Zarina Divided by Reem Faruqi

Zarina Divided is a story told in free verse about one family's experience during the Partition in 1947.

Zarina's family are Muslim and her mother, a petite woman, is expecting another baby. Eleven-year-old Zarina lives in Poona, India with her father Abajan, her mother, and her three brothers, Wahab (15), Qadir (13), and Adil (7). Their home  was once Zarina'a great-great-grandfather's.  It is a bungalow with twelve rooms and a wrap-around verandah, as well as a walled garden. Beyond the garden walls are sellers of chai, samosa, sabzi (vegetables) and bananas. Zarina's family have servants: a mali (gardener) named Irfan, a chawkidar (watchman) named Mahesh, Khushboo who is their ayah (nanny) and Basheer who is their khansama (cook). 

Zarina's father and her uncles are always listening to the radio, leaving her wondering what is going on. She hears the names of Quaid-e-Azam, Gandhi-ji, Nehru, and Jinnah Zindabad. Zarina knows there is talk of splitting the land into two countries, Pakistan in the west for Muslims and India in the east for Hindus. Zarina's father is obsessed with the idea of Pakistan, a country just for Muslims and is working for the Muslim League. His friend is Quaid-e-Azam whose real name is Muhammad Ali Jinnah and the force behind the partition.

At school, Zarina and her friends wonder who is leaving and who is staying. But their teacher, Mrs. Nizami

Zarina's aunt, her father's younger sister whom he calls Pyari Jan which means "Loved One", is married in their garden. Abajan invites not only their famiily's hired help, Khushboo, irfan, Basheer and Makesh, but also Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and his sister, Fatima Jinnah. Zarina is not happy about this and does offer these two special guests the sherbet as her mother asks. Zarina realizes that if Pakistan is created they will lose their home in Poona. 

As independence from Britain moves closer to reality, and the formation of Pakistan and India also appears to be happening, Mrs. Nizami reminds her students that they are all human regardless of their faith. She gives each student a brand new pencil, something that thrills Zarina.

Zarina is furious when her best friend, Jahana reveals that her family is leaving soon for Pakistan. She tells Zarina that if she stays in Poon, like their friend Geeta, she is Hindu. The next afternoon Jahana comes by to say goodbye as her family is leaving that night.

Things begin to change in Zarina's neighborhood: the normally noisy roads are now quiet with the sellers no longer yelling about goods for sale. Khushboo teaches Zarina how to wash their clothes, how to iron Abajan's handkerchiefs, the kurtas and shalwars, and how to sweep the floor with the jharoo. Geeta is no longer allowed to come visit because she is Hindu and Zarina is Muslim and when she sees Zarina, she throws stones at her. 

In Poona there are riots with people being hurt and dying. Zarina and her brothers are no longer allowed to attend school. Her father decides that they will leave in two weeks for Pakistan, a decision that greatly upsets Zarina, especially when she learns that Khushboo will not be going with them. Khushboo explains to Zarina that she cannot come because she is Hindu and she has to stay with her family who are in Poona.

But when a mob arrives at Zarina's home looking for Muslims to kill, Zarina's father decides the must leave that night. It will be a treacherous, chaotic trip that leads to many changes for Zarina and her family.

Discussion

Although Zarina Divided is a work of historical fiction, it is loosely based on the experiences of the author's maternal grandmother, Zarina. As with the Zarina in the novel, Reem Faruqi's grandmother lived in Poona, India in a house with a large garden. Zarina's father (the author's great-grandfather Ahmed E. H. Jaffer) was a politician, elected to the Central Legislative Assembly in 1934. He was a member of the All India Muslim League that came to press for a separate Muslim country, Pakistan. 

As with the character in the novel, Zarina left India for the new country of Pakistan via a ship, the Shirala. And she did attend boarding school, St. Denys, but only after everyone in the family gave their approval by signing the petition her father drew up. The lone exception was her mother (the author's great-grandmother). And like Zarina in the novel, she thrived at the boarding school.

