- Title:
- Oral history with Ajit Cour, 2010 November 2
- Author:
- Cour, Ajit, 1934-, Bhalla, Guneeta Singh, Kaur, Kanwalroop, and Kapany, Narinder Singh
- Author (no Collectors):
- Cour, Ajit, 1934-, Bhalla, Guneeta Singh, Kaur, Kanwalroop, and Kapany, Narinder Singh
- Collector:
- Cour, Ajit, 1934-, Bhalla, Guneeta Singh, Kaur, Kanwalroop, and Kapany, Narinder Singh
- Description:
- Ajit Cour was born in 1934 and lived in Lahore during the Partition. Before the Partition she attended a Christian school. There, the nuns taught English to the Punjabi children, highlighting the difference in the sound made between the ‘k’ and ‘c’. The nuns claimed that the letter ‘c’ is feminine while the letter ‘k’ is masculine. This led Mrs. Cour to change her name from Kour to Cour. She remembers being brought up on stories that demonize Muslims by portraying them as the evil characters. She believes that these stories contributed to the uneasy relationship between Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims. In school, she noticed the discrimination between the Muslims and Hindus. Hindus and Muslims drank from separate water fountains, the Muslim children had a hard time finding partners for school projects, and the teachers were harsher on Muslim children. Ajit recounts her parents discussing the possible violence that might break out over the Ravi River (thinking that the boundary would be drawn along the river). Her mother believed that the tensions would end once the Muslims could represent themselves.On the night of the 14th, her father was glued to the radio as she went to sleep with her siblings. They all woke up to her mother and father crying after hearing the announcement. During the Partition Mrs. Cour remembers hearing stories of violence breaking out between families that have once lived together in peace. The violence was unlike any other she had seen before, people were proud of what they have done. Mrs. Cour recounts one particular act of violence were a man was beaten with a wooden rod, doused with petrol, and set on fire. This horrific event was celebrated, people danced around the man whilst burning in the street. After retelling the story Mrs. Cour describes this moment as “a very deep-rooted brutal, brutal, enjoyment of killing.”Mrs. Cour says that as Punjabis and Sikhs, they have left and lost their physical possessions as well as the importance of their language. After Partition the Punjab was split, and because of this the language diminished in its influence. She describes the history of the Punjabi language is one of revolution against the Brahmins and losing the history of the language, diminishes the power of the language today.
- Topic:
- History
- Language:
- English
- Physical Description:
- 3 video files
- Publication Info:
- New Delhi (India)
- Imprint:
- New Delhi (India), November 2, 2010
- Genre:
- Filmed interviews
- Identifier:
- partitionArchive_0028
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- Title:
- Oral history with Ali Shan, 2011 August 21
- Author:
- Shan, Ali, 1941-, Bhalla, Guneeta Singh, and Khan, Yasser
- Author (no Collectors):
- Shan, Ali, 1941-, Bhalla, Guneeta Singh, and Khan, Yasser
- Collector:
- Shan, Ali, 1941-, Bhalla, Guneeta Singh, and Khan, Yasser
- Description:
- Mr. Ali Shan was six at the time of Partition. He had never heard of India or Pakistan. He shared the harrowing tale of that fateful day in 1947 that completely changed his life. When a mob attacked his village in District Ludhiana he watched his family and most of the people in his village get murdered. The gunman shot at him several times but missed each time. He survived and got the courage to run. As fate would have it, a mobster saved him and took him along. They walked for two days, spending the night on the way and he was turned over to a family, who raised him as their own for six months. He was a Muslim being raised as a Sikh. Eventually, the Pakistani military took him to a camp in Lahore where he was all alone, a six year old orphan. His maternal uncle was searching for him and found him in the camp and raised him. Today he stresses a message of peace and tolerance among all people. It was very difficult for him to share this story but he feels it is very important that people come forward to share these stories so that this sort of thing does not happen again... so that we can learn from the past.
- Topic:
- History
- Language:
- English
- Physical Description:
- 10 video files
- Publication Info:
- Fremont (Calif.)
