Black days of 1984 - Some personal experience

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh

Daas lived in Delhi in 1984 and wanted to share some memories with the sangat on board:

31st October 1984: Everything was calm in the area where we lived.

1 Nov 1984: Our father was not at home. We lived in a two storeyed house. At ground floor there were two portions. One portion was rented out to a bengali family. In the other portion daas lived with family. Upstairs my Naniji lived with 2 of her unmarried daughters.

At around 9AM we start seeing neighbours climbing up there roofs and pointing at fires they can see and discussing this. We had no idea what was going on. Daas was 11 years old at that time. After few minutes my masiji comes running downstairs and asks our mother to quickly take few clothes and come upstairs. As soon as she runs back upstairs we hear sounds of crowd approaching. Our mother didn’t get a chance to take us upstairs and as soon as she locks the door from inside stones start pelting at the windows. Glass of the windows breaks. Daas with 1 sister and 1 brother was rushed into backroom by our mother. She was doing paath at the time. Daas can still remember the shouting crowd. “Inhone ne hamaari maa maari hai” (they have killed our mother). “khoon ka badla khoon se lenge”… “saalon ko baahar nikaalo”…..

As far as daas can remember, the bengali tenant after a while dared to come out. He started talking to the mob. I think from my memories only this much I can remember that he told the mob he had young kids and the sikhs in the house were not home and if they sat the house on fire all his belongings will be burned as well. So the mob gave him a few hours to take his stuff out and leave. Just while this was going on we could hear screams of someone who was in extreme pain. There were two other sikh families on the same street that we lived. The screams were coming from the street. Mobsters had taken out the family members and were killing them by burning them. Tyres were put around the neck and all the male members of that family were burned alive.

Around 3pm our masiji came downstairs again. She asked us to join them upstairs. We went upstairs and asked the bengali tenant to lock the door from outside so that people think that there is no one upstairs. Our Naniji was a brave singhni. As soon as we went upstairs she asked our mother that don’t worry. We will face this together and with Guru maharaj’s kirpa if the dusht try to attack again we will fight back. The houses in India have lot of different designs and in our case also the floor upstairs was divided into three sections. One room was separated. Then second section had the kitchen and gallery followed by bathroom. Main section had three rooms out of which one was Guru sahib’s room. The refrigrator was in one of the rooms that were in. But we were cutoff from the kitchen and the bathroom as there was an open lobby between the two sections. Dushts were sitting on the roofs in back street and keeping an eye to see any movement. As we only had light breakfast in the morning. My youngest brother was only 6 years old and he started asking for something to eat. The fridge only had some milk and fruits and not much in it. Somehow he was calmed down by giving milk. It was getting dark and the mob came once again. This time some other neighbours also came out and told them that no one was in the home. As the walls were connected with two other houses on both sides they complained it will damage other property as well.

We waited for dark and as Guru sahib’s seva had to be done. There was no question of switching on the light. So naniji decided to do seva of guru sahib by hiding a small torch in her shawl and only opening the shawl to just get darshan of guru sahib to take the hukam. She did the sukhasan seva of Guru sahib and did ardaas for either the dushts running away or attaining shahidi. There was no food and we were feeling hungry as well. Naniji decided to open the backdoor, crawl through the lobby and go to kitchen to cook something. She was stopped by my masiji’s but she insisted. She somehow managed to reach the kitchen but couldn’t find the matchbox in dark. She was 60+ years of age. So somehow she managed to bring in all the boxes of spices into our room. Then she went again and came back with knives, some iron rods, chimta etc whatever she could find that could be used as a potential weapon. She then filled few buckets of water and also brough in empty buckets. No food could be cooked. So she told my mother and masiji’s that if we are attacked that all the spices, red chilli powder, sri sahibs and 3 big swords that we had should be used. If everything finishes kill the children first and then kill themselevs instead of falling in hands of the dushts.

The night passed by..


