KOCHI: My first exposure to the horrors of partition was through the period film ‘Tamas’ (meaning Darkness) written and directed by Govind Nihalani, which I saw on TV in 1988. It is based on the eponymous Hindi novel by Bhisham Sahni (himself an immigrant from Pakistan), which won him the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1975.
Set in the backdrop of a riot-stricken Pakistan in 1947, the film deals with the plight of Sikh and Hindu families emigrating to India. Author Khushwant Singh’s ‘Train to Pakistan’ was the first book I read on partition. In this, Singh conceives a fictional village called Mano Majra, situated on the border of India and Pakistan, where both Muslims and Sikhs live together and yet are susceptible to narrow viewpoints and stereotypes.
From what I have observed, the best partition literature was written by a generation that witnessed the event. Barring a few exceptions, we haven’t seen the same quality of writing in recent years.
In 1947, India saw the largest modern human migration in history (some 15 million) and one to two million perished in the communal violence that followed. Even after 75-plus years, we have not been able to lay the ghosts to rest. Partition literature has kept them alive; it witnessed a spurt in 2022, which marked 75 years of the event.
Partition literature encompasses a spectrum of fiction and nonfiction published in multiple countries and languages. They capture some of the most harrowing events of the era, not forgetting the courage, sacrifice, and generosity of the human spirit.
With few survivors remaining, the partition continues to impact the lives of even their descendants.
Arguably the biggest book in recent years on this topic is the International booker-winning Tomb of Sand, the English translation of ‘Ret Samadhi’.
It tells the story of an 80-year-old woman who battles depression triggered by the death of her husband, by striking up bold new friendships and embarking on a journey to Pakistan to resolve the trauma of her teenage experiences of the partition. The translator of the book, Daisy Rockwell, has been a regular bridge-maker of partition novels, and her expertise is on full display here.
Author and oral historian Aanchal Malhotra has contributed significantly to partition literature. Her debut book, ‘Remnants of a Separation’, brought the topic to a whole new set of young readers by covering the event through the emotions and material memories of the individual survivors.
She even followed it up with another non-fiction book called ‘In the Language of Remembering’, which explores the inheritance of the partition and its effects on the descendants of the survivors. Her first novel, ‘The Book of Everlasting Things’, revisits the memories of partition through a fictional story: With the partition of India and Pakistan, two lovers in Lahore – a Hindu perfumer’s apprentice and a Muslim calligrapher’s apprentice – are forced apart. Their life stories echo the stories of two nations, split apart yet bound together by love and memory.
Another recent book that tackles partition is Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s ‘Independence’.
Juxtaposing the agony of the partition with the ecstasy of India’s Independence, the novel narrates the story of three sisters living in Bengal who are caught up in events beyond their control, their unbreakable bond, and their struggle against the odds.
And finally, Lahore, Hyderabad and Kashmir, the three books in ‘The Partition Trilogy’ are a fictional recounting by Manreet Sodhi Someshwar and are on my to-read list. I believe we need to talk more about partition (stories from Pakistan also should be read) because only if we understand the violence that has brought us to this point can we have more empathy for each other and avoid repeating our past mistakes. As the saying goes, history repeats itself, but at twice the price!