"She can spend hours listening to someone speak Punjabi - it’s a colorful language she says"
When there was no India or Pakistan
DEVNA SONI
I love History but for far too long it has been defined by big events like World Wars, bombings, independence days and for even longer, the people who steal the limelight of these events are the Nehrus, the Gandhis, the Hitlers, the Mussolinis. Not much is said about the cook who made the King’s Feast or the housewife who dropped her children to school in the morning, or the old man out for a walk when the Army came. That’s sad, because that’s who I am. And I’d like to know more about how people like me felt about these big events that changed our lives and countries.
So much is written about India and Pakistan and especially about Partition – little includes testimony from those who saw and felt it for themselves. The dialogue between these two nations has been dominated by their Governments – the only thing that joins them truly are their people but when have they spoken?
From Qissa Khwani Bazaar, a unique series of story-telling sessions being organised by The Citizens Archive of Pakistan from the 20th to 22nd June 2013 in Lahore and Islamabad, I hope to get the chance to live a little of what we don’t have and will lose very soon. It is a chance to hear first-hand about what happened to people during 1947 – when we didn’t know that there was an India or a Pakistan; when we were still finding out.
Partition was painful for both Indians and Pakistanis who experienced it, but neither of them knows this because they became a part of the generation that was full of so much pain about what happened - they never spoke. Hoping for this event to be cathartic might be setting the bar high, but when I hear references of Gujranwala or Civil Lines from a Lahori, I know I will smile and think of what else Dilliwallas have in common with Lahoris. It is precisely this kind of outlook that gives us hope.
I want to be told stories of these people that I don’t know but am connected to and then, I want to grow old telling and re-telling tales of the few days when we sat together in an old bazaar reliving what we had in those tales. Without this sharing, those moments of togetherness will be lost. And then what history will we have? The Historian will have won.
DAWN.com.thu june 20
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Devna is currently studying Law at Delhi University and loves candy, politics and Nadal amongst other things. She can quote Alice in Wonderland better than anything else and is obsessive about animated movies. Although she doesn't understand much, she can spend hours listening to someone speak Punjabi - it’s a colorful language she says.
When there was no India or Pakistan
DEVNA SONI
I love History but for far too long it has been defined by big events like World Wars, bombings, independence days and for even longer, the people who steal the limelight of these events are the Nehrus, the Gandhis, the Hitlers, the Mussolinis. Not much is said about the cook who made the King’s Feast or the housewife who dropped her children to school in the morning, or the old man out for a walk when the Army came. That’s sad, because that’s who I am. And I’d like to know more about how people like me felt about these big events that changed our lives and countries.
So much is written about India and Pakistan and especially about Partition – little includes testimony from those who saw and felt it for themselves. The dialogue between these two nations has been dominated by their Governments – the only thing that joins them truly are their people but when have they spoken?
From Qissa Khwani Bazaar, a unique series of story-telling sessions being organised by The Citizens Archive of Pakistan from the 20th to 22nd June 2013 in Lahore and Islamabad, I hope to get the chance to live a little of what we don’t have and will lose very soon. It is a chance to hear first-hand about what happened to people during 1947 – when we didn’t know that there was an India or a Pakistan; when we were still finding out.
Partition was painful for both Indians and Pakistanis who experienced it, but neither of them knows this because they became a part of the generation that was full of so much pain about what happened - they never spoke. Hoping for this event to be cathartic might be setting the bar high, but when I hear references of Gujranwala or Civil Lines from a Lahori, I know I will smile and think of what else Dilliwallas have in common with Lahoris. It is precisely this kind of outlook that gives us hope.
I want to be told stories of these people that I don’t know but am connected to and then, I want to grow old telling and re-telling tales of the few days when we sat together in an old bazaar reliving what we had in those tales. Without this sharing, those moments of togetherness will be lost. And then what history will we have? The Historian will have won.
DAWN.com.thu june 20
=====================
Devna is currently studying Law at Delhi University and loves candy, politics and Nadal amongst other things. She can quote Alice in Wonderland better than anything else and is obsessive about animated movies. Although she doesn't understand much, she can spend hours listening to someone speak Punjabi - it’s a colorful language she says.
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