Being a child of Partition, I always thought that memories o f Partition would die with me as they did with my parents and grandmother who forbade us not to celebrate “Azadi” (Independence of India) as it was “Barbadi” (devastation). Growing up in Agra where the family had settled after living in refugee camps for over two years in Sargodha, Amritsar, Ambala, and Gurgaon, I thought otherwise. Traumatic in nature, this forced migration plunged my elders into a dark pit from which it took many years to come out. Now, my children have voluntarily migrated from India to the USA and we have come to live here in California. Understanding the urgency of getting my story recorded, I volunteered at the first opportunity I came across, whic h was through a newsletter of the Indian Community Centre at Milpitas. I count myself lucky that I am associated with the 1947 Partition Archive. This group of highly motivated volunteers remind me of the Ghadar Party boys who created history by publishing a weekly newsletter from San Francisco in 1913 that blew the bugle of India’s independence. Congratulating this group for their initiative, I wish them success in the daunting task of recording the narratives of 1947 Partition.
Prof. Om P. Juneja is Emeritus Professor of English, M. S. University of Baroda.
I take this opportunity to congratulate you and the team motivated volunteers who have taken up the task of recording the bitter experience of partition for posterity. I pray to God to give you all the strength to complete thetask successfully.
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