During his visit to Kartarpur Sahib, Pakistan, on November 20, a Ludhiana-based Ayurveda consultant not only came back with fond memories, but also a piece of India’s history.
Dr Ravindra Vatsyayan, 65, brought back a handful of soil from Shadman Chowk, Lahore, where Indian freedom fighters like Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Rajguru and Kartar Singh Sarabha were martyred.
Dr Vatsyayan said the soil was gifted to him by his friends from Pakistan Irfan Bari, who he met at the holy shrine after 29 years.
“Receiving the gift evoked strong emotions in me, as I was born in Naughra Mohalla in Ludhiana where ancestral house of martyr Sukhdev Thapar is situated,” he said.
This soil has now been stored in a silver urn and kept at Dr Vatsyayan’s consultation chamber near Rose Garden in Ludhiana.
“I can part with some portion of this sacred soil if anybody from the Bhagat Singh Museum in Khatkar Kalan or Shahid Sukhdev Memorial Society, Ludhiana, approaches me,” he said.