Nirmal Bakshi

Nirmal Bakshi narrates the courageous story of her sister, Sarla Bakshi, who survived the Partition using her courage and wits, even as she faced personal tragedy. Sarla Bakshi was stranded in Mirpur with her daughter, Aruna, when Partition took place as her husband was in the services and posted in India. Soon after, the Hindus and Sikhs were forced from the city. While walking in the kafila, Sarla was separated from her 2 1/2 year old daughter. While she was walking, she was pursued by a Muslim gentleman, who tried to convince her to marry him (though he never forced her). She pretended to be suffering from tuberculosis, and stopped eating food to appear weaker. He still kept trying to persuade her to run away with him. Finally, after a week, he gave up and said, “You are a true follower of your religion, and I take you as my sister.” As soon as he said this, she grabbed his hand and said, “Now that you have called me sister, you must help me”. She told him to take her to Jhelum City to the home of some very close Muslim family friends, a journey fraught with danger in those trying times as anyone helping members of the other community was also often killed. The Muslim gentleman safely escorted her to Jhelum, where Sarla hid in the friends' house for a few days, as they tried to figure out how to get her to India. Finally, she came up with the idea of telling the cleaning lady to take a message to the liaison officer in the city and the rescue team took her to India. Upon reaching the refugee camp at Amritsar, she got her name announced on the radio, and was reunited with her family. Sarla spent many months searching for her lost daughter, but never found her. Nirmal Bakshi passed away in March 2017.