Welcome to Litsy!

Starting my choice for this month's #BookedinTime
I am already fully engrossed in this dense, tragic history of Indian Independence at the close of the Second World War.
@Cuilin @dabbe

Not in a brain space to write anything deep, but this was fascinating, informative, and gut-wrenching. Well-researched and thoughtful too. Appreciate that we got a good look at the impact of Partition on those at the bottom of society. Earlier part on the politics leading up to it was less interesting, but overall a worthy and educational read. 4/5 ⭐️

In provocative rhetoric the governments fixated on their own righteousness, undermined the journalism and reportage emanating from the other nation‘s press, and denied their own culpability for what had happened in 1947.

[*glances in the general direction across the country toward DC*]

Wantonly sacrificed to the demands of making two new nations in 1947, the refugees often felt disgusted and abandoned by a callous state, which had promised them the moon and given them, in the words of the Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz, a ‘leprous daybreak‘ instead.

The violence & its aftermath glued people together, temporarily at least, in a new spirit of nationalism. But this was crisscrossed with deeper confusions & anger about the place of class, cast, language & religion in public life. [...] One thing people could agree on, though, was that the other state was rapidly looking like an adversary, or even an enemy. Nationalist politics had collapsed into two national tragedies.

Acts of mercy and charity were very common. Violence was not all encompassing. The complexities of these emotions cannot be easily stereotyped. Nationalism was entirely compatible with love for an individual neighbor, member of staff or colleague.

Violence was being carried out in the name of freedom.

[*glances at news stories about armed jackasses showing up at government buildings demanding fucking haircuts* 😒😒😒]

Abstract notions of freedom and fine British sentiments would no longer do; the people were determined to have independence and to experience it for themselves.

I have a fascination with the formation of new countries, however it comes about, so I‘m looking forward to learning more about this major (and major-upheaval-causing) event in history. #nowreading

Ignoring any arguments about what the British were doing there in the first place, the Partition of #India in 1947 is a great example of how not to hand back a country to its indigenous population. The 1947 Partition saw millions of people displaced, and violence surrounding it caused the deaths of a million more.

#LetsTravelJuly
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
@OriginalCyn620