: Having seen decaying corpses line the lanes of Old Delhi as a child and his home becoming a “refugee camp” in 1947, lyricist and filmmaker Gulzar had one message for Indians and Pakistanis on Sunday when he spoke at the Partition Museum here: Lands, roads, and countries could be partitioned, but not language and culture.
“How can you partition the air?” he asked rhetorically, at which the audience smiled and nodded as the midday sun streamed into the old Town Hall that houses the museum.
The noted poet has written extensively on the Partition over the years. But at an interactive session that kicked off the Arts and Literature Festival of Amritsar, he reminded the audience to “remember”. To prevent the spread of hatred and revenge, both countries had tried to suppress the memories of 1947, he said. “It’s time to take out these memories and display them on the walls, like here at the museum,” he said, adding that both India and Pakistan had not allowed any films to be made on the Partition.
Shared roots
Sharing his own experiences as a child and then decades later being mistaken for a long-lost son by a Union Minister who had lost two children during the Partition, Gulzar emphasised the similarities between the two countries. “The roots, music, tehzeeb and zaban are the same,” he said, before suggesting that materials from Pakistan should also be included in the exhibits at the Partition Museum.
“A country is not its government. Governments will come and go, but the people will remain,” he said.
The museum, which is the first one in the world dedicated to preserving memories of the Partition, opened with an exhibition on October 24, 2016 and has seen about 30,000 visitors since then, its CEO, Mallika Ahluwalia, told The Hindu . From maps depicting the proposed boundaries of Punjab to oral histories of those who were affected, the items stored at the museum document the weeks leading up to August 15, 1947, and its aftermath.
Photos, newspaper reports, personal effects, paintings and audio-visual displays make up the museum. One of the displays is a saree with phulkari embroidery that belonged to someone affected by Partition.
Ms. Ahluwalia said that a room dedicated to recording oral histories and an events space would be added.
Additional Solicitor General and BJP leader Pinky Anand, who is a trustee of the museum, said that the Centre would look into facilitating talks with counterparts in Pakistan to collect material for the exhibit.
“Partition was not a one-way affair,” she said.
