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Gandhi Vanita ashram in Jalandhar - set up after partition,
apparently on the site of a Muslim graveyards from which the
bodies were cleared. Many hundreds of widows, rescued women and
orphans came here. Some still here after 50 years - including one
woman brough as an orphanned baby. Still an orphannage and a
sewing workshop. Govt run, well laid out and well kept in spacious
grounds.
Savindra TRIVEDI - small, dynamic old woman, says aged 100 +, but
supervisor says ashram records suggest 82; short rather
disshevelled hair; brahmin by birth; well under five feet; says
was involevd in setting up ashram and has been ther ever since; a
freedom fighter who rebelled against her British-oriented
barrister father, and volunteers the fact that she did not light
his funeral pyre; large photos of Indira G and Rajiv G on the
walls of her small room; outside a small but colourful and well
kept garden which she tends herself; Gandhian - says a cousin of
Chandrashekhar Azaad
starts towards end of side (at 510)
IN HINDI
6 - at partition time had one son, who the british killed;
I was in Naini jail
12 - lots of women came [here to theshram]; lots; those whose
hands and legs were broken, whose husbands had died,
whose sons had died; their state was v tragic; they
were looked after here; there used to be a centre here
and a hospital; I worked in the hospital for 22 yrs for
free
15 - more than 1,000/2,000 women ... their children studied
did well; some became doctors, colonels, did well
22 - I came to know these women when I came here; some of them
were rescued from M homes
26 - they used to say - our husband was killed, our son was
killed; some left their little children and wd go back
to get them ... when the H girls were pulled out of M
homes, they sd we don't want to go, we will live in our
co and our comm'y [meaning not clear] ... some we
forcibly removed from their homes; Parachan [?] was the
sub-insp here and we used to focibly pull out these
girls from the homes [?? M homes] ... we pulled a lot
of girls out of Lahore ... some of them used to say now
we are Ms we will stay here [ie Lahore], but the sardar
girls used to say they wanted to stay in the ashram,
whatever had happened had happened
39 - some of these women went on to be educated, and became
graduates
to c42
Side B
17 - [inconsequential]
36 - there are many stories, some v tragic, don't ask, you
know what disgusting things happened to these girls,
but they came her and forgot it, and some went on to
get degrees, some did IAS/IPS, they became someone and
left this place
45 - it's like if you go to yr auntie's hse, and yr auntie
attacks you ... the same happened to the girls
55 - those who had one or two chidlren by the Ms, they got
attached; there's a woman called Bali here ... she
refused to go, she sd: I will stay here ... she was a
H girl who converted to Islam, she said I will stay |
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