Enigmas of independence

'Freedom and Partition' explores forgotten facets of history and reflects on the complex perspectives surrounding independence celebrations in India

Freedom and Partition: Momentous Events of 14-17 August 1947 in India and Pakistan

Authors: Tan Tai Yong & Gyanesh Kudaisya

Publisher: Primus Books 

Price: Rs 1,095

There is a “prologue” to this review, so to speak. In 2000, the two authors, historians based in Singapore, published their deeply researched, sensitively written, exhaustive and still relevant book, The Aftermath of Partition in South Asia, a subject not examined till then with the rigour of academics and lucidity of writing.

That book began with the place of Partition in South Asian histories and moved, in the first chapter, to recounting the arrival of freedom from