Mr. Santram Bajaj was just 11 years when his life took a new turn. He was to leave his home and take the journey to cross the border.
He recollects that his cousin had gone to maternal grandparents place when the situation in his home town started getting worse. So his uncle went to get her back. When returning back, uncle was killed and his cousin sister was abducted while they were waiting for a bus at Bus stop.
So a decision was made to leave the place and cross the border.
In this September 1947, file photo hundreds of Muslim refugees crowd on top a train leaving New Delhi for Pakistan. Source: AP
He says, " ... earlier we , I mean everyone thought, its just a change of government. That's it. But when things got worse... Fires, looting etc... So children were sent to India side as they thought, when it calms down, we can all return back to our homes."
He remembers his cousin sister. " ... we don't know what happened to her...if she alive or ... till date we have no clue..."
Life was not easy in school when finally got settled in Panipat, India after few months of being at a few places. Mr. Bajaj recalls, " ... we looked different, used to dress differently too. So it took some time to get adjusted in that new environment. ... other kids in the school thought that since we came from other side, we must be eating meat... initially, they used to call us Pakistanies ... But slowly, I made friends... and it got normal."
Today, Mr. Bajaj says that of course we can't change the history but we should not dwell on it. He says that we should spread the message of peace, friendship across. We should work for restoring the peace and should not spread hatred.
He says that often, I wish if I could go and visit the place where my home was but God knows, when would that happen.
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