In 1948 my dwelling was located
inside the boundary of the railway station. There is a Pipal tree on
the road in front of the Railway post office; there is also a footpath
along the road. This is where I spent a couple of months. At this place
we had four children. Among them were two cripples, one was afflicted
with paralysis, and another was a healthy boy of about four years of
age. We used to keep all the boys on the footpath and used to collect
food from food stalls and houses. At about half past one in the afternoon
I used to take the left over food to Guru Teg Bahadur hospital and distribute
it among the patients sitting under the trees or to the poor people
on the roadside.
Late Dr Sohan Singh was a
very famous eye surgeon of Guru Teg Bahadur hospital, his son Dr. Kulbir
Singh was also employed in the same hospital. He is a conscientious,
religious and kindhearted person. I used to borrow his English Tribune
newspaper for reading. One day at about four O'clock in the afternoon
when I got up to leave, I saw a woman aged about 30 years lying on a
jute bag in the verandah of the X-ray department. The bag also contained
two or three clothes for a child. She appeared to be completely helpless.
The child who looked very sad was about four years old and was sitting
by her side.
I approached the woman and
asked her to show me her hospital chit. Her hospital chit read ‘Asha
Devi Pulmonary Tuberculosis Referred to T.B Clinic'.
Now, the T. B. Clinic is a
place where you are prescribed or given medicine but are not admitted.
This woman was not even able to get up. I had seen her going to the
toilet crawling on her fours, as she could not walk. Her lungs were
in such a bad condition that she was unable to get up. Guru Teg Bahadur
hospital was not dealing with T.B cases. T. B hospital was on the Majitha
road and the T.B clinic was about two furlongs from the gate of the
Clock Tower near Darbar Sahib.
I saw the condition of the
woman, her four year old child and her being in the wrong hospital.
I was afraid that at night the watchman might throw her out of the hospital
and she along with her child would be on the roadside. Therefore, I
went back to Dr Kulbir Singh and requested him to instruct the watchman
to let the woman stay in the verandah for the night. Dr Kulbir Singh
called the watchman and passed the necessary instructions in front of
me.
I picked up her child and
took him to a milk shop. I had no money with me so I requested some
passer by to pay for his milk and may be for a chappati also. I cannot
recollect whether I took some food for the woman also perhaps I did.
But I write this with some apprehension that I may be wrong. I told
the woman that I would come in the morning and take her to the T.B clinic.
Like I have mentioned earlier
that I had four children. I alone used to wash them, look after their
toilet requirements and feed them. All this I used to do by begging.
By begging, I mean I used to watch out for some generous soul or the
people I knew little bit, and request them for some donations.
The next day due to my preoccupation
with looking after the children, I could not reach the hospital in time.
Asha Devi's son felt hungry in the morning. He asked his mother for
food. But how could Asha Devi feed him. She had no money on her. If
she had some money she could have given it to her son and continue to
lie down. But now she had to crawl to a place where people come to get
medicines so that seeing her crying child some kind soul would give
her some money. If I had some money I would have given her in the evening
itself.
Asha Devi's TB is serious
On the third day I took Asha
Devi from Guru Teg Bahadur hospital to the T.B clinic. Her lungs were
full of cavities and she use to spit out phlegm continuously. I thought
of taking only one Tonga for coming and going thinking that the Tonga
would get infected with her phlegm. But it took considerable time to
get her examined in the clinic and the hiring charges came to five rupees.
I had no money with me and I had to collect it from near the clinic
only.
Collecting money for the
fare
Near the clinic there was
a market named "Katra Ahluwalia". On reaching Amritsar, I
had come to know that Lali Shah and Gokul Chand were two rich men of
this market. I went to Lali Shah and told him that I had brought one
destitute T.B patient to the clinic and the hiring charges for the Tonga
had come to five rupees and asked him to pay the money. Lali Shah was
the president of the market, he asked me why did I make the Tonga wait
for so long.
I used to look like a beggar
and from my appearance it was difficult to fathom the nature of my work.
But I was adamant and persisted with my mission. Then people used to
realize that I was an educated, truthful and sincere worker. Lali Shah
sent me to his marketing committee office. His staff was very reluctant
to part with the money. But I argued with them and forced them to give
me five rupees.
