Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by popcorrrrnn
Remnants of a Separation: A History of the Partition through Material Memory by Aanchal Malhotra
5.0
Some stories keep you awake at night, and some events never let you sleep. India’s partition is that stain which time also cannot clean. These might be just collection of 21 stories across 400 pages but these are more than just remnants.
Aanchal Malhotra, who herself has partition history weaved into her life, takes up this project of painlessly interviewing people across subcontinent and presents this real life collection in 21 stories. In these stories you will find the horrors and traumas which was inflicted on an entire generation of our grandparents age. Those who migrated from and to either India, Pakistan or Bangladesh; everyone left in haste, hoping that they will eventually be back. Some never left before thinking their city will be part of India only and not across a border. And some never made it across any borders.
This recollection of 1947 or years before and after partition is not an easy read at all. I took my own time through tears and water breaks, talked to those who have partition history because reading this hasn’t quenched my thirst.
Decades of trauma lives on generations on either side of our borders. And the simplest question which so many asked still haunts, what was the need to partition this country?
I am glad I read this book and someone who is from the subcontinent must definitely read it to know where we come from .
Aanchal Malhotra, who herself has partition history weaved into her life, takes up this project of painlessly interviewing people across subcontinent and presents this real life collection in 21 stories. In these stories you will find the horrors and traumas which was inflicted on an entire generation of our grandparents age. Those who migrated from and to either India, Pakistan or Bangladesh; everyone left in haste, hoping that they will eventually be back. Some never left before thinking their city will be part of India only and not across a border. And some never made it across any borders.
This recollection of 1947 or years before and after partition is not an easy read at all. I took my own time through tears and water breaks, talked to those who have partition history because reading this hasn’t quenched my thirst.
Decades of trauma lives on generations on either side of our borders. And the simplest question which so many asked still haunts, what was the need to partition this country?
I am glad I read this book and someone who is from the subcontinent must definitely read it to know where we come from .