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95 reviews for:
Remnants of a Separation: A History of the Partition through Material Memory
Aanchal Malhotra
4.51 AVERAGE
95 reviews for:
Remnants of a Separation: A History of the Partition through Material Memory
Aanchal Malhotra
4.51 AVERAGE
Partition was not as simple as it was made out to be. Every person involved in the Partition has a story to tell- stories of why they were forced to migrate or how they chose to stay back. I loved how Aanchal Malhotra brought these many stories alive by capturing the memories of people and anchoring them to a real keepsake they had with them. The keepsakes ranged from jewellery gifted by royalty to kitchen utensils, but no matter what the material value, they have sentimental value to the players and to us as repositories of the stories
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Death, Violence, War
Minor: Rape, Colonisation
emotional
medium-paced
Amazing book about the History of India. This book talks about history from a very different perspective, through items from around the time of Partition. Brilliant job by the author.
This was the perfect read for summer, a season marred with nostalgia and sepia toned memories, constantly highlighting the idyllic pre-partition which for some reason reminded me of all my summer vacations and monsoon, always the monsoon.
My only crib is that despite travelling all the way to Lahore, the writer included only four accounts by Muslims, who migrated to the other side of the border: Pakistan. Four in a sea of nineteen chapters tend to slip out of memory quite quickly and don’t make as significant impact to readers from the both sides. I found myself wishing someone from Pakistan to document our story as respectfully as Malhotra has done in this book. Maybe someone will or maybe we’ll keep on trying to find ourselves in the experiences of others.
My only crib is that despite travelling all the way to Lahore, the writer included only four accounts by Muslims, who migrated to the other side of the border: Pakistan. Four in a sea of nineteen chapters tend to slip out of memory quite quickly and don’t make as significant impact to readers from the both sides. I found myself wishing someone from Pakistan to document our story as respectfully as Malhotra has done in this book. Maybe someone will or maybe we’ll keep on trying to find ourselves in the experiences of others.
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
What I learnt from this book
- The importance of material memory
- Oral storytelling through material objects as a form of preserving history
- The stories of tumultuous and often traumatic pasts that our older living relatives and our ancestors do not and may never have excavated/talked about easily.
- The importance of listening to the stories of our living relatives to preserve their story.
- The role of the individual in the tapestry of history
- I learnt a lot about a period of history I knew only the basics of.
- The role of language in remembering the past.
- I also learnt about the different perspectives on the same historical event depending on whom one interviews. There are stories here of individuals who went from wealth to rags as a result of partition. There are also stories of individuals who served in the army under the British, as well as those who served in the army fighting for independence, and how different their memories of Partition are, as a result of their different forms of nationalism. There are stories of individuals with different passions from history to literature to music, which reinforces the diversity of people who can be impacted by the same event.
Criticisms
- Majority of these stories were of individuals hailing from aristocratic families and what they lost as a result of Partition. I wished there were more stories of individuals who came from little and were also impacted by Partition. Or at least the author should have written to this gap in her book in the foreword or the epilogue.
- The stories were not exactly focused on the objects, in that the objects usually came in toward the end as the main feature. This made each story feel slightly repetitive in terms of the story arc implemented. You have the introduction to the individual, their story, and then the object would feature at the forefront as the anchor to bring the individual back to the present interview, and the story chapter would end with a reflection either by the individual or the author on a key takeway around history, in relation to the story told. I think more variety in the story structures would have been good.
- I wish the foreword had focused more on how language would impact how these stories have been told and translated. That's an important part of extracting history from the memory of those who have lived its events.
I did also struggle at times to stay immersed in the story, but I think this could be because of the cultural gap between myself and the book. Additionally, the author did say she tried to be as impartial as possible in relaying the stories, so I think that impartiality in the writing led me to always be held at arms length from the individual at all times. Even when I was moved by the stories, I never felt that I was there with them. I believe that could be intentional.
There are so many beautiful quotes that will make you dwell on the topics of language, culture, memory, identity, history and more. I wish I owned a copy so I could revisit this book frequently and read little snippets over again. You can tell the author is passionate about what she has documented and the people she interviewed.
Highly recommend! Particularly if you have any passion for history.
- The importance of material memory
- Oral storytelling through material objects as a form of preserving history
- The stories of tumultuous and often traumatic pasts that our older living relatives and our ancestors do not and may never have excavated/talked about easily.
- The importance of listening to the stories of our living relatives to preserve their story.
- The role of the individual in the tapestry of history
- I learnt a lot about a period of history I knew only the basics of.
- The role of language in remembering the past.
- I also learnt about the different perspectives on the same historical event depending on whom one interviews. There are stories here of individuals who went from wealth to rags as a result of partition. There are also stories of individuals who served in the army under the British, as well as those who served in the army fighting for independence, and how different their memories of Partition are, as a result of their different forms of nationalism. There are stories of individuals with different passions from history to literature to music, which reinforces the diversity of people who can be impacted by the same event.
Criticisms
- Majority of these stories were of individuals hailing from aristocratic families and what they lost as a result of Partition. I wished there were more stories of individuals who came from little and were also impacted by Partition. Or at least the author should have written to this gap in her book in the foreword or the epilogue.
- The stories were not exactly focused on the objects, in that the objects usually came in toward the end as the main feature. This made each story feel slightly repetitive in terms of the story arc implemented. You have the introduction to the individual, their story, and then the object would feature at the forefront as the anchor to bring the individual back to the present interview, and the story chapter would end with a reflection either by the individual or the author on a key takeway around history, in relation to the story told. I think more variety in the story structures would have been good.
- I wish the foreword had focused more on how language would impact how these stories have been told and translated. That's an important part of extracting history from the memory of those who have lived its events.
I did also struggle at times to stay immersed in the story, but I think this could be because of the cultural gap between myself and the book. Additionally, the author did say she tried to be as impartial as possible in relaying the stories, so I think that impartiality in the writing led me to always be held at arms length from the individual at all times. Even when I was moved by the stories, I never felt that I was there with them. I believe that could be intentional.
There are so many beautiful quotes that will make you dwell on the topics of language, culture, memory, identity, history and more. I wish I owned a copy so I could revisit this book frequently and read little snippets over again. You can tell the author is passionate about what she has documented and the people she interviewed.
Highly recommend! Particularly if you have any passion for history.
informative
reflective
slow-paced
The partition of India forced millions of people to leave their homes. This book is reminiscent of those times and the objects people took with them. Aanchal Malhorta explores material memory - the mundane objects of kitchenwares, cloth, currency, extravagant jewelry. It is beautiful to read how significant these objects meant and the stories behind them, some of a happier and safer time. But the power of material memory opens the wounds of tragedy and acts of violence, the riots, the brutal slaughter of innocent people is still to this day shocking and deeply unsettling.
emotional
hopeful
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced