Sunny Dua
Taking a leaf out of 1984 anti-Sikh riots, the versatile writer Dr Amrinder Bajaj, in her 30 chapter book titled “When A Mighty Tree Falls” has tried to sum up 30 years of unending agony in a single family story which if considered as facsimile of other heart-rendering violence and affected home-stories can very well bring to the foreground the fact that how painful it is to live and die with a wound which was given by own people in own land and without any substantial conviction that could have at least enabled the victims, if not live but die in peace. Post riots, many lived in pain and died in pain but in the name of justice what all they got were dates in courts and setting up of Commissions whose recommendations were never implemented.
Making Late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s words and I quote, “When a big tree falls, the earth shakes” as pivot after placing it right in the first twelve pages of her book, Dr Amrinder Bajaj has tried to let people feel the pain of how life changed forever after the fall of so called ‘Mighty Tree’ which resulted in noting but bloodshed and is till date compared with 1947 riots wherein mayhem had awakened demons in humans to fill up train bogies and ponds with corpses of fellow humans only to depict how much hatred they had for those with whom they had lived on same land since ages.
Dedicated to victims of racial discrimination, the author has portrayed Lajwant Kour alias Lajo’s journey from her small and peaceful village Sarholi to turbulent Delhi to widow colony to her dream home to Jail and then to her eternal lord’s home. Having suffered so much how Lajo dies in oblivion is a heart rendeing story told articulately. It’s a survival story of her love for her beloved, respect for her husband, commitment towards her religion and a sacrifice for her children which she is believed to have paid with her life. The happiness in this journey that she collected though didn’t last long yet Lajo is portrayed to have lived her life on her own terms.
Throughout her life, she confined a lot many secrets to her heart only to strike a balance with her relations and ensure that each one of them; be it her husband, lover, adopted daughter or son born out of her love affair stay comfortable in their respective zones. s The way this book reminded me of horrific account of how my father Dr S S Dua survived that gory night of 1984 only to return home in Jammu safe, I can surely say that every reader will be taken back to the era only to experience pain for himself. The book will also help affected ones to associate themselves with the story that has been beautifully crafted in this 177 page book.
The author has successfully been able to take one to experience how hundreds of widows and orphaned children lived their journey from once bustling Tirlok Puri to Tilak Vihar which was later called ‘Widows’ Clony (Vidhwa Colony). The book also narrates how the families were compensated in initial days with Rs 10,000 advanced for each head. Using typical Punjabi words and anecdotes besides portraying the rich culture, author Bajaj has done justice with riot victims, survivors, her writing and ethics while narrating a woman’s forbidden desires.
How militancy affected families in Punjab and simultaneously how small time happiness meant a lot to nuclear families has been beautifully described by the author. United by love and then divided by hatred and then again united by love is typical being of Lajo who loved her husband but longed for a child and got it from a Hindu neighbour who lusted on her. Lajo’s ordeal especially after riots wherein she raised her son with hatred towards a community is worth a read. However, when the lady gets to know about truth and role of his neighbour how she tries to reverse everything is again worth reading rather making into a film.
Though a single house has been taken as sample to showcase the fact as to how each and every house suffered yet the author has missed portraying many success stories of affected Sikhs who later on rose from rubble to rebuilt their empire brick by brick. Thirty three after the assassination of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi that triggered this story, the author takes one to the ground zero where Lajo’s husband was brutally murdered in the ensuing anti-Sikh riots and narrates Lajo’s ordeal in Widow’s Colony, perhaps the only one of its kind in the world.
Dr Amrinder Bajaj has meanwhile shown how big the loss was yet she has established that the hatred between Indus and Sikhs was ‘a creation’ and not ‘inborn’. The beginning of book quotes Human Rights lawyer H S Phoolka’s resolve, who is fighting battles for the anti-Sikh riot victims wherein he mentions Simon Wiensental’s 63 years hunt for Nazis who later gets a commandant nailed. This happens after 50 years of world War. Phoolka is mentioned to have said, “we will pursue justice with same spirit, for it is innocent citizens who are dead, not the law”.
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