60 yrs and counting...

India as we know it will turn 60 soon...pretty young considering so many people who were there when we gained independence are still around. What an occasion that must have been - especially for those who were closely associated with the movement. But it was a time of mourning as well for most of the people in Punjab and Bengal - people who were caught up in the sectarian violence; people who were uprooted from the place they called home. It seems our country has been perennially caught in the middle...happiness accompanied with sorrow.

I am today reminded of the book "Freedom at Midnight" - filled with little stories of ordinary people amidst the main plot of India's independence. The story I remember the most is that of two brothers - Yakoub Khan and Younis - both part of the then undivided Indian army. Yakoub, the elder one decided like so many other Muslims that his future was in Pakistan. He broke the news to his family. The mother was left shocked. She couldn't imagine moving away from a place where they had lived for at least 200 years. The younger brother too had decided what he wanted - he was going to stay. The arguments were futile though, Yakoub had made up his mind - he was sure that once all the things had settled, it would be easy to move between his two homes...he left the next morning, with his family and his two Hindu servants biding goodbye to him. He promised to visit soon - but that's not what was in store.
A few months later, Yakoub Khan was leading a battalion of the Pakistan Army on a slope in snow bound Kashmir, going on an offensive against a position held by men, who a few months earlier had been his mates. One of these men was a Muslim, unaware that his elder brother was the one he was trying to thwart. The battle that ensued was fierce and then they met - one mortally wounded. Younis rushed to his elder brother and broke down. Yakoub consoled him, saying that they both did what they should have and asked Younis to tell their mom not to think bad of him...

Was it worth it??