A family saga weaved into history as a fiction
July 13, 2025
  • Read Ecopy
  • Circulation
  • Advertise
  • Careers
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
Organiser
  • ‌
  • Bharat
    • Assam
    • Bihar
    • Chhattisgarh
    • Jharkhand
    • Maharashtra
    • View All States
  • World
    • Asia
    • Europe
    • North America
    • South America
    • Africa
    • Australia
    • Global Commons
  • Editorial
  • International
  • Opinion
  • Op Sindoor
  • More
    • Analysis
    • Sports
    • Defence
    • RSS in News
    • Politics
    • Business
    • Economy
    • Culture
    • Special Report
    • Sci & Tech
    • Entertainment
    • G20
    • Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav
    • Vocal4Local
    • Web Stories
    • Education
    • Employment
    • Books
    • Interviews
    • Travel
    • Law
    • Health
    • Obituary
    • Podcast
MAGAZINE
  • ‌
  • Bharat
    • Assam
    • Bihar
    • Chhattisgarh
    • Jharkhand
    • Maharashtra
    • View All States
  • World
    • Asia
    • Europe
    • North America
    • South America
    • Africa
    • Australia
    • Global Commons
  • Editorial
  • International
  • Opinion
  • Op Sindoor
  • More
    • Analysis
    • Sports
    • Defence
    • RSS in News
    • Politics
    • Business
    • Economy
    • Culture
    • Special Report
    • Sci & Tech
    • Entertainment
    • G20
    • Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav
    • Vocal4Local
    • Web Stories
    • Education
    • Employment
    • Books
    • Interviews
    • Travel
    • Law
    • Health
    • Obituary
    • Podcast
Organiser
  • Home
  • Bharat
  • World
  • Operation Sindoor
  • Editorial
  • Analysis
  • Opinion
  • Culture
  • Defence
  • International Edition
  • RSS in News
  • Magazine
  • Read Ecopy
Home General

A family saga weaved into history as a fiction

by Archive Manager
Jan 10, 2010, 12:00 am IST
in General
FacebookTwitterWhatsAppTelegramEmail

This novel, written by the recipient of the Fulbright Award and the Malahat Review Novella Prize, captures an important aspect of the post-Partition history by resurrecting the story of a defiant Hindu family that stays behind in Lahore and intertwining it with that of a Muslim family which comes to live as the Hindu family’s tenant.

In 1947, the Partition of India led to the creation of two separate counties – India and Pakistan. It is said that between 12 and 14 million people were displaced to take up residence across the border. Between 500,000 and 1.5 million people died and apparently 83,000 women were abducted. It is against this background, that a family which is Hindu, continues to live in Pakistan. Dina Lal, the head of the family decides to buy an Englishman’s house at Five Queen’s Road, much to the horror of his wife Janoo. She knows the house is too grand for its own good and it is in a city that is being ‘ravished’ due to the riots. Despite this, Dina Lal, a true Lahori, refuses to leave and cross the border. He prefers to stay put in Five Queen’s Road despite his wife’s serious misgivings. Both his sons decide to leave Lahore and cross the border but Dina Lal prefers to stay behind in the house that he has purchased from an Englishman, who had parted very reluctantly with it.

The Muslim family of Amir Shah comes and sets up home at the same Five Queen’s Road as Dina Lal decides to let out the front portion of the house. Dina Lal even converts to Islam. This is done to insulate himself from the mayhem on the streets.

Amir Shah and his son Javid do up their house and buy new tiles for the floor as Javid’s foreign wife is coming to live at Five Queen’s Road. One day Javid sees four men coming and abducting Dina Lal’s wife, but he stays rooted to the spot where he is standing, despite his sister Rubina scolding him for not doing anything to save her. She is so angry with him that she admonishes him, “You’ll tell him [Dina Lal] we watched his wife being abducted and we did nothing?” She stomps away in utter disgust.

Dina Lal returns home and on learning about his wife’s misfortune from Amir Shah, he questions him as to what he was doing when his wife was being abducted. Janoo’s disappearance wrenches at his gut. He suddenly feels as if life—a cable upon which everything meaningful was affixed—was slipping past him, moving too fast for him to hold on, humming steadily like the traffic on Queen’s Road. The truth is that he finds that he has been left behind and it had been out of his own accord.

Meanwhile while Dina Lal and Amir Shah cross swords with each other at every given opportunity—though unexpectedly and in spite of themselves reaching to the other’s defence in moments of crises, a furtive friendship blossoms between Dina Lal and Javid. Javid’s European wife, Irene, still struggling with her World War II memories, finds a companion in Amir Shah with whom she can talk easily. She learns to enjoy the atmosphere in the house.

A decade later, inexplicably the lines of the Five Queen’s Road are redrawn and the new border is no less arbitrary and contentious than the one that sundered the sub-continent. While the house is steadily encroached upon by a car shop settlement and a sweepers’ colony, the occupants’ long-sanding feud reaches new heights. However, the family sees an unexpected alliance develop and loyalties to person and nation are scrutinised.

