Click to play videoHoshiarpur: For the first time in 35 years, Kashmir Singh awoke a free man on Wednesday, free to live a life outside captivity and free to walk the streets of his hometown in Hoshiarpur.
Since he left his village, the mud houses are now cement structures, the village road has been tarred and Singh's favourite mango orchard is now a playing field.
“There used be mango trees all over. I saw the field on TV in Pakistan jail. I was wondering where it had been constructed,” says Kashmir Singh on a nostalgic note.
Every step Singh takes brings back memories of a life interrupted and a youth lost. The running waters and mustard fields of his village, Singh says, are among what he missed the most in his years in prison.
Singh's eldest son Amarjeet Singh arrived from Italy on Wednesday. He was nine when his father was arrested.
“I was quite young when he left. We always waited for this moment, for a father's support and that's why I just immediately flew down to meet him. I recognised him from his eyes. We both have same eyes,” says Amarjeet Singh.
For people here Singh is a man who defied destiny, a local hero, but most of all, a friend who's finally come home. Politicians and neighbours continue to pour in to meet him and so do anxious families of others held in captivity.
Gurbax Singh spent 16 years in a Pakistan jail on charges of spying. He says he is here to salute Kashmir Singh's spirit, because he knows how tough it must have been.
“I wanted to see what a heart this man has. We used to hear about him and how he spent his days in a small cell with shackles around his feet,” says Gurbax Singh.
At the end of his first free day after 35 years, Singh does not hesitate from going back to Pakistan. “If given a choice and if my government wants to send me, I will go to Pakistan again,” says Kashmir Singh.
It's a lingering sweet taste of freedom for Kashmir Singh, a day of open skies and spaces in his village, perhaps something that he often dreamt of in his prison cell. For him, it is one glorious day of freedom against 35 years of captivity.
(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest)
More on IBNLive Right Now
MOST SHARED
PHOTOGALLERY
