Home is Where the Heart is

 

 About the Book 

 Jamna was leading a normal contented life in Nowshera, India. Her husband, children and her sister Satyabhama who lived just next door with her family completed her inner circle and filled it with happiness to the core. And then there was a strike of lightning that changed her life forever. That strike of lightning in 1947 was the Partition. 

 After many trials and tribulations post the Partition, finally Jamna came to a point of time in her life when she felt - This is bliss! 

 But was it really bliss? Was there a part of Jamna that she had buried deep inside. A part that was left behind in Nowshera. Was this point of time in her life really Bliss or was there something more that defined her Bliss in the real sense?

Dedicated to Jamna - My Grandmother

Chapter 1 - A morning in Nowshera , India

The sweet voice of chirping birds and the pleasant glow of the morning light. It was just another Nowshera morning for Jamna. A city that she was born and brought up in. A city that gave her the joys of childhood, the happiness of marriage, the ultimate achievement of motherhood. 

  

As she woke up to the pleasant April morning, her sister Satyabhama called out to her from the verandah. “Jamna! You had promised me we would go to the market today. Finish of your chores fast and let’s go before it gets too crowded.” Jamna was a little irritated with her pushy sister. “Is that all that I have to do? Who will send the kids to school, who will cook so that your brother-in-law can leave for the shop on time?”. Satyabhama rolled her eyes at her elder sister and said “Fine! Take your time. I’m right here in the verandah waiting for you. Go take care of your worldly duties and then you’re going with me and I’m not taking no for an answer today! And yes, while you’re at it send me a hot cup of your sweet tea”, she winked. Jamna gave her a dagger look and disappeared into the kitchen for her daily hustle. After her husband was off to work and the kids were packed off to school the sisters set out for the market, all decked up and fresh with flowers in their hair for a fun filled day ahead. Along the way they reminisced merrily about how, as children, they used to steal dry fruits from their father’s godown when he used to go on his long trade trips to Afghanistan. 

While they were haggling with the shopkeepers, a huge procession passed by with popular leaders with blaring microphones on their vehicles shouting out the “cry for freedom”. Jamna looked on with disgust at them. “Life is going on good. Everything is just so perfect, why do these people have to cause ripples in the calm water!”. Suddenly there were loud screams heard. The sisters froze in their places. They knew what is was. Yet again there were riots related to the cry for partition that was the predominant talk of the town those days. Leaving everything that they had shopped for the sisters as per the instructions they had been given ran as fast as they could towards their homes. Jamna reached her home to find her husband Manikrai packing stuff frantically. Her 4 kids were also back from school. “We have to go Jamna.. where were you? We were waiting for you to come back. There is a ship leaving in 15 mins for Bombay. 

Jamna was speechless for a moment and she just stared at Manikrai as if she didn't understand what he was talking about. After she regained her self she quietly asked “What do you mean there is a ship leaving for Bombay? These things happen all the time, that doesn’t mean we pack our bags and leave our home!”. Manikrai felt sad for his family but there was hardly anything that he could do about it. All he said was “Jamna, I will explain everything to you, just understand that for now it is a choice between our home and all our lives. Isn’t it obvious that I will choose my family’s life over our home? Besides home is where the family is. I know it is easier said than done, but we will build a new home and a new life in Bombay. My job at the post office continues as it is there.” 

Very quietly without uttering a word, Jamna completed all the packing that she could do. She couldn’t carry everything of course but she ensured that she packed the bare minimum things required for her family so that they could travel comfortably. Besides there was hardly anytime given to her to sort through things. When she was done, she went across to see if her sister Satyabhama needed help packing. To her surprise, Satyabhama was just sitting in one corner and crying. All her stuff was as it is. “Don't you realise that we will miss the ship to Bombay”, Jamna scolded her sister. "What is the point sitting here and crying? Hurry up and pack.” Satyabhama just sprang up and hugged her sister and kept sobbing. When she controlled herself she said “My husband has decided we will stay on here when this becomes Pakistan. We have decided we will convert to Islam.” 

