New Delhi, India: June 13, 2008 – Released by FGB- I had left the Army and returned home amid the disturbed conditions of the country,  Montgomery, my home town, was allocated to Pakistan, even though the formal transfer of partition was to begin only after both the countries were set free.

My main purpose of leaving Army was to live with the members of my family in Montgomery, where peaceful conditions were uncertain, even though the political leaders advised the general public to stay in their houses without fear. Such calls carried little impact on my mind, since there can’t be more foolish act than to believe a politician.

My house was situated at the last outer layer of the town and there was a cremation ground about 2 to 3 kilometers. Next to that, there was a big open ground, which the young people used as football ground, hockey ground or whatever other game they wanted to play, it was a free land for the children left open by the municipality.  

It was the same ground where I used to play before joining the Army and since I had come back after the war was over, I resumed my old activities with my friends.
One Sunday morning, my old friends invited me to play a normal match of football in the popular ground as normally known.

During the football game, one player hit the football and threw it far away from our normal playing boundary.  Since I was posted at the border of the ground at the right forward position, I was supposed to pick up the football whenever it crossed the outer line.

The ball had gone quite far, about 20-30 yards away from our locally set boundary. The ball had landed in an open big bin area of garbage, where the people dumped their trash and refuse. The big hub was surrounded by three short walls and was one sided open.

When I reached there to pick up the ball, what I saw the ball was lying with a newly born female baby, who was shivering and making some efforts to move.

I felt that the ball, probably, had not hit the baby. However, I realized that some one had thrown the newly born baby in the garbage treating it an unwanted child for whatever reasons. The baby was struggling for something shaking her tender arms with slight movements, which scared me as if the lightening had passed through my body.

The small pretty baby was a female angel to me, it looked to be about an hour or so. I picked up the ball and threw it in the ground, took out kerchief from my pocket and covered the baby and cautiously and carefully I moved on the other side of the ground very slowly where a few houses were built.

I went to the first house, softly knocked it and one middle age lady came out. I requested her permission to talk to her for a minute, which gladly called me inside and while standing I explained the whole story of the baby that I carried in my lap.
I requested her if she could arrange some milk to feed the baby through an artificial rubber nipple or some copper cup, which those days, were meant for feeding the children, but she said, she didn’t have any bottle or nipple for the child.

I apologized to her for the trouble that I gave to her and before I left the house, she called me from the back and asked me to wait and said in the same breath “In the next house a Christian family stays, let me enquire if they have any baby bottle to feed milk.”

She made me to sit there for about 5 minutes and I was staring child but she was not reciprocating, on the contrary she was a little bit trembling. The lady of the house returned along with her Christian neighbor having a small bottle with a nipple in her hands.

She prepared a small quantity of milk, put it in the bottle and took the child and started feeding her. I asked that lady I could share to feed the child for a little while in my lap, which she permitted but directed me to be extra careful.

When the innocent baby was sucking the milk slowly and slowly with her delicate small lips, I felt as if Almighty Lord Vishnu had given me the best service to do.
Immediately thereafter the child became silent, stopped movement of her mouth and that frightened me, but the lady was kind enough to tell me that the child had gone to sleep, nothing to worry about, and I felt relieved.

The child was still in my laps, meanwhile I don’t know, I had closed my eyes, as someone was suggesting to me “There is danger to your life.  Leave Montgomery immediately and go to Amritsar, where your parents shall follow to join you. This suggestion repeatedly struck my mind without realizing who was directing me.”
The lady interrupted my thought and asked me, “What was I thinking about?” I said abruptly, I am so worried to think of this innocent baby. “What’ll happen to this innocent little Goddess?”

She said, “Brother, if you allow me, I shall be thankful to you if you give this child to me. I was married 15 years ago, no child, it looks Lord Krishna has sent this angle to me to feed her and be blessed. I feel the Lord has sent this heavenly gift to me through you, please give this child to me, I shall take utmost care of this little life as my own daughter.”

Without asking or thinking anything, the Almighty God gave me everything; my heart was so pleased as if I had got the heaven. I touched the feet of the lady and practically kissed her feet telling her, “You have actually won my heart and I am indebted to you, you accepted this baby, May Lord Vishnu Bless upon you and your family.” With all these words,  I handed over the child to her with three or silent tears rolling on my face. I took that courageous step and returned home silently.

After a few minutes, the same sound directing me to leave Montgomery and go to Amritsar stared echoing my ears.

Since I had no one known to me in that city, I thought how I could go to an unknown city leaving my parents and that too without any apparent reasons. Who’s misguiding me? When I came back to my residence, one of my recently acquainted persons Dhanpat Rai, was sitting   and waiting for me.

Dhanpat Rai was recently introduced to me along with his father. He father was an advocate in Amritsar.  He had come to Montgomery to take his sister permanently to Amritsar due to fear of communal riots in Montgomery. He had to stay in the city, since his sister’s child was suffering from fever, so he had to wait for them till his recovery.

Just in the previous week, I had gone to my old DAV High School to see my Urdu teacher Chet Ram and other teachers to pay my respect to them. On my return, I decided to come via new college, which was built there while I was away in the Army. It was situated opposite to my old DAV High School and during my time, there was no college there.

Nearby a branch of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS),. a National Volunteers’ Organisation, also known as the Sangh, used to conduct a brief assembly of young Hindu National Volunteers for regular physical training both in the morning as well as in the Evening.

