The Lost Homestead

Last updated
The Lost Homestead: My Mother, Partition and the Punjab
The Lost Homestead cover.jpg
Author Marina Wheeler
LanguageEnglish
Published2020
Publisher Hodder & Stoughton
Pages328
ISBN 978-1-4736-7774-6

The Lost Homestead: My Mother, Partition and the Punjab is a book by Marina Wheeler, published by Hodder & Stoughton in 2020. It focusses on the author's Sikh mother, Kuldip Singh, known as Dip, and traces her life through the partition of India in 1947 and her life with the British journalist and broadcaster, Charles Wheeler.

Contents

The title of the book refers to Dip’s palatial childhood home in Sargodha, Lahore, then in British India, now in Pakistan, from which her family had to flee before settling in Delhi, when Dip was in her teens. The effects of partition caused her father to instruct the family to forget the life they previously had. At the age of 17, by family arrangement, she was married into an eminent and wealthy family. After walking out of the marriage she supported herself at first in Bombay and then in Delhi, where she met the then BBC Delhi-based South Asia correspondent, Charles Wheeler. They married and for a short while lived in Berlin, where they had two daughters. From 1965 to 1973, they lived mostly in Washington. Later, they would settle in Sussex, England, and Dip would train and work for Amnesty International. After 1972, she never returned to India.

Wheeler visits India and Pakistan to trace her mother's story. On completing her research, Dip suggested that the title of the book be From Sargodha to Sussex, as she saw the paradise she lost in Sargodha regained in Sussex. Interspersed in the story of her mother, Wheeler inserts historical context. Among the memoirs in the book include early memories of being in Sargodha, meeting India's first Prime Minister in 1948, reading P. G. Wodehouse, seeing falling snow for the first time in Berlin, and an incident with ketchup, among others.

The book was generally well received in India. The Wire questioned some of the historical interpretations and the absence of other relevant historical detail. However, it felt that these were overshadowed by the personal story, a feature also pointed by the Financial Times . The Telegraph wrote that the book had little of Wheeler's private life, but it was a story worth telling, and The Hindu noted that the book had brought to the forefront the life of someone living on the sidelines.

It was shortlisted for the 2021 RSL Christopher Bland Prize.

Background

The Lost Homestead examines the memoirs of Kuldip Singh, [1] [2] affectionately known as Dip (pronounced deep [1] ) or nani to her grandchildren, [2] the wife of Charles Wheeler and the mother of Marina Wheeler, a barrister who was appointed QC in 2016 and who researched and wrote the book. The title of the book refers to Dip’s childhood home in the Civil Lines of Sargodha, Punjab before the partition of India in 1947. [3] [4] "It is also my story", says Wheeler in the prologue. [2] The idea for writing it came from a publisher who read her review of Gurinder Chadha's film Viceroy's House in 2017, which depicted Britain's plans to partition India. [5] In order to trace her maternal family’s life, and explain it in a historical context, she subsequently spent two years questioning her mother and conducting her own research through books, libraries, archives and visits to India and Pakistan, where she was assisted by relatives, friends and several academics. [2] [5]

Publication history

The book was first published in hardback by Hodder & Stoughton on 12 November 2020. [6] [7] It was released as paperback in 2021. [8] There is an electronic version, and the audible version is narrated by Wheeler herself, who also holds the copyright. [8] [9] The front cover of the book depicts a photograph taken in 1968 at Golf Links, New Delhi, Wheeler's grandparent's home after India's independence. [10] Charles Wheeler stands at the top centre with Dip, her sisters Amarjit and Anup, and brother Priti. [10] Wheeler's sister Shirin is sitting on her grandmother's knee and Marina Wheeler on her grandfather's. [10] The prologue is followed by six parts covering 15 chapters, an epilogue and an index. [8] There are no references, footnotes or bibliography. [8] There are 16 pages of photographs including Dip's portrait by M. F. Husain, her first marriage at age 17, her marriage to Charles Wheeler in 1962, her father's OBE decoration and several other family photographs. [8]

Summary

Wheeler documents Dip's memories, narrates her story in chronological order, fills in gaps after interviewing relevant academics, friends and relatives, and adds her own researched historical context, revealing at each stage where she got the information from. [11]

