This is the Banta and Santa you do not know. Unlike those of the same nomenclature who demean the Sikhs, this is the Santa and Banta India wants the Sikhs to forget. This is the Santa and Banta you will not see on your mobile screens. The young writer from Mumbai, travels in time, catches up with those Sikhs who are struggling to stay in the memory of the community.

S ant Singh’s age at that time, would have been what Balwant’s was- 34 years ago. After escaping persecution from his own neighbors and friends, he was able to reach the banks of the holy Ganga river -Kanpur, a place which he

As days became years, Santa was blessed with a warm family and was somehow able to ignore the ghosts which had tormented him, over the years, day and night. Suddenly he heard in mid of that year that the shrine which always held a special place in his heart was attacked by the army. He was a family man with a daughter married far from him, he thought of keeping his sadness as well as his anger onto himself. Something inside him had broken!

Sometime in the end of October of the same year he went for Darshan of the shrine. You visit your near ones in their times of adversity. On his way back he was told of the world turning upside down across the country. His people were hounded. Everywhere. Two amongst them had avenged- as he liked to think, the sacrilege of the very shrine.

“Banta: Even after killing 5000 Sikhs (Official count 2733) no one was arrested in Delhi.
Santa: Of course there were, as many as 25 of them. But all of them were Sikhs! ”

Santa, as he was affectionately called, never thought that the same would be the situation in his hometown as well. He reached home….His taxi lied there.. burnt… Neighbours told him that they were defenseless before a mob of 2000 people, who had attacked on a chilly evening. Suddenly he felt that the clock had moved back 37 years.

Santa found himself struggling …to get back his composure. He wanted to find his daughter; her family which he thought would be safer as she was within the confines of the capital of India. Things were bad or maybe they were worse, he still doesn’t remember, when he reached his daughter’s place in Trilokpuri.

 

Her husband who used to repair flat tyres had met the same fate as his son in Kanpur. Ashes, abandoned houses and the screams. He was to be informed, later, that in the last bargain for their lives her daughter’s male family members had given up their identity. But the skin under their turbans had still distinguished them.

“Banta: Who was the first victim of November 84?
Santa: Don’t you know the first victim was none other than The President of Union of India-Giani Zail Singh, because he too was a Sikh! ”

Santa was of different metal, he still was in search of life where there was none around. With hopes he went to the many relief camps. After vagabonding like mad, he found his beloved grandson Balwant. Relationship did not matter. In the hour of grief, he did not think that biologically he was the grandfather. With the help of a Sikh advocate-who had dedicated his life for the cause of people like Sant Singh, he managed to obtain the custody of his grandchild.

In Balwant’s smile, Santa found the purpose of his life. Today Sant Singh addresses Balwant as Banta. He feels sometimes that both of them are communal orphans; they are part of those jokes which make an almost regular round of our mobile and computer screens.

They both are settled today in some corner of this country. Like people who learn to laugh at their misfortunes, they both have acquired a quite sense of humour. Here is their tale.

The Tale of Banta and Santa:

Santa: Do you know when a mighty tree falls the earth around it shakes a little?
Banta: I always thought that when the earth has shaken to its very core, then even a mighty tree falls.

Banta: Even after killing 5000 Sikhs (Official count 2733) no one was arrested in Delhi.
Santa: Of course there were, as many as 25 of them. But all of them were Sikhs!

Santa: Tell me 3 uses of old worn out tires.
Banta: Sometimes they become toys for children on streets, their rubber can be used for remolding.
Santa: And?.
Banta: (after a pause) burning our brothers alive on streets of Delhi…
Santa: Bilkul, Sahi jawab…

Santa: What is inflation, Illustrate with an example!
Banta: A sardar’s head in 18th century fetches 60 -90 rupees, while in 1984 the price was Rs.500/-
Santa: Even I couldn’t have given a better example.

Santa: What is the price of teaching Sikhs a Lesson?
Banta: Price??  I am not sure about that..… but the prize for Indians at large and the Congress party was remarkable…unprecedented victory at the hustings in the Lok Sabha elections in 1985 and also in various states in March 1985.
Santa: Why are the elections in India always preponed after communal violence against minorities?
Banta: Don’t you know that democracy is not only the rule of majority but also an appeasement of it?

Banta: Who was the first victim of November 84?
Santa: Don’t you the first victim was none other than The President of Union of India-Giani Zail Singh, because he too was a Sikh!
Banta: I understand. When the first victim is the president than what can be the fate of the common Sikh walking the streets of Bharat.

Santa: Look at the population of India, 1 child takes birth here every second.
Banta: There are many unofficial family planning measures. Nearly one Sikh wiped out at the rate of one a minute in Delhi from in November 1984 and nearly at the same rate in Gujarat and Mumbai in 2002.
Santa: Some measures of the government seem to be quiet successful!?