Gauri and Nasreen

Gauri - Oct,1946

'Ma?'

'Ma, tussi kithe ho?'

I yell at the top of my voice as I dash through each bedroom, the courtyard and the garden, bumping against my cousins, uncles and aunts; looking for mother.

'What happened? why are you shouting? I am here on the terrace'

I stop running and look up, squinting my eyes from the bright sunlight. There she is, my mother; neatly folding the laundry, her long wet hair swaying slightly to the gentle breeze. My aunt, Guddu masi is chatting away merrily with the house maid, Manpreet while she helps mother.

'Ma, Shehna and Mehrun are coming to play, could you prepare something to eat?'

Mother stops doing her work and looks down sharply at me. Guddu masi doesn't even notice.

'Gauri come up here, I have to talk to you' Ma beckons me and i hurry along.

I flop down in between mother and Guddu masi on the charpoy, a light bedstead. Guddu masi smiles at me and then continues on her chatter.

'Gauri, you have to understand that times have changed. Papa must have told you about the communal riot that took place a month ago in Calcutta'

I can't possibly understand why she is telling me all this now. Sure I know about that riot. It was 16th of august when the Muslims had attacked the Hindu part of the city. The Muslims feared that if the British just pulled out, they would surely suffer at the hands of the overwhelming Hindu majority and that had resulted in the worst communal riots British India has ever seen.

I have heard that the dead bodies lay strewn all over the place, right onto the roads. Some young Muslim boys had burned the bodies in a nearby well. It was altogether a grotesque sight.

But since then there have been rumors that India will be divided on the basis of religion, and so there has been increased tension between the Hindus and Muslims in Punjab too.

'You have to slowly stop being friends with those two Muslim girls OK' mother says as she takes my hand and strokes it.

'But why Ma? I have known them for so long, you know their families too. Besides I know that there are some problems going on between Hindus and Muslims but we are not Hindu na' I question mother because what I said is absolutely logical, we are not Hindus, we are Sikhs so we should not have any problem with either of them right?

Suddenly Guddu masi speaks up, 'Dalbir, tell your daughter that when India gets divided into India and Pakistan, if Lahore falls in Pakistan; our survival will become impossible. Even if we choose to go to India leaving behind our centuries old home, we will get killed during the journey itself. Do you think the Muslims will let us go over? I say never' she says these words with so much disgust that suddenly I feel uneasy sitting between them, mother and Guddu masi. I stand up to go.

'Gauri you remember this and keep your distance from those girls okay?' mother says.

'okay Ma' I answer dishonestly.

A/N

Hi everyone, it's been so long since I last wrote to you. Well I'm back with another short story, this time a historical fiction. I have always wanted to do a lot of research on the Ind-Pak partition of 1947, and this year I read a lot about communalism at school and moreover yesterday I saw a documentary made by BBC so I came up with this brand new story 'Gauri and Nasreen'. This story is based on some true incidents.

Hope u enjoyed the first chapter. And if you did don't forget to vote and comment.

I'll try to update ASAP.

Till next time, stay tuned!

Love,

Ena