Much mention has been made on Gupshup over the years of how Dina Jinnah decided against Pakistan and chose India at independence.
But I was recently reading about Benjamin Franklin, one of the most importantant important founders of the USA. His son, William Franklin, remained loyal to the King through the Revolution, and indeed was rewarded through becoming the last Royal Governor of New Jersey. He never returned to the Americas, instead living out the rest of his life in England.
How many other people who founded nations found themselves split from their own children as a result?
I figure this is a society thing so I’m opening it in this forum.
Re: Families split by independence across the world
dunno about that but our family split big time too :( my grandad came to pakistan and his brother stayed in india.....funny that later my father joined the pak army and my grandad's brother's son joined the indian army. both families could not visit each other. i feel funny when i think of all these relatives i have in india that i have never seen and probably wont see since they dont even have any contact info on them and they dont have ours..... :(
Re: Families split by independence across the world
My family split a lot too, but stayed more in touch.
On my mother’s side, my nana moved to Pakistan in 1951, and his brother moved in 1961. Both of his sisters tayed in India. His father chose to side with India, but died in Pakistan whilst visiting and so ended up being an Indian citizen buried in Pakistan.
On my father’s side, my dada moved to Pakistan in 1948 and joined the Army, together with one of his brothers. His other brother stayed in India briefly for a few years, then decided that the whole Independence thing was a Bad Idea and in the 1950s moved to Britain where he felt more comfortable and lived out the rest of his days. All of my dada’s sisters stayed in Pakistan.
Both sides of my family were in very close contact and flew to visit each other regularly until the 1965 war. After that, they slowly began drifting apart, though some people stay close.
Since coming to Toronto I’m actually discovering a lot of the Indian side of my family, since Indians in my family outnumber Pakistanis in my family over here.
And biryani tastes the same regardless of whether an Indian or a Pakistani cooked it
Re: Families split by independence across the world
I can relate but I can't, I've no blood relatives in India but quite a few in Afghanistan but since my grandparents died we've pretty much cut contact with them, they're busy with their lives and we with ours, we don't feel very close to them because it was actually my greatgrandparents who moved to Pakistan (obviously not as war refugees or anything) after that there was plenty of intermarrying within cousins born in Pakistan but not with those in Afghanistan so we're quite distant now.
I do however have some relatives who are not through blood but through marriage who originate from Jalandhar (Indian Punjab), they migrated during 1947 and our families were quite close together, my mother still talks about an old lady and how she missed the city of her birth and that she would yearn for it even after 25 years, never missing a radio broadcast aired from there, it's actually quite sad but the wounds have healed now and we've all started new lives in our respective country's, best not to look back or relink old ties.
Re: Families split by independence across the world
GARAM HAWA was a great classical movie depicting an Indian Muslim family in a great dilemma whether to move to Pakistan or not. It shows the reality and is totally unbiased. The movie got national award in India and is one of my greatest favourite. While moving to Canada, my Hindu colleagues reminded me the movie during my farewell party and wanted me to stay back. But I had other reasons to move.
I wish the readers to watch this movie if possible. Balraj Shahni played the lead role in it. You would really love it.
Re: Families split by independence across the world
My grandmother's (My father's mom) whole family moved to Pakistan. My grandmother wanted to see her sister, brother and mother and arrangements were made to make her to travel to Karachi in 1965 but war broke out. Again my grandfather and father tried to send her in 1971 but again war broke out. She was so shocked by this war that she eventually died of heart attack in 1973 just at the age of 52 when her own mother was alive in Pakistan. She could never see her family since partition.
Then in 1980, her brother came from Karachi to visit her grave and was weeping for several hours. I am also weeping and cannot continue writing anymore...
Re: Families split by independence across the world
awwwww feel better dude. i can kind of relate to you. i used to sit with both grandmothers (my mom’s mother passed away this year sadly) and they told me about their life, both before and after partition. how they spent their days at refugee camps and how they lost their loved ones before their very eyes and saw them shot. My grandma lost her youngest son in firing in the camps when he was playing outside. Its not like they dont appreciate pakistan but they also said they had no complaints living in former Hindustan.
awwwww feel better dude. i can kind of relate to you. i used to sit with both grandmothers (my mom’s mother passed away this year sadly) and they told me about their life, both before and after partition. how they spent their days at refugee camps and how they lost their loved ones before their very eyes and saw them shot. My grandma lost her youngest son in firing in the camps when he was playing outside. Its not like they dont appreciate pakistan but they also said they had no complaints living in former Hindustan.