The Sikh Geek

That was the title of the docu-drama on Channel 4 tonight and it was a very compelling piece of television. It related the events of the last days of British occupation of India and the Partition of the sub-continent into what is now modern India and Pakistan. It is one of those momentous events which still echoes through the ages and its effects are still felt today. It was an event that my parents lived through in the Punjab. The line that was drawn split the Punjab into two and triggered the greatest human exodus the world has ever seen, 20 million displaced and 1 million people died in the ensuing chaos and factional fighting. Neighbour against neighbour where for centuries people had lived together as brothers. The Sikh homeland was torn in two, some of the holiest places of Sikhism like the birthplace of the founder Guru Nanak was left on the Pakistan side and where they are still today. Sikhs and Hindus migrated from the Pakistan side to the Indian side and Muslims made the opposite journey. This is not to blame the ex-colonial rulers, they did what people like Jinnah wanted and created the world’s first Islamic nation, namely Pakistan. On the eve of Independence, Nehru made a speech which to me stands as one of the great speeches of the modern age.

“Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity.”

The rest as they say is history!