Referring to the song … ”Husna…by the famous poet and singer Piyush Misra …
During the 1947 Partition, two innocent hearts, in love, were lost in the cruel hands of destiny. They were alienated forever. No one heard the sobs or saw the tears when the lovers cried for each other. The ruthless political decisions ruined their life at the altar of farce gains and expectations.
In the famous biopic on the legendary Flying Sikh… ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’, I could not control my tears when Milkha Singh visited Pakistan (after almost twenty years) and howled bitterly at the doorstep of the village where his entire family was ruthlessly annihilated in cold blood during the Partition. Milkha met his childhood friend and embraced him. There were tears of joy and sobs of happiness. This is love beyond the boundaries.
As a medical student, I took the ECFMG examination to gain entry into the United States of America. India had no centres to take the exam, so I opted for Karachi, Pakistan. I was barely twenty-one years old and was on my first international trip to a hostile and unfriendly country.
The anxiety was at its seams, prior to my departure. My only support system was my uncle’s Muslim friend, Dr Rasheed who left India during partition and settled in Karachi.
There was no communication as the letter that I wrote to him couldn’t fetch a reply, and the telephonic calls also failed. With loads of anxiety and adrenaline gushing, I landed at the Karachi International Airport in the late late-night hours. Dr Rasheed did not turn up at the airport to receive me. I was helped by a friendly co-passenger who hosted me for a night at his posh guest house.
The next morning, I made contact with Dr Rasheed. He and his family showered me with extreme love and treated me like a Prince. In the evenings, Dr Rasheed would sit down with a glass of wine and ask me about India, the place where he was born and studied. He cried in bouts and missed his childhood friends and his old house. I realised that I was his most revered Indian guest during the five-day stay. His love and emotional affiliation were boundless.
THE LOVE WAS BEYOND THE BORDERS.
Dr Rasheed was an accomplished professional, but his heart did not belong in Karachi. It still loitered in the narrow gully of the Nallah Peepal Mandi, Agra.
Even after forty years of the Karachi visit, I get goosebumps when I recollect Dr Rasheed’s sobs and hugs. He would hold my hand and ruffle my hair like his son. He tried to live his childhood through me.
Pakistan and India may be sitting on a volatile nuke summit, but there is a breeze of affection that flows across the border without a passport or visa. …The River Indus flows from the Indian Himalayan range and quenches millions of Pakistanis with its sweet water….. There is a strong Cultural and Musical heritage that steals a million hearts.
And above all, there is a feeling, an emotion of LOVE that still beats in millions of hearts, craving to be together. It screams silently to raze all the walls of prejudice and deceit and to amalgamate them into the elixir of brotherhood.
God created Man for making and spreading love, but the selfish man created boundaries and fences of hatred. But still, he could not control the emotion of affection that flows and will continue to flow across the boundaries.