In this moving and multi-layered novel, the complex relationship between the characters reflects that of two nations of the subcontinent. The final scene shows demolition of Five Queeen’s Road as it has been declared unsafe and the city is determined to act on the judgement. As “Dina Lal’s roof caved in with a boom,” Amir Shah’s son absolves the skeleton of a house, window and door frames torn apart from it. It strikes him that the house, “forever bolted and so long partitioned, was neither any more. Without regard for borders and boundaries, it was torn wide open, naked for all who cared to see.” What is more Five Queen’s Road “was being devoured. Piece by pierce, the angrez’s house vanished.”

This is a novel in which a family saga is intricately interwoven into the national history.

(Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11, Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi-110 017.)

ShareTweetSendShareSend
✮ Subscribe Organiser YouTube Channel. ✮
✮ Join Organiser's WhatsApp channel for Nationalist views beyond the news. ✮
Previous News

Bookmark A fascinating book on the pleasure of eating

Next News

Grahak Diwas in Delhi by Grahak Panchayat Wrong model of development is the cause of all ills-Dr Bajrang Lal Gupt

Related News

India successfully test-fires Astra missile with indigenous radio frequency seeker and unveils DRDO’s Mounted Gun System

Twin defence triumph for Bharat: Indigenous Astra missile and mounted gun system successfully tested

Kapil Sibal

Kapil Sibal citizenship argument stirs controversy: Claims burden to prove illegality lies on State, not individuals

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis (Photo: X, Devendra Fadnavis)

Maharashtra clears “Special Public Security Bill”: All you need to know

Vedic sages’ legacy can inspire Bharat’s scientific self reliance

Revisiting ‘Socialist’ and ‘Secular’ in the Preamble: Reclaiming India's Constitutional Integrity

Revisiting ‘Socialist’ and ‘Secular’ in the Preamble: Reclaiming India’s Constitutional Integrity

From Left: Freedom Fight Veer Savarkar, Congress leader and former MP Rahul Gandhi

Savarkar Defamation Case: Rahul Gandhi pleads ‘Not guilty’ in London speech row, to face criminal trial now

Load More

Comments

The comments posted here/below/in the given space are not on behalf of Organiser. The person posting the comment will be in sole ownership of its responsibility. According to the central government's IT rules, obscene or offensive statement made against a person, religion, community or nation is a punishable offense, and legal action would be taken against people who indulge in such activities.

Latest News

India successfully test-fires Astra missile with indigenous radio frequency seeker and unveils DRDO’s Mounted Gun System

Twin defence triumph for Bharat: Indigenous Astra missile and mounted gun system successfully tested

Kapil Sibal

Kapil Sibal citizenship argument stirs controversy: Claims burden to prove illegality lies on State, not individuals

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis (Photo: X, Devendra Fadnavis)

Maharashtra clears “Special Public Security Bill”: All you need to know

Vedic sages’ legacy can inspire Bharat’s scientific self reliance

Revisiting ‘Socialist’ and ‘Secular’ in the Preamble: Reclaiming India's Constitutional Integrity

Revisiting ‘Socialist’ and ‘Secular’ in the Preamble: Reclaiming India’s Constitutional Integrity

From Left: Freedom Fight Veer Savarkar, Congress leader and former MP Rahul Gandhi

Savarkar Defamation Case: Rahul Gandhi pleads ‘Not guilty’ in London speech row, to face criminal trial now

Is ‘going rural’ a fantasy?

Chhangur Baba alias Jamaluddin’s Rs 100 cr Islamic conversion racket in UP

Balrampur: Jamaluddin who ran multi-crore religious conversion racket referred to Hindu women as ‘Projects’

Book review| India and Taiwan: A reality check

Tamil Nadu: HC slams IAS officers for failing to evict Church-run school from temple lands in Cuddalore for 50 years

Tamil Nadu: HC slams IAS officers for failing to evict Church-run school from temple lands in Cuddalore for 50 years

  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Cookie Policy
  • Refund and Cancellation
  • Delivery and Shipping

© Bharat Prakashan (Delhi) Limited.
Tech-enabled by Ananthapuri Technologies

  • Home
  • Search Organiser
  • Bharat
    • Assam
    • Bihar
    • Chhattisgarh
    • Jharkhand
    • Maharashtra
    • View All States
  • World
    • Asia
    • Africa
    • North America
    • South America
    • Europe
    • Australia
    • Global Commons
  • Editorial
  • Operation Sindoor
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Defence
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Business
  • RSS in News
  • Entertainment
  • More ..
    • Sci & Tech
    • Vocal4Local
    • Special Report
    • Education
    • Employment
    • Books
    • Interviews
    • Travel
    • Health
    • Politics
    • Law
    • Economy
    • Obituary
    • Podcast
  • Subscribe Magazine
  • Read Ecopy
  • Advertise
  • Circulation
  • Careers
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Policies & Terms
    • Privacy Policy
    • Cookie Policy
    • Refund and Cancellation
    • Terms of Use

© Bharat Prakashan (Delhi) Limited.
Tech-enabled by Ananthapuri Technologies