It was a time of uncertainty

Only six months after her marriage, Veena Chand faced a real test of mettle when her husband Captain Satinder Mulraj Chand was asked to join the Liberation War in Bangladesh.

Satinder Mulraj, who later became a brigadier of the Indian Army, initially kept his wife in the dark about it.

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“When he came to Chandigarh [his parental home], he told his old mother that he was going to war, but he told me nothing,” said Veena, narrating how she passed her days in great uncertainty during the 1971 war.

“Think how a newly married wife would feel when her husband leaves all belongings like chequebooks and insurance papers, saying he may not come back,” she said in an emotion-choked voice.

Before joining the war, her husband told her that she might need the chequebooks and other documents.

“He couldn't speak further. He then left all the things which I might need in his absence,” said Veena, who was a lecturer at an Indian college at that time.

“He told me to take care of his parents, especially his mother… As I tried to say something, he told me to be courageous.”

Satinder Mulraj fought in Sylhet during the Liberation War, and witnessed the surrender of the Pakistan army to the allied forces there.

Veena was talking to The Daily Star in the presence of her husband at a media interaction programme in Dhaka on December 15. At the Bangladesh government's invitation, 28 Indian war veterans and four serving officers, along with their family members, came to Dhaka to join the 46th Victory Day celebration programmes.

“I was so emotional. I told him to write to me every day. He promised that he would do so,” said Veena, who is now 74.

Her husband kept his promise.

“I have treasured those letters because I was newly married.

“He sent letters with the help of civilians. I used to get those after a gap of 10 days,” she said, adding that she would probably never discover that her husband is a good writer if he had not joined the war.

“Today, I feel very fortunate. After Bangladesh's victory, my husband told me stories about the Liberation War, the Mukti Bahini and the Indian army's role,” said Veena.

Promila Vardhan, wife of Indian war veteran Lt Col (retd) Harsh Vardhan, said the family faced a great deal of uncertainty after her husband joined the war on November 23 in 1971.

“We could not know what was happening in Bangladesh. It was very tough for the family,” she said.

The people of both the countries must know what the two nations did for each other during the war so that the bond between them gets stronger, she said.

“They should not forget the kind of friendship India and Bangladesh have. It is very important for both the generations to pass this on.”