Sequence of events

Dip's father, Harbans Singh, referred to as Papa-ji, features early in part one of the book. During the early twentieth century he was a doctor and well-off land-owner in Sargodha, Lahore, then in British India, now in Pakistan. Dip, born in Sargodha, described the family home at this time as "paradise". It was a large mansion with external verandahs in the British style, complete with orchards and gardens. They had servants and her family's importance of education meant that she attended a school where she was taught in English and Urdu. During the partition of India in 1947 and early post-independence years, when Dip was in her teens, the family found themselves concerned with the illness of Dip's older brother, and simultaneously became displaced in Delhi, as Sargodha became part of Pakistan. The effects of partition caused her father to instruct the family to forget the life they previously had. Part two covers the immediate post-independence of India. In the early years Dip attended at first Indraprastha College for Women before transferring to Lady Irwin College. At the age of 17, by family arrangement, she married Daljit, son of Sir Sobha Singh, the contractor who built much of New Delhi, and brother of Khushwant Singh. Unable to probe her into revealing more detail, Wheeler discovers from another relative that one day Dip packed a suitcase and just walked out. She supported herself working at first in Bombay and then at Canada House in Delhi. In 1960, she met Charles Wheeler, the BBC's Delhi-based South Asia correspondent. They married in 1962.

Part three begins with Dip's departure from India in 1962 and settlement in Berlin, where she gave birth to their two daughters, and from where she took British nationality. From 1965 to 1973, they lived mostly in Washington, where Charles at first covered the Los Angeles riots and later Watergate. A day prior to returning to England on the SS France she cut her long hair. After the post in Washington, the family lived for a short while in Brussels. Eventually, they would settle in Sussex, England, and Dip would train and work for Amnesty International. Part four covers the few trips back to India between 1963 and 1972 and here she describes the members of her extended Indian family, several of who have been in close contact throughout her life. Two trips to Sargodha in Pakistan in search for Dip's childhood home are described in part five. There she discovers the house no longer exists. Upon returning to India, Wheeler recounts some of the testimonies of residents of Sargodha of 1947, held in the National Archives in Delhi. Part six returns to Sussex and Dip's suggestion that the title of the book be From Sargodha to Sussex, as she saw the paradise she lost in Sargodha regained in her Sussex cottage. Dip's last days and death in early 2020, are described in the epilogue. Her ashes were buried by her daughters and grandchildren in her Sussex garden.

Historical context

Interspersed in the story of her mother, Wheeler inserts historical context and her own feelings. The family home in Sarghoda was built among the Punjab Canal Colonies north west of Lahore. For his efforts in recruiting Punjabi men for the First World War and for attending to the sick during the influenza epidemic of 1918, the British had rewarded Papa-ji with sanads, deeds confirming his allegiance to them. He later received an OBE for his service during the 1919 campaign in Afghanistan. In the following years leading to 1947, his children, nephews and nieces, did not share all his views, and some would be involved in freedom campaigns. Here she places the significance of the Sikhs in the British Indian Army, Unionist rule and the rise of nationalist politics with the Indian National Congress and All-India Muslim League. She links her family's political connection to Papa-ji's cousin, Ujjal Singh , clarifies Sir Sobha Singh's association with Bhagat Singh and reads Kim A. Wagner's Amritsar 1919 and Anita Anand's The Patient Assassin to give her interpretation of the massacre at Jallianwala Bagh and Udham Singh, respectively. Among the historical themes and topics she writes about are Subhas Chandra Bose, the Radcliffe Line, China–India relations, Operation Blue Star, and the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

Selected memoirs

With reference to the massacre at Amritsar in 1919, Dip did not recall hearing that news at that time. Early memories included receiving a bicycle as a gift and sitting in front of fires eating nuts with family in their mansion home. Memories of the late 1940s concentrate on her unwell brother Bakshi, who died from tuberculosis in his early 20s. Exactly how Dip arrived at Delhi is not clear in her memory. In the early post-independence years, Dip tells of being in Delhi at the time of the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, and the reaction to finding out that the assassin was Hindu. She enjoyed reading and hid under covers to read P. G. Wodehouse and enjoyed Bertie Wooster and Jeeves. At age 16, from Lady Irwin College, she was one of six girls to present a garland to then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru on his birthday. Wheeler calls this memory one her personal favourites. After it was pointed out by her teacher that it was also Dip's birthday, Nehru in return removed one garland and put it on Dip. Dip tells Wheeler that she did not remember her wedding day at age 17 and that any memories of that marriage were "buried". She remembers being secretly painted by the famous artist M. F. Husain. Another memory was that of sleeping in Jinnah's old bedroom in the house on Aurangzeb Road where he lived before leaving India. Later, in Berlin, several stories are recounted including that of seeing falling snow for the first time, and being in the city when John F. Kennedy visited. During their life in Washington, Wheeler and Dip recounted a game at supper where Dip squirted ketchup on Charles's head after he said she was best at cleaning the lavatory.

