August: Patriotism and Religious Fervour
The month of August in India, is a time of euphoric celebration of both national and religious festivals. However, in this euphoria of the celebrations, people forget to look at the other side of those events. This post tries to look at that side of these events which people usually miss out. First, let's take the celebration of 15th August, the day India got independence from the British Raj. But, what was the other side of the story of independence? Well, it was partition. 15th August marks not just the freedom of the nation but also its partition into three different nation-states. Millions of people migrated and got displaced because of this. But their stories remain veiled under the euphoria of the freedom struggle. The partition led to communal riots, which of course wasn't a happy phenomenon. And let's not forget that much of the post independence literature focuses on these unheard voices of displacement, migration and the feeling of terror prevailing during the ...