This Organisation is a Hindu nationalist organisation in India, founded in 1925 by Dr. K.B. Hedgewar, which was even then active throughout India and abroad as the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh.

Their general philosophical outlook of this organisation is cultural nationalism known as integral humanism, aimed at preserving the spiritual and moral traditions of India.
The phylosophy of RSS is that Hinduism is not simply a religion but a way of life and its  proclaimed purpose has been  to serve the nation and its people in the form of Godess – Bharat Mata (Mother India) with practical moto of protecting the interests of the people.

They have been maintaining a well organized with hierarchical structure of their organisation with Sar Sangh Chalak, being the highest rank and every year they held an assembly to pay “Guru Dakshna” to contribute financial help on volunary basis in the larger interest of the country.

The RSS shakha or assembly used to be  held at the side ground of the stadium for physical and mental training regularly in the evening. The college was also closed because one of the Professors had died and all the students had gone home or some might have gone to attend his funeral ceremony.

While I was suggesting to my friend to view the RSS assembly, one guard told me that it was late, they must have disbanded. I was thinking to return home but at the same time what I saw  Mr.Dhanpat Rai’s father along with him came running towards the college.

They didn’t know whether or not there was any assembly of young volunteers from RSS held there regularly. They reached the stadium in search of their neighbor who had brought a cycle from their house early in the morning for just an hour or so but he didn’t turn up for over 9 hours. They were told that he had gone to stadium to attend some meeting.

When they reached the stadium in search of their neighbor, the assembly of RSS was over and all had gone home and before returning home, Mr. Dhanpat and his father saw three young Muslim persons shouting at them from a distance. “Catch these Hindu Qafirs” and ran after them, probably they had mistaken them to be members of the RSS.

Mr. Dhanpat and his father both started running towards the college premises, where I was standing with my friend and two guards, who used to take care of the college day and night.

Mr. Dhanpat Rai and his father reached us tired and exhausted and fell upon me and my friend. Both of us tried to pacify them and advised them to relax, don’t worry, the young Muslims wouldn’t be able to harm them.

All the three Muslim young men had carried long knives open in their hands; they fearlessly approached us to catch hold of Mr. Dhanpat Rai and his father. I took out my revolver, which I was especially privileged to carry with me for my safety and that I used to carry with me due to disturbed conditions in the city. I warned  the young Muslims to stop there.

I respectfully told them, “I have neither enmity with you nor friendship with these two persons,  tell me the reason, why you want to kill them?

One Muslim young man shouted, “They belong to RSS, they were planning some strategy against Muslims, we must take revenge.”

I replied, “Let me first enquire whether these are the same people whom you are searching.”

I changed my direction to Mr. Dhanpat Rai’s father, who told openly that one person living in their neighbor had brought cycle from their house early in the morning at 6 ‘O’ Clock and promised to return within one hour. He did not turn up even after 10 hours, and we needed the cycle badly for our use. We went to his house who told us that he had gone to the stadium after Noon.

He further said, “I am advocate in Amritsar, I have come here in this city to take my sister along with me. I have nothing to do with the RSS people. The boy who had borrowed cycle from my son might belong to RSS, but it’s not to our knowledge.”
I told the Muslim young men,“ Brothers, I feel you belong to good families and seem to be educated as apparent from your dresses, why are you after these innocent people, they don’t belong to RSS.”

One Muslim youth shouted angrily on me,” How can you say they are not from the RSS?”

I replied, “Had they belonged to RSS, perhaps you would have not been here. They would have   fought with you then and there because the RSS young people are never afraid of fighting; they know all tactics of fighting and make the people run rather than running themselves.”

The Muslim young men became normal and realized that they were mistaken, shook hands and went away by saying thanks.

I accompanied Dhanpat and his father to their relative’s house; they made me to sit there and introduced me to a noble lady, the aunt of Dhanpat Rai. This was my short acquaintance with Mr. Dhanpat Rai and I was surprised to find him at my house.

Before I reached there, Dhanpat Rai was already sitting there and  in my absence, he had convinced my father and brother to allow me to accompany him to Amritsar to do some joint business there.

On hearing this, I was stunned, I got the same message when I had kept the little Goddess in my lap, I was wondering and I was unable to solve the mystery. I was trying to remember the same message which some one had given to me to leave for Amritsar, who was he? How the same message had come to me and struck Dhanpat Rai to come to my house with the same suggestion of accompanying him to Amritsar?

It was strange but true, and when I told about the message to my father, he said, “It’s divine message and you must obey Him and go, don’t worry about us, Lord Krishna is Omnipotent, He helps all the deserving.”

All arrangements were hurriedly made and I was to go to Amritsar the next day. My father and brother came at the station to see me off but the train was late by two to three hours. We were to sit at the station to wait for the train but somebody goaded me for something within, and I asked my father to wait at the station and I would be back after about half an hour.

I took the tonga (Horse Carriage) from the station and reached the house of the lady whom I had given the innocent baby. The door was locked and on enquiry from her neighbor I was told that she along with her husband left the place without any information. 

I enquired about the child from the same Christian lady who had given a baby milk bottle with nipple to feed the baby, she told me that Maya and her husband had carried the child along with them and expressed confidence that they were very happy to get the baby.

I felt relieved and came to the station and ultimately left Montgomery for Amritsar where I started a new life.
Continued….