Burma to India – one long walk: Pg 2

(contd from previous page)

give us accommodation, due to rush of people in panic, we travelled by motor launch for 7 days. The launch will ply during day time only, as if it travels in the night, the launch will get stuck up in the sand. Daily early morning we will bathe in the river and have our coffee and food in the boat. During day time we were enjoying the discourses made by a Tamil Graduate (Mr. Subramanian Pathar) our colleague. We stayed at Mandalay for a month where our office was working. We were staying in the first floor of a building from which we could see the temple of Lord Buddha (Payya) situated in a hillock. There were steps to reach the foot of the temple. We used to visit the temple during Sundays and enjoy the calm and silent surroundings, a fit environment for offering prayers to God. There was also a big golden temple of Buddha, named Sule Pagoda. It was a grand sight to look at the shining golden cover on the sloping roof of the temple. This used to dazzle during mid-day sun.

Next, we had to move to Manyara, as the enemies were approaching nearby. We had to stay here for a month. On Tamil New Year’s day we arranged for a good meal with sweets. When we were about to finish our meals a siren sounded which means the enemies were coming. So all of us hurried up and took shelter in a neem tree forest nearby. The trees were so close, that we could not see the sun on mid-day. After about 2 hours, we returned. Our office was functioning in a school. On 28th April, we were asked to go back to India.

From Manyara we went in a launch to Kalewa. Then we went to Kalemyo. From there, we had to walk. We started walking every day early morning about 7 to 8 miles and halted at a camp specially built where we took coffee, prepared our meals and had it.

Contd…p3…

Next: Burma to India – one long walk: Pg 3

Burma to India – one long walk: pg 1

Here is the exact text reproduced below। I’ve tried to keep everything, even the punctuations the same as in the original. Please let me have your feedback. This is meant to be a 'family' blog, so some family participation is essential for it to survive. எதாவது சொல்லணும், இல்லை என்றால் it's just a waste of my time.

BETWEEN JAPANESE AND BRITISH BETWEEN 25TH DECEMBER 1941 AND 30TH APRIL 1942

The war started on 25th December, 1941, Xmas day at midnight. But before the commencement of war, Japanese warned that they will fight with British in Burma. So to bear and escape the after effects of bombing, British trained us how to behave during air raids. This training was given to us during night time after complete black out i.e., no light. Even a small bed room light should not burn. Before the enemy planes visited Burma, we had a warning by the sound of a siren which will make a huge noise which can be heard about 5 miles radius.

On the first day, i.e., 25th December, 1941 when the siren sounded at about 11-00 P.M in the night, all the people took shelter below big buildings or in the shelter specially constructed on the roads. On the first day, the Japanese threw bombs from the plane on the ships with supplies and a good number of trucks in the Irawaddy wharf and on the post office and Telegraph Office. Many ships and big buildings were damaged on the Ist. day bombing on Rangoon. In this manner Japanese bombed Rangoon, the Capital of Burma for about a month intermittently and caused heavy damage. Once a gentle man was near a big building which was also a target for bombing. The siren sounded. According to the rules after the siren sounds, there was strict orders that nobody should be outside or be on the road. But disobeying this he drove his car to his house as his wife and children were there. The building opposite to his car was damaged considerably but he escaped as he went away in his car. This shows that there is God who takes care of us and guides us in all our actions. ** In February, 1942, we were asked to go to Mandalay, as our office was shifted there. As trains could not
pto

Next post: Burma to India – one long walk: pg 2

** The whole of January, 1942 there were no bus service or trains regularly and offices were not working.

WWII – through one family’s eyes (backgrounder on Burma to India)

For those who need it, some background information. My thatha (grandfather), an accountant, served the British government in Burma, specifically, in Rangoon. During WWII, all civilians were ordered to evacuate and go back to India. My grandfather sent his family, comprising my grandmother Ranganayaki, daughters Soundara, Kodai and Seetha, sons Raghu and Narasimhan, back on the last ship from Rangoon to Calcutta. Salvaging what they could, my grandmother, along with her brood, travelled on the ship and reached India. After great hardship, she then reached south India where they all stayed with my grandfather’s family, in Sevilimedu, awaiting my grandfather's safe return.

Meanwhile, my grandfather stayed behind to serve the government, till they were asked by the Brit govt to go back to India. He, along with a group of other Indians, did just that. Only, they had to trek all the way back...

Reading this real life incident again and again, I think of how lucky my life, our lives have been and give thanks to the wonderful people that my grandparents were.

As a young girl, this seemed the height of adventure to me and I insisted that my grandfather should dictate this 'story' to me, so that I could have it all written down and read it whenever I wanted to. I still remember writing it down on the back pages of my history notebook, as my grandfather, late Shri Sevilimedu Raghavachariar, dictated it to me in the 1980s (exact year unknown), in Mylapore, Madras (as it was known then).

My handwritten version was proof read by my Periappa late Shri N R Ranganathan, in Hyderabad and converted to typewritten copy by his daughter and my cousin Sumathi Ranganathan, also sometime in the 1980s.

Next post: Burma to India, one long walk....