Partition’s Painful Memories
記錄印巴分家痛苦回憶
By Somini Sengupta
BERKELEY, Calif. – Growing up, Guneeta Singh Bhalla heard a terrifying story from her grandmother. In August 1947, as British India was being partitioned into independent India and Pakistan, her grandmother fled Lahore, in what was soon to become Pakistan. Clutching her three young children, she looked out the train window to see bodies strewed along the tracks. The memory haunted her until she died.
成長過程中,嘉妮妲‧巴拉聽過祖母娓娓敘述一段駭人的陳年往事。1947年8月,英國殖民地印度分割為各自獨立的印度與巴基斯坦時,她的祖母逃離即將劃歸巴基斯坦的拉合爾。她抓住自己三個稚齡的孩子,看著火車窗外橫陳在鐵軌沿線的屍體。這段回憶一直是她的心頭夢魘,直到她離世。
For years, Ms. Bhalla regretted not recording her grandmother’s story, and it spurred her to begin recording other people’s memories of that time.
多年來,嘉妮妲因為不曾記下祖母口述的故事而引以為憾。這促使她開始記錄別人對當年歷史的口述。
The project, known as the 1947 Partition Archive, began here two years ago. Its dozens of volunteers have video-recorded 647 oral histories from more than seven countries and stored them digitally. Video excerpts from a handful of interviews can be viewed on the Web site, www.1947partitionarchive.org.
這項名為「1947分割檔案」的計畫兩年前在加州柏克萊展開。數十名志願者錄下散處至少七個國家的647名見證者的口述歷史畫面,然後把它們數位存檔。部分訪談的錄影節錄可在www.1947partitionarchive.org上收看。
The partition, which carved up British India roughly along religious and political lines, uprooted more than 10 million people. Hindus and Sikhs escaped to India; Muslims to Pakistan. Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians were left to choose where to live as minorities. The dead were difficult to count; estimates range from 250,000 to two million. No one knows how many were raped.
這次大致根據宗教與政治分割英屬印度的分家至少造成1000萬人流離失所。印度教徒與錫克教徒逃到印度,穆斯林逃到巴基斯坦,屬於少數族群的基督教徒、猶太教徒與拜火教徒則自行選擇何去何從。死亡人數難以計算,各方估計的數字介於25萬人至200萬人之間。慘遭強暴的婦女人數無從統計。
The oral history project is the first of its kind. Because most of the partition’s witnesses are gone – most subjects are in their 70s and 80s – it has taken on new urgency. At least 20 of the 100 people Ms. Bhalla has interviewed have died, she said.
這是首見的此類口述歷史計畫。由於見證人多已亡故(當事人大多年已70幾或80幾),這項計畫益顯急迫。嘉妮妲表示,接受她訪問的100人中至少已有20人辭世。
Directed from a few cubicles at the University California here, the archive plans to dispatch 20 story gatherers this year to several cities in South Asia to collect stories while their tellers are still alive.
這項計畫以柏克萊加大的幾個小隔間為指揮中心,今年打算指派20名搜集故事的志工前往南亞的幾個城市,趁見證人仍然健在錄下口述歷史。
Like Ms. Bhalla, most story collectors are two generations removed; many are Americans of South Asian descent. They have fanned out to mosques and temples across the United States to solicit accounts from elders, and recorded them on hand-held video cameras and smartphones.
多數口述歷史記錄員正如嘉妮妲,與當年的見證者隔了兩個世代,許多是南亞裔美國人。他們分頭前往全美各地的清真寺與廟宇,自長者口中蒐集歷史,以手持攝錄影機與智慧手機錄下。
Some of those interviewed have never told their stories before, not even to their families.
部分受訪者此前從未透露個人這段遭遇,甚至沒對家人提過。
In California, Ms. Bhalla came upon two men – one Sikh, one Muslim – who had spent their childhoods in neighboring villages in what is now the state of Punjab in India. Ali Shan, a Muslim who fled to Pakistan, was living in Fremont, south of here. Hardev Singh Grewal, a Sikh who remained in India, was living in neighboring Union City. Ms. Bhalla asked if they wished to meet. Of course, they said.
