The chapters are just the right length and do not bore you. I was amazed how the stories and memories of eighteen people sucked me in, crushed my heart and forced me to put the book down at intervals and weep like a child.

So when I saw that the book spanned over 400 pages, I was not sanguine about the thought of completing it this year. Not too long, not too short but relatable

Whichever the case may be, the stories reach out to you and make you shed tears over the historical divide that defined Independence. Perhaps the memories were too personal, or maybe they didn’t like to remember them. I was surprised that in many of the stories narrated in the book, the family members were hearing the stories from the mouths of the older generation (who witnessed the partition) for the first time when the author interviewed them. Of course the partition affected the north of India more than the south, and I thought perhaps the impact on the south might have been mostly through speeches, political movements and pamphlets which accounts for the lack of enthusiasm to talk about the events. I have tried extracting stories from many of my family members of the older generation with no success whatsoever. I have been very curious about how life was before and after India gained independence. I might say this is the book that I have been waiting for. Remnants of a Seperation by Aanchal Malhotra These stories are a celebration of the human spirit that does not accept defeat the spirit that makes a person look at ‘fate’ straight in the eye and carry on with life. Once in an alien city, these brave people stood tall and built their lives from scratch from nothingness.

The Partition affected the rich and the poor with a hard blow – people were forced to give up all their belongings and move to a land that would be their new home because of the religion they were born into. Friends became enemies neighbours became betrayers (many exceptions of course which are narrated in several stories where humanness over rides communal sentiments) and the country (two countries? India and Pakistan?) was thrown in to disarray. Long before partition, Muslims and Hindus co-existed as neighbours, friends or business partners until the Partition brought its axe down and created a huge rift. Aanchal Malhotra’s Remnants of a Separation narrates the history of partition through heirlooms, gifts smuggled across the borders and memories etched in minds.

Remnants of separation aanchal malhotra