0:00:07 > 0:00:1137-year-old Anita Rani is one of the new generation of presenters
0:00:11 > 0:00:13changing the face of British television.
0:00:14 > 0:00:19This is great, I'm driving a 180-ton truck
0:00:19 > 0:00:21and I'm getting lessons by someone in Russian.
0:00:21 > 0:00:24Get out of the way, is all I'm saying.
0:00:24 > 0:00:28Ya-hoo! I'm driving a flipping truck!
0:00:28 > 0:00:30'When I was growing up in Bradford,'
0:00:30 > 0:00:32I didn't think I'd be presenting,
0:00:32 > 0:00:35you know, Countryfile and The One Show
0:00:35 > 0:00:38and travelling the world. It's amazing.
0:00:38 > 0:00:39Whoo!
0:00:39 > 0:00:44360 degrees around me, all I can see is desert.
0:00:44 > 0:00:46- PIGS GRUNT - This one is terrifying.
0:00:46 > 0:00:47Whoo!
0:00:47 > 0:00:49ENGINES ROAR
0:00:49 > 0:00:51Agh!
0:00:51 > 0:00:52Woo-hoo!
0:00:53 > 0:00:56'I am not a traditional Indian girl'
0:00:56 > 0:00:59and I think that is because I was aware that boys
0:00:59 > 0:01:02were able to just do stuff.
0:01:02 > 0:01:04And just get away with it.
0:01:04 > 0:01:06And I think, with girls, there was always,
0:01:06 > 0:01:08but you can't do that and you can't do this.
0:01:08 > 0:01:10And my answer was always "Why?".
0:01:13 > 0:01:15My mum is from a Sikh family.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20But I grew up going to the Sikh temple.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23I went to a Church of England school.
0:01:23 > 0:01:25I can say the Lord's Prayer backwards.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28You know, I just have an understanding of all religions
0:01:28 > 0:01:31and yet, personally, I choose to follow none.
0:01:31 > 0:01:35But my grandfather, my mum's dad, was definitely Sikh.
0:01:35 > 0:01:37His name was Sant Singh.
0:01:37 > 0:01:42My mum absolutely idolised her father.
0:01:42 > 0:01:44I never met him.
0:01:44 > 0:01:46I know that he was married before he married my nan
0:01:46 > 0:01:48and that his wife and child died.
0:01:48 > 0:01:53But nobody's got clear answers about how that happened.
0:01:53 > 0:01:55They don't talk about that.
0:01:55 > 0:01:58And I would love to have the opportunity to know more.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02I've wanted to know more about this guy my entire life.
0:02:36 > 0:02:39I live in London, in East London.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45But I grew up in Bradford,
0:02:45 > 0:02:47the glamorous bit of West Yorkshire.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51My mum had an arrange marriage.
0:02:51 > 0:02:53They'd found a suitable boy
0:02:53 > 0:02:56in my father and he was in Bradford.
0:02:56 > 0:03:00My mum's dream was that she was going to move to England
0:03:00 > 0:03:02and she was going to learn to ballroom dance
0:03:02 > 0:03:05and she arrived in Bradford
0:03:05 > 0:03:06and my dad took her to the pub.
0:03:07 > 0:03:10- IN YORKSHIRE ACCENT:- Welcome to Yorkshire, love.
0:03:10 > 0:03:13This is what we do 'ere. No ballroom dancing.
0:03:13 > 0:03:15You can have half a pint of mild.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19Mum's family are Punjabi.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22We're from that part of India, the north.
0:03:22 > 0:03:25But they were all born all over the place,
0:03:25 > 0:03:26cos my grandfather was in the army.
0:03:26 > 0:03:29His first family died during Partition.
0:03:31 > 0:03:33Obviously, I've asked questions,
0:03:33 > 0:03:35but no one really talks about it, you know?
0:03:35 > 0:03:37No one talks about Partition.
0:03:38 > 0:03:43Anita's maternal grandfather, Sant Singh, lost his first family
0:03:43 > 0:03:48during the communal violence, which erupted across India in 1947,
0:03:48 > 0:03:51when independence from British rule was declared,
0:03:51 > 0:03:56and the country was split to create the new Muslim state of Pakistan.
0:03:56 > 0:04:01This dramatic redrawing of India's borders was known as Partition.
0:04:08 > 0:04:11Anita has arranged a family get-together
0:04:11 > 0:04:14to see if she can find out any more about what happened
0:04:14 > 0:04:16to her grandfather and his first family.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20My mum and dad have come down from Bradford.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23I haven't seen them in ages. I can't wait to see them.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28My mum is a big motivation, actually, in me wanting to pursue
0:04:28 > 0:04:31this story, because Grandad was her father
0:04:31 > 0:04:34and she's the one who's told me all about him
0:04:34 > 0:04:37and built this image I've got of him in my mind.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45Anita's family have gathered in Ilford, East London,
0:04:45 > 0:04:47at her uncle Sunny's house.
0:04:47 > 0:04:50She calls him "mama ji", or "mum's brother".
0:04:52 > 0:04:54- Hello, Mama ji!- Hello!
0:04:54 > 0:04:57THEY LAUGH
0:04:57 > 0:04:59- How are you?- I'm fine.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02- Come in.- Good to see you.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05- Hello, Mama.- Hello, darling. - Hello, Mama.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07Ah!
0:05:07 > 0:05:11- How are you?- I'm fine, thank you. Nice to see you.- Lovely to see you.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14- Lovely to see you. - You're looking erm...
0:05:14 > 0:05:16nice and colourful. Vibrant.
0:05:16 > 0:05:18All right, Dad?
0:05:18 > 0:05:20- Oh, Anita!- How are you?
0:05:20 > 0:05:22ALL TALK
0:05:22 > 0:05:25I've come to find out some stuff, finally, about Nana ji.
0:05:25 > 0:05:28- Asking questions. - I'm here to ask you questions.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31- Yeah, that's what I'm saying. You've been always asking questions.- Yeah.
0:05:31 > 0:05:33- I've always been asking... - LAUGHTER
0:05:33 > 0:05:36Yeah.
0:05:36 > 0:05:41Sant Singh married Anita's grandmother in 1948
0:05:41 > 0:05:44after the loss of his first family during Partition.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49Anita's hoping that her mother, Lucky, uncle, Sunny
0:05:49 > 0:05:53and auntie, Jasbir, can tell her more about their father's early life.
0:05:54 > 0:05:58I've heard so much about my grandfather.
0:05:58 > 0:06:00- He's right there.- Yeah.- Looking very smart and handsome.
0:06:00 > 0:06:02- There's a picture of him there. - Yeah.
0:06:02 > 0:06:06- He's everywhere.- Yeah.- But I don't really know that much about him.- Mm.
0:06:06 > 0:06:08- The cards, Sunny.- Yeah, I'll show you some pictures.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11Let's have a look at some pictures. This is nice.
0:06:11 > 0:06:13- ALL:- Ah! - Our family photo.
0:06:13 > 0:06:14- Mum.- Mum, yeah.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18Eldest, Gurdeep.
0:06:18 > 0:06:22Sant Singh, there he is. He looks really cool there.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25Dad used to get posted from one station to the other.
0:06:25 > 0:06:27- Cos he was in the army? - He was in the army.
0:06:27 > 0:06:29Do we know what year he joined the army?
0:06:29 > 0:06:30- Erm...- He was very young.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33- Let me see if I can find him. - Yeah, go on.
0:06:33 > 0:06:34- So that's him?- Yeah.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37- He's so young!- Yeah.
0:06:37 > 0:06:39- So this was pre-Partition? - BOTH:- Yeah.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42So he joined the army in '35.
0:06:42 > 0:06:45- Do we know what year he was born? - No.- Or where he was born?
0:06:45 > 0:06:48- In Pakistan.- Somewhere in Pakistan.
0:06:48 > 0:06:50- So what's now Pakistan.- It was during...- Yeah.
0:06:50 > 0:06:52So we don't really know much about him at all.
0:06:52 > 0:06:54- I've got some medals. I'll show you. - You've got medals?
0:06:54 > 0:06:56- Oh, yes.- Phwoar!
0:06:56 > 0:06:58- This is exciting.- Here we go.
0:07:00 > 0:07:04Indian Independence, 15th August 1947.
