A Time of Madness: A Memoir of Partition by Salman  Rashid

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Salman Rashid is a foremost travel writer from Pakistan. He has authored nine travel books. And this is his first memoir. I have been reading Partition literature for sometime and when I discovered this was written by a writer from other side, I quickly grabbed it since I had mainly read those by Indian writers. While picking up this book, I had no idea how it will turn out but it was imperative to pick up something to have a balanced perspective on the subject. It didn't turn out to be much different from those by Indian writers.

The author, in order to trace his roots, travels to India as his family was from Jalandhar in Punjab.

I would like to add here that Jalandhar is my birth place and my ancestral home, whose contours I still remember( it was renovated later), was quite an old house constructed before partition. So, the mention of place further piqued my interest as I read to find out if there was something, some places or streets I could relate to. But that didn't happen.

Rashid writes about the difficulty in procuring an Indian visa for traveling and also some do's and don't s about traveling to either side by the citizens of India and Pakistan. As he travels to find about the truth of his family's ordeal during partition ( a family of his relatives never made it to Pakistan and no one in his family knew what had happened with them) , he also comes across people who told him about the reputation of his Grandfather, who was a doctor, and how later he had developed a religious fervor. He found it difficult to believe.

He writes about the stories he had heard from different people while traveling to India and also shares stories from his side. There was one particular story which really touched me, of how a mob, hellbent to murder those traveling to Indian side via a train, let go them without any harm on the call of a village elder they had respected. It was a joy to know that many such instances of human kindness were recorded on both sides.

Rashid also shares anecdotes about people who were involved in the gruesome acts of violence during partition and how later they repented their acts. Some of these people suffered from ailments and disabilities later in life and strongly believed it to be the result of their own acts.

He also grapples with coming to terms with history, with the 'why' of an event which could have been avoided, an event that has, forever altered this region, has resulted in such animosity between two divided halves that it seems impossible that they once swore by one name, one country, fought together for the freedom and lived amicably with each other.

This is a very balanced view on Partition of 1947, sharing the stories from both sides, the author's voice is neutral and empathetic. I would recommend it to anyone looking to read the history and consequences of Partition of 1947.




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