Becoming a mother changes one’s priorities in
life. From a busy lawyer working an 11-hour job, I transitioned to sitting at
home changing diapers and playing with my tot. What doesn't change are one’s
interests and passions. When I read the excerpt of my paternal grandfather’s
Partition story, published exactly a year after he passed away, I was immensely
intrigued by the organization that decided to record his story. This is how I
learnt about The 1947 Partition Archive (“The
Archive”).
I grew up in the same house as my grandfather, so
I knew most of his fondly described life stories. The only
ones he was always circumspect about belonged to the murky period of the
partition of India. The fact that he opened up to a stranger about this
difficult period of his life with complete frankness, came as a surprise to me. I
immediately looked them up.
Within minutes I had scoured their
Facebook page and knew I had to get involved however I could. My immediate
family members belonged to undivided Punjab and keenly felt the tremors of that
horrific event as they lost their ancestral lands and cut ties from their
roots. As a result, I was always fascinated with stories of partition and would
devour any literature or movies I could get my hands on.
At the tender age of 13, I read Shauna Singh Baldwin’s “What the Body Remembers”. The fictional work was instrumental in
opening my mind to the immense suffering of the migrants. In fact, it shaped my
future in a way, as I decided to pursue Honours in History from St. Stephen’s
College later on.
With my deep interest in this period of history,
the Partition Archive called out to me. The founder of The Archive, Guneeta Singh Bhalla was deeply interested in this fractious period of Indian history. She started
the Archive in Berkeley, California while pursuing her Ph.D there. Over time,
she brought together a handful of like-minded people who shared her passion for
collecting stories of Partition survivors before the generation passed on. Her
vision was so exemplary that she was able to set up a large pan-global
organization with grass-root level participation where people became
interviewers or collectors of stories without needing a specific educational
background. I immediately contacted her and she directed me to her website. The
Archive is organized well, with a set hierarchy of interviewers. The most-time
intensive profile belongs to the Story Scholars which is a full-time commitment
of 3 months or a part-time commitment of 6 months where specific areas of the
world are assigned for the collection of stories. The easiest way of involving
yourself, however, is by taking a 2 hour long Oral History Webinar and becoming
a Citizen Historian.
I immediately signed up for this online workshop
which was conducted by Rohini Ramakrishnan who was very patient and extremely
helpful, and within a week I had conducted my first interview. I chose to
interview my maternal grandfather whose story I felt privileged to preserve for
future generations. I hope to continue recording more stories beginning with my
own extended family members.
Despite the many teething problems I faced,
including camera recording, sound and data transfer issues, not once did I feel
discouraged from continuing this work. The Archive members, including Rohini,
Alexandra Wells and Ritika Popli were all very helpful with their tips and
prompt responses. The best part of being a Citizen Historian is that stories
can be recorded at one’s own time allowing me to pursue my passion while being
a full-time mother.
In the 70th year of the partition of
our country, it has become increasingly important to preserve these stories
before they cannot be heard again. With the upcoming events and exhibits of the
Archive in New Delhi, India as well as the ongoing recording of thousands of
stories across the world, I feel positive the Archive will succeed in its goal
of successfully preserving 10,000 stories from this period of history.
Visit their Facebook page here:
*Image belongs to The Archive. I have borrowed it from their Facebook page.