0:07:04 > 0:07:07- Yeah.- So this is Partition? - India and Pakistan.- That's right.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10What do we know about his life at this time?
0:07:10 > 0:07:13- He was married.- He was married, he had a wife and child.
0:07:13 > 0:07:15And what were they called? Do we know their names?
0:07:15 > 0:07:18- Mm, no.- No, I don't know the name. - Did he have a girl or a boy?
0:07:18 > 0:07:22- Boy, we know, a son.- Son, yeah. - But you don't know his name?
0:07:22 > 0:07:24- No.- And what happened to them?
0:07:24 > 0:07:25They were murdered at that time.
0:07:25 > 0:07:27- They were murdered?- Yeah.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30I think the son was murdered and the wife jumped in the well.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33- What? She jumped in a well? - She jumped in a well.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36I can't believe that actually happened in our own family.
0:07:36 > 0:07:38That's it. My goosebumps, you know, still...
0:07:38 > 0:07:41- Yeah.- ..when I talk about it.
0:07:41 > 0:07:43- It's so sad.- I know.
0:07:43 > 0:07:44- So there's so many questions?- Yeah.
0:07:44 > 0:07:47Where was my grandfather when all this was happening?
0:07:47 > 0:07:49- That's true.- Because we know he's got a medal,
0:07:49 > 0:07:52- so he was definitely somewhere involved in Partition.- Definitely.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55And then, who was this woman? What was her name?
0:07:55 > 0:07:58This woman who took her own life.
0:07:58 > 0:08:02- Mama ji, can I take these away with me?- Yes, sure.
0:08:02 > 0:08:03And, if it is all right with you,
0:08:03 > 0:08:06and I promise I will bring it all back, can I take this one away?
0:08:06 > 0:08:09- It is a bit fragile.- That is fragile.- You look after.
0:08:09 > 0:08:11I will look after, I promise.
0:08:11 > 0:08:15How does it make you feel, seeing him like that? Look how young he is? Have you ever seen...
0:08:22 > 0:08:23We are crying already!
0:08:23 > 0:08:24THEY LAUGH
0:08:27 > 0:08:31This figure from my childhood has now become a little bit more real.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34But there's so much that they don't know about their father.
0:08:34 > 0:08:36He's a man of mystery, really.
0:08:36 > 0:08:40He's had this whole life that they know nothing about.
0:08:40 > 0:08:45Who was his first wife? His son? What were their names?
0:08:45 > 0:08:49Who were HIS parents? Where was he born? What year was he born?
0:08:49 > 0:08:53We don't know the answers to any of these questions.
0:08:53 > 0:08:55Yes, I can't wait to find out.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00Anita has decided to travel to India to explore her grandfather's life,
0:09:00 > 0:09:04which she knows began somewhere in the Punjab,
0:09:04 > 0:09:07one of the states which was bisected by Partition.
0:09:07 > 0:09:11She is starting her journey in nearby New Delhi,
0:09:11 > 0:09:13the capital of modern India.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17MAN ISSUES COMMANDS
0:09:31 > 0:09:33The minute I land in India,
0:09:33 > 0:09:38the hot, intense air smacks you in the face.
0:09:40 > 0:09:44The smell, the dust, and it is mixed with curry and incense,
0:09:44 > 0:09:46and it is fantastic.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51And you only get it in India.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54Look at this place. It is incredible!
0:10:06 > 0:10:08Anita has arranged to meet military historian
0:10:08 > 0:10:12Rana Chhina at his house on the outskirts of Delhi.
0:10:12 > 0:10:17He has been researching her grandfather, Sant Singh's, career as a soldier.
0:10:17 > 0:10:22- Hello.- Hi, Anita.- Pleased to meet you.- Welcome to India.- Thank you.
0:10:22 > 0:10:24It is good to be here.
0:10:27 > 0:10:30So, Rana, I have come with a photograph
0:10:30 > 0:10:33of my grandfather, Sant Singh.
0:10:33 > 0:10:37- Mmm.- I don't know very much about him at all.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41The interesting thing about this, of course, is that's
0:10:41 > 0:10:44the Kashmir Army Training School, not part of the British Army.
0:10:44 > 0:10:48- Right.- But this document actually tells us
0:10:48 > 0:10:52when he enrolled in the British Indian Army in 1942.
0:10:52 > 0:10:55- This is my grandfather?- That is your grandad.- This is Sant Singh's.
0:10:55 > 0:10:57Wow, wow.
0:11:00 > 0:11:04- He looks great, doesn't he?- Yes. - This I didn't know.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07Father's name. Dheru Ram.
0:11:07 > 0:11:13- Yes.- Not Singh.- No.- I had no idea that was what his father was called.
0:11:15 > 0:11:19Date of birth! He was born on the 26th of the seventh...
0:11:19 > 0:11:211916.
0:11:21 > 0:11:23- Yes.- Yay, we can celebrate his birthday.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26No-one knew when my grandfather was born, not even his own children.
0:11:26 > 0:11:31- And it says here, age of enrolment, 26.- Yes.
0:11:31 > 0:11:35I know that he was married at this time, and I know he had a wife
0:11:35 > 0:11:38and child, but where was his family at this point?
0:11:38 > 0:11:42There is... There is a clue to that in this.
0:11:42 > 0:11:44Employment before enlistment.
0:11:44 > 0:11:48As a sub overseer in...
0:11:48 > 0:11:52Canal Department in Montgomery district.
0:11:52 > 0:11:54- Yes.- Where is the Montgomery district?
0:11:54 > 0:11:59Montgomery district is in that part of Punjab that is now in Pakistan.
0:11:59 > 0:12:03- Sounds very British, the Montgomery district.- Yes, yes.
0:12:03 > 0:12:06So I've got this, the Independence Medal.
0:12:06 > 0:12:11This was awarded to anybody who had served for three years within
0:12:11 > 0:12:17- the geographical confines of India.- So where was he in 1947?
0:12:17 > 0:12:20During Partition. Is there any way of finding out?
0:12:20 > 0:12:24Yes, we do have something.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27That's an extract of his service record.
0:12:27 > 0:12:31July '47 to November '48.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34- He was in Kirkee.- Yes. - Where is Kirkee?
0:12:34 > 0:12:37It is about 1,000 miles due south, close to Bombay,
0:12:37 > 0:12:42- far removed from his family and his home in the Punjab.- Crikey.
0:12:42 > 0:12:45So he's 1,000 miles away...
0:12:46 > 0:12:50..Partition is taking place, chaos and hell, whatever else is going on
0:12:50 > 0:12:52is happening up there.
0:12:52 > 0:12:56- And his family will be right in the thick of it.- Absolutely. Yes.
0:12:57 > 0:12:59Very, very stressful time.
0:13:03 > 0:13:05I have some new bits of information.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08His birthday, which nobody else in the family knows,
0:13:08 > 0:13:11and that his father was called Dheru Ram.
0:13:11 > 0:13:15And that during Partition, he was over 1,000 miles away,
0:13:15 > 0:13:20nowhere near Punjab. But I don't know where he was born,
0:13:20 > 0:13:24I don't know anything about his wife and his son.
0:13:24 > 0:13:28So I've got some stuff, but there's still big potholes,
0:13:28 > 0:13:31like Indian roads. Missing knowledge.
0:13:42 > 0:13:46An unexpected parcel has arrived for Anita at her hotel.
0:13:46 > 0:13:48Good morning, Miss Rani.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51Good morning. I understand you've got a package or something for me.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54Yes, we do have, just give me a moment.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58- Here's the parcel.- OK, thank you.
0:13:58 > 0:14:00- Have a good day, ma'am.- Thank you.
0:14:04 > 0:14:09The package is from Sant Singh's oldest son, Anita's uncle, Gurdeep,
0:14:09 > 0:14:11who still lives in India.
0:14:12 > 0:14:15This is amazing.
0:14:15 > 0:14:20My mum's brother has sent me my grandfather's handwritten diary.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23Wow! This is his handwriting.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26Can't quite get my head around this.
0:14:26 > 0:14:28This is incredible.
0:14:28 > 0:14:32And this is in Punjabi. Not that I can read Punjabi.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35They attempted to send me to Sunday school,
0:14:35 > 0:14:38but I spent all my time nattering to my mates.
