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BANTA and SANTA are back
Charanjit Singh
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This is the
Santa and Banta you do not know. This is the Santa and Banta the
Indian states wants to forget. This is the Santa and Banta you
will not see on your mobile screens.
Young
writer from Mumbai, travels twenty five years in time, catches
up with those Sikhs who are struggling to stay in the memory of
the community. |
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 Sant
Singh’s age at that time, would have been what Balwant’s was-
25 years ago.
After escaping
persecution from his own neighbors and friends he was able to reach
the banks of the holy Ganga river -Kanpur, a place which he believed
was friendlier than his native soil in Pakistan.
As days became
years, Santa was blessed with a warm family and was somehow able to
ignore the ghosts which had tormented him, over the years, day and
night.
Suddenly he
heard in mid of that year that the shrine which always held a
special place in his heart was attacked by the army. He was a family
man with a daughter married far from him, he thought of keeping his
sadness as well as his anger onto himself. Something inside him had
broken!
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Her husband who used to repair flat tyres had met the same fate
as his son in Kanpur. Ashes, abandoned houses and the screams.
He was informed later that in their last
bargain for their lives, her
daughter’s male family members had given up
their identity. But the skin under their turbans had
still distinguished them. |
Sometime in the
end of October of the same year he went for Darshan of the shrine.
You visit you near ones in their times of adversity. On his way back
he was told of the world turning upside down across the country. His
people were hounded. Everywhere. Two amongst them had avenged- as he
liked to think, the sacrilege of the very shrine.
Santa, as he was
affectionately called, never thought that the same would be the
situation in his hometown as well.
He reached
home….His taxi lied there.. burnt...
Neighbours told him that they were defenseless before a mob of 2000
people, who had attacked on a chilly evening. Suddenly he felt that
the clock had moved back 37 years.
Santa found
himself struggling …to get back his composure. He wanted to find his
daughter; her family which he thought would be safer as she was
within the confines of the capital of India.
Things were bad
or may be they were worse, he still doesn’t remember, when he
reached his daughters place in Trilokpuri.
Her husband who
used to repair flat tyres had met the same fate as his son in Kanpur.
Ashes, abandoned houses and the screams. He was to be informed,
later, that in
the
last bargain for their
lives her daughter’s male family members had given up their
identity. But the skin under their turbans had still distinguished
them.
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Santa: Do
you know when a mighty tree falls the earth around it shakes a
little.
Banta: I
always thought that when the earth has shaken to its very
core then even a mighty tree falls. |
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Santa was of
different metal, he still was in search of life where there was none
around. With hopes he went to the many relief camps. After
vagabonding like mad, he found his beloved grandson Balwant.
Relationship did not matter. In the hour of grief, he did not think
that biologically he was the grandfather. With the help of a Sikh
advocate-who had dedicated his life for
the cause of people like Sant Singh, he managed to obtain the
custody of his grand child.
 In
Balwant’s smile,
Santa found the purpose of his life. Today Sant Singh addresses
Balwant as Banta. He feels sometimes that both of them are
communal orphans; they are part of those jokes which make an
almost regular round of our mobile
and computer screens.
A
joke cracked on Santa 52 years back made young Banta a victim 25
years ago.
They both are
settled today in some corner of this country. Like people who learn
to laugh at their misfortunes, they both have acquired a quite sense
of humour.
When they shared
their life in the last two decades with member, they also shared
with member conversations, which may not do the rounds of he
mobile and computer screens. Still, they tell a tale.
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 Santa: Do you know when a mighty tree falls the earth around it
shakes a little?
Banta: I always thought that when the earth has shaken to its
very core then even a mighty tree fall
Banta: Even after killing 5000 Sikhs (Official count 2763) no
one was arrested in Delhi.
Santa: Of course there were, as many as 25 of them. But all of
them were Sikhs!
Santa: Tell me 3 uses of old worn out tires.
Banta: Sometimes they become toys for children on streets, their
rubber can be used for remolding.
Santa: And?.
Banta: (after a pause) burning our brothers alive on streets of
Delhi…
Santa: Bilkul, Sahi jawab…
Santa: What is inflation, Illustrate with an example.
Banta: A sardar’s head in 18th century fetches 60 -90
Rupees
while in 1984 the price was Rs.500/-
Santa: Even I couldn’t have given a better example.
Santa: What is the price of teaching Sikhs a Lesson?
Banta: Price?? I am not sure about that..… but the prize for
Indians at large and the Congress party was
remarkable…unprecedented victory at the hustings in the Lok
Sabha elections in 1985 and also in various states in March
1985.
Banta: Why are the elections in India always pre-poned after
communal violence against minorities?
Banta: Don’t you know that democracy is not only the rule of
majority but also an appeasement of it?
Banta: Who was the first victim of Nov 84.
Santa: Don’t you the first victim was none other than The
President of Union of India
Banta: I understand, when the first victim is the president than
what can be the fate of the common Sikh walking the streets of
Bharat.
Santa: Look at the population of India, 1 child takes birth here
every second.
Banta: There are many unofficial family planning measures.
Nearly one Sikh wiped out at the rate of one a minute in Delhi
from in November 1984 and nearly at the same rate in Gujarat and
Mumbai in 2002.
Santa: Some measures of the government seem to be quiet
successful!? |
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Charanjit
Singh writes regularly for World Sikh News. He may be contacted at
singh_charanjit@rediffmail.com
28
October 2009
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