Book excerpt from Two by Gulzar
And somewhere in Gulzar`s re-visitation of the trauma of Partition, a novella titled Two, is this throwaway line:
Before Pakistan took shape on the map, it started taking shape in the minds of the people. This was true of both Hindus and Muslims. The untouchables had been similarly alienated centuries ago.
In one masterstroke the author takes up the tortuously twisted thread of the Hindu, Muslim and the untouchable, and twines them painfully together.
On the same page, this is the closing sentence: As the date of independence came closer, freedom seemed to move further away.
Two was originally written by Gulzar in Urdu and he has now translated his story of a set of men and women attempting to flee violence, into English. Read it. To remember. To know. To learn.
Sheila Kumar • March 30, 2018