Partition impacted Dhaka book trade: With the expansion of the publishing business, bookshops also sprang up in various parts of Old Dhaka, particularly in Chawkbazar, Islampur, Mughaltuli and Patuatuli. It is estimated that the number of bookshops in Dhaka till 1900 were no less than 40.
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.
When Reena Verma, an Indian national, was granted a Pakistani visa to revisit her place of origin in Rawalpindi after 75 years of living in India, she expressed her emotions by stating: “My.