Zarina Divided manages to portray some of the reality of the Partition of India in 1947 from a Muslim point of view. Zarina's family are Muslim and when the Partition happens they are caught in India, now a country for Hindus only. This means they must travel to what was once western India, to the new state called Pakistan. Likewise, those Hindus living in Pakistan must leave their homes and move east into India. This mass migration according to the Author's Note at the back, "was one of the bloodiest upheavals in human history and was the largest mass migration of the twentieth century. Over the course of a year, an estimated fifteen million people crossed borders that were drawn up in a rush by the British Empire."

The mass migration was rife with violence and bloodshed, nd Zarina's family experienced some of that. Their trip out of Poona, India to Karachi, Pakistan is harrowing for Zarina and her family from the very beginning. The train station is chaotic, the trains packed both within and on top with people. They lose the youngest boy, Adil but Abajan is able to find him and bring him back to the train. Zarina's family barely escape being murdered on the train when a mob looking for Muslims board the train. They are hidden in a bathroom by the station manager. The trip on the Shirala is also challenging but in a different way: sea sickness, and crowded conditions with distressed children and women. 

While the author indicates that there was much killing and violence, she also highlights acts of mercy by Hindus and Muslims. For example, when a Hindu mob comes to their home in Poona, looking to kill Zarina's family, Mahesh, their Hindu watchman saves them by hiding them in the bathroom and telling the mob the family has moved. Adil who became separated from the family at the train station is also saved in what could have been a devastating situation. Abajan tells the family upon his return with Adil, 

"I saw him crying, he says.

A Hindu woman was holding him up,

asking people who he belonged to.

If it wasn't for her,

we wouldn't have found him..."

In Karachi, it is Zarina's family's turn to protect someone from harm. The house they have been allotted belongs to Rupi, a Sikh woman who is not happy with this arrangement. However, when a Muslim mob arrives, Zarina's parents hide the lady in the bathroom and turn away the mob. Rupi is grateful but nevertheless decides to leave her home. Abajan gives her the address of their old house in Poona, recognizing the injustice that's been done to her and hoping in some small way to address that.

Zarina and her family seem more fortunate than many people were during the partition. Zarina is eventually sent to a private school. This request is not without intense inner conflict for Zarina, She is Zarina divided: she desires to be a good daughter but she also wants a good education. All her family members sign the petition to allow her to attend a private school, except Zarina's mother. This creates tension between mother and daughter. Zarina feels that she has hurt her mother by leaving for school. However, both her older brother Wahab and Khushboo explain that she has done nothing wrong but that her mother is not well. Eventually Zarina and her mother reconcile with her mother telling Zarina how proud she is of her determination to learn and get an education. 

Life at the private school, St. Denys, also provides challenges for Zarina and opportunities for personal growth too. The school has a small group of students made up of Muslims and those British who have stayed behind after the Partition. Zarina befriends a British girl, Daphne Drinkwater. However one of the Muslim students, Sidra, is openly prejudiced towards the British girls. She tells Zarina that she needs to "stick to your kind of people", that is people who are brown or Muslim. Sidra talks only to the classmates who are like her, while treating the white students as though they are enemies. Finally, Zarina confronts Sidra,

"You're not better than anyone else.

You need to give people a chance

whether they look like you

or not,

whether they act like you

or not.

We are all the same kind of people,

HUMAN"

Although Zarina's words are harsh, she is happy that she didn't physically push Sidra as she might have done when she lived in Poona. Zarina remembers her bad temper and is trying to overcome it. So when she sees the sadness in Sidra, walking alone a few days later, Zarina wants to be kind. She loops Sidra arm-in-arm with herself and Daphne and notices the small smile on Sidra's face. 

Zarina also begins to assert herself when it comes to the practice of her faith. She makes the decision to fast for Ramadan. When she and her Muslim friends decide to eat Sehri and are caught, Zarina explains to the matron why this is important to them and allowances are made.

The novel ends on a happy note, with Zarina returning home for the winter holidays, reuniting with her family but also her best friend, Jahana who is interested in the attending the private school. While the novel does offer some information on the effects of the partition of India into two countries it is also about a young girl's journey towards womanhood and independence. Zarina Divided does offer readers a map of Zarina's journey from Poona to Karachi to Muree.

Book Details:

Zarina Divided by Reem Faruqi
New York: Harper Collins Children's Books     2025

325 pp.