0:14:38 > 0:14:42And now I wish I had paid attention. Oh.
0:14:43 > 0:14:47He's written an English translation. "The diary of Sant Singh, part one.
0:14:47 > 0:14:52"Sant Ram was born as son of Dheru and Dhanti."
0:14:52 > 0:14:55Wow. So his mum is called Dhanti.
0:14:55 > 0:14:58And his name was Sant Ram, not Sant Singh.
0:14:58 > 0:15:02So he is writing about himself, so this is a memoir.
0:15:03 > 0:15:07Anita has discovered that her maternal grandfather was born Sant Ram,
0:15:07 > 0:15:11not Sant Singh as she had always believed.
0:15:11 > 0:15:14And that her great-grandfather was Dheru Ram,
0:15:14 > 0:15:16and her great-grandmother, Dhanti.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24"Dhanti lay unconscious with high fever.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27"Perhaps God does not like poor people's joy for long.
0:15:29 > 0:15:33"The notorious plague had assumed epidemic form."
0:15:33 > 0:15:34Wow.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38His mother died...of this plague.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43"Almost everyone in the village suffered from fever
0:15:43 > 0:15:47"and got bedridden. It seemed as if death had been given a free hand."
0:15:47 > 0:15:49That's really sad.
0:15:51 > 0:15:54So they are living in a village called Sarhali.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57So that is obviously where he was born.
0:15:57 > 0:16:00So where is Sarhali?
0:16:04 > 0:16:06Anita's family has always believed that her grandfather
0:16:06 > 0:16:11was from that part of the Punjab that is now Pakistan.
0:16:11 > 0:16:13But she has discovered that he was actually born in a small
0:16:13 > 0:16:17village called Sarhali, 80 miles inside India.
0:16:24 > 0:16:29From Delhi, Sarhali is a day's drive into the heart of the Indian Punjab.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36This is the Punjab that I know and love.
0:16:36 > 0:16:40Slightly bumpy, sleepy country lanes, cutting through this
0:16:40 > 0:16:45beautiful countryside. Lush, green, tree-lined lanes.
0:16:45 > 0:16:50You've got hay bales in fields, brick factories dotted around.
0:16:51 > 0:16:53Just very evocative.
0:16:56 > 0:17:00Anita has been coming to this part of India since she was a child.
0:17:00 > 0:17:03But this is the first time she has been to the village where her
0:17:03 > 0:17:05grandfather was born.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13She's arranged to meet journalist and author Gillian Wright,
0:17:13 > 0:17:18who has been researching Sant Singh's life in Sarhali.
0:17:18 > 0:17:21- Hello.- Hello.- Hi, Gillian.
0:17:21 > 0:17:25- Hi, very nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you. Sarhali!
0:17:25 > 0:17:29- Yes, you have come home now. - Wow. So this is it.
0:17:29 > 0:17:32- Come with me, I'll show you what there is to see.- OK.
0:17:34 > 0:17:38Sant Singh's family home was demolished many years ago,
0:17:38 > 0:17:42but Gillian has discovered a neighbouring house that still survives.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45God, Gillian, look at this! How old is this?
0:17:45 > 0:17:51- I would imagine this is 100, couple of hundred years old.- Wow.
0:17:51 > 0:17:52Inside...
0:17:52 > 0:17:56you can see all the grain stores, so...
0:17:56 > 0:17:59- So they've got...- They keep their wheat and so forth in here.
0:17:59 > 0:18:03Oh, this is it. You know you're in Punjab when you've got a wheat store.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07Oh, wow.
0:18:07 > 0:18:08Gosh.
0:18:08 > 0:18:11It feels like we've travelled back in time, being in this environment.
0:18:11 > 0:18:15So...Gillian, I've brought...
0:18:15 > 0:18:17some fabulous stuff that
0:18:17 > 0:18:21I'd like to show you, that my grandfather wrote. A memoir.
0:18:21 > 0:18:23I mean, I am totally blown away by this.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26- That really is very remarkable. - Isn't it?
0:18:28 > 0:18:31The first thing I wanted to ask you about is this illness,
0:18:31 > 0:18:34or this plague as he describes it, that his mother, Dhanti, died of.
0:18:36 > 0:18:40This particular story is quite clear, actually.
0:18:40 > 0:18:43At that time, at the end of the First World War,
0:18:43 > 0:18:45there's a huge influenza epidemic.
0:18:45 > 0:18:47It became known as the Spanish flu.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54While no-one knows where the Spanish flu came from,
0:18:54 > 0:18:58the virus first took hold in the trenches at the end of World War I.
0:18:58 > 0:19:02But all reporting of it was banned for fear of damaging morale.
0:19:02 > 0:19:05No such restrictions existed in neutral Spain, where
0:19:05 > 0:19:11stories of its deadly and highly contagious nature began to emerge.
0:19:11 > 0:19:15It spread quickly around the world, and by the end of 1920,
0:19:15 > 0:19:18estimated deaths hit 50 million,
0:19:18 > 0:19:21far exceeding the casualties from the First World War,
0:19:21 > 0:19:25making it the worst influenza pandemic in recorded history.
0:19:27 > 0:19:31Indian troops returning from the war in Europe brought the illness
0:19:31 > 0:19:34back to their homeland, with devastating effect.
0:19:36 > 0:19:40The disease came in waves and then it fanned across the country,
0:19:40 > 0:19:45going north, east, south, in really epic proportions.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48Once you get so many people together, close together,
0:19:48 > 0:19:51eating, fighting, travelling, there was no way of stopping it.
0:19:51 > 0:19:55So if somebody brings it back to a relatively poor village in India,
0:19:55 > 0:19:58- where families are so close-knit, you haven't got a hope.- Yes.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01And its impact on India was so massive, it was
0:20:01 > 0:20:03nationally reported in the British press.
0:20:03 > 0:20:06And this is a report from the time your grandfather seems
0:20:06 > 0:20:07to be writing about.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10"Influenza in India. Nearly 6,000,000 deaths.
0:20:10 > 0:20:12"Rival of the plague.
0:20:12 > 0:20:15"The epidemic, according to Major Norman White,
0:20:15 > 0:20:17"assumes the proportions of a national calamity in this
0:20:17 > 0:20:21"country, and he is of the opinion that no country suffered
0:20:21 > 0:20:23"so severely as did India.
0:20:23 > 0:20:27"The hospitals in the Punjab were choked so that it was impossible
0:20:27 > 0:20:30"to remove the dead quickly enough to make room for the dying.
0:20:30 > 0:20:35"The streets and lanes of the cities were littered with dead and dying people."
0:20:35 > 0:20:37Oh, my God, this is terrible.
0:20:37 > 0:20:41It is estimated that during the epidemic in British India,
0:20:41 > 0:20:45- about 14 million people died. - Just unfathomable figures.
0:20:45 > 0:20:48It is the idea that 14 million people die in
0:20:48 > 0:20:50one country of the flu!
0:20:50 > 0:20:53People who survived, they must have been very tough indeed.
0:20:53 > 0:20:57- Because your family also survived. - And Sant survives. This is the thing.
0:20:57 > 0:21:03Well, it is tragic that his mother died, but Sant, the little baby
0:21:03 > 0:21:07who... He talks about himself as being this sickly child with fever.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10- What a fighter!- What a fighter. - I want to show you something.
0:21:10 > 0:21:15According to his autobiography, he has this name Ram, Sant Ram.
0:21:15 > 0:21:18But in this certificate of discharge from the army,
0:21:18 > 0:21:21- it says here very clearly, Sant Singh.- Yes.
0:21:21 > 0:21:26So when did he go from Ram to Singh, and why would that have happened?
0:21:26 > 0:21:31He was born in a Hindu family. His name was Ram.
0:21:31 > 0:21:34In this area it was the practice for one son,
0:21:34 > 0:21:38perhaps the eldest son, to be made a Sikh in Hindu families.
0:21:38 > 0:21:42- Sure.- So he must have become a baptised Sikh and put on a turban.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46- Between the time of his childhood and joining the army.- Fascinating.
0:21:46 > 0:21:50There is something else here, which is very interesting.