- Imprint:
- Fremont (Calif.), August 21, 2011
- Genre:
- Filmed interviews
- Identifier:
- partitionArchive_0153
- Title:
- Oral history with Ravinder Kumar Chopra, 2011 April 2
- Author:
- Chopra, Ravinder Kumar, 1939-, Brito, Katherine, Kals, Devin, Bhalla, Guneeta Singh, and Mahal, Dr. Anmol Singh
- Author (no Collectors):
- Chopra, Ravinder Kumar, 1939-, Brito, Katherine, Kals, Devin, Bhalla, Guneeta Singh, and Mahal, Dr. Anmol Singh
- Collector:
- Chopra, Ravinder Kumar, 1939-, Brito, Katherine, Kals, Devin, Bhalla, Guneeta Singh, and Mahal, Dr. Anmol Singh
- Description:
- Born as Ravinder Kumar Chopra in 1939, Ravi Chopra is the eldest of seven siblings. He was born in Lahore to a Diwan family, and lives today in San Jose, near his children. Mr. Chopra was only eight and a half years old at the time of Partition. He recalls that even up to two months before Partition, his Hindu family had a very friendly, and even affectionate relationship with Muslims in the community. Until Partition, Chopra was even babysat by Muslim family friends, and studied under a Muslim teacher in school.He remembers that about a month before Partition, there was a sudden change in the community, and friends who played together one day were suspicious of each other the next. At this time, Mr. Chopra’s father (a policeman) was promoted to another city. It was quickly decided that the family needed to leave immediately after the exams, but things grew worse much quicker than expected. One night, a Muslim friend who wanted them to be safe came to their house and warned them that they were to leave that very night. The family had only about 12 hours to pack up what they could, and carried it tied around their bodies to the railway station. Just as they boarded a passenger train to a bigger station, they saw their house in flames through the window.When the train came to the next station, Mr. Chopra was caught in the middle of gunfire (it was unclear who exactly was firing), and a bullet grazed his leg. His grandmother was extremely distraught at his profuse bleeding. Not knowing what else to do, with no medical care around, she took the only dhuti she had brought with her, sterilized it with her own urine, and wrapped it around the wound. When the train came, the family offered all of their possessions to be hidden in the compartment of a Muslim man, under the guise of being his family. Spending the train ride in the crowded compartment, the Muslim gentleman would pass them off as his family every time they were questioned. Chopra recalls seeing young girls throwing themselves into wells to protect their honor, and seeing dead bodies strewn along the train tracks. Once they arrived at Ferozepur, Ravi and his family spent ten nights in a refugee camps, where there was no hygiene, and life was miserable.Once reunited with his parents, Ravi and his family were given a house comparable to the one they had to leave behind, and started anew. His father was reinstated as a policeman, and he joined the army at age 15. Ravi’s paternal grandmother chose to stay behind with their family home, living with a Muslim servant who was very loyal to their family. The family survived financially because once his grandmother was forcibly removed from their home a few months later, she brought several kilograms of solid gold hidden in the walls with her. Today, Ravi has still not been able to go back to his home in Pakistan, as his position in the army made it difficult for him to get a visa to go to Pakistan. He lives in San Jose, CA, along with his children and their families,.
- Topic:
- History
- Language:
- English
- Physical Description:
- 1 video file
- Publication Info:
- San Jose (Calif.)
- Imprint:
- San Jose (Calif.), April 2, 2011
- Genre:
- Filmed interviews
- Identifier:
- partitionArchive_0080
- Title:
- Oral history with Roshini Rustomji, 2012 August 19
- Author:
- Rustomji, Roshini, 1938-, Bhalla, Guneeta Singh, and Wadehra, Anurag
- Author (no Collectors):
- Rustomji, Roshini, 1938-, Bhalla, Guneeta Singh, and Wadehra, Anurag
- Collector:
- Rustomji, Roshini, 1938-, Bhalla, Guneeta Singh, and Wadehra, Anurag
- Description:
- Dr. Roshni Rustomji-Kerns, renowned author, shares her story with The 1947 Partition Archive.She was born Roshni Behram Rustomji into a Parsi family in Mumbai in 1938. Her father Behram’s family was from Karachi and had lived there for at least three or four generations. Her mother Gulnar’s family was from Mumbai. Dr. Rustomji was named Roshni, meaning light, as she was born during Diwali, the festival of light.Dr. Rustomji describes the story she heard growing up of how the Parsis first came to India. It is said that they first arrived into India by boat after fleeing persecution in Iran. They requested the king of Gujarat to grant them asylum. The king told them that his kingdom was completely full and there was no room for more people. He demonstrated this by sending them a tumbler of milk that was filled to the brim. At this point, one of the Parsi elders on board the ship added a pinch of sugar to the milk, thus indicating that they would not bring the vessel to overflow and indeed make the land sweeter. It is believed that the king accepted the Parsis into the kingdom and they were required to adopt the local language, Gujarati, and wear the local clothing.Dr. Rustomji says that while her father maintained this apolitical stance, her mother was very politically engaged and active. She describes her as a Satyagrahi who always maintained that the subcontinent would someday gain independence from British colonial rule. She says that her mother taught her about justice. She also says that she was brought up with a sense of, ‘we are going to be independent.’Dr. Rustomji says that people in Karachi referred to her family as the HJ or Hormusji-Jamshedji family. Hormusji was Dr. Rustomji’s great-grandfather, an entrepreneur who became very wealthy and well known in Karachi. Dr. Rustomji says