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A review by readersreadingnook
Remnants of a Separation: A History of the Partition through Material Memory by Aanchal Malhotra
5.0
This is an incredible piece of work by Aanchal Malhotra. It is one of the most heartbreaking and raw text that I have ever read. To say that this book lives up to the hype would be an understatement. I wish our history books in school were like this. This book is unputdownable as the tales of undivided India, Partition and post that is shared by those who lived through it are still living those moments of grief, fear, loss, love and a heap of other emotions that can’t be spelt out in words.
The history of Partition has never felt personal until now. I only looked at this through the political lens and never through people’s experiences. It’s a storytelling by so many people, about their lives, from childhood to adulthood, their families, friends and relatives who were lost along the way. Most of all about the object or memory that they cherish most, that which reminds them of the place they call ‘home’.
In fact, truth be told I never paid much attention to how it affected people. I don’t think I have ever gone back to reading about or even thinking about what I learned in those boring lectures in school. When I close my eyes and go back to those days, all I can remember is sitting and memorising the dates of the events leading up to the partition. I feel that history in textbooks have only focussed on the leaders that were in the forefront, and what they did then. It was not about people who were rendered homeless overnight, stateless, no identity, no money, etc.
The experiences shared by the author’s granduncle was that even though people were divided by time and boundaries the memories couldn’t have been divided. Not then and not now or ever.
Whilst reading the book, I questioned myself ‘with what hope does one leave their motherland?’. As the author puts it… “ ‘is it the fear of death or is it that they’ll make a better future in the unknown divided land?’ ” It gives me goosebumps to even think of living in a time like this where you don’t know about the state of your existence today or tomorrow.
The feeling of being secure. A person feels most secure at home. But, where was home? Was it on now on the other side of the border? How do you feel secure when you know you left your identity back on a land/country that you can no longer call your own because someone drew a line and that was it.
The objects in the book symbolises their loved ones or their identities.
It’s a reminder of what they went through and all the memories that they had built with it. It is indescribable how objects of the past could be synonymous to a person living or dead. When you look at the object it seems very ordinary but the moment you are familiar with how it was made, the lives it touched will make you go through a series of emotional rollercoaster.
The chapter of partition may have begun and ended in 1947 but the story continues through these objects and the people who now have the ownership. I’ll reiterate that the Partition has never felt mine, but here I was holding the book with an emotional lump in my throat that went straight down and made my chest feel heavy (not completely in a sad way, more like bittersweet) until it reached the core of my heart and resided there.
I’ve also watched videos in which the author has spoken about the book in numerous platforms. In her Tedx talk in Bangalore, Aanchal mentioned that “we must be proud-bearers of this history”. But in my opinion, little does the author know that she has instead given us this book that is a ‘proud bearers of our past’.
This will be my most cherished book for years to come!
The history of Partition has never felt personal until now. I only looked at this through the political lens and never through people’s experiences. It’s a storytelling by so many people, about their lives, from childhood to adulthood, their families, friends and relatives who were lost along the way. Most of all about the object or memory that they cherish most, that which reminds them of the place they call ‘home’.
In fact, truth be told I never paid much attention to how it affected people. I don’t think I have ever gone back to reading about or even thinking about what I learned in those boring lectures in school. When I close my eyes and go back to those days, all I can remember is sitting and memorising the dates of the events leading up to the partition. I feel that history in textbooks have only focussed on the leaders that were in the forefront, and what they did then. It was not about people who were rendered homeless overnight, stateless, no identity, no money, etc.
The experiences shared by the author’s granduncle was that even though people were divided by time and boundaries the memories couldn’t have been divided. Not then and not now or ever.
Whilst reading the book, I questioned myself ‘with what hope does one leave their motherland?’. As the author puts it… “ ‘is it the fear of death or is it that they’ll make a better future in the unknown divided land?’ ” It gives me goosebumps to even think of living in a time like this where you don’t know about the state of your existence today or tomorrow.
The feeling of being secure. A person feels most secure at home. But, where was home? Was it on now on the other side of the border? How do you feel secure when you know you left your identity back on a land/country that you can no longer call your own because someone drew a line and that was it.
The objects in the book symbolises their loved ones or their identities.
It’s a reminder of what they went through and all the memories that they had built with it. It is indescribable how objects of the past could be synonymous to a person living or dead. When you look at the object it seems very ordinary but the moment you are familiar with how it was made, the lives it touched will make you go through a series of emotional rollercoaster.
The chapter of partition may have begun and ended in 1947 but the story continues through these objects and the people who now have the ownership. I’ll reiterate that the Partition has never felt mine, but here I was holding the book with an emotional lump in my throat that went straight down and made my chest feel heavy (not completely in a sad way, more like bittersweet) until it reached the core of my heart and resided there.
I’ve also watched videos in which the author has spoken about the book in numerous platforms. In her Tedx talk in Bangalore, Aanchal mentioned that “we must be proud-bearers of this history”. But in my opinion, little does the author know that she has instead given us this book that is a ‘proud bearers of our past’.
This will be my most cherished book for years to come!