Malhotra, through her poignant observations and extensive research, has uncovered unknown facets of India’s partition for contemporary readers.

Remnants of a Separation is a unique attempt to revisit the Partition through objects that refugees carried with them across the border. These belongings absorb the memory of a time and place, remaining latent and undisturbed for generations.

‘Kuch nahi laaye the. We brought nothing. We came with nothing, was an inevitable first response that oral historian Aanchal Malhotra was meted out with when she asked own family about their belongings from 1947. The partition of India, had displaced an estimated 10-12 million people. Soon enough, she discovered her great grandmother’s maang tika. […]