Hum Dekhenge

I don't have family roots in the Punjab or Sindh and as far as I know, no one from my family was directly affected by the Partition of India in 1947. I didn't hear stories from my grandparents about the horrors of Partition and how they had to leave everything in what is now Pakistan and flee to India. But, this week it struck me what a terrible tragedy Partition was and how it has cleaved a people who are so alike in most respects. One of the anthems of the current uprising in India is a poem by legendary Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz, which became a symbol of resistance against the brutal military dictatorship of Zia-ul-Haq in 1970s Pakistan. I came late to the song, but have been watching this rendition of it on loop all this week. Not only are the words stirring and the tune mesmerizing, but the visuals are exquisite too. The montage of singers includes Hindus, Christians, transgender persons. And what struck me is how Indian they seemed to me, and how Pakistani I must seem to them. The horrors of Partition, the rise of virulent religious nationalism on both sides of the border have not been able to erase the commonalities between us, and hopefully nothing will.
This is the time for hope and change, a time when old ideas about how the world is and should be are crumbling. Maybe India and Pakistan will never be one again, but at least we won't be at each others throats.