0:21:50 > 0:21:53It says Jat, which is a farming caste that was especially
0:21:53 > 0:21:57- prized by the British Indian Army as a martial caste.- OK.
0:21:57 > 0:21:59But he's not a Jat.
0:21:59 > 0:22:03Your family were Taggars, so they were all,
0:22:03 > 0:22:05to a man and woman, potters.
0:22:05 > 0:22:10- These potters were not considered by the British to be a great martial caste...- Warriors.
0:22:10 > 0:22:13- No, they weren't warriors.- He lied.
0:22:13 > 0:22:15He lied to further himself.
0:22:15 > 0:22:17SHE LAUGHS
0:22:17 > 0:22:20- He definitely bent the truth a bit here.- Yeah.
0:22:20 > 0:22:22Are there any Taggars left in this village?
0:22:22 > 0:22:25I think you will definitely find Taggars here.
0:22:32 > 0:22:36Although India's ancient hierarchical caste system is largely
0:22:36 > 0:22:39discredited today, caste-based gotras,
0:22:39 > 0:22:42or clans, are still important in some small villages like Sarhali.
0:22:44 > 0:22:47Anita is related, through her grandfather, to the Taggar clan,
0:22:47 > 0:22:49a gotra within the potter caste.
0:22:49 > 0:22:52And one of the clan elders has agreed to meet her.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55His name is Harjinder Pal.
0:22:58 > 0:22:59Hello.
0:23:09 > 0:23:12- Taggar family. So Mr Taggar?- Yes.
0:23:17 > 0:23:22OK, so your grandfather and my great-grandfather were cousins.
0:23:22 > 0:23:24There we go. The Taggar clan's heartland.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30- Apparently there are lots of Taggar houses here. - THEY LAUGH
0:23:34 > 0:23:38Harjinder has asked everyone in Sarhali who is related to Anita to
0:23:38 > 0:23:40meet in the centre of the village.
0:23:43 > 0:23:46There we go, the Taggars. Hello, Taggars!
0:23:46 > 0:23:47SHE LAUGHS
0:23:49 > 0:23:51I don't how to do this.
0:24:01 > 0:24:03Look at this.
0:24:03 > 0:24:05Your wife?
0:24:05 > 0:24:08SHE SPEAKS THE LOCAL LANGUAGE
0:24:08 > 0:24:11Whoa, we are getting garlands. Thank you.
0:24:11 > 0:24:12Wow, look at this.
0:24:16 > 0:24:18They've just said the garlands will help me put weight on.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23I thought I already had a big Indian family.
0:24:23 > 0:24:25It is growing by the second.
0:24:25 > 0:24:29Wow, I don't even think my mum knows that she is related to this
0:24:29 > 0:24:32many people here. This is amazing.
0:24:32 > 0:24:36And if I was in any doubt as to who owns this house, it says there.
0:24:36 > 0:24:38Taggar.
0:24:38 > 0:24:40The Taggar clan.
0:24:40 > 0:24:45My extended, wonderful... Indian family.
0:24:45 > 0:24:47One massive family. Hurray!
0:24:47 > 0:24:48THEY APPLAUD
0:24:50 > 0:24:51It is brilliant!
0:24:53 > 0:24:57Harjinder was only a child when his cousin, Sant Singh, returned to Sarhali
0:24:57 > 0:25:01after the loss of his first family during Partition.
0:25:02 > 0:25:06So did you know that Sant was married before he married my nani ji?
0:25:06 > 0:25:08Did you know his first wife?
0:25:17 > 0:25:19So she died during Partition.
0:25:19 > 0:25:22Do you know her name, or the name of her son?
0:25:27 > 0:25:30No? What about his father, Dheru Ram?
0:25:30 > 0:25:32What happened to him?
0:25:38 > 0:25:39Gosh.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44They must have been trying to get back here.
0:25:44 > 0:25:48So after Partition, my grandfather, Sant Singh, did he come back here?
0:25:55 > 0:25:58Where is that land now? Why do my uncles not have that land?
0:25:58 > 0:26:00Why is it not in my family?
0:26:00 > 0:26:02Who has that land?
0:26:04 > 0:26:06- You have it?- Yes, yes.
0:26:06 > 0:26:08How do you have it? Why do you have it?
0:26:21 > 0:26:22He paid him 30 quid for the land.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35He paid him 30 quid for my ancestral homeland.
0:26:35 > 0:26:37Hang on a minute.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40I think my uncles might have a word about this.
0:26:40 > 0:26:42Where is it?
0:26:44 > 0:26:45THEY LAUGH
0:26:45 > 0:26:47- Which bit?- All this.
0:26:47 > 0:26:50So that house there, with the nice blue sink and the tiles.
0:26:50 > 0:26:52HE LAUGHS
0:26:52 > 0:26:53Decent size.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57A nice, generous man... this grandfather of mine.
0:26:57 > 0:26:58HE LAUGHS
0:27:02 > 0:27:07It's been fascinating, today, to see my grandfather's place of birth
0:27:07 > 0:27:11and meet this huge extended family of his second, third, fourth,
0:27:11 > 0:27:15fifth, millionth cousins removed, all Taggars, still living as this clan.
0:27:16 > 0:27:21But it doesn't feel like I've got the answers to his story.
0:27:21 > 0:27:24I still need to know about his first wife.
0:27:24 > 0:27:26His son.
0:27:26 > 0:27:30What happened to them? What happened to them in 1947 during Partition?
0:27:30 > 0:27:34I need to know more. This isn't the end of the story.
0:27:41 > 0:27:43To find out more about her grandfather's life
0:27:43 > 0:27:47before Partition, Anita is heading north on the Punjab's
0:27:47 > 0:27:51Grand Trunk Road, one of India's main highways.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54This road is ridiculous.
0:27:54 > 0:27:55It is on two different levels.
0:27:55 > 0:27:59So if you want to change lanes, you go up and down, up and down.
0:27:59 > 0:28:02And then... Oh, yeah - the lanes, there are no lanes.
0:28:02 > 0:28:04There's no road markings whatsoever.
0:28:04 > 0:28:06People just go and do what they want to do, like this little old lady.
0:28:08 > 0:28:12Driving in India is not for the faint-hearted, it's frankly mental.
0:28:12 > 0:28:14Get in the car, hope and pray
0:28:14 > 0:28:17that you get to your destination in one piece.
0:28:17 > 0:28:19Why are people not sticking to the lane?
0:28:19 > 0:28:21Why is no-one wearing a helmet on a motorcycle?
0:28:21 > 0:28:24Why are people carrying an entire family on a scooter?
0:28:31 > 0:28:33Wow. Amazing.
0:28:34 > 0:28:36What a building.
0:28:36 > 0:28:38The maharaja's palace.
0:28:41 > 0:28:43Khalsa College, founded in 1892
0:28:43 > 0:28:46is now part of one of India's leading universities.
0:28:48 > 0:28:51Anita has arranged to meet Dr Rakesh Ankit,
0:28:51 > 0:28:54an expert on 20th century Indian history.
0:28:54 > 0:28:56Hi, Rakesh.
0:28:56 > 0:28:59- So nice to meet you. Welcome to Khalsa College.- What a place.
0:28:59 > 0:29:03- It's amazing, isn't it?- Indeed, it's a pre-eminent seat of learning.
0:29:07 > 0:29:08So I've got this brilliant...
0:29:08 > 0:29:11You'll like this, being a historian! ..document.
0:29:11 > 0:29:13A discharge document.
0:29:13 > 0:29:16Yeah, so this is my grandfather and it tells me that
0:29:16 > 0:29:19he lived somewhere called the Montgomery district
0:29:19 > 0:29:22and he was a sub overseer in the canal department.
0:29:22 > 0:29:24Now, can you shed some light on this?
0:29:24 > 0:29:27- I'm going to show you a map. - A map!
0:29:27 > 0:29:28Ah, brilliant.
0:29:28 > 0:29:30So this is a map of pre-independence,
0:29:30 > 0:29:31- pre-Partition Punjab.- Mm-hm.
0:29:31 > 0:29:34There are five rivers, which is what gives its name.
0:29:34 > 0:29:36Punjab, the land of five rivers.
0:29:36 > 0:29:40And this whole region is the Bari area...
0:29:40 > 0:29:45- And it says here, "Montgomery". - And it says here Montgomery.- Yes.
