By Manreet Sodhi Someshwar
Publisher: Harper Collins India
The book begins with fear hanging in the air. And the fear never leaves…as we turn each page; horrors and despair of the partition walk stealthily along with the sweet taste of freedom.
Lahore I The Partition Trilogy is a searing account of anguish, dilemmas and horrors faced during the partition against the background of political drama for the great divide.
Manreet Sodhi Someshwar has created an amazing real-fiction account of the days leading upto August 1947. Beginning from February 1947, the book flits between Lahore and Delhi….. tales of lives being written and erased in the streets and bylanes of Lahore and hard pragmatism taking place in the corridors of power in Delhi for partition and freedom.
Stories abound in Lahore. Sepoy Malik, the disgruntled soldier coming back from war to win the hand of Tara is overpowered by the flaming scenarios of communal hatred. Beli ram and Mehmood, both caught up in the senseless violence trying to save each others lives…. the part when Mehmood dons upon the role of a looter to save his life…. is heartbreaking and full of anguish. And Kishan Singh who dwells in a naïve world is devastated when his daughter Pammi goes missing in the violent fires raging all around.
The frustration and anxiety of Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhai Patel is etched clearly onto the pages of the book and their great camarderie flows smoothly through the pages.
What usually happens in a historical fiction is that, facts and stories merge so easily…boundaries are blurred and the details are accepted as historical truth.
But as Manreet Sodhi Someshwar has said, “I have spent 20 years researching the partition ….my loyalty is with history”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-2mHRu7VuQ
There are certain interesting observations which come up while reading the book.
The casualness with which the British treated this exercise of partition and freedom except Mountbatten who wanted to leave a decent legacy behind. On page 169, she writes “Dickie could see why Congress Working Committee was thoroughly annoyed with the old man”…..fact or fiction?
The book also brings to light the herculean effort required to translate freedom from paper to action. The accession of princely states. The drawing of boundary lines. The influx of refugees.
The writing is poetic, but stark and brutal too. Beauty of birds, flowers, sky bring alive the pristine beauty of times untouched by climate change along with vivid images of blood and fury.
The book flows easily between Lahore and Delhi, between blood and politics, between anguish and despair. The human characters give the book emotions and poignancy… a respite from the political and administrative chaos taking place in Delhi.
You cannot remain unmoved or undisturbed after reading this book….its sequel ‘Hyderabad’ is out too and can’t wait to read it.
Preeta Chag 