The Punjab Partition Forum

Ramanjit Singh Reflecting on the events that took place in Jalandhar in 1947 is a heart-wrenching reminder of the depths of human cruelty. The brutality inflicted upon the Muslim community was devastating, shattering it irreparably. Trying to piece together our fractured history now feels like an overwhelming task, especially in the face of the uncertain path we find ourselves on. Punjabi writer and poet, Afzal Tauseef was born in Simbli, Nawan Shahar, Jalandhar in 1936. Dur

Ramanjit Singh When it comes to who contributed the most to the Indian cinema, I believe that the pre-Partition generation of Punjab had the biggest share in terms of the sheer dominance of talent and skill that was seen in the films, music and arts for many decades prior to and after the independence of India. Even those actors, singers, playwrights, writers, producers and directors, who were born outside of this province had either paternal or maternal connections to Punjab

Ramanjit Singh The great Indian actor, playwright and writer, Balraj Sahni (1913-1973). Born in Rawalpindi. At times, we look back at history and reflect on how things used to be. We revisit our own past and recall how we once were. We reminisce about the life we shared when we were still united. I often think about the great Balraj Sahni's visit to his ancestral home in west Punjab in 1962 to understand how he coped with the reality of losing everything during partition. He

Ramanjit Singh Couple of years ago, I wrote about how the month of August to most Punjabis brings back old memories of pain and...

-Ramanjit Singh I took some of the Partition related photographs and ran them through the Artifical Intelligence based image enhancer software to see how the old black and white images can be colorized, unblurred and enhanced. Here are some results. The following photograph is of a Sikh refugee family taken by Margaret Bourke-White for the Life magazine. When I looked at this picture, I noticed the little girl standing at the back of the room. Her face tells a lot about the

Ramanjit Singh San Francisco Bay Area based artist Tanya Momi has painted 15 paintings depicting both the horror and hope of Partition. I always wanted to write about Sargodha. Hadali, a village in Sargodha district, was the birthplace of India's most prolific writer and historian Sardar Khushwant Singh. Sargodha also brings back memories of some of the prominent personalities we studied in our history books, such as Daya Ram Sahni, the Indian archeologist who supervised the

Ramanjit Singh Visiting India and sitting at a Starbucks in Green City Square Bathinda, Punjab, I had an odd thought about how far would...

By Ramanjit Singh In the 19th century, several British artists went to India to make a series of illustrations of the country, its people and landscape. Among some of these artists who travelled to Punjab were William Simpson and William Carpenter. Both captured their journeys in vivid watercolors and their work can be seen in museums and auction houses like Sotheby's, Christie's and Bonham's. I'm presenting some of their illustrations here. Painting of the Akal Bunga (Akal T

By Ramanjit Singh After seven decades, there are very few amongst us who experienced the madness of the Partition of India. Our parents and grandparents have passed those awful stories to us. The future generations carry those stories, those anecdotes, as if they are family heirlooms, to be cherished, to be protected, to be preserved forever. These memories form the fabric of our sub-conscious, they help us to interpret those black and white photographs, those old faces. What

- Ramanjit Singh Painting of Partition victims by Satish Gujral. The border between the two has become permanent. The border between the two is pulling us apart and the gulf is ever widening. The border is a permanent fissure that cannot be bridged. We are so close yet we see each other from afar. The part of India that we lost cannot become part of us anymore. The people have become different. They look at us differently and we look at them differently. I have, over the year