Rachana Dubey (BOMBAY TIMES; August 10, 2019)

During a recent visit to Amritsar to attend an event, Nandita Das took the opportunity to visit the Partition Museum in the city. The museum aims to become a repository of information and stories of the Partition. The collection on display at the museum includes photographs, newspaper clippings, and personal items by people who had witnessed the tragic moment and lived through it.

Talking about the experience, Nandita said, “I was in Amritsar for an event organised by the FICCI FLO (all India organisation for women), where I was part of a discussion, along with Suchitra Pillai and a bunch of local women from different walks of life, to deliberate on the pressures women feel to look a certain way. I took this opportunity to visit the Partition Museum. It was something that I had been wanting to do for a long time. It is located in the beautiful town hall building. Interestingly, it not only focusses on how Punjab was divided, but also on the trauma the people of Bengal went through. The killings, displacement, violence, both physical and psychological, was depicted through video installations, art and some objects from that time. Working on my film, Manto, often made me feel like I was living through the tragedy of Partition. Visiting the museum was a reminder that we have learnt too little from it all. It was a disturbing and moving experience."