In this interview with Tim Smith from 2017, Harchet Bains discusses leaving newly independent Pakistan for the new Republic of India at just 11 years old. When Harchet and his family left their home, they did not realise that it would be for ever. He remembers that he did not say goodbye to his Muslim friend Mohammed Azeez because he thought that they would return. Only when the family witnessed the widespread communal violence did they realise that it was too dangerous to return, and it dawned on Harchet that he would never go back home or see his friend again. 

When asked to talk about the journey from Pakistan to India, Harchet describes how heavy rains made it very difficult for the bullocks to pull the carts which were carrying the family’s belongings. He tells Tim that the family began abandoning items along the way to make the load lighter, but eventually the animals became so weak that the carts were abandoned altogether. The family continued the journey on foot with only the clothes on their backs; other people from surrounding villages joined them in the long walk to India.

About Kavita Puri’s Partition Voices

In 2017 BBC journalist Kavita Puri led a project to mark the 70th anniversary of the Partition of India. Through interviews, the Partition Voices team directly documented the experiences of those who lived through this traumatic time and subsequently moved to Britain, as well as stories from their children and grandchildren. The testimonies recall epic journeys and forced migration, violence, partings with friends and family, and the end of Empire, with some speaking about these events for the very first time. The outcome of this project was an award-winning three-part series for BBC Radio 4 titled Partition Voices, and later an acclaimed book of the same name. The full recordings and transcripts from Partition Voices are archived at the British Library Sound Archive, with collection reference C1790.

HARCHET BAINS:

I was not able to say goodbye to Mohammed Azeez who was a great friend of mine because at that time I wasn’t aware that I'm going away forever and I shall never be coming back. We were told that we shall come back when the things calm down. Actually at that time it was the impression and everybody thought that this is how it will happen. We will go to India to let the things calm down and then we will come back. But then when we saw killings going on in front our eyes, then we thought how can we go back? And slowly it dawned on us that we were not going back. It was too dangerous.

TIM SMITH:

Let's talk about the caravan now. So you described that it was wet, muddy, because there were heavy rains that summer. Weren’t there?

HARCHET BAINS:

It was monsoon time anyway and it started raining the next day when we started our journey and slowly it became muddy and very, very – everybody was wet. Even the bullocks who were pulling the carts, it was difficult for them to pull the cart on the muddy field roads, which was dusty roads, and eventually we started throwing things from the cart to lighten the load and also the fodder was finished, so the oxen or animal became so weak that eventually slowly bit by bit after three or four days, I can't remember how many days, we had to abandon the whole cart and all the luggage, which hurriedly my mother and father had gathered and put on the cart, that was left because there was no way we could carry on our backs. So we were left just on the clothes we were wearing and just walking on foot.

TIM SMITH:

And you were 11 years old at this time?

HARCHET BAINS:

At that time, I was 11 and…

TIM SMITH:

Did you have any siblings with your family?

HARCHET BAINS:

Yes, three of my brothers and one sister and my father and my mother, and also my uncles and their family. We were all together, on us surrounding one cart, but every family had one cart. And slowly the caravan was being joined by not only that village but the surrounding villages and it became bigger and bigger. And by the time we reached India, it became many, many miles, I can't remember how many miles, but we were told –when I asked how big is the caravan? They said it's quite long, big. Everybody is there.

TIM SMITH:

So how long did it take to complete your journey?

HARCHET BAINS:

It took 11 days we were told. I couldn’t count because we were children. But when we reached India, the first town or city we came to was called Fazilka. It is on the border of Pakistan and India. It still exists. It's a big town. That's where we were. And we were so hungry and so shivering with wet and cold, although it was summertime, but when you have no clothes on and you haven’t slept for quite a number of days, we only – we got snippets of sleep here and there, and being wet all the time. 11 days, it stopped and started again. It was raining on and off, and we were quite miserable by the time we reached India. We were hungry, and children were crying and everybody was very, very unhappy.