Bhawana Somaaya: ‘We were recipients of the scars of Partition’

Noted entertainment critic and author Bhawana Somaaya. Pic/Nimesh Dave

Few Indians would be unaware of the Partition of the Indian subcontinent and the resultant trauma. It was not just the tearing apart of a nation, countless deaths, and mass displacement - it was a legacy of pain for generations to come. This disruption has been recorded in many stories, novels and memoirs, which is why the author of Farewell Karachi: A Partition Memoir, Bhawana Somaaya, says she was hesitant to add to the body of existing literature. Instead, she started writing it as a tribute, to document her family's legacy and the troubles they endured.

Initially, it did not occur to her that she had been a victim of displacement, Somaaya says. But as her therapist explained, her parents had been, and she was "the recipient of the deep scars they endured". As she says in the book, "Parents devote a lifetime to their children, but most children are blissfully unaware of their parents' journey." Documenting this journey was bittersweet for Somaaya. Recollections of Karachi were always present in the family stories and conversations, but the horrors were less spoken of.

A studio photograph of Somaaya's parents when they were in their 20s. PIC COURTESY/BHAWANA SOMAAYA

As she writes: "Horrific riots transformed the city into a graveyard. My maternal cousin Indira Ben, who was 11 years old at that time, recalls that trouble erupted on June 6, 1948. Her father, a doctor, was at his clinic, and her grandfather, an MLA, was at his office when fear gripped the city. Both called home to warn the family of the impending disaster. ‘Lock all doors, windows, and the main entrance,' warned my uncle. Soon, telephone lines all over the city were disconnected. According to Indira Ben, a truck full of men barged inside their bungalow and started dismantling all the furniture."

There was little option but to flee. Somaaya narrates, "The date was September 22, 1948. My mother rushed to the glass window [of the steamer] to have a last glimpse of the land she had called home." The family travelled to Bhuj first and then settled in Mumbai (then Bombay), where they rebuilt their dreams. These dreams were replanted in Kalyan [before Somaaya was born], where the family journeyed from Bhuj via Ahmedabad. Somaaya recounts the life they had in Kalyan, the havoc caused by monsoon flooding…

"My family stayed for about two years at Purandare Colony [in Kalyan] during which time they hosted an influx of guests. Some stayed for days, some longer, because everyone was a migrant looking for a dwelling place. My parents were fortunate to have a roof over their heads, but most people were not as privileged. Some were looking for lost families and some, mourning the departed. Sorrow, conflict and insecurity were part of every story."

But it was Karachi that remained nostalgic, retaining its pull on their memories. Somaaya says, of her parents, "Somehow, for them, everything associated with Karachi - the food, grains, flour, milk, people and even air - seemed better than the rest of the world. The nostalgia persisted for a long, long time." That, after all, is what nostalgia is. Somaaya puts it poetically in the book: "Our family tree is soaked in traditions initiated by our ancestors and carried forward by all the grandchildren. The montages dissolve and fade out like scenes in a film."

Which makes one wonder whether, as a well-known entertainment writer, she would be open to a film being made out of Farewell, Karachi, which was launched on May 30. "I feel it has potential," she says. "It is up to the publisher, how it is pitched."