"During the course of my journey, many of the people I met in
Pakistan and India expressed a curious combination of affection,
indifference, and animosity toward their neighbors across the
border. . . . The border divides them but it is also a seam that
joins the fabric of their cultures." On 15 August 1947, in what
some have argued was the final, cynical act of a collapsing empire,
the British left India divided. Arbitrary borders that have
profoundly affected the recent history of the subcontinent were
drawn upon the map of India. In the violence that accompanied
Partition, it has been estimated that close to a million people
were killed and more than ten million uprooted and displaced. The
hatreds created by what was one of the largest mass migrations in
history only exacerbated the religious tensions that originally led
to Partition. Since then, India and Pakistan have fought three
devastating wars, and the danger of armed conflict is constant. A
sensitive and thoughtful look at the lasting effects of Partition
on everyday people, Amritsar to Lahore describes a journey across
the contested border between India and Pakistan in 1997, the
fiftieth anniversary of Partition. Setting out from and then
returning to New Delhi, Stephen Alter crossed the border into
Pakistan, retraced the legendary route of the Frontier Mail toward
the Khyber Pass, and made his return by bus along the Grand Trunk
Road, stopping in major cities along the way. During this journey
and another in 1998, Alter interviewed people from all classes and
castes: Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs, men and women. In candid
conversation, the older generation who lived through the events of
1947 shared their memories and opinions of that pivotal moment of
Partition, while youths who have inherited the fragments of that
past reflected upon the meaning of national identity. In an
engaging account of peoples and places, Alter documents in
evocative detail his meetings with varied individuals. He recalls
the Muslim taxi driver who recognizes an air of confidence with
which men in Pakistan walk the streets dressed in salwar kameez;
the brigadier who saved the brass insignia of the British crown
from Lord Mountbatten's Rolls Royce; gold merchants, customs
officers, fellow travelers, musicians, and many others. Alongside
these diverse and vivid interviews, chance conversations, and oral
histories, Alter provides informed commentary to raise questions
about national and individual identity, the territorial imperatives
of history, and the insidious mythology of borders. A
third-generation American in India, where he has spent much of his
life, Alter reflects intimately upon India's past and present as a
special observer, both insider and outsider. His meaningful
encounters with people on his journey illustrate the shared culture
and heritage of South Asia, as well as the hateful suspicions and
intolerance that permeate throughout the India-Pakistan frontier.
Also woven into the narrative are discussions of the works of South
Asian novelists, poets, and filmmakers who have struggled with the
issue of identity across the borderlands. Ongoing battles in
Kashmir and nuclear testing by both India and Pakistan may prove
that peace in this region can be achieved only when border disputes
are resolved. Offering both the perspective of hindsight and a
troubling vision of the future, Amritsar to Lahore presents a
compelling argument against the impenetrability of boundaries and
the tragic legacy of lands divided.
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