Remembering childhood

Children experienced the 1947 Partition of Punjab in many different ways, including flight, separation from familiar places and life in new settlements. A Berkeley article by 1947 Partition Archive founder Guneeta Singh Bhalla recounts interviews with people who were children at the time. One remembered leaving Lahore for Delhi; another recalled violence in a village in the Ludhiana district and a journey to Lahore. These are individual memories reported by an interviewer, not a complete record of all children’s experiences. Their different routes also show that migration occurred in more than one direction across Punjab.[1]

From Amritsar to Lahore

An Associated Press report published by Dawn recounts Khawaja Muhammad Zakariya’s memories of leaving Amritsar with his family. The report describes how his father first moved the family to a relative’s house and how they later travelled by train to Lahore. It also records that an interviewer asked about ordinary childhood memories as well as displacement. This is a published account of one person’s recollection, not a complete transcript of the underlying interview. Age, family circumstances and the route taken could shape what a child experienced and remembered. The article places his account within a project collecting stories from survivors. Such reporting can help readers find a testimony, but it should not be confused with access to every detail of the original interview.[2]

Memories passed on

Historian Vanita Sharma’s study of Punjabi families in Delhi and Lahore examines how Partition memories are transmitted to a second generation. Its abstract argues that inherited accounts are shaped by factors including age, nationality, religion, class and contemporary politics. A memory heard from family members is different evidence from the recollection of someone who was a child in 1947, though both help researchers study how Partition remains present in family life. Listening carefully also means allowing for silence, uncertainty and changing recollection. These sources preserve different perspectives rather than a single uniform childhood story.[3]

Sources & notes

Source records include access dates and, where known, limits on what was examined. Checks used AI assistance; independent human or specialist review has not been completed.

  1. Guneeta Singh Bhalla, UC Berkeley Center for South Asia Studies. Harnessing the Power of Stories ↗Written source · Source date: 2012 · Locator: Khabar, spring 2012, pp. 14–15: Ajit Cour and interview accounts. Accessed 2026-11-04.Bhalla’s published account of the interviews was inspected. It reports individual retrospective memories rather than a representative survey.Return to Remembering childhood, paragraph 1 ↑
  2. Associated Press, published by Dawn. Murder, rape and shattered families: 1947 Partition Archive effort underway ↗Written source · Source date: 2015-03-13 · Locator: Opening account of Khawaja Muhammad Zakariya’s childhood and family journey from Amritsar to Lahore. Accessed 2026-11-04.The AP report was checked for its account of Zakariya’s recollection. The underlying archive interview was not independently reviewed.Return to From Amritsar to Lahore, paragraph 1 ↑
  3. Vanita Sharma. Inherited Memories: Second-Generation Partition Narratives from Punjabi Families in Delhi and Lahore ↗Written source · Source date: 2009 · Locator: Cultural and Social History, vol. 6 no. 4, pp. 411–428; publisher abstract. Accessed 2026-11-04.The publisher’s abstract and journal details were checked. The full article was not independently reviewed.Return to Memories passed on, paragraph 1 ↑
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