For this section of the website, I want to share a powerful story about a Humanitarian that saved the lives of hundreds. This is the story of my Nanaji, Harnandan Prasad. By interviewing my Nanaji about his experiences in the Iranian Revolution and the riots following Indira Gandhi’s assasination, I learned the importance of standing up for humanity even in the face of darkness. Initially, I had a list of questions prepared, but forgot all about them as the conversation began to flow. Below, I outline his story. You may listen to the full length interview here.
Harnandan Prasad was an Indian orthopedic surgeon born in 1943. From the very beginning of his career, he was keen on making an impact in the world by helping others. “I was in the habit of helping people–particularly to the sick people. …helping the poor patients was very encouraging,” he said. He was deployed to Bandar Abbas, a southern state in Iran in 1975. “During 1973 onwards there was a great need of doctors in Iran. So they contacted our government–Indian government–and wished that some doctors–surgeons—should be sent,” he remembered.
For a while, he worked in Iran comfortably–until the Iranian revolution began. “After 76 or 77, I think, the revolution started by Ayatollah Khomeini…a Kattar Islamic…At that time, the ruler, Mohammed Razah, was very liberal, and the systems were also very liberal. Kattar Mohammad didn’t like that liberty. And the slow revolution was perhaps brewing up there, which became flared up in 1978 and 1979,” Nanaji recalled.
The Iranian revolution was known for its relative civility as compared to other violent revolutions. Nanaji continued to help patients, and remembered that most of them were unaffected by the Revolution. However, even before 1979, some tension existed, especially since my grandfather was a Hindu living in a primarily Islamic state. One time, a fellow surgeon threatened Nanaji’s family. However, after notifying security, the surgeon was promptly arrested, and Nanaji remembers that he rarely felt insecure, though they often limited their contact with Kattar-Panthi. The Iranian revolution barely prepared them, however, for the traumatic experience that would ensue in their own homeland just years later.
The shooting of Indira Gandhi, India’s first and only female prime minister in 1984, was due to the rising conflict between Hindus and Sardars. Pakistan had already separated from India, and the Sardars wanted their own state as well. After Operation Blue Star, Gandhi’s own Sikh bodyguards assassinated her, throwing the country into chaos. Hindus turned against their fellow Sardars and began to murder them indiscriminately. The shooting lasted for 4 days after Gandhi’s assasination, killing 8,000 Sikhs.
I wanted to record his experience, but my grandfather thought that it would be too intense, and opted to tell me off-air his harrowing experiences during the riots. Having no recording immensely increases the pressure I feel to accurately convey the horrors Nanaji told me.
That day, he had not read the papers as he had an operation that day, and was shocked when a coworker told him what had happened. It was too dangerous to come home, since they lived right across from a Sikh temple. Streets were full of bodies in gutters, burnings, and riots. Seven ladies stopped him and asked that he would escort them home, as their Sikh husbands had been killed in the shooting. Their car was then stopped by rioters who requested that the ladies disembarked so they could be taken care of. Instantly, Nanaji tossed money behind his car and raced forward, saving seven lives just that day as the hooligans scrambled to pick up the bills.
The following days, he witnessed violence and death. He recalls seeing Sikh patients seeking treatment for bullet wounds and injuries, and helped as many people as he could even though it was dangerous to do so. My mother remembers seeing dismembered bodies tossed up onto the terrace where they lived.
Throughout the interview, I learned that it is important to help those that cannot help themselves. Having humanity even when the world has turned to hate is the only way to stop oppression, and ignorance only contributes to the problem. Even though Nanaji was not a Sikh, he fought for others when they could not fight for themselves, saving countless lives through his bravery. He had the ability to heal and used it regardless of possible consequences. I learned so much about my grandfather’s life during the interview, and now see him not only as a grandpa, but as a savior and fighter.
Though what happened was in the past, it frightens me that some things never change, including persecution and hate. My Nanaji lived through two events of religious hate in one lifetime, when there shouldn’t have even been one. Now that I have heard a primary witness’s account of these events, it is my responsibility to spread his story and teach others to see people as equal individuals. We must prevent things like this from ever happening again.
