celebrations of my arrival in the family continued for a month or so.
Every visitor who came to have my 'darshan'(glimpse of me) was greeted
with 'ladoos'. 'Laao ladoo' was every body's demand and my mother would
appear as number 83(lady with baby) holding me and box of 'ladoos' in
the other hand. This is how I got my nick name 'Ladoo'
I could not stop my tears while reading your memorable account of inhuman behaviours of the communities. I respect you and still have memories of the moments spent under you during service periods. Istill remember a story you wrote after your visit to USA where you met a grateful father employed by his son at a construction site.
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