0:29:45 > 0:29:47So, starting from the 1880s,
0:29:47 > 0:29:51the Bari area was part of this huge project where the British
0:29:51 > 0:29:56government of the day created nine canals, to bring irrigated
0:29:56 > 0:29:59water supply to this region,
0:29:59 > 0:30:01- which was formerly a wasteland.- Wow.
0:30:01 > 0:30:04I'll show you how some of these canals were created,
0:30:04 > 0:30:07- so as to get a better sense of what was happening.- There we go.
0:30:07 > 0:30:10This was a canal being built in a hitherto, as you can see,
0:30:10 > 0:30:12uncultivated land,
0:30:12 > 0:30:14inhabited by tribal, semi-nomadic,
0:30:14 > 0:30:16pastoral communities.
0:30:16 > 0:30:20- The British had a word for them, they used to call them junglies.- Oh!
0:30:20 > 0:30:22That's not a very nice word, is it?
0:30:22 > 0:30:23"Of the jungle", junglies.
0:30:23 > 0:30:26I sometimes call my husband a jungly.
0:30:26 > 0:30:29And junglies were quickly pushed to the margins
0:30:29 > 0:30:32of this new society that was coming up in Punjab.
0:30:32 > 0:30:35- Six million acres was irrigated. - Six million acres?
0:30:35 > 0:30:37The figures that we're dealing with...
0:30:37 > 0:30:39- Are humongous.- Humongous.- Yes.
0:30:39 > 0:30:42- It was literally going to be a land of prosperity.- Yes.
0:30:42 > 0:30:46- A fabled land of...- Milk and honey. - Milk and honey, absolutely.
0:30:46 > 0:30:48I'm going to show you some pictures.
0:30:48 > 0:30:50This is great, washing the buffaloes!
0:30:50 > 0:30:53And you can see the canals reach right to the field,
0:30:53 > 0:30:56which took the water right to where the cropping was being done.
0:30:56 > 0:30:59- Fantastic.- Literally, down to the last village.
0:30:59 > 0:31:03- It must have just changed everybody's life.- Absolutely.
0:31:03 > 0:31:06Punjab became the biggest irrigated province.
0:31:06 > 0:31:09So over a 40-year period, almost a million people made
0:31:09 > 0:31:12journey from the east and southern Punjab, across the river.
0:31:12 > 0:31:16The picture is starting to form, because I know that Dheru,
0:31:16 > 0:31:19my great-grandfather, he'd lost his wife to the Spanish flu,
0:31:19 > 0:31:22he had a small child at home - Sant, my grandfather -
0:31:22 > 0:31:25and that's the story of migration - come for a better life.
0:31:25 > 0:31:26Pop over the river and here you go.
0:31:26 > 0:31:29And the canal colonies provided lots of opportunity.
0:31:31 > 0:31:33After his wife's death in the early 1920s,
0:31:33 > 0:31:36Dheru Ram, Anita's great-grandfather,
0:31:36 > 0:31:40left Sarhali to establish himself as a successful trader in the
0:31:40 > 0:31:44Montgomery district and then sent for his young son, Sant, to join him.
0:31:46 > 0:31:48Sant's new life was very different
0:31:48 > 0:31:51to the one he'd left behind in Sarhali.
0:31:51 > 0:31:54The family's increased wealth meant that he was able to get an education
0:31:54 > 0:31:57and by his early 20s, he'd married,
0:31:57 > 0:32:00started a family and found work.
0:32:02 > 0:32:05As we know, your grandfather was employed as a sub overseer
0:32:05 > 0:32:06in the Canal Department.
0:32:06 > 0:32:08So this chap here, he's got his arm out,
0:32:08 > 0:32:11he looks very authoritative. That potentially could be the sort
0:32:11 > 0:32:13of role that my grandfather would have been in?
0:32:13 > 0:32:15Absolutely, and anything to do with the upkeep,
0:32:15 > 0:32:18maintenance of the canals. It was no mean position.
0:32:18 > 0:32:20So the 1920s and 1930s,
0:32:20 > 0:32:24his existence in the canal colonies must have been quite a few
0:32:24 > 0:32:28notches higher than what his father's existence in the Jalandha
0:32:28 > 0:32:30district would have been, so there was an upward
0:32:30 > 0:32:33movement in the society at large and they were part of it.
0:32:33 > 0:32:35Good on 'em.
0:32:35 > 0:32:37By the 1930s, the canal districts were
0:32:37 > 0:32:40one of the British Empire's great success stories
0:32:40 > 0:32:44and their inhabitants were some of the Crown's most loyal subjects.
0:32:44 > 0:32:48Having already trained as a soldier in Kashmir, Sant Singh was
0:32:48 > 0:32:52a perfect candidate for the British Indian Army's recruitment drive
0:32:52 > 0:32:55at the outbreak of World War II.
0:32:55 > 0:32:58He joined the Electrical and Mechanical Engineers Division
0:32:58 > 0:33:01and five years later, by the time of Partition,
0:33:01 > 0:33:04in August 1947, he was
0:33:04 > 0:33:09serving in the south of India, far away from his family in Montgomery.
0:33:09 > 0:33:12I know about my grandfather, I know that he was married
0:33:12 > 0:33:14and he had a son.
0:33:14 > 0:33:17The story in the family is that his wife,
0:33:17 > 0:33:20his father and his son...
0:33:20 > 0:33:21died.
0:33:21 > 0:33:24They perished, that they were either killed or...
0:33:24 > 0:33:26During Partition.
0:33:26 > 0:33:27- Partition violence.- Yes.
0:33:27 > 0:33:30Well, the violence was largely in exactly these areas.
0:33:30 > 0:33:33In this arc from Rawalpindi to Multan.
0:33:33 > 0:33:35And Montgomery especially was the district where
0:33:35 > 0:33:38some of the first waves of violence against Hindus and Sikhs happened.
0:33:38 > 0:33:40There is a family story that...
0:33:41 > 0:33:44..the son was murdered and the wife
0:33:44 > 0:33:46jumped into the well,
0:33:46 > 0:33:49would that fit with what was happening at the time?
0:33:49 > 0:33:53Yes, and unfortunately Punjab became the epicentre of Partition violence.
0:33:56 > 0:33:59On the 15th of August, 1947,
0:33:59 > 0:34:0289 years of British rule in India came to an end
0:34:02 > 0:34:05when the country declared independence.
0:34:05 > 0:34:07Two days later,
0:34:07 > 0:34:11the British government announced the line of partition.
0:34:11 > 0:34:15It cut the Punjab in two, with millions of Muslims, Hindus
0:34:15 > 0:34:17and Sikhs finding themselves trapped
0:34:17 > 0:34:19on the wrong side of the new border.
0:34:19 > 0:34:24Montgomery, where Sant Singh's father, wife and child were living,
0:34:24 > 0:34:27had overnight become part of Pakistan.
0:34:34 > 0:34:38Anita has come to Amritsar, the spiritual capital of the Sikh world,
0:34:38 > 0:34:41to discover what happened to people who found themselves
0:34:41 > 0:34:45stranded on the wrong side of the partition line.
0:34:46 > 0:34:50She's here to meet 84-year-old Bihir Bahadur Singh,
0:34:50 > 0:34:51who, like Sant's family,
0:34:51 > 0:34:56lived in the Western Punjab, where some of the worst violence occurred.
0:34:57 > 0:34:59SHE GREETS HIM
0:35:00 > 0:35:02How are you?
0:35:02 > 0:35:03Good.
0:35:03 > 0:35:05Wonderful to meet you.
0:35:07 > 0:35:11I'm on a journey to try and find out about my grandfather.
0:35:11 > 0:35:14I know that you lived through Partition.
0:35:14 > 0:35:16I was wondering if you could maybe tell me where you were,
0:35:16 > 0:35:19what happened to you at that time?
0:35:29 > 0:35:31Seven brothers?
0:35:35 > 0:35:37That's a big family!
0:36:22 > 0:36:24I just need to understand what you've just said.
0:36:24 > 0:36:26Your father said to the village,
0:36:26 > 0:36:28rather than let the Muslims
0:36:28 > 0:36:29take our daughters,
0:36:29 > 0:36:32we will kill the girls ourselves?
