Arjan was sitting in his room, waiting for his father’s gift for the occasion.

Suddenly the door swung open, and in came his father holding a book, wrapped in silver colored paper. He gave it to Arjan.

“A book, father?” asked Arjan

“It is a very special book. All the dates, from 1 January 1600 CE are written down in it. Only that. If you put your finger on a date you get transported to the biggest event which happened on that date”

“O! So, a time-book?”

“Yup.”

Arjan opened the book randomly and a page, near the end opened. On it he could see a date written in blood:13, April 1919.

What must be so special or horrific about this day, thought Arjan.

He promptly pressed the date and was transported to a garden, with walls on all its sides, some balconies looking over it and five entrances, very narrow and mostly kept locked. There was a main entrance to the garden which was wide good. There was, in the garden a growing crowd. As people made their way back from the Harmandir Sahib (the Golden Temple), they entered the garden. Moreover, many others were pouring in too. Almost soon the garden was full. Arjan was part of the crowd too, which he thought to be the grand crowd of the past.

But what was it and why was it, he knew not, though he desperately wanted to know it.

So, he asked a fellow person from the crowd:

“Akala, Iha bhiṛa kium ikaṭhi ho rahi hai?” which meant “Uncle, Why is this crowd gathering over here” in Punjabi.

“Asim agarezam da virodha kara rahe ham” the man said, meaning that they were protesting against the British.

Then the man explained about the Rowlatt Act, and the arrest of Saifuddin Kitchlew and other protesters.

The men were protesting against it and were unarmed. That garden’s name was The Jallianwala Bagh.

Sometime later, fifty troops reached the Bagh. And all of a sudden shooting began. It was so brutal that there was not even a way to escape. General Dyer, had kept the way out heavily guarded. Arjan barely escaped being killed. But he wanted it all not to happen. So, he returned to the present. And then he went back to the massacre day. He told everyone to leave, but by then the massacre had started. He tried to divert the attention of the troops. But it was all in vain.

Arjan tried all the way he could. And he managed to do nothing. But he returned to the present once again, safely, full of emotions and feelings of tragedy buried in his heart.

Arjan had seen one of the worst tragedies, and he had seen how his and our forefathers put their lives in the freedom of the country.

Today, he knew, the sacrifices of those people had left his country free from the chains of slavery, oppression and injustice .