UNJUSTIFIED DIFFERENCES
by - Sumita Kataria
keen milandi, un mitia ji,
khushbu, kehre bhi gul me,
jehn mitia te, wadhya wasaya, muhinja abana
jehn mitia ji upaj mukhe, ihio jeevan dino
Jehn mitia ji pokh dina, mukhe sutha sanskar
wadhandi rahe wasandi rahe asan ji pyari sindhri
khush rahan sabh sindh wasi, milan, khushiyon beshumar
I have heard a lot about the lives of people of India and Pakistan before Partition. I have also read about the horrifying experiences, people of both these countries had, during partition. My own parents witnessed many dreadful experiences, which changed the lives of millions of people of both INDIA and PAKISTAN. People of both the countries have their own unpleasant experiences and stories of partition and blame each other for their unforgettable horrifying experiences. Till date the people of both the countries are uncomfortable and unfriendly with each other. Since so many years our young generation has also been hearing a lot about the terrible experiences from their elders and they too are carrying the germs of hatred for each other's Nation.
If we look at the happenings all around the world we can see that the root cause of all the tension in the world whether communal differences, territorial / boundaries differences, racial differences etc is generated by a few ill minded people to fulfill their own selfish, foul agendas. These selfish people by using innocent people and by taking the advantage of their weakness make them commit various types of gruesome crimes. And due to these people, who are hungry for money, higher posts, and for their selfish, awful purposes the world has witnessed many disasters, destructions and illegalities.
We are all part of God's beautiful creation, very much connected to each other. Everywhere in the world things are similar, every country has water, mountains, greenery, animals, birds, humans etc. Even in the forests we find what we find on the land where humans live. God has given all of us one Moon, one Sun, one Sky, and Oceans which are connected to each other. We breathe like each other, inhale air which is also the same everywhere. By providing us with everything equally, God has taught us to live with love for each other and share everything with each other because everything is same for everyone and there are no differences. We all are his children. Because of some evil minded people we have forgotten this message of equality of our Dear Lord.
Due to what has been stuffed into our minds about the unpleasantness between the people of India and Pakistan I was very nervous to go to Pakistan with my family about 12 years back, to visit the Holy shrine of my beloved Guruji which is in Sindh, Pakistan, in the district of Ghotki. It is a tiny village named Raherki Sahib where our Great Satguru Saint Satramdas Sahib lived and blessed the people of Sindh. Saint Kanwarram sahib, whose name each and every Sindhi is familiar with, was the true disciple of Saint Satramdas Sahib and with the blessings of Saint Satram Das Sahib, Saint Kanwaram Sahib became a great Sufi Singer who sang melodious touching bhajans and poems of great Sufi poets, like Sachal Sarmast, Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai, Sadarangmal and many other great poets, in the praise of the Lord Almighty.
When we reached Karachi, my entire family, including myself, was really surprised to see the cordial and exciting atmosphere around us. People at the airport were very polite and kind, they helped us a lot and smilingly catered to our needs. We were sent a car by our dearest Guruji Saint Sadhram Saheb, who is the presently the true successor of Saint Satramdas Sahib of Raherki Sahib Sindh. We went to the railway station to catch a train to a place called Roheri, which is just a few hours' drive to Raherki Sahib, where our sacred shrine Devri Sahib is situated. We boarded the train and were sitting with the local people of Pakistan who were extremely kind and polite to us, though it was very clear from our outfits that we were from India. Our co-passengers were mostly men, as women, especially in the interiors of Pakistan, are generally not outgoing, and if they do go out, they are covered with a Veil. But that is their custom which I did not find awkward because here in India too we see our Muslim sisters dressing up like that. We had a fantastic memorable trip to our native place as well and the Darshan Sahib of our Guruji's shrine was amazing. After spending a week in Pakistan we returned with beautiful memories.
After a few years we again happened to go to Pakistan and this time we had another very good experience. We were travelling to the holy shrine of my Guruji by car, and the drive was of about 8 hours from Karachi. We started at around 7 in the evening and around midnight we reached a small village. As we wanted to eat something we stopped at a small restaurant but realized that we didn't have Pakistani currency with us, and the people at the restaurant did not have dollar exchange facility. We told the waiter about it, and very surprisingly the waiter and the manager greeted us in Urdu and told us not to worry, and asked us to have whatever we wanted to. They welcomed us, and told us that we could pay on our way back to our country. Before we left we paid them Rs 500/- Indian money which was equivalent to our bill amount we had to pay in Pakistani currency. They told us to take it back while we return back.The kindness and hospitality of those local Pakistani people was endearing.
Once again we had a heart touching experience of the local Sindhi Muslims who were very kind, simple and very loving. We were travelling by train from a place called Mirpur Mathelo to Karachi but our reservations were done from Roheri, which was some stations away from Mirpur. But since we had boarded the train and also had the tickets from Mirpur to Roheri we occupied the vacant seats waiting for the people who were going to vacate the seats at Rohri station, which were reserved for us from there. There were about 6 to 8 people who were going to vacate the seats at Roheri, and amongst them, there were young children and a middle aged man, who was the father of those young kids. Those lovely people knew that we were going to occupy their seats, after they get down, and since we were sitting very close to them they understood that we were Indians. We were speaking in Sindhi and since their mother tongue was also Sindhi they could understand what we were talking about. Actually in that train a family was supposed to get one double bedsheet to tie it in the passage of the train between the berths opposite each other for the people with their family to maintain their privacy. We did not carry any such sheet with us and so we were discussing this problem with each other. On hearing this, those wonderful people in the train, told us in Sindhi, not to worry, as they said they will not remove their bed sheet, and will leave it hanging for our privacy. On hearing this we were spellbound and deeply touched and we felt as if we were not amongst strangers but with our own people.
After experiencing such heart touching events I thought of sharing them with all the people around the world. It is really very sad that even after knowing the fact that the common people all over the world are so simple, kind, loving and caring we are not able to live happily with each other. Let us come together and live peacefully for the betterment of entire humanity. It is a very well known fact that no religion teaches violence. Let us live happily, we have already suffered a lot. Let us eradicate hatred and become one from the hearts even if so called boundaries between Countries exist.