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{"id":33907,"date":"2023-08-14T03:41:15","date_gmt":"2023-08-14T03:41:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sindhcourier.com\/?p=33907"},"modified":"2023-08-14T03:41:15","modified_gmt":"2023-08-14T03:41:15","slug":"from-hyderabad-to-singapore-bhagwan-sadhwanis-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sindhcourier.com\/from-hyderabad-to-singapore-bhagwan-sadhwanis-story\/","title":{"rendered":"From Hyderabad to Singapore – Bhagwan Sadhwani’s story"},"content":{"rendered":"
Despite having to leave his home and start over in a new place and country, Bhagwan\u2019s positive and optimistic nature has never ceased <\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
Partition Stories from the Province of Sindh <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
Bhagwan Sadhwani was born in 1936 in Hyderabad, Sindh, British India, the second son in a family of four boys and one girl. Following the partition of British India, Bhagwan\u2019s family moved to the island of Penang in Malaysia, after a brief transition in Jodhpur and Bombay, India.<\/span><\/p>\n
Despite having to leave his home and start over in a new place and country, Bhagwan\u2019s positive and optimistic nature has never ceased \u2013 this comes through clearly even when he talks about having to leave home and move to different countries \u2013 what he recounts are happy moments playing with the neighboring children, taking walks on the beach close to their temporary home, and expresses his gratitude for the opportunities that his adopted home has provided.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u200bBhagwan currently resides in Singapore, and this is his story.<\/span><\/p>\n
Life was very pleasant in Hyderabad, Sindh, recalls Bhagwan. He lived in a joint household – three families under one roof – which was very common in those days. “We’d visit and host relatives with abundant food and fruits. The weather was pleasant. It was a beautiful town with gardens, schools, colleges and excellent road systems,” Bhagwan reminisces. “We used to celebrate a lot of festivals, many of which are not observed now, especially overseas.”<\/span><\/p>\n
About a month after the partition, in August 1947, Bhagwan and his brothers came back from school around 1pm to find their mother and other relatives, to their surprise, packing suitcases<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
These pleasant memories are also interlaced with mischief. Bhagwan recounts one particular occasion with great clarity. \u201cOur next door neighbor\u2019s eldest son would pay my older brother, Lal, to run some errands for him. One day, Lal was given one rupee to buy some omelette kebabs, and was given half rupee in change. The neighbor told Lal to keep it as a gift,\u201d Bhagwan says. \u201cWe were ecstatic! With that money, Lal and I secretly went to see a Hindi movie in the cinema. I still remember the name of the movie \u2013 it was called Ratan. We were feeling very pleased with ourselves because at that time, we weren\u2019t allowed to go to the movies unaccompanied by parents or elders.\u201d Bhagwan pauses for the punch line. \u201cLittle did we know that a few days later, our dad would be taking us to see this same movie!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
About a month after the partition, in August 1947, Bhagwan and his brothers came back from school around 1pm to find their mother and other relatives, to their surprise, packing suitcases. Around an hour later, they left for the railway station, where they were subjected to a search of their luggage. Valuables like jewelry were taken away, and only then were thy allowed to board the train, which was destined for the nearest border town of Jodhpur. At the railway station, Bhagwan remembers many people crying – both out of sadness about having to leave their home, as well as fear and confusion about going to a destination that most were not familiar with and thoughts about how they were going to earn a living again and support their family.<\/span><\/p>\n
It was approximately 10pm when Bhagwan and his family arrived at the border town, and were escorted to a huge refugee camp, with about 40 people per tent. Around mid-August, the family moved to a haveli (a sort of multi-storey home that centers on a courtyard), which they shared with a few other families. It only had one public tap nearby and two toilets. Bhagwan and his older brother, Lal, used to wake up around 6:30am every day to make the ten-minute trek to the public tap. Each time, there would be around 10 people queuing for water, so the wait would take approximately 20 minutes \u2013 then another ten-minute trek back to the haveli. This process was repeated a few times in the morning until they had sufficient water for the day. On most days after breakfast, Bhagwan and his brothers would play and climb trees with the neighboring kids. He remembers having a lot of fun doing this.<\/span><\/p>\n