that the thing she read that struck her most about Hormusji was that he respected all religions. She also mentions that Hormusji built the tramline in Karachi, which no longer exists today.Dr. Rustomji says that the stories she heard about her own family’s history led her to think about diversity from a very young age. Her father’s family has origins in China, while her mother was born in Japan. Listening to these stories also gave her a sense of Karachi as a small, closely-knit community, which, she believes, was carried on into her family life. She says that her house was very open to people from all backgrounds.Dr. Rustomji grew up in a boarding house run by her paternal grandmother. She mentions that her grandmother was widowed at a young age and the Rustomjis lost a large part of their fortune at this time. With seven children to bring up, she explored different ways of making money such as giving piano lessons and sewing. Around this time, many young Parsi men were arriving in Karachi to study or search for jobs. To cater to them, Dr. Rustomji’s grandmother set up the boarding house in a large two-storied building, which she rented at a low price from her best friend. Dr. Rustomji has vivid memories of being the only child growing up in this big house, surrounded by twenty or so boarders whom she would play with. She remembers there being an elderly Muslim woman at the house who told her stories from the Ramayana and Mahabharata. She also narrated other popular stories like Heer Ranjha, Laila Majnu and Sohni Mahiwal.Dr. Rustomji was first educated in a Montessori school in Karachi. She says that Madame Montessori herself had trained some of the teachers in the school. She recalls that many of her teachers were Satyagrahis.Dr. Rustomji’s father briefly joined the Royal Indian Navy. The family therefore moved to the different places where he was posted. They spent a short period in South India. When Dr. Rustomji was about six years old, the family moved to Mumbai where they lived in an apartment. Dr. Rustomji enrolled in a Parsi school. She recalls that her father escaped a bomb attack that was launched by Indian sailors rebelling against the British.After a year in Mumbai, the family moved back to Karachi. From the second grade, Dr. Rustomji started going to Mama Parsi Girls’ High School. She mentions that the school is still highly regarded today. Though it was a Parsi school, there were students of other faiths who studied there as well.In December 1946 at the age of nine, Dr. Rustomji had her Navjot, the Zoroastrian initiation ceremony. It is considered to be one of the highlights of a Parsi youth’s life. She says that since there were very few Parsis in Karachi, nearly the entire community was invited, as well as friends from other communities. Dr. Rustomji recalls that her Navjot was conducted in a Parsi hall in Karachi. During this ceremony, the Parsi boys and girls wear, for the first time, the sadra or muslin undershirt, and the sacred thread. Dr. Rustomji recalls that her Navjot was conducted by the High Priest of Karachi.Dr. Rustomji remembers that around this time, the subject of Independence from British colonial rule was being discussed. She recalls being very excited at the prospect of Swaraj or self-rule. But she also felt confused, as she could not understand why there was so much conflict between the different communities. She believes that the first time she learned about Partition must have been when she was in school.Dr. Rustomji was in Karachi when Pakistan got its independence on August 14, 1947. She remembers that she and the other students were taken up to their school’s terrace. Their principal declared that Pakistan now had its own flag. Dr. Rustomji recalls her bringing down the Union Jack flag and proudly raising the Pakistani flag. The students were taught the symbolism of the flag.Dr. Rustomji mentions that during Partition, her mother became part of a women’s group called ‘Poor Families Relief’. The group was concerned with how to help refugee women living in the camps. They taught the women how to sew and embroider. They provided them sewing machines that they bought with money received from donations.Dr. Rustomji remembers an incident that occurred about a week or two after Partition’s announcement. “My father and I were in a dining room. I am eight or nine years old. A man came to our door and he was begging my father that he could build a small shack for himself and his small son on his land. Their mother had died. But my father said, ‘No, we can’t. It’s not our land.’ I was furious at my father. I remember looking up at my father and his face was ashen, gray. I had only seen him like that one other time, when his eldest brother died.”Her father, a teacher, opened up the empty science labs at his school to house refugees, and allowed the refugee children to join the classes. She recalls, “Some of the Parsis were furious that he let Muslim boys in the Parsi school. He said, ‘They are good boys and they speak Gujarati, we should let them have an education.’”Dr. Rustomji remembers that the temple bells in the area stopped ringing after Partition, when she was ten years old. At the same time, she began experiencing anxiety attacks at sunset every day, which continued until she was about 20.Dr. Rustomji went on to study at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon on scholarship, intending to go for one year but decided to stay and complete her degree there, falling in love with the city of Beirut. She completed her Bachelor of Arts in English Literature in 1961. She later studied for earned her Master of Arts in English and American Literature at Duke University and completed a PhD in Comparative Literature, studying English, classical Sanskrit and classical Greek literature at the University of California, Berkeley in 1973.
- Topic:
- History
- Language:
- English
- Physical Description:
- 12 video files
- Publication Info:
- Alameda (Calif.)