2 Nov 1984: At about 4 AM my mother and naniji started doing the nitnem. They kept doing the naam abhyaas all along this time. Naniji wanted to do seva of guru sahib. She decided to go out and do ishnaan. As soon as she opened the door we heard sounds of dusht screaming “Oye is ghar me koi hai. Abhi darvaja khulne ki avaaj aayi hai” (There is someone in the home. I have heard sound of the door opening).

The mob came back again. Even at such early hour they were keeping an eye. Such was there planning. Its only Guru sahib who knows how they didn’t attack at that hour as the sounds stopped after a while. As the day progressed we were becoming more and more agitated as there was nothing to eat. Even water supply was finished. Naniji had decided to save half bread from last day. Probably she knew that kids will need something to eat. My mother was bibeki. So she didn’t eat anything. The day passed locked inside. No food, no way to go out to toilet or kitchen. All ways were blocked.

(To be continued)

Daas will narrate in next posting how next few days were spent without food, concern of guru sahib’s satkaar, escape from the home, my mother’s bibek pehra and its impact…

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh

Dhan Guroo, Dhan Guroo Pyaaray Jee!

Jatinderpal Singh

Akaal74 jeeo, what a great Singhnee your Nani jee was/is. This Daas wishes for the dust of her feet to be placed on his forehead. Her courage and bravery in the face of such grim situation is remarkable.

When I read such stories as this, the dark memories of 1984 come back. The wounds open again and blood starts rinsing again. The pain comes back all over again. This Daas too was in India at that time and witnessed with his own eyes, how we were humiliated and killed. The extremely rich Sikhs of Delhi and Kanpur in particular were reduced to the state of beggars and paupers. The bhaias used to smoke cigarettes on our faces. What a humiliating time it was!

Please post the next part of the story soon.

Daas,
Kulbir Singh

Vaheguru! Only and only Gurmukh piyaare of Dasmesh Pita Jee can dare to pass through such times bravely! Namaskaar to satkaar jog maataa jee!

Daas is from a Punjabi Hindu family, and was 5 years old growing up in the Middle East when this happened. I went to an Indian school, and clearly remember that we were sent home early as the school was closed way before time. The only faint memory I have is getting off the school bus and my mother telling me "Indira Gandhi mar gayi".

In the years to follow, it came to my knowledge that the mob came to my nana-nani's house as well (they live in Delhi). I don't remember properly, but I was told that they hid a Sikh family, or probably some Sikhs in the house. One of the dushts came and told my nani ji "Mata ji! Agar ghar mein koi Sardar chhupaya hai toh bata doh, nahi toh saare ghar ko aag laga denge" (Mata jee, if you are hiding any Sardar in your house then tell us, otherwise we will burn down your entire house). My nani ji said that there is no Sardar here. She also says she saw the dead body of a young Sikh boy, probably 18 years old. The dushts killed him and stuffed a cigarette in his mouth. We also heard that burnt bodies of Sikh truck drivers were seen hanging from their own trucks.

Another Sikh friend once told me that their nana ji was in Delhi too, and he saw an entire road piled up with dead bodies. He saw the mob come all of a sudden, and to save his life he lay down there as well as if he was also a dead body, and thus saved his life.

Waheguru !!

Bhul Chuk Maaf !!

Kulbir Singh Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Akaal74 jeeo, what a great Singhnee your Nani jee
> was/is. This Daas wishes for the dust of her feet
> to be placed on his forehead. Her courage and
> bravery in the face of such grim situation is
> remarkable.
>
> When I read such stories as this, the dark
> memories of 1984 come back. The wounds open again
> and blood starts rinsing again. The pain comes
> back all over again. This Daas too was in India at
> that time and witnessed with his own eyes, how we
> were humiliated and killed. The extremely rich
> Sikhs of Delhi and Kanpur in particular were
> reduced to the state of beggars and paupers. The
> bhaias used to smoke cigarettes on our faces. What
> a humiliating time it was!
>
> Please post the next part of the story soon.
>
> Daas,
> Kulbir Singh


Veerjio

Daas' naniji left for gurpuri in 2000.

