B12I, Poonum Sadhwani ‘86, B. C. Daswani, Uncle, 1927, Burma [Myanmar], India
My uncle lived in Burma [Myanmar] and India during World War II, and he told me about his experiences when I interviewed him in May 1985. He was born in 1927 and is now 58 years old.
Q: Where were you during the war?
A: I was in Burma throughout the war.
Q: How old were you at that time?
A: When the war between Japan and the British Empire began, I was 14 years old.
Q: What was the situation like?
A: My parents were in India, and I had come to Burma to work. I was with about 20 people my age who were also working there. During the war, we were always in a shelter. All of the shops were closed, and the city looked dead. Since it was very dangerous to live in the city, we went into the forests and lived in a bungalow. We took nothing with us but some canned food and one shirt and one pair of pants.
In Burma, there were just too many bombings! About ten minutes before the Japanese planes arrived, the Burmese government sounded a siren to inform everyone. Then all of the people ran towards a bomb shelter. When the Japanese Army invaded, they took over all of the land and bombed the whole country. I really felt at this point that the Japanese were very cruel people, and they just killed everyone like butchers.
On December 20, the Japanese planes released many pamphlets that read “Merry Christmas, and don’t worry, you will all get a good present of bombing on Christmas Day.” On December 25, they really did it. The whole city was flattened, with lots of bloodshed. It was like a graveyard.
Q: How did you eat?
A: We had absolutely no rice, so we used to live on canned food. We hardly had one meal a day.
Q: What did you do after the bombing?
A: All twenty-one of us decided to leave the country. In early January 1942, we took a land route from Burma to Calcutta [Kolkata]. We were walking and walking on a secret route for a whole month. While walking, we lived on fruit. From time to time, we saw some villages, and they gave us some food. We also saw lots of wild animals, but we drove them away with fire. Whenever we needed to go to the bathroom, we had no choice but to do it by the side of the road, because obviously there were no toilets. We did not have a bath for months.
Then we finally reached Manipur, which is a city in India. The people there came to know that we were the first survivors who had arrived safely, and therefore they were very happy. They took care of us well. They gave us food, shelter, and clothing. They also bought us tickets to go to Calcutta. When we got to Calcutta, people there also took care of us and gave us free tickets to go back to Hyderabad, which is where my relatives were living.
Q: How did you feel when you reached your home town?
A: I was very relieved and relaxed.
Q: Do you have any conclusions about the war?
A: I would like to say that this was the most bitter experience that I had in my whole life. After going through it, I feel like all we can do is pray to God for peace. World War II was a very tough experience, and we all want to completely forget how harsh it was. No one who didn’t go through this can understand the hardships we went through. Now people live in a world of luxury, and so no one can understand the bitter situation that we saw. All I can say is that people should in every way possible try to avoid war. It is the worst thing that anyone can experience.
As I was talking with my uncle, I found out about the bitter reality of World War II. I felt really sorry for him as I was listening to his story. My uncle is a very jolly and optimistic man. He is always smiling and looks very happy. I heard his story for the first time in my life, and I realized all of the hard times that he had to endure. I had never thought that he had experienced war. I must add that this was the first time that I saw my uncle on the verge of tears.