A museum for memories

Neeraj Bagga

Situation is so bad... beyond description. Do not come back to this place. I am trying desperately to go to Dehradun but the journey is very risky. This is very bad luck that you, Roshan Lal, and Hardevi are all at different places and away from each other. If I survive I will meet you. Arson, plundering are order of the day. No shop or house is left whose locks have not been broken and their belongings taken away...

Last night nine members of Chaman Singh’s family were killed, including Chaman Singh. Rest when we meet...

— Diwan Chand, a refugee

Written by a father to his son, this letter sums up the fear, desperation, pain and loss thrown upon the people of India by Partition. Refugee at a camp in Gujarat, now in Pakistan, Diwan Chand wrote this distressing letter in Urdu to his son, Chuni Lal, who was at Simla. The letter dated September 1, 1947, is displayed at the Partition Museum in Amritsar along with the original. The museum houses several such letters, photographs and paintings presenting a poignant picture of the tragedy and the deep impact it left on the families affected.

Set up by The Arts and Cultural Heritage Trust (TAACHT) at the beautiful colonial building of Town Hall in October 2016, the project is in its last phase of expansion and will be inaugurated by Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh this week. The Partition Museum Project was initiated to work towards the establishment of a world-class physical museum dedicated to the memory of Partition of the sub-continent in 1947 — its victims, its survivors and its lasting legacy.

The one-of-its-kind museum captures the gory tales of communal frenzy following the announcement of partition of Imperial British India into India and Pakistan, through its collection of personal letters, reports published in leading newspapers of that time like The Tribune, objects of personal use and cultural symbols of that time.

In one of the greatest and the most painful upheavals of contemporary history, around 15 million people migrated to a new homeland on the other side of a quickly demarcated border, leaving behind precious memories.

London-based economist Lord Meghnad Desai and his wife, Kishwar Desai, whose parents migrated from Lahore during Partition, have taken the initiative to intimate the present and future generations about the errors and blunders of the past.

On display are everyday objects that tell intimate stories. Among these are a Phulkari coat and a leather briefcase belonging to a to-be married couple that got separated in the mayhem of Partition. The coat belonged to Pritam Kaur of Gujranwala, and the leather briefcase to Bhagwan Singh Maini of Mianwali. Both cities are now in Pakistan. Thankfully for them, both found their way to a refugee camp in Amritsar and spotted each other as they stood in a long queue for food. They got married in 1948.

Other items that tell the tale include brass pots, letters, government documents, private documents, property papers, utensils, locks, keys, trunks and khes... Also displayed are pictures of resettlement camps, details of condition of refugee camps and many more. Over 1,000 oral histories are also available for visitors to listen to. The clips have subtitles in English and Gurmukhi, and tell stories from both sides of the Border. Among these, accounts by Kuldip Nayar, Gulzar and Hero Cycles’ matriarch Santosh Munjal stand out.

Right in the middle is what they call the Tree of Hope. Its trunk made of barbed wire symbolises the international border. There are branches with paper leaves hanging for visitors to leave behind notes on how the exhibits impacted them. And strangely, amid all the rhetoric of nationalism, the notes are strangely quiet. What stand out are messages of peace, longing and love for what was left behind. Bitterness too? Not really.

Kishwar says inauguration of the museum on August 17 is an attempt to observe the day as Partition Remembrance Day. Poet and lyricist Gulzar would be part of the inaugural ceremony where his book of stories on Partition will also be released. She says the idea behind the museum was to accelerate the pace of securing the memories of people who migrated to another country.

And this idea was kept in mind by museum designer Neeraj Sahai while designing the place. For him, reconciliation is as important as displays and memories. “The museum will be a space for memory, healing and reconciliation too. It will also memorialise the grit, courage and spirit of that generation.” The Delhi-based designer has been camping in the Holy City to oversee its expansion from present four galleries to 14. Similarly, the 50 images will cross the 500 mark this time. Several other symbolic artefacts have also been added to the exhibition halls. A jumbo iron saw cutting a wall into two, an artificial well and other belongings are among the new exhibits that attempt to provide a rare peep into the lives of Partition survivors and victims.

Kishwar feels the museum is also their attempt at making people understand the great sacrifice that Punjabis and Bengalis made for independence. “People do not realise that there are many different narratives to the story of Partition, which has affected Punjab in so many different ways. But they will connect with it once they come here,” Kishwar says.

Wounds may or may not heal in another few decades, but the rapidly vanishing memories need to be secured and our lessons need to be learnt so that another partition doesn’t happen.

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A centre of learning

• Kishwar Desai, who is spearheading the project along with daughter, Mallika Ahluwalia, says the idea behind the Partition Museum is not just to make it a must-visit place for tourists, but one where researchers and scholars on Partition can come to learn. “Lord Desai wants to set up a strong international education base to the museum too and the London School of Economics South Asia Centre has already joined hands with us as a full-fledged partner. Several other universities abroad and in India are sharing their archives and oral histories. The universities in Punjab are also being approached to share their expertise. The idea is to make Partition Museum ‘the’ centre for the study of Partition of India.”
• Among the institutes joining hands with the Partition Museum Project are British Library, the UK Parliamentary Library, the National Archives, Punjab Archives, Panjab Digital Library, Cambridge University, London School of Economics, Southampton University and Amity. At a later stage, the template of this museum could be used to set up similar museums in Bengal, and perhaps in the UK.

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Do you have a story?

Efforts are on to gather more stories related to Partition. Soni Razdan, an actress associated with the museum, says appeals are being made to Partition survivors to come forward and share their stories and memorabilia from the time of Partition. “This would reinforce the Punjabi narrative of the museum as it is already collecting varied and interesting objects ranging from coins of that period to personal letters written by people from refugee camps,” she says. Meanwhile, the museum board has appealed to all Partition-impacted families to share their stories. “Grandchildren are being requested to record stories of their grandparents on camera and send these to the museum archives,” Soni shares.