An Evening of Remembrance of Partition and More

By Gayatri Maini Singh: Partition - all of us have heard that word from an age that most can’t even remember; but do recall hearing it forever. The truth of the subcontinent and the manner  of creation of our country is so deeply embedded that more than 60 years later, it riles up even the most unpatriotic into taking a stance or someone least interested in Cricket, like myself, to switch on the TV for the recently held World Cup, for  the India Pakistan match! Such is the impact of the event on each and every child and adult.

All of us from my generation (upwards of 40) have grown up with the facts of the division of our country along religious lines and have at some point of time read Khushwant Singh's “A Train to Pakistan”. Most of us living in north India have had more emotional connections as we have had a story or more recounted to us by grandparents, uncles and aunts in our extended families. But this stops at us, at the middle age that my generation is at, and is no more than a mere fact for the generation after us. Our children have only learnt about it through the social studies curriculum at school, or the film ‘Gandhi’ aired religiously every Independence Day.

Artist Neenu Vij, Manmohan Kohli of Aroma Hotel and others in the audience 

But what of the generations after us and our children who will be forbearers of our historical narrative and legacy? Who is to remind them that the largest mass migration in the world was when our country was partitioned, when the chaos that ensued resulted in the estimated death anywhere between two hundred thousand to two million; or of the displacement of an estimated 10 to 12 million to 18 million? And that there was no memorial to the pain, tragedy, loss of this devastating event that has remained with us, our parents and grandparents; up until The Partition Museum was setup by Ms Mallika Alhuwalia, who was invited by a Chandigarh-based forum – ‘Once in 30 Days’, to share her work on the Partition Museum at Amritsar and a book authored by her - ‘Divided by Partition United by Resilience – 21 Inspirational Stories from 1947’, that captures the stories of resilience, resurrection and celebrates the hope and inspiration of personalities from the world of sport, business, art, politics and film.

This and much more were the talking points of last evening’s open house hosted under the aegis of ‘Once in 30 Days’. ‘Once in 30 Days’ in the words of Ms Suparna Puri, the ideator cum collaborator of the Forum, is an intimate initiative of like-minded people, who have discovered in Chandigarh a sanctuary that allows them freedom and space to decide the paradigms of their existence. It allows a pace that they wish to set for themselves and the degree of engagement that they wish to create in their lives with the city.

Guests getting the books signed by the author  

The public face of the forum is in the interactions with invited guests; persons who have something to say, that resonates deeply with present times. The maiden interactive session was held last month with Vivek Agnihotri, a film director, who spoke on intellectual subjugation, freedom of speech and the right to information.

Continuing with this thread Mallika Alhuwalia was the second speaker in July, whose work on the Partition Museum at Amritsar grew from a simple thought – why is there not something to acknowledge the millions who suffered the dark side of our independence? Israel, Cambodia, USA, Japan, Vietnam… all these countries have recognised their history of human suffering with markers, while we as a nation had not. It was from this seed of thought that the Partition Museum was inaugurated on 17 August, 2017 with 14 galleries spread over 17,000 sq ft, housed in the historical town house at Amritsar. 

The 14 galleries include installations, audio visual testimonies, artefacts, letters and government records that attempt to showcase the extent of the mass migration that was marked with death, loss, trauma and shame with the objective of breaking the silence surrounding the event and to be a physical testimony that tries to connect, heal, bring closure and find more stories that will entrench the event in the minds of generations to come.

Once in 30 Days group members with the author (centre, yellow saree)

She shared visuals of the installations - a well to mark honour killings, a house ravaged by mobs along with stories of love lost and found narrated via family photographs, art, personal letters, diaries, etc. She also shared that the 14 Museum galleries include one on the boundary commission, migration, refugee camps, reconciliation, to name a few and the Tree of Hope towards the end as a mark of healing and closure. The book was a continuum of the thought to chronicle for eternity the spirit of resilience, of rejuvenation and the celebration of life amidst the devastation suffered by people who despite the odds achieved recognition and have contributed to Indian society in art, industry, sports, film and politics.

The open house that followed, had Lt General Malhotra (retd) and his wife also, who shared their personal stories. One could see the pride and a reflection of his father’s confidence in Lt General Malhotra, who saw his father rebuild his life and livelihood at the age of 54. There could be no better mark of his father’s tenacity than the fact that he raised a son to serve country and nation. His wife recounted that she lost her father, who had been adopted, and went back to get back his father as he did not want to hear that an adopted son had left his father behind! Mr Manmohan Kohli of Aroma hotel, also shared that his family had been traumatised and had to rebuild and did so with faith and hard work. The evening also included The Consul General of Canada, Ms Mia Yen who along with others like me took back a reconnection with our roots and faith in the spirit of human tenacity and dignity.