The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani

The Night Diary is a fictional account of one family's experience during the partition of India into two countries in 1947. The story is told in the form of diary entries written by the main character, Nisha beginning on her twelfth birthday, addressed to her deceased mother. 

Nisha receives the diary as birthday gift from Kazi, the family's Muslim servant. "The diary is covered in purple and red silk, decorated with small sequins and bits of mirrored glass sewn in. The paper is rough, thick, and the color of butter..." He tells Nisha "someone needs to make a record of the things that will happen because the grown-ups will be too busy." 

Nisha decides to address each entry to her mother Faria who died giving birth to Nisha and her twin brother Amil. For his birthday, Amil receives a beautiful book, a collection of tales from the Mahabharata, an ancient Hindu epic poem. The book contains beautiful coloured pictures, which Nisha knows Amil will love as he loves to draw but struggles to read.

Nisha and Amil live with their papa who is the head doctor at Mirpur Khas City Hospital, and Dadi, their grandmother in a large compound provided by the government. The compound consists of their home which is a large bungalow, cottages where Kazi Syed and their grounds keeper Mahit live, a vegetable garden and a chicken coop. Nisha and her brother both attend segregated government schools for boys and girls.

The first hint of change happens on July 18 when three men come to the house while Papa is at work and speak to Dadi. She orders Nisha and Amil into the kitchen with Kazi. Dadi won't tell them what they wanted but Amil tells his sister that he overheard the men asking Dadi when they would be leaving. The next day, July 19 Nisha and Amil are followed by two boys as they walk to school. Although this occasionally happens, this time the boys throw rocks at them. Nisha blames Amil who often taunts them and then runs away. But Amil tells her "It's because we're Hindus...There are lots of places all over India where the Hindus and Sikhs and Muslims fight one another all the time now...That's why those men came to the house yesterday. They said the Hindus should leave and they don't want Kazi to live with us."  

As tensions escalate, there is a fight between a Muslim and a Hindu boy at school and Amil is chased again after school. Papa decides that neither Nisha nor Amil will go to school. He explains that India will gain its independence from Britain but will be partitioned into two states. Their town of Mirpur Khas won't be in India but will now be a part of a new country called Pakistan. Although Gandhi wants everyone to live in peace, Jinnah, leader of the Muslim League wants a Muslim state while Nehru, leader of the Indian National Congress wants to be prime minister of India.

Life at home leaves Nisha bored and missing school which she did well at. Then on August 2, a group of people break down the door of their home, ransacking and breaking furniture and pots while Nisha, Amil and Dadi hide in terror in the pantry. After they leave, Kazi comes to get them, his head bleeding profusely from a cut. Shortly after this Papa decides it is time for them to leave Mirpur Khas as it is no longer safe for them to stay. He decides to hold a party and invites family and friends. Their neighbours, uncles, aunties, cousins and Dr. Ahmed and his family attend the party.

After the party, Nisha realizes that she will have her memories of life in Mirpur Khas and new memories of life in the new India. "My childhood would always have a line drawn through it, the before and the after." Nisha, Amil and their father undertake a journey across India that will change them forever and in ways they cannot anticipate.

Discussion

Veera Hiranandani's The Night Diary is loosely based on the experiences of her father's family during the Partition. Hiranandani's father, grandparents, aunts and uncles had to cross the border from Mirpur Khas to Jodhpur in a journey similar to that undertaken by Nisha and her family.  Although they safely crossed the border, at least one million people died in this mass migration that saw tensions between Muslims and Hindus escalate into violence.

Hiranandani's novel presents a balanced portrayal of the relationship between Muslims and Hindus in pre-partitioned India.  As would be expected, the families of Nisha's Hindu father and Muslim mother had mixed reactions to their marriage years earlier: her father's family was against the marriage, puzzled by his lack of interest in the Hindu girls, while Nisha's mother's sister was so against the marriage that she never spoke to her again. However her mother's brother seemed supportive. Because of Nisha's mixed background she and her family are open to friendships with both Hindu and Muslim people: her father's best friend is Dr. Ahmed, a Muslim, while Nisha's best friend is Sabeen, a Muslim student. Their cook, Kazi is also Muslim and considered a member of the family.

