The year was 1942. World War II was raging. Recruitment for
Army was on in a big way.
The government encouraged agents to scout the villages for
suitable boys who could be recruited in Army.
Muhammad din, one such agent, was a retired Subedar. He was a
Rangad (Muslim Rajput, warrior clan).
He found and persuaded suitable candidates to join the British
Army. Reward for this service was a murabba
or piece of land.
These newly recruited Jawans
were sent to the war front and were literally used as cannon fodder in Burma.
Prakash decided one fine day that he wanted to join the Army
(at the ripe age of 14). He went to the recruitment office in Ajnala, a small
town near their village.
He found Muhammad din standing outside the recruitment office.
Muhammadin asked him,” Pachheya,
bharti hon aaya hain?” (Pachheya (spoilt version of Prakash), have you come
to be enlisted in the Army?)
Prakash, the brave and reckless, answered,” Yes”.
Muhammad din took him inside the office to meet the British recruitment
officer.
Prakash was asked to remove his shirt as per practice and
his chest was measured.
The British officer felt that Prakash was too young to be
recruited and asked how old he was. Before he could answer, Muhammad Din said
that he was old enough to be recruited and was a strapping lad.
He also suggested that they check and see if he had hair
growing in his armpits. Supposedly hair growing in the armpits proved that a
boy was past puberty and old enough to be recruited in Army.(!!)
The British officer agreed and Prakash was recruited in the army,
then and there.
They put him in a bus with the other recruits.
Meanwhile Baldev, Prakash’s younger brother had rushed home to
their village Rokhe on a borrowed
bicycle, to inform their father Aparnath that Prakash had enlisted in the Army and
was immediately going to the Army training camp in Ferozpur, about 200 kms away.
Aparnath was shocked at this disturbing news and rushed to
the recruitment centre in Ajnala.
He pleaded with the
office staff to let his boy go as he was only 14 years old. He was told that
Prakash had enlisted of his own accord and could not be let off without
sufficient reason.
Aparnath abused Muhammad Din roundly for having led his boy
astray.
Muhammad din warned,”
Panditji, gaalan na kaddo. Tuhada munda
aape aayea bharti hon vaste.” (Sir, don’t abuse me. Your son came to be
recruited. I did not bring him here.)
Prakash sat dispassionately in the bus and watched his
father fretting and fuming. He felt a sense of satisfaction to see that he had
caused so much fuss.
After some time, the
bus full of new recruits was driven off to Amritsar railway station en route to
Ferozpur. From there they were to be sent to Kasur for further training and
placement.
The excited boys out-for- adventure were dropped at the Amritsar
railway station, 14 kms away.
It was a winter night. Winters are bitterly cold in Punjab.
Prakash had only the clothes on his back and no luggage. He
had enlisted on a whim and had not known that he would be spirited away so
quickly.
He was cold and hungry and thought about his home and his
loving grandmother.
Then he thought of his six brothers and sisters and how
everything was so difficult to come by at home.
He thought of the adventures that he will have, the new
places that he will travel too, the new types of food that he will eat, the
money that he will earn, and he knew that he had done the right thing.
One needed to move away from the family to earn respect and
a standing in society.
Thus fortified with his new resolve he spent the night
roaming around on the railway station. He assuaged his hunger with a cup of tea
and stood around the fires burning to keep the destitute people warm through
the night.
At 4 a.m. the next day, the train left the Amritsar station with
the recruits on board and reached Ferozpur at 1 p.m. The recruits were taken to
the Army camp, billeted there and issued supplies.
Supplies consisted of
army issue type clothes, mess tin and other necessities. Prakash was excited to
have so many new things.
The training cycle began.
The boys were enthusiastic and in good health. Food was
plentiful.
They took the hard training in their stride and were
learning the ropes to be professional soldiers in the Army Supply Corps.
Meanwhile, Aparnath decided to get his son out of the
blasted army no matter what it took. He was not ready to let him die in some
foreign land.
He came to meet Prakash in Ferozpur Army camp and asked him
if he understood what he had done. He scolded, “Kaka, tu eh ki kitta”?
Prakash was quiet. His
initial enthusiasm to be a fauji
(soldier) had abated a bit in the one month that he had been away from home.
He told his father
that they were to be sent to Burma after training, to fight there.
Aparnath wanted to cry because he knew that Burma was the
killing field of World war II and his son will not come back alive from there.
He came back to Amritsar and met his sister Wanti’s son Devki
Nandan to ask for his help.
Devki Nandan was a lawyer’s
munshi (assistant ) and thus a man of
some influence through the good offices of the lawyer.
The good lawyer (name not known) wrote a petition to the
deputy commissioner of Amritsar apprising him of the situation and how a 14
year old boy had been recruited into the Army against his father’s wishes. He
used the term vargala ke (by false
representation or deceit).
This strongly worded petition made its way to the Army
channels and ultimately to the commanding officer in Ferozpur army camp.
By then two months had gone by and Prakash was still living
the life of a recruit. Running around with the other boys, marching to the commands
of left- right- left and eating to his heart’s content in the mess.
One day, a postman brought
a medal to Aparnath’s house in the village.
Everyone in the
family started crying immediately thinking that Prakash was dead and that’s why
a medal had been sent home.
The truth was that it was a service medal routinely awarded
after a certain time had passed. It had been sent home instead of being handed
over to Prakash.
Around this time in Ferozpur, Prakash was very much alive and
well. He was being ushered into the presence of his British commanding officer.
The CO asked Prakash, “Kya
naam hai?” (What is your name?
“Baap ka naam?” (Father’s
name?)
Prakash gave his name and his father’s name.
The CO asked,“Kisne
bharti karwaya?” (Who made you enlist in the army?)
Prakash answered,” Muhammad Din ne.”
“Vergala ke bharti
karwaya?” (Recruited by misrepresentation and coercion.)
The British officer
repeated several times in amazement.
Prakash nodded.
The CO asked,” Do you want to leave the army and go home?”
Prakash replied in the affirmative.
The British officer declared,” Discharged.”
This was all it took for Prakash to be released from the
Army.
His friend Sundar asked him,”Kya hua?” (What happened?)
This was because a mere recruit almost never got to see his
CO let alone be ushered into his presence.
Prakash said he had not understood completely but he believed
that he was being sent home.
He stayed another two days in the camp while his discharge
papers were processed. He was given 20 rupees as his wages and put in a train
to Amritsar.
He reached Amritsar railway station late at night and spent
another night on the platform as the earliest tonga (horse driven carriage) to his village did not leave until mid-morning.
Prakash stopped at the market place outside his village and
bought sweet sugar cane worth 50 paise, as a gift for his family.
His mother, grandmother, father and the entire family were
overjoyed to see him back home safe and sound.
Muhammad Din visited them after a few days on his ghori (mare).
He exchanged hot words with Aparnath about how they had
spoilt his name and his reputation by accusing him of coercing Prakash to join
the army.
He had lost the chance to win the murabba that a successful agent was given for his services.
Aparnath asked him to go his way and think about what he had
done. He had sent a young 14 year old boy to die. He asked him what he would
have done if it had been his son.
Muhammad din went away.
Prakash was saved from this dangerous situation due to the
British’s sense of fair play.
In their book, no one could be allowed to do something vergala ke or by misrepresentation.
Simple petitions used to work those days.
Prakash ran away again a few years later and enlisted in British
Air force. But that is another story.