- Imprint:
- Alameda (Calif.), August 19, 2012
- Genre:
- Filmed interviews
- Identifier:
- partitionArchive_0420
- Title:
- Oral history with Sardar Tarlochan Singh, 2012 January 15
- Author:
- Singh, Sardar Tarlochan, 1933-, Bhalla, Guneeta Singh, and Rekhi, Ben
- Author (no Collectors):
- Singh, Sardar Tarlochan, 1933-, Bhalla, Guneeta Singh, and Rekhi, Ben
- Collector:
- Singh, Sardar Tarlochan, 1933-, Bhalla, Guneeta Singh, and Rekhi, Ben
- Description:
- Sardar Tarlochan Singh was born in 1933, in village Todial, which used to be district Jhelum, about 80 kilometers from Islamabad, with 5% Sikh population, Dr. Manmohan Singh and Inder Kumar Gujral were also from the same district as Sardar Tarlochan Singh. Mr. Singh’s Father’s name was Sardar Blatant Singh and his mother was Sardarni Rampyari. His father was a business man and his mother was a housewife. He had one brother and one sister, who were younger to him. As kids, they used to ride bicycles for miles for fun as most sports in their village were traditional- like kabbadi. He recalls that bicycles were also the best mode of commute for them. He used to travel to different villages via horses or bicycles but he used to mostly go to his mother’s village. He lived in a normal three room house, which was common for their village, with a open courtyard, and they had a buffalo at home. His mom always milked the buffalo, and made milk products out of them. There were no hospitals super close by, but there were midwives and some local clinics.People from Mr. Singh’s village were there for a hundred years and more, Muslims migrated to this village eventually too, but due to the rule of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the Sikh population had many benefits and prosperous amounts of land. His uncle used to be one of the best athletes in the area at that point, he used to always be invited to display his skills, his name was Bhagat Singh.People from the Sikh community, as he recalls were money lenders, which he thinks was a good profession for them. Land was minimally used for farming as the area was hilly but land holdings were still used to grow wheat, some vegetables, and flowers. Most women in the village worked on the charkha, and they bought cotton that came from East Punjab and South Punjab, they made Khadi out of it. Muslims worked as farmers and artisans, while the Sikh community was entirely business based. The two communities did share the same passion for the army. The most popular music was Kirtan in the Gurudwara and folk music, for entertainment people played volleyball and cards when they had enough time to do so. Some other forms of entertainment were shopping where people from Kashmir and Peshawar came to sell ‘heeng’ and other rare commodities. He also recalls that most festivals were celebrated separately by the communities and mostly in religious sites. The education in his village was great and they had a majority of Sikh educators and some Muslim teachers.He remembers hearing about the Akali movement led by leaders like Tara Singh. The meetings would take place in the village Gurudwara. The people of the village were interested in freedom from the British but not necessarily in the idea of Partition. They hadn’t anticipated it. People assumed that eventually there would be peace and only took very few things with them as they thought they’d be able to go back. When they migrated they only had clothes, no money or other possessions. They took the train to India, from the railway station in the village.The train took almost 10 hours for them to get from Rawalpindi to Patiala, which was traveling onwards to Delhi. They stayed in a Gurudwara for many months, there were about 120 other people living in small rooms there. During the travel, they closed all the train windows so that they couldn’t see outside and no one could peak in. This was also a tactic to avoid being attacked. The atmosphere was tense in the train, as everyone was stressed.Once they moved to Patiala, Mr. Singh was a child laborer and didn’t attend school for a year, where he collected eggs from different villages and sold them to people. After which he continued his schooling from all the scholarships he received for being an outstanding student. His father started a business there but couldn’t succeed, soon after which they all moved to Patiala and Mr. Singh finished his studies. On moving to Patiala, they were allotted a house based on the possessions they’d left behind, the compensation wasn’t completely fair but it was helpful.Once he was done with schooling, he managed to make a living and got involved in tourism. He joined service in Punjab, joined the public relations departments, he worked in Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delhi, he says that -“I’m a success story, a man with such a poor start, with no money, who has made it!” He headed the Department of Tourism in Delhi for 7 years, then he was a member of Parliament for 5 years, and finally was the first Sikh person to become the Chair of the National Commission for Minorities. He also worked to help the agricultural sector grow.He got married in 1951, he met his wife, when he was posted in Public Relations in Bakhra Dam, their parents agreed and then they got married.He thinks that Partition should have been peaceful, but the leaders didn’t allow it. He says - “Many other nations had situations like ours, but no blood shed like the one we saw, half a million lost lives. It’s hard to imagine how neighbors living next to each other became enemies, we became like animals, I saw people being killed, houses being burned, bodies of the people flowing in the canals and people being shot in trains.” He saw this happen everywhere, in Punjab and it was a horrible scene. He says that he saw ladies weeping and men being killed on the streets of Patiala and that “one can’t imagine how a human can be so wild”. He also is of the opinion that something like this can be avoided worldwide if the authorities strictly followed the principles and rules. He mentions that more than 3 million Sikhs are living abroad now. He asks Sikhs to compare themselves to the Jews. He claims that the Jews are stronger and established because they control the media in the U.S and U.K, are more literate and spend more of their knowledge on energy on the advancement of their community by using their intelligence and not focusing on little conflicts. He thinks that the Sikh community can use its strengths to work towards more positive outcomes.At the end, Mr. Singh recalls his visit to his village, where he lived before migration and with sadness he says that it wasn’t the same, not as prosperous and not as lively.