When Nisha and her family become targets of violence she struggles to understand. Because of their mixed heritage, Nisha and Amil don't know who attacked their home and are left confused. "...And anyway I thought the two sides were supposed to be us and the British. Why are we fighting each other?" Nisha wants to "go somewhere fresh and new where people were happy..." and where "nobody would mind that you were Muslim and Papa was Hindu and Amil and I could hold both sides of our parents in our hearts." In trying to understand why people are fighting each other, Nisha asks, "Is it the brain that makes people love and hate? Or is it the heart?"

Nisha's father tells her that everyone is to blame. "...when you separate people into groups, they start to believe that one group is better than another." But Nisha recognizes "...we all have the same blood, and organs, and bones inside us, no matter what religion we're supposed to be."

The journey to the border is filled with hardships and terrifying experiences that change how Nisha views the world and push her to ask many questions. When they run out of water, Nisha thinks about Badal, the water man who brought water to their home daily. "I never thought about how heavy it must have been and how lucky we were to have someone bring it to us every day. A wave of shame rippled through the center of my body..." As their situation grows dire and they are unable to continue, Nisha begins to think about death. "...I've thought about other people dying, but I've never thought about me not actually being here anymore."

Suffering from dehydration and unable to continue their journey, Nisha tells Dadi she loves her, making her realize that although they "never said those words to one another..." they "did things that meant love." Nisha realises that love existed in their home in the form of service to one another. "Now I could see it. Dadi washing and mending my clothes. Papa kissing us on our foreheads before bedtime, Amil making a drawing of me. Kazi making my favorite paratha stuffed with fried onions and potatoes. Every day had been filled with things like this. All love, even between Papa and Amil." Facing certain death from lack of water, when Papa returns with the much needed water, his sacrifice and comforting of them convinces Nisha that her father loves them. "I knew I would remember this forever, pack it away in my mind."

After Nisha is attacked outside Rashid Uncle's home by a Muslim man who has seen his entire family murdered, she wonders, "Why had his family been killed? Why would anyone do that? Do people who kill start out like me, or are they a different kind of human?" The attack leaves Nisha unable to comprehend the violence. "I know lots of people have died walking and on the trains in both directions. The riots and killings keep happening. I still don't understand. We were all part of the same country last month, all these different people and religions living together. Now we are supposed to separate and hate one another. Does Papa secretly hate Rashid Uncle? Does Rashid Uncle secretly hate us? Where do Amil and I fit in to all of this hate? Can you hate half of a person?" Nisha is referring to the fact that she and Amil are from Muslim and Hindu parents, leading her to wonder how people will view them.

When they finally push their way onto a train to cross the border, Nisha watches as Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs fight one another in a bloody, deadly battle. "I looked at the dying men on the ground. For what? I did not know. More revenge? I shook all over. I had never seen anyone kill before. It has changed me. I used to think people were mostly good, but now I wonder if anyone could be a murderer..."

Hiranandani has populated her novel with realistic characters and has done an excellent job recreating the historical setting for the novel, demonstrating, not surprisingly she knows her subject well.

The Night Diary doesn't really explore the root of the tensions between Muslims and Hindus in British India but it does show that the partition of the country into two separate republics was a violent event. This event viewed through the eyes of young Nisha shows how senseless the violence was, in what should have been a very proud moment in the history of the country - freedom from almost three hundred years of British rule. Today tensions continue to exist between Muslims and Hindus both within India and Pakistan and also between the two countries who are arch enemies. Neither nation has fared well since the Partition; India continues to have serious social issues including poverty, an inability to eradicate the caste system and serious women's rights issues, while Pakistan struggles with government corruption and encroaching Islamic fundamentalism.

Hiranandani includes a short Author's Note that provides some background information about her family's experiences and about the Partition. Readers may find the following websites helpful:

Stanford University's 19947 Partition of India & Pakistan: https://exhibits.stanford.edu/1947-partition/about/1947-partition-of-india-pakistan

The British National Archives also have much information as does the BBC website (https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05b5fdg ).

Overall The Night Diary is an excellent, well-written novel for younger readers about an important event in the 20th century.

Book Details:

The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani
New York: Dial Books For Young Readers    2018
264 pp.