Success stories

•Before Partition, Raunak Singh worked as a pipe salesman in Lahore and earned a comfortable living. But Partition changed all that. He and his family fled to India in penury and had to survive on as little as 1 paisa a day for their meals. He camped with 13 other refugees in a single room in Delhi’s Gole Market and found work at a spice shop to make ends meet. But this was not the life he could envision living.

•It was an immense risk for refugees to carry valuables on their person while fleeing as it meant higher chances of getting looted and killed. But the family had managed to make it this side of the border with a small stash of jewels, a small sense of security to anchor their lives in a foreign land. Left with no other choice, Raunaq sold the jewellery for Rs 8,000 and set off to start his first business.