Heart Wrenching Postcard in Gurmukhi written by the Daughter of a Sikh Soldier!

Sepoy Sewa Singh

Telling Their Story: A Daughter’s Love For Her Soldiering Father:
Without a doubt, this is one of the most powerful stories uncovered by the EFW team centers around a postcard carrying a message written in the Gurmukhi script but in an almost indecipherable hand.

Postmarked 7 February 1916, it carries a heart-wrenching message from a family in Punjab to a Sikh soldier, Sepoy Sewa Singh, serving in the Middle East. It was actually written by his daughter, Kishan Devi, and lays bare the pain of separation that must have been felt by many, yet has only been evidenced in this solitary piece of ephemera.

Originally discovered on eBay by Sikh militaria collector, Avtar Singh Bahra, the fact that this fragile document survived an entire century after it had been written is nothing short of a miracle. It caused a sensation when displayed at our 2014 exhibition at the Brunei Gallery, SOAS, London, and raised questions as to what happened to the family afterwards. The hunt is now on to trace the present-day descendants of Sewa Singh and Kishan Devi.
This is just one of the many stories that we want to share with the world.
The Sikhs of World War One: With Your Help They Will Be Remembered.

Picture: courtesy of Avtar Singh Bahra.
Source- Sikh Discover Inspire – The G T 1588 Initiative