Review: The Footprints of Partition by Anam Zakaria

Author Anam Zakaria

Title: The Footprints of Partition: Narratives of Four Generations of Pakistanis and Indians

Author: Anam Zakaria

Published: 2015 by HarperCollins Publishers

Pages: 248

Find it at: Amazon

What is this book about? 

A researcher (and development professional and educationist) based in Pakistan has collected stories from different generations of Pakistanis and Indians on the theme of Partition (of 1947), with the purpose of understanding how people from different generations feel about that defining event. Perhaps one of the most important ideas this book tries to portray is the 'happy' stories related to Partition. The happy aspects of life before and after Partition are often overlooked because for most people, 'Partition' relates to an experience or belief that is not positive; one that brings memories of pain, torture and sadness, so much so that the first thing that occurs to anyone who thinks about Partition is the negativity surrounding it. 

My thoughts

I wanted to read this book as soon as I got wind of its existence. I had never read Partition stories before, but had heard real life stories narrated by my grandma many years ago. She was a Partition survivor, someone who left her home and all belongings to travel in an overstuffed train to a 'safer' land. Reading this book, I realized that the village she lived in was the first where the riots began, which accelerated and acted as a harbinger for Partition. 

Reading The Footprints of Partition  was an emotional experience, and also one that widened my perspective. Having been brought up in India with no contact with anyone from the 'other' side, I had learned to perceive Pakistan and Partition in a certain way, not realizing what the people being brought up in Pakistan thought about India. Sure, the two countries have always been at loggerheads with each other, specially during cricket, the sport Indians and Pakistanis literally worship. However, as I grew older and made sense of people and the world, a lot of prejudice and biases came to an end. After all, my grandma did tell me the good stories too, even if they were few. Even then, reading something on a topic we feel so emotional about, written by a person whose thoughts and experiences related to the 'other' side, was a real eye-opener to how little we know of each other.

To begin with, the book makes you look at Partition in an entirely different way. First, it talks about real people and the effect of Partition on their lives. There's nothing political in it. What did the people want? Why were they rooting (or not) for Partition? We see how millions on both sides of the border lost not just their loved ones or their jobs or their land, but also had their hearts and souls tested severely. Next, we (in India) have mostly looked at Partition that led to a loss - of homes, families, cities. It 'broke' India. We 'lost' something of 'us'. Little do we realize what Partition meant to those who wanted it. That was an entirely new thing for me! 

The author has travelled and met people from four different generations--some popular, some as common as you and I--mostly in Pakistan but also some in India. She probed them with questions about Partition. As you'd expect, the people who had lived to see it had the most heart-warming stories to narrate. It took some time to make them remember the good parts, but once they recalled how happy they had been, it had led to a treasure trove of wonderful, emotional stories. Talking to people who were forced to take an Indian citizenship due to circumstances, to people who left half of their families behind to be in Pakistan, the book talks about them all. We get a glimpse into the multicultural dynamics of the pre-Partition years, the cultural and religious identities which were overlapping instead of being so different.

Footprints of Partition is divided into four sections, one for each generation. Reading people's stories in this sequence does more than give the book a structure--it subtly shows the changed mindset and development of the Partition idea over the years. Surprisingly, the current generations seem to harbour more hatred for the 'other' nation than the people who actually experienced the horrific time and events. The author has also tried to analyze why it is so. It came to her as she started working with CAP (Citizens Archive of Pakistan) and spearheaded programs to allow the younger generations to exchange their views and become friends. The animosity between many kids was startling. Their perspective mixed with a deep-rooted fear of the others was even more so. The book also talks about certain aspects that facilitate feelings of enmity, including select curriculum taught in schools, sharing of only gruesome stories when it comes to Partition, and the leaders who are quick to reiterate the horrors of the past to justify the one-sided view of the 'enemy'.

There's a lot more than that which is uncovered, a lot of love that is dying because people carrying that love are dying and the newer ones are just taking forward a narrow perspective. Anam Zakaria, with this book, has tried to immortalize (as much as words can do) some stories that must not die. I'm sure there must be many more such stories that have remained unheard, specially as today we move so fast that we do not really care to listen to those stories, or to find them. Personally, I feel glad and thankful that someone cared enough to write and share those stories. 

I haven't got into details about the stories per se. They're varied, ranging from someone looking across the border hoping to find a loved one, to someone breaking down for not being able to see his hometown except from inside a running bus. I can only imagine the level of emotional connect people have with Partition. Growing up, I wished it had never taken place, that we were all still together, and reading this book made me wish for the same, although it also made me think of the 'whys' which I hadn't thought of before. It's complex, but hugely satisfying if you are interested in Partition stories. The author also talks about traditions that still run and at their minimal best, try to keep something 'common' between the two. One such amazing mention was that of a 'mela' that takes place each year in Sawan season. It happens right on the border, with people coming from both sides to pray and celebrate, together. Such, and other, melas (like one at Baisakhi) take place along the border at different places with people coming in from both sides and happily greeting each other. Doesn't it sound surreal? 

