Patiala: One of the last survivors of the 1947 partition died on Tuesday in Dhinthal village of Patiala, Punjab, at the age of 102. The life of Ram Krishna Singh reflected courage and compassion with the magnitude of communal violence which shone despite bloodshed.Ram Krishna was about 24 years old during the partition of India in two countries, causing violent upheaval in Punjab. In August 1947, a mob killed his father, Giona Singh, a carpenter and Bullockkart manufacturer, when he refused to leave his ancestral home.“My father was killed during those days of hate. Before partition, our village was largely Muslim, some with some Sikh and Hindu families. Children played in each other’s homes. Then, suddenly everything changed, “Ram Krishna Singh recalled a web channel four years ago in an interview with Azad Bol Punjabi.As communal tension increased, Ram Krishna and other family members temporarily fled to the nearby Tulwal village. Giona Singh stayed back to protect his home, with an elderly Nihang. When the Muslim families started migrating to Pakistan, a mob entered Dhinthal and killed Giona in his house.Hardap Singh Gahir, grandson of Ram Krishna, an assistant public relations officer in Patiala, said that his grandfather went back in search of his father, only to face a serious reality. Gahir said, “Nihang who survived told my grandfather that he had to cremate Giona in a oven using cow-dung cake because there was no safe way to arrange the funeral.”During the struggle, Ram Krishna’s life was spared by the unpredictable work of humanity. When he and other family members were corn by an armed group, a Muslim villager intervened to protect him. The bravery of this stranger became a story in which Rama Krishna often remembered. Gahir shared, “Even in his last years, he would remember with gratitude how a Muslim person put his life at risk to save him.”After partition, the family’s life in Dhinthal changed permanently. At that time, Giona’s wife, who became pregnant, gave birth to a daughter Mohinder Kaur two months after partition. Ram Krishna delayed his marriage, until he had rebuilt family’s life until the age of 30. He continued the carpentry tradition, and his son Balvinder Singh still practices crafts using modern techniques. “Ram Krishna lived quietly, served as a witness to the cruel chapter of history and followed flexibility. His life was a reminder that even in the time of hatred, the work of kindness could be echoed during generations, “his family said.
