Sikh woman’s lifelong dream comes true

Malhinder Kaur Singh grew up hearing tales of her ancestral home in Rawalpindi. The 70-year-old was born a few years after the partition of the subcontinent, with her family having opted for the newly formed country of India.

Growing up, though, all she heard from her family elders were stories of the family’s life in the Kartarpura area and the people in the neighbourhood.

There were stories of her grandfather’s thriving transport business, operating under the name of Prince Transport. The buses would run the route from Rawalpindi to Murree and Lahore. Her father was a respected bureaucrat working in the country’s central bank, at that time the Reserve Bank of India.

But then partition came about, and the family shifted to India where Singh was born. Their next migration was to the United States where she now lives a family of her own.

Read Pakistan issues 3,000 visas to Sikh pilgrims from India

But the desire to see her family home remained strong. She finally fulfilled the lifelong dream as part of a religious group visiting Pakistan. She also contacted a local journalist, Sajjad Haider, to get information about the area and her ancestral homes.

Haider not only shared pictures of the area and her ancestral home but also prepared a welcome party upon her arrival to the area.

It was an overwhelming moment for the septuagenarian who could not hold back her tears. She remarked that while a lot had changed, the interior of her father’s house was similar to what she remembered from the stories.

Earlier, she received a warm welcome from residents who showered Singh and her family members with petals, with and the beats of the dhol walas announcing their arrival.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 25^th, 2023.