The overgrown village, next to the international border with Pakistan, was in deep mourning ever since the 8,000 odd residents came to know that their most famous inhabitant Sarabjit was brutally killed, barely 30 kms away in lahore.
All roads from nearby cities and towns led to Sarabjit's village as the Punjabis wanted to have one last glimpse of the martyr who remained in jail for over two decades and was then brutally killed.
Almost everyone in the village had a slogan on their lip and this was "Sarabjit Amar rahe" (long live Sarabjit). At the same time "Pakistan murdabad" rent the air.
The house of Sarabjit was too small for the surging crowd from the neighbouring villages and the cities who wanted to pay their last respects. The mortal remains of the 49-year old was shifted to the nearby school as it was the most spacious place in the entire area.
A sea of humanity turned up under the scorching hot sun to show solidarity with the family. "We are proud to hail from the soil where Sarabjit was born," said Sardara Singh, whose house is next to that of the martyr.
Cutting across party lines, leaders went to pay their homage — first the school where the body was kept and then to the cremation ground, barely a five-minute walk from Sarabjit's house. From the premises of the school, his body was taken to Gurudwara Shaheed Baba Deep Singh for the blessings of the almighty and in a convoy taken to the cremation ground.
There was not even an inch of space left in and around the cremation ground. People were hanging precariously on tree tops, roofs of the nearby houses and even water tanks to have the last glimpse. A roof in a thatched house collapsed in front of the cremation ground as a few onlookers climbed on it. Then, a wooden ladder was suddenly fetched from nowhere to help people climb the rooftop of the surrounding houses to have a better glimpse. The body, however, was kept in a casket and all that the people could see was flowers and more flowers on the casket.
As the surge of humanity took over, Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi had to walk a fair distance from his vehicle with his security personnel in toe to the cremation ground.
He consoled the grieving family and held on to Dalbir Kaur, the sister of Sarabjit who had been lobbying for his release for long without success.
In the state funeral, when the gun salute was given, the entire gathering burst into the slogan, "Bole So Nihal, Sat Sri Akal" and "Amar Rahe, Amar Rahe, Sarabjit Amar Rahe". There was a small group of girls, the friends of Sarabjit's daughter who walked at a brisk pace throughout the village shouting the slogan of immortality for the man whom Pakistan accused of triggering a blast and its judicial system sentenced to death.
A Sikh Priest in the presence of Jathedar Akal Takhat Gyani Gurbachan Singh recited prayers as per Sikh rituals at the cremation ground before the pyre was lit.
When the mortal remains were consigned to the flames they was hardly any eye which was not moist. The pyre was lit by Sarabjit's sister Dalbir Kaur in the presence of his wife Sukhpreet Kaur, daughters Swapandeep and Poonam and son-in-law Sanjay. "Only the martyrs deserve this kind of eulogy. The entire village and Punjab is inspired," summed up a villager who must be in the same age group of Sarabjit.