'Remnants of a Separation' retraces the tragic legacy of Partition

The fluidity of memory is moored with material objects in this book

On their way from Dalhousie to Lahore, right after Partition in August 1947, Azra Haq and her uncle and aunt — soon to be in-laws — carried with them a consignment of everyday treasures accumulated over a lifetime: her uncle’s carpets, furniture and silverware. Yet, in the course of the journey, escorted by an army guard, the party swelled as Haq and her relatives met more and more stranded refugees. The expensive but inanimate objects were all discarded. “And by the time we reached our destination, all I had were the clothes I was wearing... And these pearls,” Haq recalls