Nonagenarian back from ancestral house via Attari, recalls Pak warmth

Neeraj Bagga

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, July 25

Upon her return from Pakistan, 90-year-old Reena Chhibber Varma said she felt a great relief after visiting her ancestral house in Pakistan’s Rawalpindi. Fulfilling her long-cherished dream, Reena returned to India via the Attari-Wagah joint check-post near here on Monday. She directly headed to Gurugram to be with her daughter. Otherwise, she lives in Pune.

Reena said she was overwhelmed at the warm response she received from people during her 10-day stay in Pakistan. For her, the most endearing part was to stay at her home which her father Prem Chhibber, who was employed in the Accounts Department, had painstakingly got built out of his savings. Reena said she spent sometime in every room of her ancestarl house.

What connected her to childhood was that five houses, including that of her family, stood unchanged in the street while the rest of the buildings have seen many architectural changes.

Iqbal Sahni, a relative of late star Balraj Sahni, came to meet her. The Chhibbers were family friends of the Sahni family. Like Reena, Balraj was born in Rawalpindi in 1913 and studied at Gordon College. Elder brothers and sisters of Reena had also attended the same college. So she was keen to visit the college and the adjoining College Road. The surroundings of College Road have modernised now. She also visited the Company Garden which used to be a venue for family outings on holidays.

During her stay in Pakistan, she visited Murree, Katasraj temple, Lahore besides Rawalpindi.

As a 15-year-old along with seven other members of her family, including parents, three sisters and two brothers, she had migrated to India after Partition. Only remorse for her is that out of her family members, only she managed to see their old house.

The Pakistan High Commission in India, in a goodwill gesture, had issued a three-month visa to her but she remained there only for 10 days. Before crossing over to Pakistan, she had been in touch with some residents of Rawalpindi over social networking sites.

The nonagenarian’s requests for a visa to visit her ancestral house and town were rejected multiple times. Recently, she tagged her request to Pakistan Minister of State on Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar whose intervention eventually facilitated her visit.

Nonagenarian back from ancestral house via Attari, recalls Pak warmth
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