Memory, friendship, and compassion in experiences of the 1947 partition of Punjab

The Partition of Punjab in the summer of 1947 is perhaps one of the most studied subjects in the history of the Indian subcontinent, encompassing a range of themes and aspects. Recently, the focus has shifted from “high politics” to “human” – this is termed the emergence of a “new history” – in which loss, enmity, trauma, and women have become the dominant themes in academic writings. These works highlight that women have been the primary victim of sexual abuse, violence, and massacre; others analyze novels, short stories, and theatre productions to research the Partition; and the rest focus on its inheritance, covering memory, testimony, and history. Thus, communal divide, bloodshed, massacre, trauma, dispossession, and violence have dominated these studies. This is one part of the story, or one side of the picture. Where is the other? Did no stories and/or precedents of sharing, friendship, memory, compassion, or heroism exist? Were people not risking their lives to save their neighbours from rampaging mobs? This essay attempts to uncover, showcase, and examine the untold human stories of the 1947 Partition of the Indian subcontinent – sharing, friendship, memory, compassion, and love – by answering these questions through twenty-five in-depth, semi-structured qualitative interviews with the Partition survivors. The findings suggest there were stories of people risking their lives to save their neighbours from rampaging mobs, bridging the communal divide, and escorting their fellow villagers to either India or Pakistan.