The Lady Who Stole my
Heart, Soul & Everything
Part-I
Let
us keep the name of the protagonist, who became pivot of my life secret for
some time. It will suffice to say that this lady without whom I cannot imagine
my present or future life was born on 18th June 1962 in the village
Chauki Mann on Ferozepur-Ludhiana section of highway in Punjab, where her
maternal uncles lived though her father belonged to Sujapur village of Jagaraon Tehsil
of Ludhiana district in the state of Punjab . Her parents and grandparents (both maternal as
well as paternal) belonged to peasant community of Punjab
known as Jatt Sikhs. As an old precept says “Agriculture is the best
profession, business so, so and service or slavery the meanest of all” ( Kheti
Uttam, Vyapar madham aur Naukri Nikrashta). Believing this precept to be true
the agrarian community of Punjab was proud of
its profession and enjoyed good reputation atleast in the rural society. This
peasant community embraced Sikhism at some point of time between 15th
and 16 th centuries. So this community had a unique feature as its faith was of
Sikhism that guaranteed equality atleast in religious spheres and it took up
the profession of agriculture.
The
condition of peasants was very miserable during the medieval ages as they were
entangled in the vicious circle of poverty and debts in the hands of local
bankers known as Mahajans who took such a high rate of interest that the lives
of the most of the peasants were spent in paying back the loan as a result of
which it had become a popular saying that “a peasant takes birth in debt, lives
in debt and dies in debt”. Relief for the farmers of Punjab came when a young
enlightened man Sir Chottu Ram was made Revenue Minister in the ministry of
progressive government of Punjab led by Sir
Sikander Hyat Khan and his Nationalist Party. He brought a legislation in the
State Legislature banning any body to take interest of loan for more than ten
years. He appealed to the farmer to stop paying money to money lenders at once
if they have been paying it for more than ten years. This legislation saved a
number of peasant families though it created resentment among the business and
money lending class. This brought up resurgence in the status and destiny of
Agriculturist community of the state who earned respect and equality for themselves
due to their strength and numbers particularly in the age of democracy that
dawned after the independence.
In
the hear of Punjab there came up a village resulting from the feud among the
family of a village named Hans Kalan in Jagaraon Tehsil of Ludhiana District.
The disgruntled members of the family took their establishment to their farms
situated 2 kms away from Hans Kalan. Here a revenue official named Soorja Ram
helped them in getting their share of property in their name. That gave rise to
a new village named Sujapur, named after this benevolent and kind revenue
official. As the population increased it became very difficult to support a
family entirely on the income from the land. The struggle of life becomes
slightly easier if some alternate source of income opens up besides the income
from land. The popular profession among the peasants of Punjab during 19th
century and early 20th century was either to join Army or to join
Revenue Services even if as a petty official known as Patwari. One of the heirs
of this disgruntled family from Hans Kalan was S. Narain Singh who had three
sons: Joginder Singh, Ralla Singh and Gobind Singh. Fortunately all the three
sons of this family became government servants ensuring atleast regular income
for the family. The eldest one S. Joginder Singh became Patwari while S. Ralla
Singh joined the army and after retiring from army he worked as a security
guard in a bank and the third one S. Gobind Singh also worked as Patwari in Revenue
Department though towards his retirement he became a Kanungo. As due to their
government atleast minimum income was assured and as two of his sons were
working in revenue department so he succeeded in accumulating good piece of
land in his life that raised his financial as well as social status. Farms
increased his income while the rank of Lambardar that he acquired enhanced his
status in the society. The eldest son of S. Joginder Singh had four sons- Ajeet
Singh, Pritam Singh, Baldev Singh and Surjeet Singh while Gobind Singh had one
son and two daughters. His son’s name was S. Tajinder Singh while Ralla Singh
had no child. Joginder Singh’s three sons joined government jobs while Ajeet
Singh did the farming work looking after the family land. S. Pritam Singh, the
eldest son, joined bureaucracy in Government of Punjab and retired as Nazir
from District Collector’s Office Ludhiana. Next son S. Baldev Singh joined Air
–Force and retired as Junior Warrant Officer, equivalent to JCO of army and the
third son S. Surjeet Singh, who was father of our protagonist joined Irrigation
Department of Government of Rajasthan as an Engineer after completing his
Diploma in Civil Engineering Phagwara Jalandhar though he had also worked for a
brief span in Bhakra Nangal project too. Though Surjeet Singh had joined at
Mavli in Udaipur
district in 1957 but soon he was shifted to Banswara to do the survey of
ambitious joint irrigation project of Government of Gujarat and Govt. of
Rajasthan named Mahi Bajaj-Sagar Dam Project. S. Surjeet Singh was married to a
reputed family of Chauki Mann which was village situated on Ludhiana-Ferozepur
Highway near the town of Jagaraon. In fact the aunt of the mother of the
protagonist was Ralla Singh’s wife and interestingly the name of protagonist’s
mother was also Surjeet. In Punjab normally
the sikh boys put the suffix of Singh and girls put the suffix of Kaur behind
their first names and the gender is only differentiated by these suffixes.
Since the family of Chauki Mann was well known as Ralla Singh’s wife was also
from this family so it was considered safe and secure to marry Surjeet Kaur of
village Chauki Maan to Surjeet Singh of Sujapur village who was an engineer.
After Surjeet Singh shifted his family to Banswara, which was a tribal district
of Rajasthan he started living in rented accommodation first and then in the
mahi Irrigation Colony situated on the banks of River Mahi. Two sons to S.
Surjeet Singh were born in 1957 and 1958. Elder son Sukhpal Singh was born in
1957 at Chauki Maan village while the younger one S. Satinder Pal Singh was
born in Udaipur
in Rajasthan in 1958. His wife again got pregnant by the end of the year 1959
and he left her at her parent’s village Chauki Mann. So on 18th June
1962 was born our protagonist named Baljeet or Satti. In those days normally
the birth of female child produced gloomy mood in the house but her house
celebrated her birth as she was born after six male children were born in their
extended family and hence she was nick named Satti or Seventh child. In other
words a female child was born in the family after six male children.
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