A sports coach in Dehradun resorted to chemical treatment and Japanese tissue paper binding in order to restore an old bank passbook of his grandfather. What makes this bank passbook so special is that it dates back to the pre-Partition days and provides a glimpse into the dilemma faced and travails undergone by those countless number of people in undivided India who had to abandon their possessions and home towns – now in Pakistan — to arrive as refugees in India during the Partition.
Employed as a sports coach in a public school in Dehradun, 50-year old Sunil Sonker (lewis) says that the passbook had for long been in his possession. With the passage of time and in absence of specialised restoration, the document had been damaged due to age-related factors, fungal attack and the acidity caused by moisture. Though old bank pass books are generally discarded by bank account holders, Sonker retained the pass book of the bank account number 3259, after receiving the same from his grandmother Nathiya Devi. Residing at the Dangwal Road locality in Dehradun, the Sonker family also accords much sentimental value to this bank pass book which they say is now the only document left with them which shows the links of the family with their past hometown which is now a part of Pakistan.
Sonker states that his grandfather Kali Charan was in business working as a contractor in the army cantonment in Sialkot town. On August 24, 1941 Kali Charan opened a bank account at the Imperial Bank of India - which later became the State Bank of India in 1955. The entries in this pass book provide some idea of the dilemma and travails faced by those who had to abandon everything including their ancestral homes and farms during the tumultuous partition days and its immediate aftermath. The pass book shows that in the year 1946, the account holder had withdrawn the bulk of his savings from the account. Kali Charan’s last transaction entered in the pass book dating back to July 15, 1947 shows that he had withdrawn Rs 65 from the account while also leaving a minimum bank balance of Rs5.9 before heading to Roorkee in present day Uttarakhand where his mother in-law used to reside. like many of the families fearing for their lives who had to depart from their hometowns in a hurry during the partition, Kali Charan was also probably under the impression that the tensions sparked off during partition would simmer down to normalcy after some time which would then enable him to return to his home in Sialkot.
Sonker states, “My grandfather died much before the time of my birth. My grandmother used to tell us stories about Sialkot. The bank pass book shows our family living at Palkhu Per Khatkaua in Sialkot,” he said while expressing gladness for the family document being restored for future generations.
Founder of New Delhi based voluntary organisation Himalayan Wall of Fame, SK Chaudhary who is involved in conservation of art and cultural works offered to restore the pass book free of cost.
The restoration work done in Delhi started with cleaning of the document after which anti-termite treatment was administered and acidity was neutralised.
Each individual page of the pass book was first removed and then laminated on both sides with Japanese tissue paper to preserve it for the future.