Filmmaker Mara Ahmed\u2019s documentary, \u2018A Thin Wall\u2019 is a haunting and thought-provoking account of the partition. Strung together are stories, memories and experiences of those who suffered, leaving behind what they called home, plunging into the unknown. Yet, like wilted flowers inside an old book, love still remains on each side of the border. The documentary reminds one of Zarina Hashmi\u2019s art, of a constant search for home, and the pain of separation.
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\nHeard this powerfully evocative piece named \u2018Never\u2019 from a short memoir, \u2018Six Snapshots of Partition\u2019 by poet John Siddique in the film. Here it is for you to read:
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\nFaizal carries his wife in his pocket: she is a white handkerchief. Faizal carries his three daughters in his other pocket: three small stones gathered from the side of the road. Their names are lost to walking. His sons Mohammed and Rafiq flank him. They carry the memories of their sisters and mother in their silence. Faizal closed down his carpet shop three months ago; he misses his days bargaining at his counter. No one has told Faizal why India has changed \u2013 he is not one of those men who drinks tea and talks politics at night. Every time he meets a dead person he asks them what his wife\u2019s name was. He asks and puts his hands in his pockets.
\nZoom out and it looks like the whole of India is walking. Walking towards a blue line on a rough map drawn on to a napkin. Mohammed Siddique, my father, is a young man of seventeen years on the road from Jullundur to Lahore. He will never be a Pakistani, he will always be an immigrant \u2013 a series of questions which Faizal cannot answer.
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\nA Thin Wall is streaming now on @mubiindia
\n(Partition photo by Margaret Bourke-White)
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\nathinwall #documentary #partition #indiapakistan #lahore #delhi #puranaqila #border #indiadocumentary #johnsiddique<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Filmmaker Mara Ahmed\u2019s documentary, \u2018A Thin Wall\u2019 is a haunting and thought-provoking account of the partition. Strung together are stories, memories and experiences of those who suffered, leaving behind what they called home, plunging into the unknown. Yet, like wilted flowers inside an old book, love still remains on each side of the border. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","clearfix"],"yoast_head":"\n