Living one hour away from ancestral village but can’t visit
I listened a lot about my ancestral village Chahrke (Talwandi Bhindran) which was established by my forefathers when few of them left Talwandi Bhindran and settled in their agricultural land. It is located very near to the Indian border on the right bank of Ravi river. It is a village of Sialkot district. Named after our town, still, we are known as Charkeyean Wale in Batala. I searched it online, Talwandi Bhindran was there, but Charkey was not. Recently, I have gone through an interview of an older man named Nazeer Ahmed who migrated from Jagadhri to Talwandi Bhindran. On watching his interview I came to know that a piece of land was allotted to him in Charkey village. His description of fertile land, countless cattle, tall standing sugarcane and paddy that was left behind by Bhinder Sardars reminded me of the same story that we have listened to from our father and grandfather.
Were those crops aware that those who have sowed them will not harvest them? Were Cattle aware of their husbands’ bad luck? Were the wells aware that their lords would not irrigate their fields anymore, and Sardars are leaving and leaving for forever? The soil that fed them didn’t receive the ashes of its sons and daughters.
It was an irregular migration in human history without any scarcity of basic necessities. The prosperous farmers of canal colonies were unaware of the big disaster that was waiting for them.
The third generation of the people who migrated from both sides of the line still feels nostalgic for their roots that left across the border. There is an indefinite bond that always forces or compels us to search for our ancestral village on google map. We love to see interviews of older men who were there at the time of partition.
Time and again I search Talwandi Bhindran Di on google map and locate it very near to the dividing line. I used to see all the pics uploaded on google map by the villagers. Now there are Secondary, Middle, High schools and also a Degree college that indicates the development of my ancestral village. On searching the path, google shows it through Kartarpur Sahib corridor, and it is just 74 km from my home in Naushera Majja Singh. I have to go to Kalnaur, Dera Baba Nanak and then Kartarpur Sahib. From there a direct road goes to Narowal; further, I have to take Narowal-Muridke road for 10 km to reach the destination. From my present village, the ancestral village is just 1 hour away if I travel by car, but the Goddamned line doesn’t allow us to visit our villages. An outcome of cheap, hateful and short-sighted politics, the Radcliffe line is drawn on the heart, mind and even psyche of Punjab and its divided people.
On searching Talwandi Bhindran Di on the map, I also see the other villages with the same names that villages on this side of the line have. Whenever someone from our generation wants to go to their ancestral land, parents stop them. There is a myth that the first stamp of Pak embassy on the passport induces the citizen under the scan and other countries deny the visa to a person who’s debut international visit is to Pakistan.
On the one hand, there is propaganda of Hindu nationalism, on the other, same kind of element who advocates the extreme politics in the name of Islam. But there are lots of hearts who wish to see united Punjab, who want to move freely in Jalandhar and Lahore on the same day, without any visa restriction. Whenever a film releases having the stuff of western Punjab, it goes blockbuster. The youth of Punjab either on the eastern or west side of the line love to listen to singers from across the border. Lahoriye loves Amritsari papad. We here love Lahori Jutti.
There is an invisible bond that can never be torn apart by hate politics. Seeds of love, commonness and affection among both parts of Punjab will win one day. In the last seven decades, no one from my family has visited our ancestral village. Hopefully, I will not have to search for my ancestral village on the map; rather I would visit it in my car.
Jujhar Singh
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