REVIEW: The Footprints Of Partition

Book: The Footprints Of Partition
Publisher: Harper Collins India
Rating: 5/5



A book with different windows opening up at the generations of two countries; always at tryst. 
The narratives included in the book leave behind nostalgic notes of memories deeply held.
A book both heartening and distressing (specially towards the end).... the author has done a good job in collecting some valuable memories before they're lost and their counter-intuitive implications but the account of poisoned young minds is most disheartening...


I saw this book on Harper360 twitter page and I wanted to read this as I am from Pakistan. So I  ordered myself a copy of this book.
This book  is precious because it holds memories of partition of many people.
So many people share their stories and each story is heart wrenching. I became so emotional while reading the book.

   '' PARTITION CREATED A TURMOIL IN THE LIVES OF PEOPLE"

We have always heard stories from our grand parents about partition, how it all happened.
People sacrificed so much for Pakistan. They had to leave their everything for Pakistan.
For the people who left their homes in India and came to Pakistan  to live, India is as much as their home as Pakistan is.
This book does not spreads negativity . It tells us how Indians felt when they lost half of their land to Pakistan at the time of partition and then same how Pakistanis felt when in 1971 we lost East Pakistan.
How people who migrated from India to Pakistan fellt when they had to leave their homes back. How they feel now when they look across the border, how they cannot visit those places where they spent their childhood due to strict visa policies.

At the time of partition people thought everything will be ok after a couple of days but everything worsened and they had to leave their friends, family, properties back.
It isn't easy to leave things back.




Written in simple language, the book is full of hope and heart. Unlikely that the indo pak equation can be done justice through an anthology of short interviews, but the objective set out by the author to record and share micro narratives that have been pushed to the back burner by state controlled meta narratives, is achieved. Her particular references to concepts by Ashish Nandy and treatment of school history text books being colored to propagate the dominant view of criminalizing the other drives home the point effectively. Must read for all in the subcontinent to tone down tempers and assuage baseless hatred towards the other. Happy to have read it and recommend it strongly to the mainstream consumers of partition narrative.



I don't think so that I did justice with the review of this book. All the emotions, feelings I felt while reading this I just cannot express them in writing.
Thank you Anam for writing this book. You did a great job.


I would recommend this book to every Pakistani and Indian out there to READ this wonderful book.