The house is yours

In the summer of 1947, Urmil Luthra's world turned upside down. Then a 12-year-old, Urmil was in Jhelum (in - present-day Pakistan) when the Partition was announced

A native of Sargodha (also in Pakistan), she was at her uncle's house in the army cantonment in July to spend the summer vacations.

"We were staying with our maternal uncle at the army cantonment in Jhelum.

Although it was a safe space, I was immensely distressed. The city was up in flames and we could see the fires from the cantonment. There was a lot of arson and since my family was in Sargodha, I was extremely worried," said Urmil. As tensions spread, the family left the cantonment in an army truck and eventually reached Lahore from where they boarded a train for Amritsar in Punjab while her father stayed back in Sargodha.

The train journey from Lahore was unlike any she had ever undertaken. A pervasive fear was hanging in the air and the train's departure was delayed; it stood at the station for an entire night as men from the army guarded it. "Although we were in an army train, they stopped the train at the Lahore station. For an entire night, the train stood at the station. Although army soldiers surrounded the train with rifles to prevent against any attack, we were issued strict instructions to not utter a word. They said ask mothers to muffle the cries of their children," recalled Urmil.

The train arrived in Amritsar the next day, where another train heading towards Pakistan was held hostage.