Why Amritsar may not be a walk in the park for ex-diplomat

The smoke began rising at dusk on October 31, 1984.

- ADITI PHADNIS

Indira Gandhi was assassinated at 9.18 am, but the news was officially confirmed after 11 am. The then President of India, Giani Zail Singh, visited the All India Institute of Medical Sciences a few hours later.

Stones were hurled at his cavalcade.

As the sun sank, establishments belonging to the Sikhs in Delhi's Sarojini Nagar were set on fire. By November 1, rioting spread across the city.

Amob surrounded Gurudwara Sis Ganj Sahib where Sikh families had taken shelter. Stray incidents of violence were reported in Munirka Vihar, adjoining the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

But what about the Sikh students on the campus? A professor told her son to run to the Kaveri hostel and fetch her only Sikh student. Her orders were: "Bring him even if he doesn't want to come". That boy was Taranjit Singh Sandhu, otherwise known as Tarry, enrolled in the MA-PhD programme at the School of International Studies.

He would go on to become India's Ambassador to the United States.

Sandhu's escort distinctly remembers the walk from the hostel to the safehouse. "Two men were walking behind us. I was convinced they were following us. Tarry kept calm. I walked faster, my heart in my mouth. They took a fork in the road and disappeared. Finally, we reached home. Tarry stayed with us for three or four days. He shared my room. He was very, very quiet. When the rioting seemed to ebb, he returned to the hostel," he said.