Balraj Sahni's Punjab
Ramanjit Singh
Sometimes we peer back into history and think about how it was. We peer back into our history and remember how we were. We remember the life when we were still together.
I often think about the great Balraj Sahni's visit to his ancestral home in west Punjab in 1962 to understand how he coped with the reality of losing everything during partition. He wrote his safarnama (travelogue) in which he shares his emotions, his sorrows of seeing Lahore, and feeling lost. Lahore was still there, but his people were not. His eyes tried to seek out a Sikh or a Hindu among the crowd but found none. His ancestral village of Bhera, his birthplace of Rawalpindi, his Gujranwala, his Sargodha, his Lahore, were still there, but his people were not.
How can one cope with a reality of a place where an important part of its inhabitants are no longer there. A part of a community that gave meaning to its very identity is no longer there. Cultural diversity, differences in thoughts, differences in beliefs are ingredients that gives a place its vitality, and now all they have is a void which they will never be able to fulfill. They all are same now, and "pure", but they fail to realize what it could have been.
Balraj Sahni was no longer part of that Punjab. He longed for it, and when he told his old mother that he's going to Pakistan, his mother said "What is the point of going there now, we have lost everything, we don't belong to that Punjab now."
Balraj responds to his mother "Don't you want to know about Bhera and Pindi. They remain our home."
A part of him still belonged to that old Punjab. There are some amongst us who think that borders and boundaries are mere lines on a map. Our feelings and thoughts are not bound to a geographic space, they transcend across borders. Nothing stops us from being part of that land that is no longer with us. I believe Balraj Sahni was one of those men.
Carrying all the begrudges and regrets, with all the burden of history, Balraj Sahni still went to see his old Punjab. He met his old friends in Governnment College Lahore, and went to Rawalpindi and the story is that when he looked at his ancestral home, he cried inconsolably. It was this connection to the old Punjab that was the sole reason of his visit. He wanted to see if he can find his old playground, his home where he grew up. He says in his travolgue that when he saw his house, he felt that his parents are still there, that his father will come out any moment to greet him, that his neighbors are still there, as if he just woke up from a bad dream. This was Balraj Sahni's Punjab.
At the time of his return to India, his friend and Punjabi poet, Ahmad Rahi, came to see him off at the Lahore Railway Station. Ahmad Rahi could not forget the emotions that played on Balraj Sahni's face as he said his goodbyes at the railway station. That entire afternoon and evening, Rahi could not concentrate on any work. That night, he could not fall asleep. In an attempt to achieve some peace of mind, he wrote a poem dedicated to Balraj Sahni, and immediately posted it to him.
To Balraj Sahni,
You, from the foreign land, who once lived in my country
The pain that is mine is the pain that is yours
Your soul screamed leaving this place
My heart cried coming from there
What greater grief could there be
You crave for this place, I crave for that
How do we count the broken hearts
Millions here and millions there
How brutally the nest was destroyed
a straw here, a straw there.
This poem is a cry from the heart about what happened to our Punjab. This, and similar poems from Amrita Pritam, Afzal Tauseef, Manto, and Faiz, capture in words about the great tragedy of partition. A tragedy in which we were the perpetrators and the victims.
I write the last four lines of the poem again
How do we count the broken hearts
Millions here and millions there
How brutally the nest was destroyed
a straw here, a straw there.
My heart weeps for that old Punjab. I cannot do justice writing about the great Balraj Sahni in a mere blog of few words. It will be a disservice to this great personality to say too little about his life, his work and his enormous contributions to the Indian cinema. He was in a class of his own.
Balraj Sahni's voice carried the feelings of our time
Balraj Sahni's face reflected the emotions of our time
Balraj Sahni embodied India of our time
Balraj Sahni was India's son; moreover, he was Punjab's son.
When I was young and didn't yet understand the significance of partition, it was Balraj Sahni that gave me an inkling that something terrible had happened in our recent past. Whether it was his films or writings, there was something in him that was telling me that he is carrying an enormous weight of history on his shoulders. When I grew up and learned more about him, I realized the real Balraj Sahni. And today, as I sit here and write this, it's hard to capture my emotions that fully describes this man. Maybe what I want to say I cannot put it in words; maybe there are things that cannot be explained; you just see what you feel simply on a person's face. Ahmad Rahi understood him and his poem personified the emotions of this remarkable man.
When Sahni traveled to Pakistan in October 1962 at the age of 49, it was more than just a trip to visit his ancestral home in Bhera or his birthplace in Rawalpindi. It was a quest to explore his identity, to truly comprehend who he was. Through his diary entries recounting the journey, he reflects not only on his past, witnessing his sister's tearful wedding and reminiscing about his childhood days playing in the streets of Sahniyan da Mohalla. This voyage also aimed to bridge the gaps in his understanding of Punjabi heritage and its significance within the broader South Asian context.
In Jhang, he draws parallels between the local women's attire and those from Kathiawar, while the people of Jhang evoke memories of the gypsies he encountered on his travels from East Punjab to Delhi. Sahni contrasts the narratives of Heer Ranjha by Waris Shah and Damodar, highlighting the importance of language in connecting people even across geographical divides. He recognizes that the fundamental human yearning for peace and happiness remains universal, transcending borders whether in Pakistan or India.
In his Safarnama, he further recounts a memory from a specific street in Lahore, where he recalled the walks he used to take with a female college friend whom he loved. During one of these walks, she turns to him and suggests they get married, but he lacked the courage to agree. The atmosphere at that time was tense and uncertain, filled with fear. To avoid the memories associated with that street, he asked his tongawala to take a different route to Mozang. Each corner of Lahore evokes memories of his youth. He also recalls a time when he brought his wife Dammo (Damayanti) from Rawalpindi to Lahore for sightseeing, and during their return journey, he briefly lost her on the crowded train.
While in Jhang, Balraj Sahni is accompanied by Anjum Takki, Siri, Syed Faiz Ali, Sher Jafar, and Zubair, who show him around the town and take him to the dargah of Heer Ranjha. Upon visiting the dargha, Balraj Sahni is deeply moved and describes it as a timeless symbol of love and sacrifice. The intense emotions experienced by Heer are best portrayed through the poetic verses of Waris Shah in the Punjabi language. During the evenings, his companions captivate him with their poetry and ghazals. The camaraderie is so strong that Balraj wonders if he is still a stranger among these newfound friends in this unfamiliar land.
He then journeys to Sargodha accompanied by Sikandar Hayat Khan, who had moved to Pakistan from Delhi. Just as Balraj Sahni was excited to visit his hometown in Bhera, Sikander was also eager to see his home in Delhi. The Partition had brought about such tragic circumstances that individuals on both sides yearned to catch a final glimpse of their ancestral homes. In Sargodha, Balraj encounters Mohan Lal Sahni, a Hindu barrister who was still practicing law in the city.
Afterward, he proceeds to Bhera and, after some time, manages to locate the house where he had spent his childhood. Recalling the moment when he was searching for his house, he climbs onto the roof of a nearby building and spots his own house. Overwhelmed, he collapses to the ground, shedding tears, and utters, "I can still see my little sister playing on the roof." Balraj Sahni's sister had passed away, and he was yearning for her, pleading with God to bring her back so he could see her once more. The emotional intensity of the scene was indescribable, as a flood of childhood memories rushed back into his mind. Despite the efforts of his companions to console him, he remained inconsolable.
This was Balraj Sahni's Punjab.
Also refer to this article that contains photographs of his visit
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