The manner of writing is definitely engaging, where you also see the storytellers' life's direction as it was affected by Partition. The language used is simple and lively. I absolutely love the author's honesty as an observer of what she and others felt and what she came across while working on the project. I only wish the author hadn't put in much of her own experiences of being a part of CAP or other things, because after a point, it seemed repetitive and broke the flow. Also, as the author also mentioned in the book, the stories were brought out not only to share but also to see how people 'chose' to remember. Perhaps it still doesn't offer a very wide view, as the people interviewed were largely from select few places, but it does make a difference. I was left feeling much humbled and with a much wider perspective when it comes to Partition. Like some new generation storytellers mentioned in the book, even I wish to some day travel to my grandparents' home towns to see what became of them, but again, I know almost nothing about those places, and know no people. Still, the desire to walk around and visit the 'other' side stays strong, and I hope to be able to accomplish it some day. Then perhaps I would finally feel like my own Partition story is at a comfortable close.

(This also makes me think how "important" such stories are, how their preservation is necessary to be able to allow the newer generations to have a wider perspective and not one dictated by propaganda and public opinion. Mutual feelings of distrust only get stronger, and we need something to bridge that gap, or the real history will elude us forever.)

Recommended for: All Indian and Pakistani readers, anyone interested in history and Partition, readers trying to understand the effects of Partition on the common man.

  

Selected Short Stories by Saadat Hasan Manto

Saadat Hasan Manto

Popularly known as Manto, this short story writer is one of the greatest, as well as the most controversial, writers of India (shifted to Pakistan after Partition, so became popular as a Pakistani writer). His stories, originally written in Urdu, are simply narrated, having an essence of lyricism, metaphors and deep insight into human nature. This collection of stories has been  carefully translated by Aatish Taseer, and done in a way that is said to have maintained Manto's original style and its effect. 

Title: Selected Short Stories by Manto

Translated into English by Aatish Taseer

Published: 2008 by Random House India

Pages: 158

Find it at: Amazon

This collection has twelve translated stories, covering a variety of themes including partition, dogmas, women and society, sexuality, politics, and religion. The book begins with the author's introduction, which is a must-read if you are (like me) a first-time reader of Manto's stories, and wish to get an insight into the relationship between his Urdu stories and its translations. He has talked about his own experience and the declining fate of Urdu language. It greatly enhanced my reading experience as it gave a glimpse into Manto's literary life, influences and ideas. I have personally been fascinated with short stories that narrate stories worth telling in a novel, in just a few pages. Those stories have memorable characters, places and habits that come back to you at a later time. Manto's stories have that quality, and a lot more that's hard to describe in words.

The first story, Toba Tek Singh, is a well-known story. People in an asylum have spent years together in that enclosed space, and have absolutely no idea about what's happening outside. They don't know about the partition or what it means, so when a ridiculous proposition comes for some of the inhabitants to leave the asylum and go to 'India', they're pained by the thought of leaving home. It's the story of a man in the asylum who mutters a distinct string of words ending with random phrases, who cannot find his identity. Imagine my surprise when I mentioned the story's title to my dad, he immediately narrated the distinct phrase used by that man! 

Another story that struck me the most was For Freedom, that describes the travails of young blood during the freedom struggle, the hopelessness of politics and what it meant to the common man. Khaled Mian is one story that struck me as intense, cleverly invoking deep and hidden fears in the reader as it implicitly brings out the deep fears (fear of a loved one dying, or coming to harm, for example) in the main character and make him act the way he does. There are other such stories, all of which have been written in simple, yet metaphorical language that you would want to read slowly, word by word, because each word has meaning. This is one of the amazing things that good short stories do. To add to that, the impressive way in which Manto seems to understand human sentiments at the basic level, and is able to narrate those around a gripping, simple story, is sure to make you want to read more of him. That's because he doesn't talk about human sentiments like others, he chooses the most basic ones, and ones that many writers shy away from. He's also true in his stories, for not many have 'happy endings'. He tells a story as it is. 

Manto has been called a storyteller of Bombay. That was the city he supposedly loved the most, and wrote about the most. Capturing the essence of the place and the people, he has written numerous stories, a small portion of which have been translated and presented in this collection. Another thing that strikes you is that while India and Pakistan remain bitter about the partition, Manto's stories (as well as those of other writers like Ismat Chughtai and Parveen Talha) evoke the real feeling of loss that real people suffered. 

Saadat Hasan Manto has been tried for obscenity in his stories numerous times, but his open acceptance of human nature, choice of equality over orthodoxy, and compelling stories of people who identify themselves as humans, has always won over those issues. These stories are certainly powerful and inspire a reader to think. I admit to not really understanding the real meanings of some stories as they ended, or understanding the meanings of implied language, but that led me to look up Manto on Google, and am I impressed or what! If you'd like to make a foray into Urdu literature, old Indian stories, Manto is a must-read. Some stories are suitable for everyone, while some I would categorize into the mature category.  

 "What I have learned is that going against nature is in no way, under no circumstance, bravery. It's no achievement to kill yourself through abstinence, or to endure it. To dig your grave and get in it, holding your breath for days, to sleep for months on a bed of sharp nails... - stunts like these would bring neither God nor freedom. And from what I understand, the only reason India is still not free is that we've had too few leaders and too many stuntmen... They've found a politics that stifles truth and goodness of character and it's this same politics that has made the struggle for Independence so blinkered."

Thank you Random House Publishers for this book! :)