There is a plot embedded here, but this novel is so much more: a long, winding journey, centred on a family, with acute eyes on love and distances within a family, but also through language, Partition and imposed borders, and so much more.
As I write this, the subcontinent is remembering the 1947 Partition on its 75th anniversary. One country is celebrating its day of independence, while the other prepares for the same. In another corner of the world, Salman Rushdie is fighting for his life.
I don’t remember how old I was the first time I laid eyes on a pair of dull gold jhumkis that my mother wore with a sari. I do, however, remember the story that accompanied that pair – one that would overwhelm me for years to come.
The event will discuss the Bengal Partition of 1905, a second Partition of Bengal and the Indian subcontinent in 1947 and the birth of Bangladesh in 1971. The Salon will showcase aspects of these partitions, living histories that bind India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
The government is set to hold exhibitions on "horrors of the Partition" at key public places such as railway stations, airports and malls between August 10 and August 14.