Chapter 2 - An evening in Bombay, India

The journey on the ship to Bombay was uneventful but difficult. There were hordes of people on the ship. There was hardly any place to lie down peacefully in the night. The sea sickness was unbearable. The food that they had packed for the trip was almost over. Maya, Kavita, Amru and Meena - Jamna’s 4 kids (Maya being the eldest) were blissfully playing on the ship’s deck. “We are going through a turmoil inside ourselves and look at them. For them this is just like another vacation.”, Jamna remarked as she looked on adoringly at her offspring. Manikrai also smiled with his wife but the uncertainty of the future soon made it fade away. “I hope I can give them a good life again”, he thought pensively as the Bombay shore started to appear on the dusky horizon. 

It was late night by the time the family got off on the Bombay shore. After the ordeal they had faced over the past week, finally they were all glad to feel the land underneath their feet. The younger kids were fast asleep in their parents’ arms oblivious to the worry on their parents’ minds about the uncertain future. Soon they were ushered to a Refugee Camp. It was a dilapidated building with huge halls. There were large bedsheets hung across the room as separators. Each section thus created was allotted to a family. They rushed to occupy one section as there were hordes of people entering the room trying to grab a section for themselves. Thankfully they managed to grab one and settled down there. The younger kids - Meena and Amru were still fast asleep and the older ones - Maya and Kavita helped their mother arrange a bedsheet so that all of them could rest a little for the night. 

They had not eaten since a day since all the food that they had packed was over while they were on the ship. The government had arranged some rice and dal for the refugees. The little ones were fast asleep and somewhere Jamna was thankful for that otherwise they would’ve created a ruckus because of the hunger pangs. Whatever dal and rice that they got as their share, Manikrai, Maya and Kavita ate. When they offered Jamna she said she was not hungry due to the sea sickness. Deep inside she knew that having a meal while her little ones were asleep with empty stomachs was beyond possible. 

Jamna and Manikrai lay down in the little space that they had after settling in their kids comfortably but both didn’t have a wink of sleep that night. Manikrai did have his job at the Post Office and it was just enough to make ends meet while they were in Nowshera. Now the same job couldn’t make ends meet as well as afford a home for his family. Jamna was lost deep in thought - “Just last week in Nowshera one night I was worried about the large amount of food that I had to cook for the family on the next morning since it was a festival day. What a pain, she had thought. And here I am knowing that I have a morning tomorrow when I don’t have a single chore in the morning. No meal to cook, no kids to pack off to school. Oh! But how it hurts - knowing that tomorrow won’t be a regular morning. When I open my eyes (if I do manage to catch a wink), all that I will see is hoards of people in an unknown place and 6 hungry mouths to feed but no food anywhere!” 

Chapter 3 - Could it get any worse?

 

Days passed into weeks, weeks into months. After a very difficult stay of 7 months in the refugee camp, the family had come across an angel in the form of Mr. Aswani. Mr. Aswani was a 70-year old who had lived his entire life in Bombay as a dignified Army man. At the sunset of his life, he had taken a call that he would spend the rest of his life helping out his fellow Sindhis who had been separated from their homes in Pakistan and were here to start a new life in Bombay. 

Every evening in the refugee camp the men would get together and sing Bhajans. During one such Bhajan session, Mr. Aswani happened to notice Manikrai and his family. Something about them struck a chord in his heart and he went over to them and heard their story. Jamna offered him “dinner” - whatever little that she could arrange in the small compartment called home. Mr. Aswani was moved by her warmth. He decided he would give this family a home somehow or the other. After talking to a few people he managed to convince his friend Chellaram to allow the family to stay at one of his rooms in his huge flat in Colaba. Chellaram’s wife was not open to the arrangement at all. But she had to bow down to her husband’s wishes. Manikrai and Jamna finally had a home to call their own - how long - no one knew, but at that time moving from the refugee camp to a proper home was a very welcome relief. 

Soon, life settled into a comfortable fold. Manikrai went for work, the kids got admitted into a Government school and Jamna settled into her new life peacefully. Things were not really good with Chellaram’s wife Champa. She always kept taunting Jamna when the men were not around and kept coming in her way when she tried to cook or do the daily chores for her family. Jamna was a very calm woman. She never got back or got frustrated at Champa’s atrocities. She carried on and allowed Champa to do what she was doing till she herself got frustrated and gave up. 

