Quotessence
Home / Authors / Aanchal Malhotra Biography

Aanchal Malhotra Biography

Author

Related Quotes

“The notion that where one is from can be understood using what remains of that place opens up a highly sensitive and rich terrain that can help unpack belonging, especially if that place has now been rendered inaccessible by national borders.”

FamilyIndiaMemorySeparationPakistanRefugeeMigrationBorder1947
Book:Remnants of a Separation: A History of the Partition through Material Memory
Create image

“I have grown up listening to my grandparents’ stories about ‘the other side’ of the border. But, as a child, this other side didn’t quite register as Pakistan, or not-India, but rather as some mythic land devoid of geographic borders, ethnicity and nationality. In fact, through their stories, I imagined it as a land with mango orchards, joint families, village settlements, endless lengths of ancestral fields extending into the horizon, and quaint local bazaars teeming with excitement on festive days. As a result, the history of my grandparents’ early lives in what became Pakistan essentially came across as a very idyllic, somewhat rural, version of happiness.”

HistoryChildhoodIndiaPakistanMigrationRefugeesPartitionPartition 1947
Author:Aanchal Malhotra
Create image

“We should have realized it sooner, at least my father should have, that there was no coming back. Not in September when the riots died down, not in October when the subcontinent still lay in shock, not even in November as he had hoped and promised us. Lahore was now lost forever”

LossFamilyHistoryViolenceIndiaBelongingPakistanPartitionLahore
Book:Remnants of a Separation: A History of the Partition through Material Memory
Create image

“Every time the train stopped at a station, we would all hold our breath, making sure not a single sound drifted out of the closed windows. We were hungry and our throats parched. From inside the train we heard voices travelling up and down the platform, saying, “Hindu paani,” and, from the other side, “Muslim paani.” Apart from land and population, even the water had now been divided”

WaterSurvivalIndiaTrainPakistanMigrationPartitionDelhiRiotsJhelum
Book:Remnants of a Separation: A History of the Partition through Material Memory
Create image