About the Book

AN INTERESTING TAKE AT THE PARTITION OF THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT, THIS BOOK LOOKS AT THE PLACES DOTTING INDIA’S BORDERS WITH ITS NEIGHBOURS AND THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE THERE.
In July 1947, British barrister Cyril Radcliffe was summoned to New Delhi and given five weeks to draw, on the map of the subcontinent, two zigzagged lines that would decide the future of one-fifth of the human race.
One line, 553 kilometres long, created the province of West Punjab; the other, adding up to 4,096 kilometres, carved out a province called East Bengal. Both territories joined the newborn nation of Pakistan—an event called the Partition of India, which saw one million people being butchered and another fifteen million uprooted from their homes.
Enough and more has been written about the horrors of Partition, but what of the people who actually inhabit the land through which these lines run?
Curiosity leads Bishwanath Ghosh into journeying along the Radcliffe Line—through the vibrant greenery of Punjab as well as the more melancholic landscape of the states surrounding Bangladesh—and examining, first hand, life on the border. Recording his encounters and experiences in luminous prose, Gazing at Neighbours is a narrative of historical stock-taking as much as of travel.

About the Author

Bishwanath Ghosh, born in Kanpur on 26 December 1970, is the author of the hugely popular Chai, Chai: Travels in Places Where You Stop But Never Get Off. He’s also a Hindi poet, who has two well-received compilations—Jiyo Banaras and Tedhi-Medhi Lakeeren—to his credit. His other books include Tamarind City: Where Modern India Began; Longing, Belonging: An Outsider at Home in Calcutta and Gazing at Neighbours: Travels Along the Line that Partitioned India. He is an Associate Editor with The Hindu newspaper and lives in Calcutta.