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Essay / We Walk by Faith: Stories from the Archives of the 1947 Partition
“Open the door or we will set the room on fire.” » With a loud noise the door opened, Ali and his brothers along with many other children and women were pulled out and made to stand under the tree. They started shooting. Ali saw Zahid fall at his feet, eyes open but lifeless. Ali tripped and slipped, but he headed towards the station without looking back. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essayThe partition of 1947 was not just a division of lands, it was also the division of hearts. It led to the massive uprooting of twelve million people and the tragic end of a million people. We have all heard stories about this no-winner war from our parents or grandparents, but we have never seen mention of these horrible and frightening experiences in our school textbooks or any form of historical document. The struggle and suffering of the people who lived through the 1947 Partition cannot be contained in the pages of a book, but it is the only way left for us to fully connect and understand the silenced stories of those who became part of this battle of blood and loss. Guneeta Singh Bhalla, the founder of the Partition Archive of 1947, has given voice to the untold stories of survivors who lived through one of the greatest ethnic cleansings in history. His simple idea of archiving all the painful testimonies of direct experiences of Partition by carefully collecting and documenting oral histories quickly gained momentum. Thousands of Indian families flocked with their help and the idea of preserving Partition literature became a movement in its own right. But I still remember the warning my father gave us. He told me and my sister that he would slit our throats to protect our dignity if we encountered a gang again. We were terrified of such a death and yet we agreed with our father. "Harrowing testimonies like these can be found in Partition's online archives. The archives contain many accounts of women and children who were told by their families to commit suicide to protect their honor, or who decided to commit suicide if the need arises. Such desperate suicide attempts to protect women from violence have been called “Dignity Suicides”. The brief account on Dignity Suicide given above is an extract from. the interview with Simarjeet Kaur, who traveled through the forests and survived many murderous gangs on her way to North Delhi, India is the most important link we have to connect to. our roots and understanding the grief and agony of our ancestors The type of insight that the Archives gives to our generation is vital for us to connect with our elders and understand their pain Personal interviews and recordings of people. can be systematically collected and considered as a more accurate history of the Partition of 1947. “There was no religion. In my family, my older brother became a Sikh. We were a family of Maliks but Ambar was my Sikh brother. It was common for most households to have a Sikh son who might join the army at some point. After the partition was declared, we decided to stay in India and so we all converted to Sikhism. "Thousands of people who belonged to a certain religion chose to convert to another just to save their lives. There are.