My Nanaji, (Kunwar) Kashmir Singh Sen joined the Army not because he was looking for a job, but because he strongly believed joining the Army was the best way to help people in distress. As a descent from Suket royal family, he had acres and acres of land in the most fertile area, Bahl in Sundar Nagar. He also had a palatial house to live in the Suket princely state now called Sunder Nagar in Himachal Pradesh. As a child, he had no dearth of money yet be believed in giving part of his pocket money to his fellow poor children.
After his marriage with Krishna Devi Chandel, He was spending most of his time looking after his ‘Jamindari’ and two beautiful children. It was in late 1930es when the Second World War broke and the British Army started a recruitment drive in a princely state that he joined Dogra regiment the British army. After one year of training, he was tasked to fight in Singapore on behalf of the British Army.
His first assignment was in Singapore from where he was temporarily shifted to Miami beach after the Japanese attack on Pearl harbour attack in December 1941. He was probably carrying secret information from one post to another by crossing two dangerous rivers there, his son recalled. Nanaji used to recall how he carrying secret information of British Army with its alley US forces near Penang, which had just joined the Second World War II.
But that was for a very small period. He returned back to Singapore where his battalion had a fierce battle with Japanese forces in Raffles square area. His battalion suffered heavy casualties, more than 300 soldiers died and double of them sustained injuries. Finally, in February 1942, his battalion surrendered unconditionally to Japanese.
“The disposing off dead soldiers was a big problem for British as well as for Japanese forces… they ultimately dropped them in the ocean… among them were my friends, my juniors, my seniors and enemies from the Japanese army…I learn a hard lesson of my life that there is no enemy or friend after death… it changed my entire course of life…Suddenly I became much more mature,” He used to tell us while narrating his horrifying tales of Singapore war.
His pet dialogue was that an experienced soldier is not the one who carries maximum ammunition, but the one who carries maximum bhuna channe (fried grams) in his pocket. Nanaji always told us that “In a war, it is not the bullet that kills you… but it is hunger which demoralizes.….He had enough bullets but no water or food in the jungles of Singapore….. one by one he and his colleague used to go to jungle.. if lucky they would get some fruits or otherwise they used to eat sweet leaves, natural gums and sometimes even barks from trees and herbs..Drinking water was a big problem..He used collected water from the small stream and store it”. And that is why for the rest of his life he never tolerated wastage of food and water, says his daughter Surjeet Singh Rana. “My father used to tell us jokingly that anyone who would leave food in his plate would be sent to Singapore jungles for a month,” Surjeet recalls.
After the fall of Singapore, he along with 45,000 POWs was sent to POW Camp in Singapore mainly Bidadari. His stay as POW was brief and painful. His eldest son Shamsher Sing Sen, who retired as a revenue officer in the Himachal Government, remembers what his father told him about POW camps. “The food he was given was worse than what we used to sever our cattle. He also suspected that that Japanese probably added some chemicals in their food which caused him permanent stomach pain…After the Singapore imprisonment, he developed stomach pain.. that lasted all his life and ultimately became of the cause of his untimely death in 1985,” his son said.
In Singapore POWs camp, he became very weak due to unhygienic foods and water, many died due to dysentery, malaria, and cholera. It was finally when all POWs adopted the Bidadari resolution and set up the Indian Independence League, he got a chance to serve his motherland.
Nanaji told us his role in the Azad Hind Fauz. He recalled that his job was to distribute the copies of the resolution to soldiers, convince them to join Indian National Army (Azad Hind Fauz) —an armed unit the Indian Independence League, lead by Ras Bihari Bose, and prepare them to get ready for another war… this time with the British Army for India’s independence.
Now they would be using Japanese arms to fight British Army…All the soldiers were given a brief training to use Japanese arms and canons, which slightly different from the British armoury. But then there was a lull for months as the top brass of Azad Hind Fauz could not decide its strategy. It was only after Netaji Subash Chandra Bose took rein of the Indian Independence League in 1943 that Azad Hind Fauz again reenergized itself.
Nanaji recalled the impact of Netaji on the Azad hind Fauz. “Even the local youth started joining INA and we were again busy in giving a crash course to locals to fight against British”. “Some of us were also given the training to fly fighter pilots at Japan’s Imperial Military Academy, and the stage was set for the final battle”.
He used to get emotional when he remembered his last battle “Chalo Delhi” (March to Delhi). “We all were physically weak due to month-long starvation like situation, but when we fought against the British, we ourselves were amazed at our performance…. Probably because we were fighting for the independence of our country…. Imagine some times were fighting with a ‘bottle of petrol’ (petrol bump) to defeat a British Tank…Though we lost the battle…. But now I can proudly say we did our best,” He told us. He was ultimately captured near Akaran in Burma and imprisoned in Rangoon Jail and later released after independence in 1947.
At home, life was very tough for his wife Krishna Devi. She did not see Nanaji for nine long years and after 1941 was not sure whether he was alive. His eldest son Shamser Singh Sen says there was no communication except a few letters before 1941, people had presumed that he sacrificed his life in the World War-II. He said “In 1947 we were surprised to see him back. He, along with INA jawans, was released at Ner Chowk.. 15 Kilometers from his home,” Shamsher Singh said.
“If you ask me to sum up his personality… I would say he was a great man. He never sided with wrong and told us if you do anything wrong I would be the first person to punish you… and he applied it in letter and spirit throughout his life. He never spared anyone who was wrong whether he was his senior or his child,” his daughter Surjeet Singh Rana says.
When the government asked landlords to donate the tilling land to agriculture labourer, he was the first person to do so happily. “The acres and acres of land in Bahl, which today is to the tune of several hundred crores, was donated to tilling labourers…And since he was left with little money and land, he had to work as a casual labourer to make roads. And later a Chowkidar in Bhakra Beas project in Sundar Nagar, part of which was built on his land,” said his son-in-law K R Thakur, an expert in International affairs, who worked as an editor in Soviet Information Centre.
My Nanaji never regretted that he donated his land or worked as a casual labourer… in fact, he never claimed freedom fighter pension till 1971 when his brother-in-law, Raja Virbhadra Singh, who was then Member of Parliament. Ultimately he reluctantly accepted the pension from the centre and state government as well as Tamra Patra from then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Later when Virbhadra Singh became the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh he asked him to avail several benefits but he always refused it politely. “What I have done… it was my duty and I tried to put in my best,” he used to tell his children whenever they insist on taking favours from the government.
Ends.