- Topic:
- History
- Language:
- English and Panjabi
- Physical Description:
- 2 video files
- Publication Info:
- New Delhi (India)
- Imprint:
- New Delhi (India), January 15, 2012
- Genre:
- Filmed interviews
- Identifier:
- partitionArchive_0401
- Title:
- Oral history with Bapsi Sidhwa, 2013 April 7
- Author:
- Sidhwa, Bapsi and Bhalla, Guneeta Singh
- Author (no Collectors):
- Sidhwa, Bapsi and Bhalla, Guneeta Singh
- Collector:
- Sidhwa, Bapsi and Bhalla, Guneeta Singh
- Description:
- Dr. Bapsi Sidhwa is a renowned author from Lahore, whose book "Cracking India" (aka "Ice Candy Man") was made into the popular film "Earth" which takes place at the time of Partition."I'm sharing this story because I wanted to share how Partition affected every single life. It affected my life by taking away my son and it put me through a grieving period for years! You don't forget it." Dr. Bapsi Sidhwa was born Bapsi Bhandara at her paternal grandparents' home in Karachi in 1938. She was raised in Lahore, where she moved about three months after her birth. The Sidhwa family descends from one of the original Parsi families that arrived by boat to Gujarat over 1000 years ago. Because of this, they are still entitled to a tithe from the fire temple. Her books have popularized the story of the fire temple that was founded in Gujarat by the first Parsis: They sought refuge but the local king refused gently and sent them a jar full of milk, symbolically communicating that the kingdom was filled to capacity and there was room for no more. The milk was sent back by the new arrivals with some sugar in it, sending the message that they would not burden the kingdom further, but rather sweeten their lives. The king agreed but required that they assimilate in dress, language, and several other local customs. Dr. Sidhwa also recalls other tales from her family. Her grandfather who had lost an eye during a war in Sudan, came to Lahore from a village called Bhandar in Gujarat. Lahore was considered the commercial and cultural hub at that time. The Bhandaras owned an ancestral wine shop. After Partition her father, Mr. Bhandara, acquired the Murree Brewery in Lahore. She notes that her father was fond of giving money away to charity. In fact, her grandfather was one of the founders of Mama Parsi School in Karachi. On the other hand, Dr. Sidhwa's father-in-law, was a freedom fighter and as a child her husband grew up as interacting with popular leaders of the time, including Nehru, Jinnah, and Gandhi. Dr. Sidhwa had two brothers. They spoke Gujarati at home, Urdu and Punjabi with their neighbors and Urdu and English with friends. When she was a bit over two years old, Dr. Sidhwa traveled to her maid's village, where she contracted polio. She later had surgery in Karachi by a renowned doctor, Col. Birajker, and she was "running around and climbing mountains" by age 13. Because of her polio however, she did not attend school with the rest of the children her age. Instead, she was home schooled and as a result grew up being very introspective. She was also deeply curious about the world around her. She became an avid reader, devouring any magazine, book or piece of literature that came her way. She also recalls being very close to a childless woman in her neighborhood, whom she credits with making her an affectionate person. A few months before Partition, she was walking with their gardener when they both came across a gunny sack. The gardener opened it and the body of a very young man was inside. She recalls being deeply struck by that sight as she realized the futility of a young life with so much potential lost. She recalls the skyline in Lahore being full of fires. There was also an "incessant jaunt" that filled her ears. It was the noise of chants from the various communities mixing together. Her next door neighbors had three children whom young Dr. Sidhwa recalls playing with. One day, they decided to avoid the violence by temporarily moving east and left their home keys and belongings in the care of the Bhandaras. They planned to return when the violence subsided. However, they never returned. After Partition, at the age of 19, Dr. Sidhwa married and moved to Mumbai. She had a son and a daughter, though her marriage ended when she was 23 and she moved back to Lahore. However, she was not able to bring her son with her, who remained in Mumbai with his father's family. Due to border restrictions, she was unable to see her son again for over a decade. She describes this as a devastating time as they went from embassy to embassy in Rawalpindi and Delhi. Dr. Sidhwa married Mr. Sidhwa during this time. When her son's father passed away, they were able to secure a passport for him after a tremendous effort that took months, and he finally was able to join her in Lahore during in his late teens. She recalls going to Wagah border daily for four months to receive him, until one day he finally arrived. It was during her second marriage that Dr. Sidhwa began to write. Many episodes from her life and her memories of Partition are captured in the fictionalized story that unfolds in Cracking India (which was also published in South Asia under the title "Ice Candy Man"). Today Dr. Sidhwa lives in Texas, not far from her son and her youngest brother.
- Topic:
- History
- Language:
- English
- Physical Description:
- 7 video files
- Publication Info:
- Berkeley (Calif.)