Regarding your note about the smoke on faces, daas remembers this to be the case. One good thing that always happened was that our pitaji always stood up and shouted at the person who was smoking. Majority of the time the smoker had to stop. Sometimes it led to situation turning ugly but he never gave up and always challenged the person smoking in public buses or places where it should not be done.

Same was case with a lot of singhs in old times. I was told by our naniji that our mamaji used to travel in UP trains a lot and always kept a 3ft sword with him. If any mona dared to smoke in the coach he used to stand up and challenge the culprit in such beer ras that the person used to stop there itself.

Singhs need to keep up the beer ras along with rehat and pehra and chardhi kala will return.

Some of the memories have faded after such a long time.

3 Nov 1984: We were without any food or water. There was no possibility of going out. But mobs that had surrounded the house were slowly dispersing. This gave a chance to my naniji and mother to go out do ishnaan and bring some eatables from the kitchen. All the family members had the darshan of Guru Sahib. Kids were given some food to eat but elders stayed hungry. Atleast the water jug had been refilled. By the evening 3-4 PM time we heard knocks on the front door. It was the neighbour who lived across the street. This was a family of Hindu Baniyas. No body answered the door. Then the Bengali tenant who lived at ground floor came upstairs and requested us to come out. Naniji talked to him though the window asking what they wanted. They said there was some calm on the street and they wanted to move us to a safe location. This was a difficult choice but staying in without food and water was also not going to work for too long. Finally naniji agreed that we will move out and be prepared for the worst because those were not the times to believe anyone except Waheguru. We boys were made to look like girls by changing the clothes. Our kes were also opened and tied like girls. MY mother and naniji also had to open the kes flowing but they kept the keski on head covered with the chunni.

Ardaas was done to guru sahib and Sukhasan done. By 6PM we all left for the home across the street. But my naniji went back to the home. This was a surprise decision as no one was aware of this. She said that Guru Sahib can not be left alone in the home and someone needs to be present there for the seva. She refused my mother’s request to accompany her. The youngsters were fed after three days of hunger. But my mother refused to eat the food as she had bibek pehra. She did not eat anything as there was no sign of our father as well for so many days. All daas remembers is the naam khanda and continuous bani from her for all this period.

Next day the home owner lady who was very old requested my mother to eat something. Finally she agreed to go to the kitchen and cook some food herself. We stayed in this house for 2 days. After that we were moved to a nearby house where 2 other families (all Bibis only as all members of their families had been killed) were staying. This was a house under construction without any power. We stayed there for next 1 week. After which some Jatha singhs managed to get us out of the locality to a much safer location.

For all this period Naniji stayed in the home. In fact her faith in Guru Sahib’s seva saved us all. Also for all this period daas saw the real impact of the bibek pehra on my mother. The body may have become physically weaker due to not eating any food for prolonged periods but this definitely helped in the spiritual atmosphere around us. With the sound of Gurrrrr gurrrrrr all time we never felt scared for even 1 second.
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One interesting incident dass forgot to post in the last email:

We had a double barrel rifle at home which was licenced as one of my Uncle was a cashier in the bank. My mother and her sisters were all trained in handling guns as they came from farming background and were required to look after the crops/kids where wolves etc would turn up frequently. The gun was lying with the barrel detached from the rest of the body as it might have been cleaned up and never assembled again.

On the 1st November all my masi’s and mother tried to fit it back but none of them remembered how to fit it back. Even we tried our hands on it, although daas remembers it was too heavy to lift. But they all were forgetting one small part about settling the lock lever. But may be it was for good that Guru Sahib didn’t want the gun to be assembled back. As I am pretty sure someone would have fired from within the home and we would not have survived for too long as there were only 10-12 cartridges.

Vaheguroo.....Vaheguroo

Dhan Guru Dhan Guru Pyaare!

Vaheguroooo!!!!!!!! Dhan Guru Dhan Guru Pyaare!!!!
Can admin jee please add this to the articles section as it is quite motivational story. I remember a Gursikh saying that those who had strong faith and Jeevan, even though attacked, put up a strong fight and in most cases survived. Always a lesson for us who get on a fence or are still working on improving our jeevan.