X-ray done by Dr Manmohan
Singh
From the clinic I must have
returned by one O'clock in the afternoon. I brought her to Guru Teg
Bahadur hospital and got the screen test done of her chest. I knew Doctor
Manmohan Singh in charge of the X-ray department from Lahore days. He
finished the screening immediately and wrote down the observation on
the chit it read ‘Her lungs are riddled with cavities'. After the
screening I asked the doctor in the T.B hospital to admit her. He told
me that at that time there were eighty T.B patients in the ward whereas
they were authorize expenditure for twenty patients only. Because of
the refugees from Pakistan they had to admit 60 extra patients and slowly
their number was being reduced to twenty.
Now the question arose where
could I keep Asha Devi. We were living on the footpath in the railway
station area. I could not keep a dying patient there because people
were using that footpath. Then Asha Devi was a young woman and unable
to move. She had to carry out all her ablutions at the same place only.
Outside the hospital there is a corridor, which was constructed by Maharaja
Ranjit Singh. I made her lie down there. The watchman there refused
to allow her inside the corridor. From there I took her to the shed
under which temporary refugee camp had been established.
Asha Devi's condition
deteriorates
The first day on which I had
seen this woman was 28th or 29th July. She died on the 13th of August.
Near the shed there was a tent in the open ground, which was vacant.
I bought a bed for her and put her in the tent. She continuously used
to spit out phlegm and I used to keep covering it with mud. From a house
in front of the Majitha house I used to get excellent food and cooked
vegetables. I used to feed her that food along with the grapes I used
to buy from the market.
Asha Devi was unable to look
after the child, she could not even talk and used to lie quietly. So
naturally I had to keep her son, Jeeta in my lap. Jeeta was a beautiful
child. I always used to keep him in my lap as my mother used to love
me. Asha Devi had seen that I was getting attached to the child and
perhaps she had started doubting my intentions that I was just waiting
for her to die so that I could take over the child. She begged me to
save her from death and in turn promised that she would let me keep
the child. When she had handed over the child to me she had kissed both
his feet.
A few days before her death
she became delirious and said that she was going to Darbar Sahib and
would take bath under the ‘Dukh Bhanjani Beri'. After taking
her bath she would go to the ‘Langar'
and would sit on the mound of ash on which the used utensils are cleaned.
She would make that place her permanent abode. I asked her whether she
would take Jeeta with her, to which she replied in negative. I asked
her whether I could bring Jeeta to meet her near the mound of ash to
which she replied that she would like to meet Jeeta once in a while.
She died on the 13th of August after my looking after her for about
15-16 days.
Asha Devi's last days
Listening to Asha Devi during
her last days that she wanted to devote her life for cleaning the utensils
and made that place as her permanent abode had earned my respect. In
those days many refugees from Pakistan used to die on the roadside.
Municipal Committee had reserved one truck to take the dead bodies and
bury them. No Post-mortem was done to find the cause of the death. On
receiving the information, the truck used to come, take the body and
throw it in a ditch. The dead bodies were not cremated. But I thought
that Asha Devi's dead body must be given a bath and then cremated as
per the Sikh traditions.
Under the same shed one sweeper
used to stay. His wife was also staying with him so I asked her to give
the dead body a bath and promised her to pay her the money. But she
was scared of the infectious disease and refused to give the bath.
Narain Singh also used to
come from Tarn Taran to help me during the daytime. He also used to
collect the food from the houses. He was endowed with the feeling of
service, used to say his five prayers regularly and was now quite old.
He was married and had children. I told him that Asha Devi's dead body
must be given a bath. As the dead body was of a young woman and as a
bachelor and young man I did not want to touch it. So I asked Narain
Singh to give her the bath, which he did. He also said the prayer (Ardas).
Both of us put the body on the cot, he lifted it from behind with me
in front we took her to Durgiana cremation grounds.
Jeeta was left behind. But
he was now very fond of me and did not miss his mother. I never used
to leave him alone and always kept him in my lap.
A respectful cremation
for Asha Devi
This place was a temporary
refugee camp. The district civil surgeon used to come and inspect this
place. The place where we had given bath to Asha Devi was washed thoroughly
to get rid of the germs. When the Civil Surgeon came, I told him that
we had looked after a woman afflicted with T.B. She had died the same
very day and we had given her the bath at the place that was still wet.
He was angry with me that I had kept a T.B patient there.
Asha Devi was from a Kashmiri
Brahmin family. She told me that she was from the Poonch area of Jammu
& Kashmir. A devotee of Darbar Sahib left her and her son in the
hospital. In 1947, when the tribal attacked Kashmir, three members of
her family were killed. It was nighttime and she was preparing the food.
