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One of our favorite books of all time, Mukand and Riaz is also a perfect way to introduce your child to the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947. At the heart of the book is a story about two childhood friends who play with each other, enjoy ice cream together, and don't know the meaning of barbed fencing. Based on the memories of her father, animator Nina Sabnani made this film for the Big Small People Project, Israel, using the art of women’s appliqué work, common to both Sindh in Pakistan and Gujarat in India, to provide a rich and textured visual experience. Mukand and Riaz is essentially about every child’s right to friendship and a home. Through shared memories, shared craft and shared histories, it offers deeply moving layers of meaning with which to identify and from which to draw strength.
"When Ammi makes halva, she cuts it into pieces.
Can that happen to a place?"
One of the most beautiful books we have read this year, Shirin Shamsi's lyrical portrayal of Partition is woven around the story of Azra. Azra is a little girl who leaves her beloved doll Gurya behind when her family is forced to leave their house, a house they had lived in for generations. Azra lives in Dehradun but she is forced to leave with her parents and her little brother Chotu. Will Azra be able to face the journey alone? What will happen to her doll, the small memory of her life in Dehradun that she leaves behind? When Azra comes to Lahore with her family, she learns to be part of the life and culture in that city, even as she discovers something in the house she moves into with her family. The book's final page shows us another girl who is forced to move to Dehradun and finds Gurya.
Written in the form of letters, this book features a 12-year-old Nisha as she is displaced from her home in Pakistan and is forced to move to Jodhpur due to the rising violence during Partition. Nisha loses her mother in child-birth so she writes ‘letters’ to her during her perilous journey (partly by train and partly by foot). With each letter, you see the fears children faced when they were displaced and lost their homeland and the ensuing identity crisis that arose.
Chachaji’s Cup tells the story of a boy, Neel, who is growing up in an intergenerational American household. Neel’s great-uncle Chachaji (CHAH-chah-jee) lives with the family, and it is from his stories of the past that Neel learns about the history of his family and his roots in India. Through Chachaji and his treasured teacup (a family heirloom), Neel comes to understand and value his cultural traditions and heritage. The story also deals with issues of growing up and generational differences common to most families.
Chachaji’s Cup informs readers about the partition of India and its effects on the people of the region. In 1947, after many years of resistance, India gained its independence from Britain. Until that time, two different religious groups—Muslims and Hindus—had lived together for hundreds of years. With the end of British rule, new borders were drawn, and what at one time had been India suddenly became two different countries. One was India, whose people were mostly Hindu. The other was Pakistan, meant to be a homeland for the region’s Muslims. This division was called “the partition.” Chaos followed the partition. Suddenly, many Hindus in Pakistan and many Muslims in India felt unsafe where they had made their homes for generations. More than twelve million people fled their towns and villages to cross the border into their newly designated homeland. The resulting dislocation had a profound effect on many people.
“Kishen’s cow strays away one day in August, leading him and his friend Shagufta into unknown territory. This gentle story of love, friendship, and the innocent wisdom of childhood is set against a time when the partition of India caused immense loss to millions of people.”
I discovered this book in the library of a school I used to visit for a reading programme. I browsed through it when I had some time to kill in between classes and then had to go back and read it again because of how cleverly and gently the topic of Partition was introduced to younger readers.
This autobiographical first person narrative tells of Partition from the perspective of Chattha, a 10-year-old Sikh boy. Forced to migrate to India, Chattha experienced a high degree of violence and trauma in his childhood. In this novel, not only does he explore the long-lasting ill effects of Partition on children but also tells of the horrors he faced. Interestingly, he also discusses the historical and political factors that led to Partition.
A tale of borders and beliefs shaped by the games people play1947New Delhi. Cyril Radcliffe's hands are clammy, partly from the heat but mostly from the enormity of the task assigned. Mopping the sweat off his brow, he picks up his pen, draws a deep breath--and a dark line.Rawalpindi. A barbaric frenzy of rioters fills the streets, disrupting a game of pithoo between Toshi and her brother, Tarlok, shattering their lives unimaginably.2008Rawalpindi. Cricket-crazy Inaya is sneaking out behind her father's back for net practice when she discovers that she is not the only one in her family keeping a secret.