Reception

The book was generally well received in India. [1] The Wire questioned some of the historical interpretations and the absence of other relevant historical detail. [6] It was surprised that Viceroy’s House was felt by Wheeler to be a reliable source of Indian history. [6] It commented on the omission of her own marriage in the book. [6] Regarding historical facts and analyses, the magazine felt Wheeler not at fault, but those who checked the text, and any inaccuracies were overshadowed by the personal story. [6] The Telegraph felt that the beginning of the book reflected Wheeler's unfamiliarity with what is a new way of writing for her. [11] [12] [13] It noted that the book had little of her private life, but it was a story worth telling. [11] The Hindu noted that the book had brought to the forefront the life of someone living on the sidelines, and in the process, helped Wheeler appraise her own life. [14] In the Financial Times the personal narrative was reiterated..."Wheeler taps a rich vein of personal history". [15] In its opinion, Wheeler's story could be related by many of the Indian diaspora. [15] In The Hindustan Times , Shashi Tharoor was quoted to say "Marina Wheeler delves deep into the history of her family that is linked inextricably with the history of a nation. This book is more than a family memoir - it is an insightful glimpse into the way small worlds are forever changed by the impersonal currents of history". [1] The Tribune quoted Dip's thoughts that she felt "that here (in Sussex), with Charles, I had regained the paradise I lost in Sargodha". [16]

Awards and nominations

It was shortlisted for the 2021 RSL Christopher Bland Prize. [17] [18]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Partition of India</span> 1947 division of British India into independent India and Pakistan

The partition of India in 1947 divided British India into two independent dominions: India and Pakistan. The Dominion of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Pakistan is the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the People's Republic of Bangladesh. The partition involved the division of two provinces, Bengal and Punjab, based on district-wide non-Muslim or Muslim majorities. The partition also saw the division of the British Indian Army, the Royal Indian Navy, the Royal Indian Air Force, the Indian Civil Service, the railways, and the central treasury. The partition was outlined in the Indian Independence Act 1947 and resulted in the dissolution of the British Raj, i.e., Crown rule in India. The two self-governing independent Dominions of India and Pakistan legally came into existence at midnight on 14–15 August 1947.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ludhiana</span> Metropolis in Punjab, India

Ludhiana(Punjabi pronunciation: [lʊdiˈɑːnə] ) is the most populous and the largest city in the Indian state of Punjab. The city has an estimated population of 1,618,879 as of the 2011 census and distributed over 310 km2 (120 sq mi), making Ludhiana the most densely populated urban centre in the state. It is a major industrial center of Northern India, referred to as the India's Manchester by BBC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natwar Singh</span> Indian politician

Kunwar Natwar Singh, IFS is an Indian diplomat and politician who served as the Minister of External Affairs from May 2004 to December 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khushwant Singh</span> Indian author, lawyer, diplomat, journalist and politician (1915–2014)

Khushwant Singh was an Indian author, lawyer, diplomat, journalist and politician. His experience in the 1947 Partition of India inspired him to write Train to Pakistan in 1956, which became his most well-known novel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amrita Pritam</span> Indian writer

Amrita Pritam was an Indian novelist, essayist and poet, who wrote in Punjabi and Hindi. A prominent figure in Punjabi literature, she is the recipient of the 1956 Sahitya Akademi Award. Her body of work comprised over 100 books of poetry, fiction, biographies, essays, a collection of Punjabi folk songs and an autobiography that were all translated into several Indian and foreign languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Divya Dutta</span> Indian actress

