At Jhelum city in Pakistan, I was wonderstruck by the sight of a large unkempt yellow-coloured building, on which a board read, ‘CIA Staff’, indicating that it presently serves as an interrogation Centre for the intelligence department. This premises was once the Bhai Karam Singh Gurdwara, built in memory of Bhai Karam Singh who sacrificed his life at Panja Sahib Railway station by sitting on the track to stop a train carrying freedom fighters so they could be served food from the Panja Sahib Gurdwara.
As I cautiously stepped inside, my attention was drawn on the right side to a damaged information blackboard. Still written on it were the faint traces of the schedule for ‘Asa-di-Vaar’, the daily morning prayer. Since August 1947, it has patiently waited to announce the program for the next congregation.
I suddenly heard it silently whisper in pain, “Silence like a cancer grows. Take my arms so I might reach you. Hear my words that I might teach you!”
I too replied in a painful silence, “I have lost the capacity to reach or learn from you.”
Dejected, it’s whisper started to fade into yet another eternal silence, as it said, “Let my silence like a cancer grow. My words like silent raindrops will yet again echo in the wells of silence till I succumb to my fate!”
Helpless, I retracted and walked away.
Photographed in Oct 2014, during the research for the book “LOST HERITAGE The Sikh Legacy in Pakistan”