As life just seemed to begin to settle in, lightning struck in a bad way. It was a regular evening. Manikrai returned from work and the family had their meal and went to sleep. In the morning, when Jamna got up she found it strange that her husband was still fast asleep. She just looked at him and smiled thinking “He must be tired” and she went on with her re

Advertisement

gular morning chores. 1 hour passed by and Manikrai still didn’t get up. Jamna started to get worried and went and woke him up. To her dismay, Manikrai didn't get up that morning. He was no more! He had passed away peacefully in his sleep. Jamna was speechless, all she did was look at him and then look at her 4 children who were fast asleep peacefully beside him. She didn’t know how to react. She felt her future whiz past by her. How would she raise her children, where would she get money from? 

Could it get any worse?! 

Chapter 4 - You’re my only hope

Life has a way of settling in. No matter what happens, life again falls into place. 

After Manikrai’s death, things were pretty bad for some time. Champa was at her worst, she put her foot down that since the family could not afford even the meagre rent, there was no way she was having them in her home. Mr. Aswani came into the picture again. He spoke to the Post Office Department heads and explained Jamna’s plight to them. After a lot of paperwork, the Post Office Department agreed to give a family quarter in Santacruz to the distressed Jamna. 

Maya being the eldest had the maturity to understand that somewhere it was she who had to support her mother now. She met Mr. Aswani in his office one day and said to him “You have done so much for us, Uncle. I just need one last favour. Please help me get a job so that I can support my mother and my siblings.” Mr. Aswani was moved by the girl’s maturity. He spoke to a few friends and got Maya a job in Mahindra Automobiles. Maya worked really hard. Not just that she would get up early every morning and help her mother with the chores. Suddenly she had become the strong pillar of support that the family so desperately needed at that point in time. Kavita was also growing up. She was still a young girl but Maya instilled in her sister the need to support their mother by helping her with the little chores around the house, not just because she was getting older by age, but even because she was broken inside with the happenings in her life. Along with their studies, Kavita helped their mother by running errands and taking up small cooking activities. 

Amru was playful by nature. He was just 15 when his father passed away. He was naughty at school, his evenings passed by playing gully cricket with the boys. Mr. Aswani - the guiding angel of the family - was getting older by the day. He had fulfilled his mission largely by doing whatever he could for the family, but he knew he had one last job. To give this boy a direction in life so that he could take care of his mother and his sisters. He felt sad that he was thinking about getting this boy a job when actually other boys of his age were having a blast but he knew that Amru had a zing in him that would take him a long way in his life. He was his mother’s greatest hope after the daughters would move away into their husband’s homes after getting married. Mr. Aswani got Amru a job in Mahindra Automobile as a Stealth Machine Worker. It was a difficult job, it involved revolving the wheel of a 1-ton machine for 8 hours in a day, but Mr. Aswani knew that this was the only opening available at that time. He called Amru to his office one day and explained to him how needed to stand up for his family. “You are Jamna’s and your sisters' only hope. It’s time to grow up and be the man of your family.” Amru immediately understood what Mr. Aswani was trying to say and left school and took up the job. 

Amru and Maya were settling in their jobs. And when thing just seem to settle in, life has a habit of throwing in a curve ball right at your face. Sometime back there was a Navy recruitment camp in Colaba. Mr. Aswani had asked Amru to attend it. Amru never said no to Mr. Aswani. He had attended it. It was a fine Tuesday morning, when Mr. Aswani sent in for Jamna and Amru. He was now incapacitated and in bed. He had a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eyes. “Jamna! God has finally listened to your prayers. Amru has been offered a job in the Navy and he will be paid Rs. 16000 every month!”. Jamna didn’t know how to react. Rs. 16000 was of course an unheard of amount but what played in front of her eyes was the fact that Amru would be gone on the ship for months together. How would she live alone with the girls in the big bad city of Bombay without her son? First her husband and now her son. All she could say is “Don’t go my son. I don’t want all that money. All I want is my family, and you’re my only hope after the girls go away”. 

Chapter 5 - Bliss

Amru and Mr. Aswani finally convinced Jamna that it was in the best interest of the family that Amru should not give up such an opportunity. Mr. Aswani also gave her hope that her daughters were very responsible and they had all the ability to take care of her just like her son would. After a lot of convincing from the girls and Amru, with a very heavy heart Jamna relented and Amru went away to the seas to fend for his family. 