- Imprint:
- Berkeley (Calif.), April 7, 2013
- Genre:
- Filmed interviews
- Identifier:
- partitionArchive_0496
- Title:
- Oral history with Syed Babar Ali, 2015 June 29
- Author:
- Ali, Syed Baber, 1926-, Bhalla, Guneeta Singh, Jones, Elaine, Farooqui, Khadeeja, and Korwar, Sucheta
- Author (no Collectors):
- Ali, Syed Baber, 1926-, Bhalla, Guneeta Singh, Jones, Elaine, Farooqui, Khadeeja, and Korwar, Sucheta
- Collector:
- Ali, Syed Baber, 1926-, Bhalla, Guneeta Singh, Jones, Elaine, Farooqui, Khadeeja, and Korwar, Sucheta
- Description:
- Syed Babar Ali was born in Lahore on June 30, 1926 to Syed Maratib Ali and Mubarak Begum, both of whom are direct descendants of Prophet Muhammed. His father together with his brother owned a military contracting business that catered to the British Army. He is the 8th child in a family of nine children. In more recent history, his ancestors, the three Fakir brothers, Azizuddin, Imamuddin and Nuruddin, were key members and close confidants in the court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh who ruled Punjab from 1799 to 1849. His family history includes colorful anecdotes and folk memories from the life and times of the three Fakirs and their interactions with Ranjit Singh. He recalls the fascinating tale of the way in which Fakir Nuruddin negotiated and helped acquire the infamous Koh-i-noor diamond from Shah Shuja of Afghanistan. Fakir Nuruddin he recalls, also met with Sir Metcalfe, then Governor-General of British India and negotiated a key treaty that mitigated British invasions of the Punjab.Syed Babar Ali started his education at the Sacred Heart Convent in Lahore and began attending Aitchison College in 1934, when he was eight years old. Ink pens were used in those days with special nibs: the g-nib for English and the z-nib for Urdu. While English was the primary language used in school, Punjabi was the language spoken at home and amongst his friends. He obtained his High School Certificate from Aitchison and went on to earn a Bachelor of Science from the Government College of Lahore in 1945. He fondly recalls the friendships he formed at Aitchison, many of which have lasted his entire lifetime. One such example is his childhood best friend, Harcharan Brar, who went on to become the Governor of Haryana and Odisha states in India and eventually became the Chief Minister of Punjab in India.He tells of family holidays while growing up spent in Murree Hills and Srinagar in Kashmir, and local outings at the Lawrence Gardens in Lahore as well as movies at the Majestic Cinema. They generally drove to their holiday locations in the family car, a Fiat Minerva. In those days, hawkers sometimes came from as far away as China to sell table cloth and beautifully hand embroidered cotton and silk fabrics. He also recalls several Chinese restaurants in Lahore. Puppeteers, or putliwalas, came to entertain the children of Lahore from Rajasthan. Favorite street foods in those days included pooris and sweets, not much different from today. Unique to Lahore were the khatai biscuit, kabobs and kulfas (similar to kulfi).As he grew up, he and his brothers favored the Unionist Party initially and eventually began to follow the Muslim League led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah. His best friend Harcharan Brar favored the Congress party, though this difference in political leaning absolutely did not affect their friendship. They had a very tight bond and both friends spent considerable time at each other's homes. In 1944 he was on a trip to Bombay with his brother Wajid, when he had the pleasure of having lunch with Mr. Jinnah. Later in 1945, he was in Delhi when under a completely different circumstance, he ended up having lunch with Mr. Jinnah again, this time overhearing a discussion about their efforts to start a car factory. He was in awe. In 1946 he had a third encounter with Mr. Jinnah when his mother hosted a ladies garden party at their home, to host Ms. Jinnah. Their home was near Mamdot Villa, where Mr. and Ms. Jinnah were staying as guests of the Nawab of Mamdot, who was also the President of the Muslim League in Punjab.In December of 1946 he took off for the United States, where he received admission for a masters program at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He boarded the Sterling Castle, a 200 passenger ship, to London. Some of the passengers he befriended on that ship included K. M. Cariappa (later to become first commander-in-chief of the Indian Army) and Kailas Nath Wanchoo (later to become the Chief Justice of India). His first impression of post-World War II London was underwhelming. London was rather depressing since it had been bombed and destroyed, and was quite different than what he had expected. He did however really cherish his first sight of the Buckingham Palace, which was left unharmed during the War.From London he headed to Canada from where he boarded a night train to Michigan. His mother sent him letters and newspapers from Lahore via mail. He learned about the Partition and the political and civil unrest by reading the materials sent to him, as well as American newspapers at that time. During his time in the US, he describes taking a transcontinental road trip in a Packard car with a number of other South Asian students. They drove the car first to Columbus, Ohio and onto Los Angeles via Route 66. He describes the vastness and the small quaint towns and villages, the Grand Canyon, Salt Lake City, Mt. Rushmore and the Black Hills. He then went on to visit his brother in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He recalls paying no more than $2 per night for a hotel stay along the way.On August 14 and 15 in 1947, the Pakistani and Indian students at University of Michigan gathered together to celebrate independence. One of Syed Babar Ali’s Indian friends sewed both a Pakistani and an Indian flag, both of which were raised side-by-side at the celebration at the Reckham Auditorium. There was great jubilation