New Delhi: For 86-year-old Shyamji Slawan, Partition is not merely a chapter in history. It still haunts him as a vivid nightmare that he, as an eight-year-old child, endured on a train his family took from Lahore to Jalandhar.Shyamji can still feel the panic in the air, hear the screams of people being hunted down and see their blood-spattered bodies piling up as if it were yesterday.“I was a child and did not understand what was happening. Today, I can grasp the extent of the tragedy I witnessed and realise how fortunate my family was to survive when so many others were killed,” Slawan recalled at an event marking Partition Horrors Remembrance Day in Delhi Friday.The last-ditch journey to safety, he said, was suffocating, with fear and uncertainty hanging heavy. There was literally little air to breathe inside the crammed coaches, he said. After reaching Jalandhar, the scarred Slawans spent the entire night on a bench at the station before making their way to Shyamji’s maternal grandmother’s house in the morning.Urmil Lothra (91) recalled how abruptly her family had to leave everything behind in Pakistan. “My father was packing our belongings and putting them in a cart that was to take us to the station. While he was locking the door, the cartmen drove away with everything. We were left with the clothes we were wearing and some money in our pockets,” Urmil, who was 12 at that time, recalled at the event, adding that the family rushed to catch what literally was the last train from Sargodha to Ambala.“What we experienced during Partition is something we never want to see anywhere in the world. Life has moved on, but the horrors of 1947 have never really left us,” she said.Survivors like Shyamji and Urmil gathered at Partition Museum with stories that have travelled across generations — of homes abandoned in haste, loved ones lost forever, trains tearing through uncertain nights towards an unsettling future, and childhoods interrupted by violence.A speech by LG TS Sandhu, who wasn’t present at the event, was read out. He focused on how one of the largest mass migrations in human history resulted in Delhi turning into a major centre for rehabilitation. Despite arriving with little, refugees rebuilt their lives and made lasting contributions to the city’s economic, social and cultural fabric, he said.Sachchidanand Joshi, member secretary, IGNCA, and guest of honour, said, “It’s essential to remember the agony of Partition to keep our country united and strong.”Lady Kishwar Desai, founder and chair, Partition Museum, said, “The museum was created to ensure that the voices of ordinary people are not lost to the passage of time.”
