A Time of Madness: A sentimental journey from Lahore to Jalandhar

This narrative is important for many weighty reasons not least the comparison the author makes of the social situation in Pakistan and India just after crossing the border

A Time of Madness
A Memoir of Partition

Salman Rashid

Aleph Book Company

136 pages; Rs 299

This slim volume tells the story of a child born in undivided India, who grew up in Lahore after Partition, and decides to embark on a journey to discover the fate of the family he left behind in India. For this purpose, he takes a sentimental journey from Lahore to Jalandhar to piece together the story of his relatives, especially his grandfather and their fate after Partition. The author describes his journey to India as a “pilgrimage”. “I was going to a home I had never known…