Gopi’s second school

Today is the first day of school for the second time in his life.

He was both, unlucky & lucky to be able to experience this day. His previous school was in a different country now. It was the early 1950’s, seventeen-year-old Gopi & his family had settled down in a new city.

Their previous home was in the North West Frontier Province, which fell on the other side of the new border. He was unlucky because they had to migrate from Pakistan to India, leaving all they had — land, animals, other possessions.

He was lucky because he survived, unlike his mother and one of his brothers.

He survived 10 days walk from his village to the border & all the attacks on their jatha. The then 13 yr old saw red streams & dead bodies on his way, he survived that. Through all of this, he managed to reach Firozpur, a city on the Indian side of Punjab.

Everything from there was supposed to be good as promised by the ones in power. After all, he was now in his “own country”, on the correct side of the line.

The family (whatever was left) got shelter in a refugee camp in Firozpur.

The year was 1947 & the dam on river Sutlej broke, flooding the entire city. He survived that. For the next 4 years, he hopped refugee camps across north India. Survived all sorts of diseases when another of his brother couldn’t.

So he indeed was lucky. Today is a great day.

Today is the first day of school for the second time in his life. Oh and he bluffed about his previous std in school, got admitted to 6th std when he should have attended 5th.

Lucky boy!

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