New Delhi: When Lahore’s historical Aitchison College got a new plaque outside one of its classrooms last week, it became the final chapter of a century-old friendship that outlived Partition. It was 100-year-old Pakistani industrialist Syed Babar Ali’s moving tribute to his ‘best friend’.
The room was dedicated to the memory of former Punjab CM Harcharan Singh Brar, who is also among Aitchison College’s distinguished alumni.
“This classroom is dedicated to the loving memory of my friend Harcharan Singh Brar (1922-2009) of Srai Nanga, District Ferozepur,” reads the inscription written by Ali. The ceremony was attended by Brar’s daughter, Babli Brar, who travelled from India to unveil the plaque.
For generations, Aitchison College occupied a singular place in the social and political life of undivided Punjab. Founded in 1886, the elite boarding school educated princes, politicians, generals, and bureaucrats from across the region. Before 1947, Lahore was the beating heart of Punjab, and Aitchison — known affectionately by its alumni as ‘Aitchison’ or simply ‘AC’ — was where many of its future leaders first met.
Among them were two boys who would become inseparable. Ali arrived at the college in 1934. Brar joined three years later, in 1937. Though Brar was several years older, the two soon formed a bond that would last more than 70 years.
“They were together at Aitchison for seven years and then later at Government College Lahore as well,” Kavian Mir, an Aitchison alumnus and historian involved in the school’s archival project, told ThePrint.
Brar boarded at Godley House, which housed Sikh and Hindu students. Ali, a day scholar from Lahore, attended classes before returning each evening to his family’s home. But they were best friends.
“The two won sporting honours, and graduated together in 1943. Their friendship became so close that Ali’s mother began referring to Brar as her fourth son,” Mir added.
Friendship that endured
Then came Partition. The violence of 1947 tore Punjab apart. Millions crossed newly drawn borders. Families disappeared overnight. Entire communities that had lived together for centuries were separated.
Yet, somehow the friendship endured.
“Ali’s sisters called him Bhai Harcharan Singh,” Mir recalled. “Even today, members of the family refer to him as Mama Harcharan Singh.”
When Brar developed a liking for the niece of Sardar Partap Singh Kairon, the third CM of Punjab, Ali would be his wingman. He ensured they got married.
After graduating from Government College Lahore, Ali had left for the United States to pursue higher studies in 1945, and Brar returned to East Punjab. When Ali came back several years later, he secured special permission through a family friend who was a senior police official to travel near the border.
“He had a friend there who was a big landlord and part of a political family,” Mir said. “So the two friends met after three or four years, right after Partition in 1948.”
It would become the first of many reunions. Over the decades that followed, the two families maintained contact despite worsening relations between India and Pakistan. They attended one another’s weddings, visited each other’s homes, and watched their children grow up.
Brar’s political career eventually took him to some of India’s highest offices. After serving in Punjab politics for decades, he became Governor of Odisha, later Governor of Haryana, and ultimately Chief Minister of Punjab in 1995.
Yet his connection to Lahore never disappeared.
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A gift to a lifelong friend
In 1986, when Aitchison celebrated its centenary, Brar returned as part of a delegation of alumni from India. Three years later, during another visit to Lahore, he inaugurated the Babar Ali Library at the college, a symbolic tribute to his friend.
The bond endured until Brar’s death in 2009.
“He was with him when he went for his heart surgeries. When he passed away, the farewell address after his last rites was given by Babar Sahib in Chandigarh,” Mir said.
The classroom dedication emerged from a recent fundraising initiative at Aitchison that allows alumni to sponsor classrooms in honour of teachers, classmates or loved ones. Over the past six months, Ali has sponsored several rooms as part of the effort.
But this one was different. As he approached his 100th birthday this month, Ali chose to dedicate a classroom to the boy who had become his lifelong companion.
“He said, ‘I want to donate a classroom in remembrance of my best friend’,” Mir said.
The ceremony itself was modest. Principal SM Turab Hussain, alumni representatives, and a small gathering of old boys attended. Ali joined by video link from his home, since it is difficult for him to travel now. Babli Brar spoke briefly about her father’s years at the school before unveiling the plaque.
Then the group walked to Room 108. Inside hangs a photograph of a young Harcharan Singh Brar wearing the distinctive Aitchison blazer he earned more than eight decades ago. Outside, the plaque remains.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)