ME 273 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: One Story, Ardhanarishvara, Faiz Ahmad Faiz
2 May 2018
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What happened while you where migrating to Pakistan, Grandpa?, Abira said.
Ahmad Jaffe I was in India when the partition happened. On the day of the partition I saw
my own sister being murdered by the Hindus. Those bloody Hindus should die in hell. Dot
say word against the Hindus or I will divorce you. Do you udestad?, “aa Jaffrey said. But
why grandma, they killed gadpas sister ? , Aia said. The Hindu villagers in my village hid
me away from marauding Muslim mobs and kept me safe during partition. I am grateful to
the Hindus. However, the Muslims were the real villains, replied Sara Jaffrey. This
conversation shows how people in my family have different narratives on Muslims and
Hindus. Similarly, India and Pakistan have given different interpretations for same historical
events. In this essay I will explore dominant narrative of partition in both countries and the
ways in which all these texts challenge, subvert and complicate the dominant narrative of
partition.
Partition is viewed as a sad event in the history of India by the Indian side. Not only it
views it largely as a conspiracy of the British but also views it as a significant break in the
secular fabric of the country. This is the dominant and official view on partition in India. On
the Pakistan side, the partition is far from being a moment of crisis. It was the partition that
led to the birth of Pakistan as a separate country. It is seen as liberation. Liberation from
whom? As the official narrative of partition says, liberation from both British and Hindu
dominance.(Kamal, 2012)
Partition separated families across an arbitrarily drawn border, sometimes overnight,
and made it practically impossible for people to know if their parents, sisters, brothers or
children were alive or dead. A mother and daughter, separated in the violence of Partition,
found each other fifty years later through the agency of a news magazine when, in search of
stories to mark fifty years of independence for India, a reporter and a photographer went
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looking for families divided at Partition. A brother and a sister were brought together after
fifty years at the border by the same news magazine. A father whose thirteen-year-old
daughter was abducted from Pakistan by Hindu men made several trips to India to try to track
her down. On one of these, he was arrested on charges of being a spy and jailed. His daughter
was never returned to him.(Butalia, 2000) These aspects of Partition—how families were
divided, how friendships endured across borders, how people coped with the trauma, how
they rebuilt their lives, what resources, both physical and mental, they drew upon, how their
experience of dislocation and trauma shaped their lives, and indeed the cities and towns and
villages they settled in—find little reflection in written history.
First, Pakistan and India have chosen to emphasize or neglect certain events. The book
The Histo ad Cultue of Pakista does not mention anything about The Civil
Disobedience Movement of 1930Kell, 4. Moreover, certain events are portrayed
differently in textbooks in Pakistan and India. For example, in India textbook Hari Singh, the
ruler of Kashmir, opted to stay independent, Pakistani armed intruders from Pakistan
attacked Kashmir. Hari Singh then signed an agreement to join India, and the Indian army was
sent in to defend Kashmir. However, in textbooks in Pakistan, Hari Singh started a brutal
campaign to drive out Muslims from Kashmir. Over 200,000 people in the princely State,
supported by the tribesmen of the Northwest Frontier Province, were successful in liberating
a large area of Kashmir fro the Mahaajas otol. “o Hai “igh as foed to tu to Idia
for help and in return acceded to India ( Daftuar , 2013) .This event challenges how historical
events are manipulated by the governments of both the countries to fulfill their vested
interests.
Second, the film Viceroy's House (Vats, 2017) is also historically crucial, for it
halleges the doiat aatie o ho the ‘adliffe lie of sepaatio etee Idia
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Document Summary
(cid:862)what happened while you where migrating to pakistan, grandpa? (cid:863), abira said. Ahmad jaff(cid:396)e(cid:455) (cid:862)i was in india when the partition happened. On the day of the partition i saw my own sister being murdered by the hindus. Those bloody hindus should die in hell. (cid:863) (cid:862)do(cid:374)(cid:859)t say word against the hindus or i will divorce you. , a(cid:271)i(cid:396)a said. (cid:862)the hindu villagers in my village hid me away from marauding muslim mobs and kept me safe during partition. However, the muslims were the real villains(cid:863), replied sara jaffrey. This conversation shows how people in my family have different narratives on muslims and. Similarly, india and pakistan have given different interpretations for same historical events. In this essay i will explore dominant narrative of partition in both countries and the ways in which all these texts challenge, subvert and complicate the dominant narrative of partition.