0:37:08 > 0:37:09Gosh.
0:37:09 > 0:37:11This is really...
0:37:11 > 0:37:14Basically, you're telling me...
0:37:26 > 0:37:29I'm trying to process what you're telling me.
0:37:29 > 0:37:30It's...
0:37:30 > 0:37:34Gosh. And when you hear it...
0:37:34 > 0:37:38So, basically your father took the decision that him
0:37:38 > 0:37:41and a couple of other men of the village would murder their own
0:37:41 > 0:37:43wives and daughters...
0:37:45 > 0:37:46It's so cruel.
0:37:48 > 0:37:50It is so cruel.
0:37:57 > 0:37:59They jumped in the well?
0:38:01 > 0:38:03So the rest of the women who were left,
0:38:03 > 0:38:05they made the decision that they
0:38:05 > 0:38:08would jump in the village well
0:38:08 > 0:38:10and you're saying that the well
0:38:10 > 0:38:11was full of bodies?
0:38:13 > 0:38:14I can't stop crying.
0:38:14 > 0:38:16I'm not a crier!
0:38:16 > 0:38:18But this is the most horrific...
0:38:18 > 0:38:21And I guess because I'm here on my grandfather's journey
0:38:21 > 0:38:25and I know that his father and his wife
0:38:25 > 0:38:28and son would have gone through something very similar...
0:38:28 > 0:38:30It's the most shocking,
0:38:30 > 0:38:34horrifying account of what humans are capable of.
0:38:35 > 0:38:36It's bonkers.
0:38:52 > 0:38:53That was full-on.
0:38:56 > 0:38:59Erm, I feel really angry, actually, if I'm really honest,
0:38:59 > 0:39:03because I'm angry that the menfolk of this village
0:39:03 > 0:39:06felt that that was the decision that they could take and that they took
0:39:06 > 0:39:09that decision and killed their own daughters.
0:39:14 > 0:39:17I hate that the world was in such a way that that's the only
0:39:17 > 0:39:21choice the women had, that the men would just decide their fates.
0:39:22 > 0:39:26I feel that for the women to just go to that fate would have taken
0:39:26 > 0:39:29a lot of courage.
0:39:29 > 0:39:31I don't think I could do it.
0:39:31 > 0:39:33No way I'd let my dad behead me!
0:39:35 > 0:39:38God! Even just SAYING it sounds so mental.
0:39:38 > 0:39:41But, um...
0:39:41 > 0:39:43So, I'm angry.
0:39:43 > 0:39:45I'm angry at the choice that the men took and I'm also
0:39:45 > 0:39:50so in awe of these women who just went to their death willingly.
0:39:51 > 0:39:54It's really... I'm really confused right now.
0:39:54 > 0:39:56Really confused.
0:40:02 > 0:40:07The partition of India and Pakistan in 1947 caused the largest
0:40:07 > 0:40:10forced migration in human history,
0:40:10 > 0:40:13with over 14 million people
0:40:13 > 0:40:16forced to flee their homes as neighbour turned on neighbour.
0:40:17 > 0:40:21Almost a million people, Muslim, Hindu and Sikh,
0:40:21 > 0:40:24died in the communal violence that was unleashed.
0:40:26 > 0:40:31The horrific treatment of women at that time was largely ignored
0:40:31 > 0:40:34in the years after 1947, but more recently,
0:40:34 > 0:40:37testimony from victims has begun to emerge.
0:40:40 > 0:40:43Anita has come to a suburb of Amritsar
0:40:43 > 0:40:46to meet Ritu Menon, an author
0:40:46 > 0:40:48who has documented the experiences
0:40:48 > 0:40:50of women involved in Partition.
0:40:53 > 0:40:54- Hello, Ritu.- Hello, Anita.
0:40:54 > 0:40:57- Pleased to meet you.- Nice to meet you.- Lovely to see you.
0:40:57 > 0:41:00ANITA SIGHS
0:41:00 > 0:41:02So, Ritu, my grandfather,
0:41:02 > 0:41:06Sant Singh, I know he was married before he married my nan
0:41:06 > 0:41:11and that his wife died during Partition by jumping into a well.
0:41:11 > 0:41:15Now I've discovered that there were so many acts of barbarism -
0:41:15 > 0:41:17fathers killing their own daughters -
0:41:17 > 0:41:21and it's been quite difficult for me to process.
0:41:21 > 0:41:22At that time,
0:41:22 > 0:41:26there's an impression that a lot of the women actually committed
0:41:26 > 0:41:29what we call suicide by jumping into wells.
0:41:29 > 0:41:33The men will say the women took their lives,
0:41:33 > 0:41:37they sacrificed themselves, rather than be kidnapped,
0:41:37 > 0:41:39raped, abducted.
0:41:39 > 0:41:43But the women don't tell it as a story of bravery or of martyrdom.
0:41:43 > 0:41:47The women tell it as a story of no choice.
0:41:47 > 0:41:50One of the women whom we spoke to, this is what she told us.
0:41:50 > 0:41:54"Hindus threw their young daughters into wells, dug trenches
0:41:54 > 0:41:56"and buried them alive.
0:41:56 > 0:41:59"Some were burned to death, some were made to touch electric wires
0:41:59 > 0:42:02"to prevent the Muslims from touching them.
0:42:02 > 0:42:05"The Muslims used to announce that they would take away our daughters.
0:42:05 > 0:42:08"They would force their way into homes and pick up young girls
0:42:08 > 0:42:12"and women. We saw many who had been raped and disfigured, their faces
0:42:12 > 0:42:15"and breasts scarred and then abandoned.
0:42:15 > 0:42:17"They had tooth marks all over them.
0:42:17 > 0:42:20"Their families said, 'How can we keep them now?',
0:42:20 > 0:42:23"saying it would have been better if they hadn't been born."
0:42:23 > 0:42:24Ah, gosh - Ritu.
0:42:24 > 0:42:29It could be Muslims who were taken by Sikhs and Hindus,
0:42:29 > 0:42:31it could be Hindus who were taken by Muslims.
0:42:31 > 0:42:33I mean, it was across community.
0:42:33 > 0:42:35And the stories that you hear,
0:42:35 > 0:42:39you think are particular to a village, perhaps,
0:42:39 > 0:42:41or a family,
0:42:41 > 0:42:45but then when you hear of them again and again and again...
0:42:45 > 0:42:47you realise that's not the case.
0:42:47 > 0:42:49They are particular to women.
0:42:49 > 0:42:52Just listening to you, it's making my blood boil.
0:42:52 > 0:42:55It makes me think that if you were a cow at this time,
0:42:55 > 0:42:58- you would have more of a chance of surviving...- You probably did.
0:42:58 > 0:43:00- This is only two generations ago. - Mm.
0:43:01 > 0:43:05Ritu has been researching what happened to Sant Singh's family
0:43:05 > 0:43:09during Partition and has unearthed a document with information about them.
0:43:10 > 0:43:12This is something from the army archives -
0:43:12 > 0:43:15I think your grandfather was in the army?
0:43:15 > 0:43:16He was, yes.
0:43:17 > 0:43:19Take a look.
0:43:19 > 0:43:21Um... OK.
0:43:21 > 0:43:23Wife...
0:43:23 > 0:43:25Oh, we've got her name!
0:43:25 > 0:43:26Oh, wow!
0:43:33 > 0:43:35I'm doing a lot of crying, aren't I?
0:43:35 > 0:43:37So Balbir Kaur is my nan,
0:43:37 > 0:43:39so that's my nani,
0:43:39 > 0:43:43- and Pritam Kaur was his first wife. - Yes.
0:43:43 > 0:43:48And it says, "Died due to Pakistan disturbances".
0:43:50 > 0:43:54So then her name is crossed out, so this must be... Oh, gosh.
0:43:54 > 0:43:58It's got her birthday, the first of the seventh, 1922.
0:43:58 > 0:44:00This is incredible.
0:44:00 > 0:44:02So his father, Dheru Ram, born...
0:44:02 > 0:44:04It's everyone's birthday!
0:44:04 > 0:44:06Born in 1880.
0:44:06 > 0:44:08Rajpal Singh,
0:44:08 > 0:44:101937.
0:44:10 > 0:44:12His son, his first son.
