Page 128 - Train to Pakistan

scarfs and laid it to rest for the night. The worshippers stood up and folded their

hands. Meet Singh took his place in front. He repeated the names of the ten
Gurus, the Sikh martyrs and the Sikh shrines and invoked their blessing; the
crowd shouted their amens with loud ‘Wah Gurus’ at the end of each

supplication. They went down on their knees, rubbed their foreheads on the
ground, and the ceremony was over. Meet Singh came and joined the men.
It was a solemn assembly. Only the children played. They chased each other

around the room, laughing and arguing. The adults scolded the children. One by
one, the children returned to their mothers’ laps and fell asleep. Then the men
and women also stretched themselves on the floor in the different parts of the

room.
The day’s events were not likely to be forgotten in sleep. Many could not

sleep at all. Others slept fitfully and woke up with startled cries if a neighbour’s
leg or arm so much as touched them. Even the ones who snored with apparent
abandon, dreamed and relived the scenes of the day. They heard the sound of
motor vehicles, the lowing of cattle and people crying. They sobbed in their

sleep and their beards were moist with their tears.
When the sound of a motor horn was heard once more, those who were awake

but drowsy thought they were dreaming. Those that were dreaming thought they
were hearing it in their dreams. In their dreams they even said ‘Yes, yes’ to the
voice which kept asking ‘Are you all dead?’
The late night visitor was a jeep like the one in which the army officers had

come in the morning. It seemed to know its way about the village. It went from
door to door with a voice inquiring, ‘Is there anyone there?’ Only the dogs

barked in reply. Then it came to the temple and the engine was switched off.
Two men walked into the courtyard and shouted again: ‘Is there anyone here or
are you all dead?’

Everyone got up. Some children began to cry. Meet Singh turned up the wick
of his hurricane lantern. He and the lambardar went out to meet the visitors.
The men saw the commotion they had created. They ignored the lambardar

and Meet Singh and walked up to the threshold of the large room. One looked in
at the bewildered crowd and asked:
‘Are you all dead?’

‘Any one of you alive?’ added the other.
The lambardar answered angrily, ‘No one is dead in this village. What do you
want?’