Divya Dutta is an Indian actress and model. She has appeared in Hindi and Punjabi cinema, in addition to Malayalam and English-language films. She has received many awards including a National Film Award, a Filmfare Award and 2 IIFA Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amrita Singh</span> Indian actress (born 1958)

Amrita Singh is an Indian actress. Through her films such as Betaab and Mard, she gained popularity and became a well-known and popular actress in the 1980s. She took a break from acting in the early 1990s for a decade and returned to acting in 2002, occasionally playing supporting roles. She also made her debut on television in 2005. Amrita keeps a low public profile and gives seldom interviews, only on occasional basis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Artistic depictions of the partition of India</span> Overview about artistic depictions of the partition of India

The partition of India and the associated bloody riots inspired many creative minds in India and Pakistan to create literary/cinematic depictions of this event. While some creations depicted the massacres during the refugee migration, others concentrated on the aftermath of the partition in terms of difficulties faced by the refugees in both side of the border. Even now, more than 60 years after the partition, works of fiction and films are made that relate to the events of partition.

Punjabi Hindus are an Indo-European ethnic group who are adherents of Hinduism and identify linguistically, culturally, and genealogically as Punjabis. While Punjabi Hindus are mostly found in the Indian state of Punjab today, many have ancestry from the greater Punjab region, an area that was partitioned between India and Pakistan.

<i>Gadar: Ek Prem Katha</i> 2001 Hindi film by Anil Sharma

Gadar: Ek Prem Katha is a 2001 Indian Hindi-language romantic period action drama film directed by Anil Sharma and set during the Partition of India in 1947. Loosely based on the life of Boota Singh, the film stars Sunny Deol and Amisha Patel in lead roles alongside Amrish Puri and Lillete Dubey. Sharma's son Utkarsh as a child artist plays Deol and Patel's son, before his first film as an adult, another Sharma directorial Genius (2018). Patel bagged Sakeena's role out of 500 girls who auditioned for the role.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Surinder Kaur</span> Musical artist

Surinder Kaur was an Indian singer and songwriter. While she mainly sang Punjabi folk songs, where she is credited for pioneering and popularising the genre, Kaur also recorded songs as a playback singer for Hindi films between 1948 and 1952. For her contributions to Punjabi music, she earned the sobriquet Nightingale of Punjab, the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1984, and the Padma Shri in 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haryanvi language</span> Indo-Aryan language/dialect primarily spoken in Haryana, India

Haryanvi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the state of Haryana in India, and to a lesser extent in Delhi. Haryanvi is considered to be part of the dialect group of Western Hindi, which also includes Khariboli and Braj. It is written in the Devanagari script.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rajinder Singh Bedi</span> Indian author, director and screenwriter

Rajinder Singh Bedi was an Indian Urdu writer of the progressive writers' movement and a playwright, who later worked in Hindi cinema as a film director, screenwriter and dialogue writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Krishna Sobti</span> Indian Hindi-language writer and essayist (1925–2019)

Krishna Sobti was an Indian Hindi-language fiction writer and essayist. She won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1980 for her novel Zindaginama and in 1996, was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship, the highest award of the Akademi. In 2017, she received the Jnanpith Award for her contribution to Indian literature.

Marina Claire Wheeler is a British lawyer and writer. As a barrister, she specialises in public law, including human rights, and is a member of the Bar Disciplinary Tribunal. She was appointed Queen's Counsel in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pul Kanjri</span> Historical Site in Punjab, India

Pul Kanjri is a historical site situated 35 km away from Amritsar on Amritsar-Lahore road, near the villages of Dhanoa Khurd and Dhanoa Kalan on the Wagah border. It is one of the heritage sites built by Maharaja Ranjit Singh, where he used to rest while travelling with his troops. During his reign, Pul Kanjari was an important trading centre. The legend has it when Maharaja Ranjit Singh married Begum Gul Bahar, on their way to Lahore they had to cross this canal on Ravi river. People used to cross the canal by foot but Begum Gul Bahar refused to do so. Since Maharaja Ranjit Singh was deeply in love with Begum Gul Bahar, he had a small bridge built for her. Some part of the bridge still exists. It was named Pul Kanjri. It was greatly in news during 1971 war. This fortress also contains a bathing pool, a temple, a Gurudwara and a mosque.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kishwar Desai</span> Indian author and columnist

