https://myvoice.opindia.com/2018/11/life-after-1984/
Two of the best occasions to meet interesting people are during train journeys and flight layovers. People are relaxed and not distracted by important engagements. The feeling that you will possibly never see the person again brings people at ease and makes them relatively tactless.
It was during one long layover at Amsterdam airport that a met an amazing lady from the Punjab state of India. She was a Khalsa (Amritdhari Sikh); she had all the overt signs of deep religiosity - uncut hair, sporting a turban, carrying a Kanga (wooden comb) and a Kirpan (small steel sword) and wearing a Kara (steel bracelet). After meeting her, I became one of the few people who can claim to have met and interacted with someone who has spent years in jail; and for no mean offense either.
Two of the best occasions to meet interesting people are during train journeys and flight layovers. People are relaxed and not distracted by important engagements. The feeling that you will possibly never see the person again brings people at ease and makes them relatively tactless.
It was during one long layover at Amsterdam airport that a met an amazing lady from the Punjab state of India. She was a Khalsa (Amritdhari Sikh); she had all the overt signs of deep religiosity - uncut hair, sporting a turban, carrying a Kanga (wooden comb) and a Kirpan (small steel sword) and wearing a Kara (steel bracelet). After meeting her, I became one of the few people who can claim to have met and interacted with someone who has spent years in jail; and for no mean offense either.
She had spent
two years in jail on charges of TADA. TADA - Terrorist and Disruptive
Activities (Prevention Act), was an Indian anti-terrorism law which was in
force between 1985 and 1995 under the background of Punjab insurgency. This law
gave wide powers to the law enforcement agencies for dealing with national
terrorist and ‘socially disruptive’ activities.
I was travelling
alone and so was she. She asked me if I was travelling to Delhi. I was. Acting
a little lost and unsure as elderly Indian ladies are sometimes, she requested
me to stay together with her as she was scared of missing her flight. I was
happy to help. It was only after a little while that I understood that she was
only making conversation and securing company for the long layover. I was
anyway happy to tag along with her. She was friendly and talkative; full of
interesting stories.
She ran an
orphanage for Sikh children in Punjab who had lost their families during the
violent times the Sikhs faced in 1984 post the assassination of the then Indian
Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi. She was returning after a month from
her trip to raise awareness about and raise funds for her orphanage from
wealthy benefactors of her community. The Sikh community had not forgotten the
plight of their own during those black years and was very supportive of her
efforts to help these children. She was very proud of her work.
To say that it
was a hard time for Sikhs in India post Indira Gandhi assassination in 1984 is
a gross understatement. She did not get into details of the politics and the
situation at that time. Her arrest was under charges of possessing arms under
TADA act. She was accused to be running away together with two men on a bike
when confronted. The law enforcement agencies reported that three people were
involved- a man was driving and a man was sitting behind her while she was
brandishing a gun at the police.
Her life must
have been very stressful. She was laughing about it now.
‘How stupid they
were. When sitting on a bike with two men, a woman will never sit in the
middle. She would always sit at the back,’ she laughed. This kind of argument
to prove one’s innocence in such a situation could only be valid in India. It
made complete sense to me.
However, I could
not comprehend how she could laugh about that even now. It was not just the two
years spent in jail. The constant fear before and after that for all these
years, being targeted for no fault of hers, seeing her family and people killed
or jailed, the whole community living in fear, people fleeing away leaving
their homes to save their lives. It was such a period of distress which could
suck the life out of the living. People were
killed in police custody, in false encounters, on suspicion of possessing arms
and supporting the ISI supported Khalistan movement; families were wiped out;
children were orphaned. She herself had lost most of her family. Many Sikhs had
fled to other parts of India; many had cut off their hair to escape explicit
identification.
How do we not
give enough recognition to this brutality against the miniscule Sikh community
in India? Where were the Human Rights watch groups when these massacres were
taking place?
‘They framed
false charges and arrested many people. After two years, they could not prove
anything against me; and I was free.’ She concluded satisfied.
She talked about
how she arranged matrimonial matches for the orphaned children. She was proud
about the matches she had made between seemingly unmatched couples; lying where
needed; hiding facts about financial status of candidates where she thought
necessary; using any means she felt right to help the orphaned kids make a good
marriage. It was indeed a very important service as marriages in India are
still for the most part arranged by family members. She had extensive network
within her community who supported her in her endeavors.
Her positivity
and chirpiness, after having endured years in jail, and living in fear before
and after that, was infectious. She talked about her own daughters and how they
encouraged her to use social media to raise awareness for her cause. She talked
of movies. She talked of Punjab. She talked of the children she had helped and
how happy it made her to see them having families of their own.
Being falsely
unfairly jailed did not break her. Instead, it gave her life a new purpose.
There was no bitterness. She was full of life and excitement. I did not ask
much about her time in jail. I assumed it would have been a tough time that she
would not have wanted to talk about. Looking back now and remembering her
exuberance, I think she would have described her jail time in a matter of fact
way; something that had happened in her past and now stays in the past. She was
safe and happy now and I could feel her gratitude for the present; and hopes
for the future.
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