A community and a people came together. The government did not want them to. They realised it and stuck together or they would have perished. “We had our lands to save, so there was no question of not sticking together. We are people from the villages and we have enough wisdom to understand and call the bluff of governments,” pointed out Shiv Singh from Fatehgarh Sahib. He will be leaving on Sunday.Shiv Singh reminisced about the people and friendships he struck while being here for more than a year. “I have made close connections with people from Fazilka and Muktasar districts, both of which are not close to where my home town is. I’m old now and don’t know if I will ever meet them again. I am hoping we build a memorial at the Singhu border, so some of us can come annually and meet each other too. I may go over to their place too. We have grown so used to chatting with each other.”For the women, the separation was going to be longer and more difficult. Forty-year-old Harinder Kaur from Patiala said she had grown up and lived most of her life in Punjab and now she got to see Delhi. “We have a few acres of land and I will go back to working on the farm. But, I will carry memories of women I struck friendships with. I have taken down their numbers. Maybe we will meet again. Life may never be the same after this protest, but we are afraid of what the government will do in retaliation of having made them back down on the three laws,” said Harinder.Nihang Gyani Shamsher Singh was more philosophical. “We are here today, who knows where we will be tomorrow. We will ensure a commemorative memorial is built here. Close to 800 people lost their lives here. We have to remember them. Their families will go back without a family member. How will they celebrate? We have to remember them and their sacrifices,” asserted Shamsher Singh, while maintaining that langar would also run on the location. No one knows if it will come to take shape, but we have all learnt to never underestimate the word given by farmers.
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