0:44:12 > 0:44:14So this is Pritam's son.
0:44:14 > 0:44:16And then it says, "Daughters".
0:44:18 > 0:44:21Who's Mahindra?
0:44:21 > 0:44:241941.
0:44:24 > 0:44:25She had a daughter.
0:44:25 > 0:44:29Yes, it seems they had a daughter as well.
0:44:29 > 0:44:31No-one knew this.
0:44:31 > 0:44:33Nobody in my family...
0:44:33 > 0:44:34Nobody talks about a daughter.
0:44:34 > 0:44:37- But they talk about the son. - They talk about the son.
0:44:39 > 0:44:40Mm. Well...
0:44:41 > 0:44:44Perhaps she died with the mother?
0:44:44 > 0:44:47She would have been quite young, I think. What's the date?
0:44:47 > 0:44:51- '41, so she was six.- Six or seven. - Yeah.
0:44:51 > 0:44:53So he had a daughter.
0:44:53 > 0:44:55As well as a son.
0:45:01 > 0:45:05Although the document does not reveal how Mahindra died, Anita now
0:45:05 > 0:45:09has proof that her grandfather's first wife, Pritam Kaur, was
0:45:09 > 0:45:14one of the hundreds of thousands of women who perished during Partition.
0:45:15 > 0:45:18There's just so much going on in my head.
0:45:18 > 0:45:21To find out Pritam Kaur's name...
0:45:21 > 0:45:23is really important.
0:45:23 > 0:45:26I know her name, I know she had a son and I know she had a daughter.
0:45:26 > 0:45:30Nobody talks about my grandfather having two children,
0:45:30 > 0:45:32they talk about a son and they don't talk about a daughter.
0:45:32 > 0:45:34He HAD a daughter.
0:45:34 > 0:45:36Mahindra was her name.
0:45:36 > 0:45:39And now, to come and discover
0:45:39 > 0:45:41just how brutal
0:45:41 > 0:45:46and barbaric Partition was and how little power women had at that time,
0:45:46 > 0:45:49I don't know what I'm going to do, but it's changed me.
0:45:49 > 0:45:50I feel like it's...
0:45:50 > 0:45:53It's made whatever was going on in the pit of my stomach,
0:45:53 > 0:45:56it's made it... It's turned it into a rock.
0:45:56 > 0:45:58If that makes any sense.
0:45:58 > 0:46:00I don't even know what I'm saying right now,
0:46:00 > 0:46:03but I know that this moment has changed who I am.
0:46:38 > 0:46:41Anita has come to the Golden Temple in Amritsar,
0:46:41 > 0:46:44the holiest shrine in the Sikh world
0:46:44 > 0:46:48and a place where her grandfather, Sant, often came to pray.
0:46:54 > 0:46:58I've heard so much that I wasn't expecting to hear on this journey.
0:46:58 > 0:47:01So much that's really shocked me to the core
0:47:01 > 0:47:03and I'm just trying to process it all.
0:47:03 > 0:47:06I'm trying to come to terms with what Sant Singh,
0:47:06 > 0:47:08my grandfather, went through.
0:47:09 > 0:47:13He lost his entire family in Partition. He had nobody.
0:47:13 > 0:47:15No mother, no father, no wife.
0:47:15 > 0:47:17He lost two children, he was totally alone.
0:47:20 > 0:47:23I'm not surprised that my grandfather didn't
0:47:23 > 0:47:27talk about his life before he married my grandmother.
0:47:27 > 0:47:30No wonder that generation just didn't talk about it.
0:47:30 > 0:47:32How can you, where do you even start?
0:47:32 > 0:47:35But now that I've got this knowledge, now that I've
0:47:35 > 0:47:39learned what I've learnt, I have to talk to his children about it.
0:47:39 > 0:47:41They need to know.
0:47:50 > 0:47:55By 1961, 14 years after the horrors of Partition,
0:47:55 > 0:47:59Sant Singh had remarried and settled with his new wife, Balbir,
0:47:59 > 0:48:04and their six children in the village of Sofi Pind in eastern Punjab.
0:48:04 > 0:48:07Gurdeep Singh, Sant's oldest son,
0:48:07 > 0:48:10still lives in the family house there.
0:48:10 > 0:48:12Anita knows it well from her childhood
0:48:12 > 0:48:14and she's decided to pay him a visit.
0:48:17 > 0:48:19There he is.
0:48:19 > 0:48:21SHE CHUCKLES
0:48:21 > 0:48:23There we go.
0:48:25 > 0:48:27I'll get out.
0:48:27 > 0:48:29Hello, Mama ji!
0:48:29 > 0:48:31Thank you.
0:48:34 > 0:48:36It's so good to see you.
0:48:36 > 0:48:38Welcome.
0:48:39 > 0:48:42Yes, let's do it. This is amazing.
0:48:42 > 0:48:44It's Sofi Pind.
0:48:44 > 0:48:47We are back.
0:48:47 > 0:48:50The first time I remember playing with a puppy here.
0:48:50 > 0:48:53- I'll take you to the house?- Yes.
0:48:54 > 0:48:56Oh, gosh, photographs.
0:48:56 > 0:48:59Mama ji, which ones have you got here.
0:48:59 > 0:49:00Argh!
0:49:02 > 0:49:05- There they are. - How embarrassing!
0:49:05 > 0:49:08We've got all the girls of the family, all with our degrees.
0:49:08 > 0:49:09Yes.
0:49:09 > 0:49:12- Look, there's my mum and dad.- Yes.
0:49:12 > 0:49:15All Sant Singh's family.
0:49:15 > 0:49:19So Mama ji, I've been on quite some journey
0:49:19 > 0:49:22and I got this document. I really want to show you this.
0:49:22 > 0:49:25This is a list of all Nana ji's dependents.
0:49:25 > 0:49:29- Yeah.- So here you have got "wife" - Balbir Kaur.- Yeah.
0:49:29 > 0:49:33But his first wife was called Pritam Kaur.
0:49:33 > 0:49:35- Pritam Kaur?- Pritam Kaur.
0:49:35 > 0:49:38Did you know her name?
0:49:38 > 0:49:39No, I didn't know the name.
0:49:39 > 0:49:42It's amazing, isn't it, Mama ji?
0:49:42 > 0:49:45- Very good.- Isn't that amazing. - I never knew the name.
0:49:45 > 0:49:48But look, Mama ji, this is what I'm really interested in.
0:49:48 > 0:49:50Here it says "daughters"
0:49:50 > 0:49:52and here it says, 1941, Mahindra.
0:49:54 > 0:49:56Mahindra.
0:49:56 > 0:49:58- It says that he had a daughter. - This is amazing.
0:49:58 > 0:50:02- She was six.- Six, eh? - When partition happened in 1947.
0:50:02 > 0:50:06- She was six years old. - Six years old.- Mmm.
0:50:07 > 0:50:09I never knew about this.
0:50:09 > 0:50:13I knew very well that I had an elder brother, his name was Raj.
0:50:13 > 0:50:16- You knew that?- Yes, Rajpal Singh.
0:50:16 > 0:50:21I'll show you the photograph of my brother, Raj.
0:50:22 > 0:50:24This is photo of my brother.
0:50:24 > 0:50:27- No!- Rajpal Singh.- No way!
0:50:27 > 0:50:29Oh, my God, he's so cute.
0:50:29 > 0:50:31There, you see.
0:50:31 > 0:50:34- This is Rajpal Singh? - Rajpal Singh.
0:50:34 > 0:50:36Where did this photo come from?
0:50:36 > 0:50:37It was kept by my father.
0:50:37 > 0:50:40- So he always had a picture of Raj? - Yeah.
0:50:40 > 0:50:42- And he always kept it. - Yes, always kept it.
0:50:42 > 0:50:45He used to see this photograph,
0:50:45 > 0:50:48only when nobody was watching.
0:50:48 > 0:50:51- You know, he used to see this. - He used to look at it.- Yes.
0:50:51 > 0:50:52That's sad, Mama ji.
0:50:52 > 0:50:54I'll show you some more pictures.
0:50:54 > 0:50:57- You told me the name. - I told you the name.
0:50:57 > 0:51:01- I'll show you her photograph. - No way!- There she is.
0:51:01 > 0:51:03- Pritam Kaur.- Pritam Kaur.
