If such writers lived in, and contributed to the literary legacy of, other countries, I will offer a compromise and propose a hyphenated identity.

Our independent nation-state has survived and grown despite setbacks and interference, but we are yet to escape the forever poison tree of 1947.

The book discusses the lack of sensitivity among policymakers in acknowledging the distinct socio-cultural differences and linguistic and community identities of the refugees that often got merged. It explores how different categories of refugees received different treatments.

It is worth considering that, according to historian Yuval Noah Harari, we may not be able to fully evade violence, as our evolutionary past has instilled certain inclinations within us that could be linked to violence.

Divakaruni has a message to send with this novel. To her, independence entails not just liberation or freedom from subjugation, it also means doing the right thing for oneself and for the people around us.

In Hindu mythology, the figure of the flaming, underwater horse has been repeatedly used to represent balance and harmony—a state in which both the elements of fire and water can coexist.

Chughtai spoke about taboo topics such as homosexuality, abortion, female desire, and their rights and independence.

I belong to a generation that was overtaken by the pestilence called Partition.

Communal tension brewing for years led to the violent riots the year before Partition.

Shurjo’s Clan uses magic realism to conjure Shurjomukhi’s freedom fighter uncles, who were martyred in Sylhet’s tea gardens during the 1971 Liberation War, and her grandmother, who took her own life shortly after the 1947 Partition. 

Narratives from the peripheries are needed to balance out the indocentrism of Partition Studies

Is Elizabeth a feminist icon? I would have to go with a hard no.

The impact of the 1947 Partition was felt in every aspect of Dhaka's printing and publishing business, and the book trade in the new provincial capital took a momentous turn. How did it impact the booksellers, printers, and the material being published? 

1947 was overtaken almost immediately by the language question, and the question of identity.

Perhaps the starkest image of the Partition, which created the two independent states of India and Pakistan in 1947, is that of the train massacres.

When Partition occurred Sabuha Khan's parents were divided on whether to leave Delhi and Rohtak permanently.

For both Pakistan and Bangladesh, the time between 1947 and 1971 was best forgotten.

Mutsuddy was born into a Buddhist family in Rangunia, Chittagong, British India.

A special train was arranged for Mr Appu's family and all of the workers in his father's factory to migrate from Lucknow.

"It took me a long time to realise that my family and I, like every other citizen of the current state of Bangladesh, were directly and indirectly a by-product of the Partition to the extent that even our daily struggles sometimes evolved around it," writes Meghna Guhathakurta.