Kishwar Desai is an Indian author and columnist. Her first novel, Witness the Night, won the Costa Book Award in 2010 for Best First Novel and has been translated into over 25 languages. It was also shortlisted for the Author's Club First Novel Award and longlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize. Her novel Origins of Love, published in June 2012, was critically acclaimed. The Sea of Innocence, published in 2014 in India as well as in the UK and Australia, was widely discussed as it dealt with the issue of gang rape. Desai also has a biography, Darlingji: The True Love Story of Nargis and Sunil Dutt, to her credit. She wrote her latest book in 2020, released on 28 December, titled, The Longest Kiss.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Preeti Singh</span> Indian author based at Chandigarh (born 1971)

Preeti Singh is an Indian author based at Chandigarh. Singh has been working as a professional writer since last 21 years before authoring her four best-selling novels. Her debut novel - Flirting With Fate was published by Mahaveer Publishers, India in 2012, followed by Crossroads, which was published by Authors Press, India, in 2014. Her second book Crossroads has made its place in the India Book Of Records as the First Indian Fiction having real-life people as characters.

<i>The Unsafe Asylum</i>

The Unsafe Asylum: Stories of Partition and Madness is a 2018 collection of short stories by Anirudh Kala. The book includes a number of interlinking stories which explore the effects of partition on the mental health of people from both India and Pakistan.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Dutt, Nirupama (19 December 2020). "Roundabout: The Lost Homestead – from Sargodha to Sussex". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 14 December 2021. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Wheeler, M. (2020). "Prologue". The Lost Homestead. pp. 1–9.
  3. ↑ Wheeler, M. (2020). "Part 1. British India". The Lost Homestead. pp. 14–91.
  4. ↑ Rashid, Tanjil (6 November 2020). "The Lost Homestead by Marina Wheeler review — the partition of India through one family's eyes". The Times. Archived from the original on 14 December 2021. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  5. 1 2 Lamb, Christina (7 November 2020). "Marina Wheeler on life after Boris Johnson and her new‑found freedom". The Times. Archived from the original on 16 December 2021. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Wright, Gillian (11 December 2020). "A Daughter's Search for a Mother's Lost Home and Partition Memories". The Wire . Archived from the original on 14 December 2021. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  7. ↑ "Marina Wheeler revisits her roots in her latest book..." www.asian-voice.com. Archived from the original on 17 December 2021. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Wheeler, Marina (2020). The Lost Homestead: My Family, Partition and the Punjab. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN   978-1-4736-7774-6. OCLC   1147952565.
  9. ↑ The Lost Homestead. 25 April 2019. ISBN   9781473677784. Archived from the original on 16 December 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  10. 1 2 3 Wheeler, M. (2020). "Part 3. Leaving India". The Lost Homestead. pp. 137–155.
  11. 1 2 3 Krishnan, Nikhil (9 January 2021). "The Lost Homestead by Marina Wheeler, review: the barrister uncovers her Indian roots". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 14 December 2021. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  12. ↑ Ghosh, Sutanuka (25 June 2021). "Paradise lost and found". www.telegraphindia.com. Archived from the original on 16 December 2021. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  13. ↑ Wheeler, M. (2020). "Part 2. Free India". The Lost Homestead. pp. 95–134.
  14. ↑ Basu, Soma (6 February 2021). "'The Lost Homestead: My Mother, Partition and the Punjab' review: The shadow cast by Partition and the trauma of displacement". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 16 December 2021. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  15. 1 2 Venkataramakrishnan, Siddharth (27 November 2020). "The Lost Homestead — a story of colonialism and India's identity". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 17 December 2021. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  16. ↑ Rajivlochan, M (29 November 2020). "Marina Wheeler's journey into her personal history, through Partition". Tribuneindia News Service. Archived from the original on 19 December 2021. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
  17. ↑ "RSL Christopher Bland Prize 2021 – Shortlist announced". Royal Society of Literature. 17 May 2021. Archived from the original on 16 December 2021. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  18. ↑ Sherwin, Adam (16 May 2021). "Marina Wheeler, Boris Johnson's ex-wife, could be working on her memoirs". inews.co.uk. Archived from the original on 16 December 2021. Retrieved 13 December 2021.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.