MULTAN, Dec 21 (APP):Punjab government is planning to preserve the high school where the great Indian writer and journalist Khushwant Singh received his early education, although for only a few years, in Hadali, about 20 kilometres from Khushab city.
Khushwant Singh had a strong desire to be buried in Hadali, his birthplace, and recollections recounted by his friends in Hadali village, as well as his personal letters addressed to them, notably Asad Bhatti, demonstrated how much he loved his homeland where he was born.
According to letters posted on Pakistan Geotagging website, after the famed writer’s death in 2014, his friend Fakir Syed Aijazuddin brought a fistful of his ashes to be interred at Hadali.
According to a news website, “the son returned to the earth after 99 years” was a quote attributed to ex-headmaster Muhammad Hayat of Hadali high school that was featured in newspapers at the time.Born in 1915, Khushwant Singh had visited his birthplace (Hadali) only once in 1986.
Incharge archaeology department Multan, Malik Ghulam Muhammad told APP,
he was in Khushab to prepare estimates for the conservation of the only surviving historical gate out of four, when deputy director development informed him that deputy commissioner Khushab had sent him a message to prepare estimates for the conservation of Hadali high school, where Khushwant Singh received his early education.
The Victorian-era school, which was erected in 1913-14, had a large hall as well as a dozen classrooms, with two rows of six classrooms separated by a gallery in the middle, the official said.
He said that over two feet of school walls were damaged upto a height of eight feet due to the frequent floods, needed underpinning, chemical treatment or both to restore strength. Furthermore, several of the roof’s wooden ladders and doors needed to be replaced.