0:51:03 > 0:51:05I can't believe it.
0:51:05 > 0:51:08Look at her.
0:51:08 > 0:51:10Wow!
0:51:10 > 0:51:16This is brilliant, Mama ji, this is amazing. Pritam Kaur. Pritam Kaur.
0:51:16 > 0:51:20Oh, wow, I can actually see your face.
0:51:20 > 0:51:23Fantastic that I've seen a picture of her.
0:51:23 > 0:51:27So Nana ji never spoke of what happened to
0:51:27 > 0:51:30Pritam Kaur during Partition. Did he ever talk about it?
0:51:32 > 0:51:33No, he never told me.
0:51:33 > 0:51:37We knew they were all slaughtered, all butchered, but my dad,
0:51:37 > 0:51:41you know, your grandfather, Nana ji, he never used to discuss.
0:51:41 > 0:51:45One thing he used to tell me, everybody was moving towards India.
0:51:45 > 0:51:48My grandfather, Dheru, was riding the horse
0:51:48 > 0:51:53and Rajpal, my brother, was sitting in front of him
0:51:53 > 0:51:56and they were surrounded there.
0:51:56 > 0:51:58The people, you know... Junglies.
0:51:58 > 0:51:59Tribal people?
0:51:59 > 0:52:03One of them he threw a spear
0:52:03 > 0:52:05which pierced first Rajpal
0:52:05 > 0:52:09because he was sitting in front of the horse.
0:52:09 > 0:52:14Then they brought my grandfather and they butchered him
0:52:14 > 0:52:18and they started killing everybody.
0:52:18 > 0:52:21So, Mama ji, how long have you known this story?
0:52:21 > 0:52:26I was eight or nine years old when my father, he told me this story.
0:52:27 > 0:52:29So you heard this story when you were a child
0:52:29 > 0:52:33and I've been on this journey trying to find out the story of what
0:52:33 > 0:52:36happened to Dheru Ram and here you are, Mama ji,
0:52:36 > 0:52:38- and you know this story.- Yes.
0:52:38 > 0:52:42You've never spoken about it, you've never told...
0:52:42 > 0:52:45- You never asked me.- I never asked you, this is the truth.
0:52:45 > 0:52:47Mama ji, thank you so much.
0:52:47 > 0:52:49Oh.
0:52:50 > 0:52:52- And all the care. - Thank you, Mama ji.
0:52:55 > 0:52:57Sant Singh and his second wife, Balbir,
0:52:57 > 0:53:01live happily in Sofi Pind for the rest of their lives.
0:53:01 > 0:53:04Sant died in 1975,
0:53:04 > 0:53:08less than two years before the birth of his granddaughter, Anita.
0:53:09 > 0:53:12Seeing the photos was amazing.
0:53:12 > 0:53:16I wasn't expecting to see a picture of my grandfather's first wife
0:53:16 > 0:53:17and I feel an instant connection.
0:53:17 > 0:53:20It sounds weird to say that you feel connected to
0:53:20 > 0:53:24a photo of somebody you never knew but I feel connected to that woman.
0:53:25 > 0:53:29And to see a picture of her son, Rajpal, my grandfather's first son.
0:53:29 > 0:53:33It's a shame I didn't get to see a picture of his daughter,
0:53:33 > 0:53:36Mahindra, but at least I know that she existed.
0:53:38 > 0:53:40I feel that she deserves to be remembered.
0:53:55 > 0:53:58Before she leaves India, Anita has come to Haridwar,
0:53:58 > 0:54:00on the banks of the River Ganges.
0:54:02 > 0:54:06People come here from all over the country to honour their ancestors
0:54:06 > 0:54:08and to bathe in what is for Hindus and Sikhs
0:54:08 > 0:54:11the most sacred of all Indian rivers.
0:54:13 > 0:54:17Many families keep their ancestral records here with local priests.
0:54:17 > 0:54:21Anita has come to record the deaths of Sant's first wife, Pritam,
0:54:21 > 0:54:25and their children, Rajpal and Mahindra.
0:54:30 > 0:54:31Thank you.
0:54:32 > 0:54:36So the family village is Sarhali,
0:54:36 > 0:54:38which is in Jalandhar district.
0:54:38 > 0:54:43And the family name is Taggar and it's very important that
0:54:43 > 0:54:45I register what I found.
0:54:46 > 0:54:47Thank you.
0:54:49 > 0:54:52Family records here are organised by village and region
0:54:52 > 0:54:55and stretch back hundreds of years.
0:54:55 > 0:54:58Oh, gosh. Wow!
0:54:58 > 0:55:00Wow!
0:55:00 > 0:55:02Wow!
0:55:02 > 0:55:04How do you know what's what? That is...
0:55:06 > 0:55:08That was quite something to see.
0:55:10 > 0:55:13And people say Indians are disorganised.
0:55:16 > 0:55:17OK.
0:55:17 > 0:55:19- Sant Singh.- Yes!
0:55:19 > 0:55:21Yes! Yes! Yes!
0:55:21 > 0:55:24- He's got the whole history here.- Sant Singh.
0:55:24 > 0:55:25My grandfather came here?
0:55:28 > 0:55:29No!
0:55:29 > 0:55:32There's his signature. 1948.
0:55:32 > 0:55:35So he came here to register his family.
0:55:35 > 0:55:37Sant Singh, there it is.
0:55:40 > 0:55:41Oh, so Sant Singh came here
0:55:41 > 0:55:44and he did a prayer, he did a Hindu prayer
0:55:44 > 0:55:46for the four people that died.
0:55:48 > 0:55:49Dheru Ram came?
0:55:49 > 0:55:51He's been here.
0:55:52 > 0:55:551928 is when Dheru got here. Wow!
0:55:55 > 0:55:58OK. How far back can we take this?
0:55:58 > 0:56:00He's getting there.
0:56:01 > 0:56:02What?
0:56:03 > 0:56:061878, Sondhi came.
0:56:06 > 0:56:09So Sondhi, Dheru's father came here.
0:56:09 > 0:56:11Dheru came here.
0:56:11 > 0:56:13Sant Singh came here
0:56:13 > 0:56:16and the next person is me.
0:56:16 > 0:56:17I came here.
0:56:17 > 0:56:20Not his son, his granddaughter through his daughter came.
0:56:23 > 0:56:28No-one has yet recorded Sant's second family, Anita's line.
0:56:35 > 0:56:36Oh, he's going to write it down?
0:56:36 > 0:56:38You're going to do it?
0:56:38 > 0:56:39Sant Singh
0:56:39 > 0:56:41settled in Sofi Pind.
0:56:41 > 0:56:43I can't believe I'm actually doing this.
0:56:43 > 0:56:46He had two sons, Gurdeep Singh.
0:56:47 > 0:56:48Raminder Singh.
0:56:48 > 0:56:50Manjit Kaur.
0:56:50 > 0:56:52Sukhjit Kaur.
0:56:52 > 0:56:53My mother, Lakhbir Kaur.
0:56:53 > 0:56:55- Lucky.- Put Lucky in brackets.
0:56:55 > 0:56:58And then the youngest is Jasbir Kaur.
0:56:58 > 0:57:01My mum and my aunts are going to be so proud of this.
0:57:01 > 0:57:02OK.
0:57:04 > 0:57:06Anita Rani.
0:57:16 > 0:57:21I wasn't expecting to see Sant Singh's name in the book
0:57:21 > 0:57:24and it's really important that I saw that name
0:57:24 > 0:57:28because it shows you what kind of man he was.
0:57:29 > 0:57:32In March 1948, a month before he married my nan,
0:57:32 > 0:57:35he came here to honour his family that had died.
0:57:38 > 0:57:41So I know about my grandfather's first family.
0:57:43 > 0:57:48But it's weird because had they survived I wouldn't exist.
0:57:49 > 0:57:54It's because of the tragedy that happened to them in 1947
0:57:54 > 0:57:57that my grandfather then went and embarked on a new life,
0:57:57 > 0:57:59and a new journey, and had this whole new family
0:57:59 > 0:58:01that I exist.
0:58:04 > 0:58:07His story will continue...
0:58:07 > 0:58:08through me.
0:58:08 > 0:58:10And that's wonderful.