Rice was ready and everyone was getting ready for the dinner when about
25 tribal entered her house like a whirlwind. They immediately massacred
her son, her husband and her mother-in-law. They took her and her young
son to the tribal camp and imprisoned her.
When after eight months the
tribal camp was abandoned, they were sent to India by train. In that
train there were two thousand refugees including men, women and children.
In India the first stoppage of the train was Amritsar. She got down
from the train and reached Darbar Sahib along with her child.
Asha Devi last days in
Amritsar
She spent three months in
the area of Darbar Sahib, on the footpath between Manji Sahib and Baba
Atal Sahib near Guru Ka Bagh (This path has been closed after construction
of a hall in Manji Sahib). She used to spend all her time there. Her
son used to get the food from the Gurdwara Kitchen in the morning and
in the evening, which both of them used to eat. Many men and women used
to pass that way to pay homage at Baba Atal some of them used to urge
her to get admitted in a hospital but she did not want to go to a hospital.
She used to sit as a beggar
on the path from Manji Sahib to Baba Atal and many passers-by must be
giving her some money or eatables. When she reached Darbar Sahib her
son was one month short of completing four years of age. He used to
sleep and eat with her only. Jeeta was a beautiful child. He was fair
in color and had very fine hairs.
Jeeta becomes ill
I have never married and have
remained a bachelor throughout my life. I used to look after him with
great love and care. I thought that I will provide him with the best
education. I used to give him bath and apply oil to his hairs. ‘Jai
wadi jeeti, kuti kapati jeeti'. One day after giving him the bath when
I put him on the bed I felt that his body was quite warm.
The next day I took him to
Dr Gupta. He was the most senior doctor in the T.B hospital and was
a Bengali. He checked up the child with great love and care. I don't
remember whether he asked for screening or X-ray report. I got the screening
or the X-Ray done. The report indicated that although his lungs were
not full of cavities he was in the advance stage of the T.B.
TB has progressed too
far
In those days Streptomycin
had just come into the market. I told Dr Gupta that the child needed
this new medicine. But he told me that the time for that medicine was
well passed. On his saying I could do nothing but wait for his death
with great pain in my heart.
Being the only son of my mother
I had received ample amount of love from my mother and she was extremely
generous in loving me. The amount of love she gave me was maximum that
a mother can give to her child. She went through all the hardships,
which are possible for a poor woman to go through to bring me up.
Jeeta, the T.B patient slept
with me for about five months. For three days before he died he did
not leave my lap even for a minute. He died in my lap. While in my lap
his face was quite close to mine therefore I wrapped a cloth around
my mouth so that I could get some protection from the infectious disease.
I shower all my love
When Jeeta was sick I used
to keep him with me all the time. I thought that he has been sleeping
with me for months and in his last days I did not want him to leave
my lap. If I were to contact T.B and die there of, my mother's soul
would ask my soul “you died because of contacting the disease from
a stranger's son. Why did you waste you life for a stranger? Why did
you made him sleep with you for about five months and for three days
before his death? Why did you kept him in your lap?”
Then I would reply “If I
were to contact T.B at four years of age and it took many months and
years for me to die. In that state would you have refused to sleep by
my side. If I were to spend my last few days or weeks in your lap would
you have refused me that”. I know my mother would never had refused
me her lap or her company however contagious my disease might have been.
“Oh my dear mother, if you
had not given me all the love, I could never have loved a stranger so
much. Mother, I was so full of your love that I had to shower it on
the stranger, which I did with a heavy heart. So mother you should be
happy that your love has blossomed. In front of my love for this child,
the fact of me contacting the contagious disease was most insignificant.
My dear mother, all these feelings were fostered in my heart by you
only. Why shouldn't you be proud of my sacrifice?”
Last moments with Jeeta
I used to sit on the roadside
near the Hussainpur railway gate with Jeeta in my lap. He died at about
10 O'clock at night in my lap. He remained in his senses till his last
breath. He could not sleep or lie down. Just before he died he uttered
“oohhn” which meant that I should keep him straight. He died immediately
after uttering this word. I could not help crying out “Jeetia, is
that all, now you have left me”.
Next morning I gave him a
bath and cried over him. Kunda Singh was with me, he also loved Jeeta
very much. Both of us carried his body to the cremation grounds. When
I lit his pyre, again I burst into tears. When his pyre was burning
I kept repeating ‘Jai wadi jeeti, kuti kapati jeeti'. I did
not leave the cremation grounds till the fire had burnt itself out.
I said, “Jeetia, I will not leave your pyre.”