75 Years and After: Role of Memory in Redefining the Identities of Post- Partition Migrant Survivors Resettled in Rural West Bengal

Abstract It’s been more than seventy years now. To come to terms with personal losses and trauma caused due to the partition of India, seventy years is more than enough. But, something still lingers behind. Something still haunts back. Some things which are etched inside the mind permanently. They are the memories. Memories of Partition survivors which are transferred through narratives to three odd generations and more to follow maybe. Memories which transcend national borders. Borders which fail to resist memories to travel through time. It is through these very memories that the trauma of Partition is still alive, that history is rewritten over and over again. It is the memories that even permanent dementia cannot possibly erase as it is soulfully transferred through generations, sometimes written, often verbally narrated. Stories are framed with a perfect amalgamation of imagination and memory. Stories of Partition carry the stories of loss, trauma, and reminiscence. These stories take the shape of textbooks, documentaries, memoirs, films ---- all in order to comprehend the varied physical as well as psychological impact that the great divide of 1947 had on the lives and generations of the survivors as well as on the overall demography of the South-East Asia. Maps were drawn over the lives of people. Relationships were redefined, remodelled and even reshaped for survival necessity. The high politics and the ramifications that Partition embedded continue to engage social thinkers in continuous reinvestigation and research. The present paper attempts to investigate the partition memories as retold stories by the third generation Partition survivors which redefine the identities of not only the partitioned subject but also the generations to follow. Key words: Partition, East Bengali Migrants, memory, Borders, Identity