One line. 553 kilometres long, created the province of West Punjab; the other, adding up to 4,096 kilometres, carved out a province called East Bengal. Both territories joined the newborn nation of Pakistan.
Enough and more has been written about the horrors of the Partition, an event that led to the division of the subcontinent. But what of the people who actually inhabit the land through which these lines run?
Curiosity leads Bishwanath Ghosh into journeying along the Radcliffe Line-through the vibrant greenery of Punjab as well as the more melancholic landscape of the states surrounding Bangladesh-and examining, first-hand, life on the border. Recording Ghosh's encounters and experiences in luminous prose, Gazing at Neighbours is a narrative of historical stock-taking as much as it is of travel.
Sometimes those assigned to run the pencil do so, without realising the impact their line is going to have on humankind. Sir Cyril Radcliffe was one of them.
Sir Cyril had built a formidable reputation in Britain as a barrister before he went down in history as probably the world's most infamous cartographer. In July 1947, he was summoned to New Delhi and given five weeks to partition India. Accordingly, he drew two lines on its map. One of the lines, 553 kilometres long, created the province of West Punjab; the other, 4,096 kilometres long, carved out a province called East Bengal. They both joined the newborn nation of Pakistan-an event that saw fifteen million people displaced and over one million dead.
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