The early lives of Parkash Kaur and Ajit Singh were both affected by the violence of India’s Partition in 1947. Their families lost everything. Since moving to Britain they have been able to rebuild their family life here.
Parkash Kaur was born in 1930 to a Sikh family and grew up in Jalandhar, India. The end of British Imperial rule and the planned Partition of India led to great unrest amongst the people. As the violence escalated people began leaving their villages. Parkash and her family loaded all their belongings onto carts. They spent three months in a refugee camp, before boarding a train to Amritsar.
The train journey took four days. There was very little food and people began to die from disease, including two members of Parkash’s family.
Once they reached India, the family had to move several times before finally settling down. When Parkash was 17, her family arranged her marriage to Ajit Singh. He had also been affected by Partition.
‘I am settled here… and my grandchildren are here, great grandchildren here…’
Ajit Singh
Ajit was 18 and had just passed the entrance exam for Lahore University when trouble began. His family was also forced to move from their home in West Punjab, which became part of Pakistan, to East Punjab.
Like Parkash’s family, they loaded all their belongings onto a cart. When it broke down they had to leave most of their possessions behind. But Ajit saved his books.
Ajit worked in Amritsar to support his family after his marriage to Parkash, but he tried to continue his studies as well. After his father died he found he could not earn enough money in India to support the whole family. In 1964 he decided to go to Britain temporarily to find work. Ajit cut his hair and shaved his beard in order to get a job.
Although Ajit had not planned to stay in Britain permanently, after a year, he sent for his son Jasvinder to join him. Parkash and their daughter came the following year, and they have built their family life here together.
‘44 years I am in this country, I should feel British now…I am settled here… and my grandchildren are here, great grandchildren here…’
Ajit’s father had served in the British Army. Today, his grandson Jasvinder is proud of this connection to Britain:
‘…our forefathers, 83 thousand of them, gave their lives for this country and you know we do feel that we have the right to be here.’
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