and excitement about independence. His family back home was in Lahore and did not have to migrate. However, his best friend Harcharan's family left for good along with several other friends who were Hindu and Sikh. Later that year, he got the chance to volunteer as a bag carrier for a delegate at the first Delegation to the United Nations in New York. There he got to witness the decision to create Israel. The experience reinforced his interest in international affairs.His eldest brother Syed Amjad Ali was appointed as Pakistani Ambassador to the United States in 1954. During this time he visited his brother and married his wife, Perwin Ali, in a ceremony at the Ambassador's home in Washington DC in July 1955, while she was visiting as a tourist from Pakistan. Then vice president Richard Nixon attended their wedding, which was also photographed for Time Life magazine. In December 1947 he returned to Lahore to carry on with the family business.After 11 years in the family business, he had an idea for which he received much support from his family. He traveled to Sweden and began a joint venture with Akerlund & Rausing, a leading family run packaging company that later began Tetra Pak. Together they began Packages Limited in Pakistan and the partnership is alive and thriving today, 60 years later. The success of the partnership inspired several other partnerships with key multinational companies such as Coca-Cola, Nestle and so on. Babar Ali went on to become a leading businessman in Pakistan.In addition to business developments, Syed Babar Ali has made considerable social impacts in Pakistan via education and philanthropy. For instance, his visit to the field of roses in Sweden inspired the rose garden which he set up in Lahore. He had the opportunity later to attend Harvard Business School, where he really appreciated the education he received and was inspired to bring the same knowledge to students in Pakistan. This inspiration led to the creation of the premier Lahore University of Management Sciences in 1984, where he serves as the first Pro-Chancellor. He later founded the Ali Institute of Education for the education of teachers. He also founded an art school that focuses on preserving the ancient and lost practice of miniature painting, the Naqsh School of Art, appropriately located in the ancient walled city.Other valuable contributions include bringing the World Wildlife Fund (now World Wide Fund for Nature) to Pakistan, co-founding the South Asia Institute at Harvard University among many more, several of which can be found listed on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syed_Babar_Ali.Syed Babar Ali reminds us of the old Punjabi saying that "one and one don't make two, but 11. Hence if we are together, we can be much greater than two. We, the people of South Asia, especially India and Pakistan, can be 11 if we have the right attitude towards each other."
- Topic:
- History
- Language:
- English
- Physical Description:
- 10 video files
- Publication Info:
- Atherton (Calif.)
- Imprint:
- Atherton (Calif.), June 29, 2015 - 2015-07-07
- Genre:
- Filmed interviews
- Identifier:
- partitionArchive_1700
- Title:
- Oral history with Yogesh Munjal, 2016 September 10
- Author:
- Munjal, Yogesh, 1940-, Bhalla, Guneeta Singh, Joshi, Prakhar, and Chugh, Navneet
- Author (no Collectors):
- Munjal, Yogesh, 1940-, Bhalla, Guneeta Singh, Joshi, Prakhar, and Chugh, Navneet
- Collector:
- Munjal, Yogesh, 1940-, Bhalla, Guneeta Singh, Joshi, Prakhar, and Chugh, Navneet
- Description:
- Yogesh Munjal who is presently the Managing Director of Munjal-Showa, a subsidiary of the Hero Group, was born February 13, 1940 in Lahore, Punjab to parents, Satyanand Munjal and Pushpavati Munjal. He was the eldest of 5 brothers and 2 sisters. Satyanand Munjal is known for co-founding with his brother OP Munjal, Hero Cycle, the world's largest bicycle and motorcycle manufacturer. Shortly after birth, the Munjal family moved back to their ancestral village in Kamalia, District Lyallpur (now Faisalabad) in West Punjab. There they lived with the extended Munjal family, which included all the siblings and parents of Satyanand Munjal.His father and uncle were compelled to leave their village in search of work because of the shortage of opportunity in Kamalia. They started their careers at an army warehouse in Quetta, Balochistan, after which they tried their luck at a number of other types of businesses. Eventually they moved to Lahore and became well versed in the bicycle repair and trading business where Yogesh Munjal was born. They launched a bicycle parts and repair shop in Amritsar where the family lived for three years before moving back to Kamalia in 1946 to settle down. In July 1947, Yogesh Munjal started attending Khalsa school, an Urdu medium primary school, in Kamalia. He recalls the school building being two stories with a flat roof.He describes traveling with his father on trains, as a child, to places as far away as Karachi, Rawalpindi, Multan and Kashmir. They also traveled to Haridwar where 16 generations of his ancestors' names and history are preserved. They had lived in Kamalia the entire time.Satyanand's mother was a devout reader of the Sikh holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib, but before her passing she donated their Guru Granth Sahib to the Kamalia Gurdwara, as her husband, Bahadur Chand Munjal and sons had begun following the Arya Samaj traditions. Desite this, her descendants to this day hold both Arya Samaj traditions as well as Sikh prayers at their homes and factories on auspicious occasions. Satyanand's mother was a devout reader of the Sikh holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib, but before her passing she donated their Guru Granth Sahib to the Kamalia Gurdwara, as her husband, Bahadur Chand Munjal and sons had begun following the Arya Samaj traditions. Desite this, her descendants to this day hold both Arya Samaj traditions as well as Sikh prayers at their homes