Beyond the shadows
P. ANIMA
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“Partition: The Long Shadow” touched upon the past but also stressed the need to look at building a healthy future.
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Photos: Rajeev Bhatt
Telling the tale Shabana Azmi at the reading. (Right) Mahmood Farooqui and Danish Husain during their Dastangoi performance.
It is a continuing battle with shadows. Sixty years of independence is also the 60th year of a rankling wound – the Partition. With over half a century between the historic episode and today, the inaugural event of “Partition: The Long Shadow” – a series of dialogues and conversations on the event, re-lived the pangs of Partition, but also looked back and ahead with sense and sensibility.
At the India Habitat Centre, poet Javed Akhtar and actor Shabana Azmi brought alive the Partition and its aftermath through poetry and prose. An experimental Dastangoi (story telling) by Mahmood Farooqui and Danish Husain was a dialogue on Partition with humour and subtle satire.
The evening got a poignant finish with Pakistani theatre group Ajoka staging their well-known production “Toba Tek Singh.”
Though the past was touched upon, the attempt was to stroke to peace the ruffled feathers. A mature and sensitive approach to chart a future between India and Pakistan was the predominant concern.
“During the Second World War, the Buckingham Palace was bombed and Germany became a graveyard. But today, there is a common economic market and currency there. They have changed, but we are standing where we left ourselves 60 years back,” said Akhtar.
A poet of merit that he is, Akhtar with his evocative recitation of his three poems, touched upon the human tragedy of that historic chapter. Amidst “wah-wahs” and “kya baat hai” from a capacity audience, Akhtar with his word-play created a vivid imagery. With his poignant lines like, “Dono ki galiyon mein kuch bhooke bachche rote hein”, he focussed on the pertinent issues that should concern both countries.
Photos: Rajeev Bhatt
Mahmood Farooqui and Danish Husain during their Dastangoi performance.
“Javed Akhtar is always a tough act to follow,” said Shabana Azmi, as she took over the stage from her husband. Before reading out an extract from Pakistani writer Kamila Shamsi’s work, Azmi said, “I don’t want to dwell on the past. But we must revisit history to make sure that such events never occur again.”
Shamsi’s prose and Azmi’s powerful narration portrayed the meaning of Partition for a second generation Pakistani. Shamsi also took a dig at the “absurdities of borders.”
If there was no Partition, says Shamsi, life would be in a land-locked place (in Uttar Pradesh) rather than by the sea (in Karachi). She shows the sea as integral to her identity and the feeling of “home.”
The stress was on accepting reality, of the existence of two nations, or rather three, including Bangladesh, and working on a way forward.
The Dastangoi after the reading session brought a change of scene and atmosphere.
Humour that highlighted the absurdity of any division took centre-stage as Mahmood Farooqui and Danish Husain experimented with the traditional Dastangoi form to tell the tale of Partition.
The possibilities
The duo threw up the infinite possibilities of Partition. The division of Government properties, of chairs, tables, typewriters, tijori, cycles, even the Taj Mahal and the Sindhu river.
Though laced with humour, the presentation by Farooqui and Husain poignantly brought out the tragedy of the event.
As the coaches filled with corpses reach both India and Pakistan, the duo draw attention to the complaint book at the railway station, where the passengers can report any inconvenience during their journey.
The pathos is never missed. Snippets of lives cut short and left behind, and homes that were once yours all are woven into the narrative.
The stage was then set for “Toba Tek Singh”.
Barbed fences for the border and a browning tree form the sets and three years after the Partition, it is now the turn of the mentally ill to be sent to their countries. Even as the seemingly sane world outside is torn apart by Partition, where even the number of “mad” people on each side should tally, the world of the insane displays a striking sanity.
Toba or Bishen Singh cannot choose between India and Pakistan and eventually dies on the border.
The Sadat Hassan Manto play backed by powerful performances, soulful instrumentals and apt lighting was also a commentary on the state of affairs between the two countries, where sub-committees, committees and ministerial-level talks are the panacea for all problems.
The series is being organised by the Heinrich Boll Foundation, India Habitat Centre, Max Mueller Bhavan and Zubaan.
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