Remembering Charlottesville and Partition. Mornings this week feel heavy. The air is full of humidity and rain is constantly on the edge of the horizon, yes, but it goes deeper than this climate, it’s in our soil. This weekend saw the stark interplay of right and wrong, good and evil, inclusion and exclusion as white … Read More
Partition is a violent experience felt by all, not just those in the middle of the gore. Not just then, but also now. In our collective imagination, Partition always comes with its evocative word associations: the year 1947, the sundered lands of Punjab, and, sometimes, the severed halves of Bengal. The words Hyderabad and 1948 … Read More
These stories are beautiful because they are honest. In 1947, India gained independence from the British empire and also seceded what is now known as Pakistan. This month marks the 70 years since. The aftermath is still fresh, so too remain the stories of the lives affected. Louis Mountbatten, the last British viceroy, proposed the … Read More
1947: Earth, the second movie in Deepa Mehta’s trilogy, is a coming-of-age tale set in the middle of the India-Pakistan partition set in what was about to become Pakistan. It is based on the book Ice Candy Man by Bapsi Sidhwa. “Independence” is a word packed with the feeling of liberation and newness — but is perhaps a … Read More
Nisid Hajari has published a hard-hitting excavation of the dark and incendiary months leading up to and immediately following India’s independence in August 1947. His book, Midnight’s Furies: The Deadly Legacy of India’s Partition, depicts how, with Partition, Pakistan was created out of the northwestern territory of the Indian subcontinent, following the British departure. Hajari … Read More