Maya had really made a good impression at work and was already in the management at Mahindra Automobiles. Kavita had also finished her studies and had been offered a job at Britannia. Few years into the job, she also got Meena into the same company. With Amru making good money for the family and the girls also chipping in, Jamna finally felt a lot of relief. She knew that her only job was to get the girls married off. One by one the 3 girls got married and went away to their homes. Amru also got married and had 2 lovely daughters. Amru’s wife was a teacher and very sensible woman who knew very well how to take care of her home and her work. She had complete support from Jamna, who took care of her granddaughters just like she had taken care of her own children. 

When your mind is at peace, you tend to get pensive and think about the good things in your past. Jamna had started to brood about her days in Nowshera, India which was now Nowshera, Pakistan. She remembered the good old days, those sunny mornings in Nowshera when her sister Satyabhama was such a big part of her daily life. She felt sad. After the day she left Nowshera, life had been so brutal that she never had the time or the energy to look back and check how her sister was. She felt as if she had been selfish. After all that was her little sister. Her full-of-life naughty sister who kept nagging her till she gave in to her wishes. But all Jamna could do was smile at the good memories and heave with a sigh of helplessness that she couldn’t reach out to her own sister. There was no source, no connection to the past. She finally decided instead of fretting over something that she could not change, it was better that she accepted it as it is. After all she had everything now, money, happiness - she would consider her sister as her sweet memory and move on with this beautiful life that God had given her. 

With money not being a problem anymore, with her kids finally settled in their respective lives, Jamna thought to herself one day “Is this really what Bliss is defined as? What more could I want from life! After all the struggles, finally life is giving me my share of Bliss and it’s time for me to enjoy it rather than longing for my sister because meeting her and living the old life with her is not in my hands.” 

Chapter 6 - A morning in Nowshera, Pakistan

 It was a regular Monday morning. Amru had completed his navy duties for 15 years and was now in a stable job at Mahindra Automobiles in Bombay. He left for work, his wife also left for school. The girls were also ready for school and Jamna was waiting with them at the bus stop with their bags in her hand. She treated them like delicate flowers. She did everything for them. Inspite of her age, she very actively got them ready for school, packed their bags, gave them delicious snacks in addition to the regular tiffins their mother gave them. Till she got them on the bus to school, Jamna was totally at their beck and call. Once they all left, Jamna would settle down into her routine. She had taken up a hobby of making bags out of plastic threads. She sold them to a vendor who would sell those bags and give her a share. What she got from that activity was miniscule but it was just something that was imbibed into her system - that she had to keep the money ball rolling with whatever that she could manage to do - irrespective of the fact that she was so comfortably well off that she didn’t really need to do it now! 

After having made 3 bags, Jamna was resting when there was someone at the door. When Jamna answered the bell, she saw a woman in a Burkha. There was a young boy with her. At first Jamna was a little taken aback. She never really had visitors at this hour in the afternoon. Suddenly the woman lifted her Burkha and Jamna was left gaping! It was Satyabhama. Her very own little sister. She had grown so old! But one look at her and tears welled into both the sisters’ eyes. The young boy - Satyabhama’s son, Imran, just stood there smiling. 

It took 30 mins for the sisters to even speak a word with each other. They just kept laughing and crying and hugging each other. The sisters spoke for hours together. Soon Amru and the rest of the family were at home and everyone was introduced to each other. They all had a hearty meal. The next morning, the sisters were all alone after everyone left for work. Satyabhama said “Jamna, we have both lived our lives to the fullest through its trials and triumphs. Its time we welcome the sunset of our lives just as the sunrise was. Come back with me to Nowshera. So what if it is in Pakistan now? How does it matter to us as Jamna and Satyabhama. It is our own Nowshera, the place where we were born. The place where we grew up. 

Jamna was quiet for sometime. She didnt know what to say. She looked at Amru and his wife and the girls. She couldn’t imagine her life without them. But then a single thought crossed her mind. “Don’t I have a right to live for myself? When have I ever put myself on priority? Where does my Bliss lie - here or in Nowshera?” She knew the answer. Nowshera was in her blood. She had her roots there! She had experienced the lightest part of her life there! Just the thought of spending a morning with her sister in Nowshera was Bliss - complete Bliss. The 2 sisters left for Nowshera within a week. 

Nowshera, Pakistan...

The sweet voice of chirping birds and the pleasant glow of the morning light. It was just another Nowshera morning for Jamna. A city that she was born and brought up in. A city that gave her the joys of childhood, the happiness of marriage, the ultimate achievement of motherhood - and now it here that she would rest in peace!