Phulkari Coat brought across by Pritam Kaur during Partition

As was the norm for arranged marriages, 30 year old Bhagwan Singh Maini and 22 year old Pritam Kaur had been introduced to each other, in 1947. He was from Mianwali and she from Gujranwala. But during the mayhem of Partition, their families lost contact. Three of Bhagwan Singh's brothers were killed while fleeing from West Punjab. Concerned about her safety, Pritam Kaur's family put her on a train to Amritsar. She travelled with her two year old brother on her lap. After reaching the railway station, she too made her way to the closest refugee camp. It was in the long winding queue for food, where hungry weary desolate refugees stood for hours that Bhagwan Singh and Pritam Kaur met again. When Pritam Kaur crossed the border with a bag slung across her shoulder she had this Phulkari coat among her few precious possessions.