and factories on auspicious occasions.Satyanand Munjal had financed the construction of a new house which was completed in late July 1947 and the family had lived in their new home for only two weeks before Partition was formally announced. The home had a door that opened directly onto the street, and a courtyard with a kitchen in the center. There were two bedrooms on the back of the house. By summer of 1947, processions, slogan shouting and violence had reached Kamalia and it was no longer safe. They learned via a radio announcement that all Hindu and Sikh families were being asked to leave. At first, Satyanand Munjal went to Ludhiana and sent a message back to Kamalia via a traveler asking the rest of his family to join him, and provided the address of a rental property he had obtained. HIs mother, siblings and several members of the extended family decided to leave Kamalia at a moment's notice without any belongings via the last train. They left their brand new home. Yogesh had to leave his studies, which he had just started two weeks prior. While on the train, Yogesh and his one younger brother witnessed murders, body parts strewn along the train tracks and heard violence outside the train cars. There was suspense and fear in the air for the entire journey. There was no food or water to drink on the train and they did not receive anything untill they crossed the border into India. Once they crossed and felt safe, everyone was elated. They followed Satyanand Munjal's instructions and reached Ludhiana safely, where the family was reunited.In 1948, the Munjals moved to Delhi, where Yogesh completed primary education in the Hindi medium Technical High Secondary School at Kashmiri Gate. He eventually attended Delhi College of Engineering after which he attended Roorki University where he graduated with a degree in Architecture in 1964. He was also married to his wife during college. He had planned to open his own Architecture firm with two friends, but his family encouraged him to join and help grow the family business instead. Here is the incredible story of that family business, Hero Cycle, with humble beginnings in the chaotic aftermath of Partition. Hero Cycles quickly grew to become the largest bicycle manufacturer in the world,THE HERO CYCLE STORY:Once the family was in Ludhiana in 1947, Yogesh's father, Satyanand Munjal and uncle, OP Munjal, began looking for work to make ends meet. They started with the trade they knew best, bicycle parts and repair. They began visiting bicycle parts shops and asking for their requirements, and then took their orders to supply shops. They acted as middlemen and retained some commission. They eventually earned enough to start their own shop in Vidharganj in Ludhiana. As their business grew, they began to experience a shortage of parts supplies and decided to manufacture one part on their own, the top portion of a bicycle fork. Eventually they acquired a workshop in Ludhiana and began manufacturing the entire fork and soon, many other parts as well.In 1956 they won one of 100 licenses from the Indian Government to manufacture 25 bicycles a day. (Only 6 of the original 100 companies still survive). Their bicycles were the cheapest in India, selling for Rs 20/day, and enabling mass transportation of the workforce. By 1975, they were making 7,500 bicycles a day and in 1986, Hero Cycles appeared in the Guiness book of world records for being the largest bicycle manufacturer in the world. Today that number has grown to 20,000 bicycles a day. The Hero group also makes Majestic Mopeds and numerous other bicycle and car parts. For the last 14 years, the Hero Group is also the largest maker of motorcycles in the world. They also manufacture solar panel parts, and electric bicycles. Over 200 parts manufacturers have emerged in Ludhiana to supply Hero Cycles.Yogesh Munjal also recalls the story behind the formation of Hero Honda. Not long after, they applied for a license to partner with Honda. Hero Cycles was one of four manufacturers vying for the license to collaborate with Honda, and were selected as one of fourfinalists by the Indian Government. When the Honda officials visited them, they were impressed by the both the incredible efficiency and speed with which the employees worked and the respect the employees had for the elder Munjals during the walk through of the factory. The Honda officials then chose Hero Cycles as their India manufacturing partnerToday, the Hero Group consists of several factories and manufacturing plants. The various plants are each headed by different members of the extended Munjal family.Several key factors led to their success as Yogesh Munjal notes, including hard work, a deep commitment to honesty, an investment in the happiness of their employees and having a reputation for paying their vendors on time without any instances of delay in the history of their business. They also have a deep commitment to improving their local communities, through the building of schools, colleges, medical centers, hospitals (including the state of the art Hero Heart Center in Ludhiana) and numerous other philanthropic ventures.Words of wisdom for the next generation: We should always think positively, and then we can achieve anything. Fix a goal and work to achieve that goal. Prioritize often. Work in coordination with others. Don't complain but instead appreciate. Don't worry about credit. This will lead to progress. Everyone should contribute to the greater good and the country. What if we all devoted half an hour a day, out of the 24 hours to good deeds for the greater good?On Partition, he believes the violence could have been avoided with better planning by government officials. Unnecessary loss of life could have been avoided.
- Topic:
- History
- Language:
- English
- Physical Description:
- 3 video files
- Publication Info:
- Faisalābād (Pakistan)
- Imprint:
- Faisalābād (Pakistan), September 10, 2016
- Genre:
- Filmed interviews
- Identifier:
- partitionArchive_2462