嘉妮妲在加州遇到兩名男子,一個是錫克教徒,另一是穆斯林。他們幼年住在現屬印度旁遮普省的兩個鄰村。穆斯林夏恩逃到巴基斯坦,現居柏克萊以南的傅里蒙特市。錫克教徒葛里華當年留在印度,現居附近的聯合市。嘉妮妲詢問兩人是否願意見面,兩人欣然同意。
On a rainy Saturday evening, they shared samosas and tea at the Grewal home. Mr. Shan, 72, sat stiffly at first on a white leather sofa. For the first couple of hours, they reminisced about an annual fair in Jurrahan, where Mr. Shan once lived. They remembered the names of the local schools. As the evening wore on, the more difficult stories trickled out. Mr. Shan told Mr. Grewal how a mob stabbed his mother and brother before his eyes when he was 6 – and then how a man in that mob inexplicably took him home.
在一個下雨的周末夜,兩人在葛里華的家中共用印度餃子與茶。72歲的夏恩一開始僵硬的坐在一張白色皮沙發上。在最初的幾個小時裡,他們追憶夏恩曾經住過的朱拉罕村一場年度節慶活動。兩人還記得當地學校的名稱。夜色漸深時,更難以啟齒的故事開始慢慢出現。夏恩向葛里華述說一群暴民當著年僅6歲的他的面,刺死了他的母親與兄長,以及其中一名男子毫無來由的把他帶回了家。
Mr. Grewal, 76, moved close to him, patted him on the shoulder. Mr. Shan’s eyes filled with tears. He kept going. He remained with the stranger’s family for months, he said, and then an uncle took him to Pakistan. Mr. Grewal kept his arm on Mr. Shan’s shoulder.
76歲的葛里華靠向他,拍拍他的肩膀。夏恩滿眼淚水,不斷訴說。他說,他與那名陌生人的家人一起生活了幾個月,後來一名叔輩把他帶到巴基斯坦。葛里華的手一直放在夏恩的肩膀上。
Mr. Grewal recalled that the elders of his village, Gujjarwal, barely four miles from Jurrahan, had offered to save its Muslims if they converted to Sikhism. “They meant well, but looking back, I don’t think it was a good thing,” Mr. Grewal told Mr. Shan.
葛里華回憶說,他所住的古加瓦爾村距離朱拉罕村約僅6公里,村中的長老們曾經告訴當地穆斯林,如果願意改信錫克教,可保性命無虞。葛里華向夏恩說:「他們出於好意。然而回首當時,我不認為那是好事。」
Nor did it save them. They were attacked as preparations were under way for the conversion ceremony. Mr. Grewal had no idea how many were killed, only that there were enough bodies to fill ox carts and a mass grave. Mr. Grewal remembered, too, that his older brother had taken home three of his school friends, all Muslims who had been injured in the attack. They stayed in the Grewal home until they were fit enough to travel to Pakistan. He has no idea what became of them.
這也沒能保住他們的性命。改教儀式還在準備時,他們受到攻擊。葛里華不知道究竟有多少人遇害,只知道屍體多到可以裝滿許多部牛車,填滿一個集體墓塚。葛里華還記得,他哥哥曾經把三名在攻擊中受傷的校內穆斯林朋友帶回家。他們留在葛里華的家,直到身體復元,可以前往巴基斯坦為止。他不知道他們後來際遇如何。
“Ali, I want to ask you,” Mr. Grewal finally ventured, “do you get nightmares?”
葛里華最後鼓足勇氣說:「阿里(夏恩),我想問你,你會不會做惡夢?」
Mr. Shan shook his head: “As soon as I forgave the people who killed my family, I was a new man.”
夏恩搖搖頭,說:「我原諒當年殺害我家人的暴徒時,我就重生了。」
Ms. Bhalla took it all in. “Both survivor and citizen oral historian come away changed,” she said.
嘉妮妲總結道:「倖存者與公民歷史口述者都與以往不同 了。」
原文參照:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/14/arts/potent-memories-from-a-divided-india.html
Video:Preserving Partition: The 1947 Partition Archive is gathering oral histories of those who lived through the violent split of India and Pakistan.
http://nyti.ms/1eIatEX
Video:Radhika Kishin Chehnani on her move from Hyderabad, Sindh, Pakistan to Mumbai, India.
http://youtu.be/yy8yBfzBAw0
Video:Ravi Chopra on his move from Sialkot, Punjab, Pakistan to Firozpur, Punjab, India.
http://youtu.be/_5dyEjkzs_U
Video:Abdul Jabbar on his move from Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India to Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan.
http://youtu.be/Fy2bxw8I-rk
2013-08-27聯合報/G5版/UNITEDDAILYNEWS 陳世欽譯 原文參見紐時週報十二版左