✨Book : Hindu Refugee Camp, Lahore
✨Author : Sachin Garg
✨Genre : Contemporary – Historical fiction, Epistolary Fiction
✨Pages : 276
✨Publication: 2021, Grapevine
✨Format : paperback
✨Book Cost : ₹295

3.9 /5

Blogpost by Dhanu

The novel sets in post-partition era where the situation between India and Pakistan is just beginning to bloom with the unhealed scar. The story is based on the skilled craftsman and well talented limb fitter, Ghulam Ali who has been stuck in a Hindu Refugee Camp after the discovery of his fraudulent passport as an Indian Citizen.

The entire novel has been formatted as letter conversation between Ghulam Ali and Zahira Raza. This conversation untangles the series of events that occur in the lives of the couple on both sides of the borders. Zahira lives in Lucknow who is working in the passport verification department whereas Ali lives in Hindu Refugee Camp in Lahore as the only muslim man in his late 30s.

What attracts me the most is the plot setting, the theme and the timeline of the story. The incidents that the story and the characters are traveling are the pivotal moments in the history of India as well as the world. The tragedies, sufferings and struggles behind the incidents such as partition, Bengal famine, Communal disharmony, violence, war are indescribable.

Other than the protagonist, the characterization of other characters could be stronger which often seem to be off the ground and bit of not well chiselled. In such novels, carrying the spectacular opulence of the characters and picturising the disturbing events could be outstripped on the ground of the storyline. The churning of the characters’ agony and emotions could be strongly springled. The language of the novel is simple and fast-paced. But I missed the coherence somewhere due to its monotonous letter narration. The writing style is lucid and beginner-friendly.