The joy of discovering each other 60 years of separation caused by the Partition was short-lived for a brother and sister living on either sides of the border as they died even before the planned, much-awaited emotional rendezvous.

The doleful tale of 73-year-old Mid Singh, who lived near Bathinda and his sister, Wazira who was recently found to be living in a village near Lahore, stood out in irony even as Indian and Pakistan were celebrating with aplomb the 60th anniversary of their independence.

From village Kotfatha near Bathinda, Mid Singh, who was born in a Muslim family was just 13 when he saw his mother, brother and three maternal uncles being hacked to death in the frenzy of communal bigotry which unfolded immediately after the Partition. He saved his life by hiding behind a bullock cart.

His father and sister somehow managed to escape into the newly created Pakistan.

Pleasant surprise
Nearly 60 years later, Mid Singh was pleasantly surprised to receive a letter from his long-lost sister, Wazira, from Lahore about six months ago. It was an emotional moment for both as they had not even known whether the other had escaped the mass massacres.

“He immediately got in touch with his sister and was in regular touch with her via telephone and internet,” says Jarnail Singh, whose brother, Bakhtaur Singh, had saved Mid Singh’s life by hiding him from the mobs and raised him like his own son.Even as Mid Singh (who converted to Sikhism) got his passport ready to visit her sister, he died of cardiac arrest some time back. “Maybe he was too excited at the thought of meeting his sister,” says Jarnail Singh.

The news of his death shocked Wazira, who was waiting to receive her brother, and she also died within days of receiving the news.

Jarnail Singh recalls the volatile times when his brother had risked his life by keeping Mid Singh hidden in a box in his house before sending him to Rajasthan. “He called him back after some time and brought him up like his own son,” says singh.

He plans to send the photograph of Mid Singh to his nephews in Lahore so that the separated members of the family could reunite, at least through the photographs.