Both my parents were born in Hyderabad, India. My ammi was born in 1947, and when she was 2 years old, my nana and nani migrated to Karachi and settled there, however, my nana’s brother and sister stayed back in Hyderabad, as did all of my nani’s family, so there were still very strong ties left in India. In fact, all of my khala’s and mamoo’s have pretty much married cousins from the other side of the border.
My papa’s family stayed in Hyderabad much, much longer. They didn’t start coming over to Karachi until the late 60’s. In fact, my papa only lived in pakistan for about 5 years, at which point he and my Ammi married and then came to the US.
I don’t really know of any horror stories, from what I’ve heard, it was more mere curiosity and the hope of more economic gain that prompted my family to leave India. My Nani’s family was involved with the court of the Nizam, and she had her khaandani Haveli in Warangal. She used to tell us about how the front entry was so massive, a haati could easily go in an out
My Papa told me a story once about how as a child, he was out walking with his Nana, and they wandered into a rally being held by Ghandiji..his Nana hoisted him up on his shoulders so he could see…later as they were leaving, they were able to get up close and personal to Ghandiji and Papa got a pat on the head from him.
I still have extended family on both my ammi and papa’s side in India, strong ties with both. In fact, my chacha (papa’s cousin and best friend) came and stayed with me in the US a few years ago, and we regularly talk..he begs me to come to India so he can show me their ancestral home..maybe one day inshallah!
yes, you should go India to meet your extended family and get a chance to see your ancestral home from up close where your mon N dad grew up. i promise it’ll be a nostalgic memory…
I think I was 4 or 5 years old when my dada took me to Pakistan for a visit and all the way to Pakistan he was telling me about how Quaid e Azam made Pakistan possible .. few days later I was playing in the street and saw a man come with ladders fixing something in the roof of a house , then moving on and fixing some tiles into the next home etc ..
Evening time, i told dada jee , I saw Quaid e Azam .. he was shocked and said , what ? where did you see him? I said I saw him making Pakistan .. next day I even showed him that man .. dada jee had a hearty laugh and told me yet again how Pakistan was made , this time sharing the actual political happenings of the time
aaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwww…that’s the real innocence you were so cute as a child, maashaa Allah!
i heard that in the first year of the inception of Pakistan, the offices didn’t have pins/v-clips so they had to use babool kaa kaaNTaa [thorns from the Acacia tree] to pin the papers together. everyone must thank to Allah that Pakistan has come a long way since then but i think the politicians need to get a crash course in how to become sincere, loyal and honest to the country that was given to them after so much struggle, sacrifice and bloodshed.
So people who have relatives in both places, who do you think is doing better? In terms of money, jobs, opportunities, etc.
I dont really know any of the newer generation, but seems comparing my parents generation, i would say relatives in Pakistan. The ones in India seem to have not changed much.
I guess this is not any different from how people move to the US or UK and find success. New place, new opprtunities, and the drive to move forward.
KC we need to chat. My mom is same age group as yours and they were in Hyderabad. Did not move in 47, she was not even born then. The family is from lukhnow but my nana had moved there. Dad’s side is from saharanpur area, and they too had moved to aurangabad and Hyderabad.
Family was active in political movements. My dad is older than mom and at a young ageactually met quaid e Azam… The real one not the CB version.
Now for the question on how ppl are doing on each side of the border.
Much of the family from my moms side that stayed back is doing well, my nana had some hardships after moving to Pak, but a generation later there is parity, not a massive difference. His loss was more of a principles stance of not paying bribes to get equivalent land or property so had to start from scratch
Dad’s side was a diff story, they all berated my dada for moving because they were doing well with land and businesses. Dada and dadi strongly believed in education, and in general those who moved to Pak are doing significantly better and it has only grown for the next generation etc.
Education and drive seem to have been key variables. I don’t know about opportunity or lack of it, or hardships etc.
All our immediate family is from Lahore, both from my father and mother side and both families moved to Africa in the 1920’s. My father family to Kenya and my mothers family to Uganda. Infact my mother was born in Uganda. Me and my brother and sisters were born in Kenya. Even though we have never lived in Pakistan and dont have much family there but the whole family has very strong affinity with the country.
as i said in my earlier posts that none of my immediate family members moved to Pakistan at the time of partition or anytime after that. those of my extended family members who moved to Pakistan in 60’s and 70’s had high education…most of them had Master’s degree or better. and they did well but sad story is the the subsequent generation got lost in luxury and didn’t do as well as their parents’ generation did.
In India, the competition is fierce and those relatives who migrated to Pakistan had no choice because they did NOT get a good job at par with their education. they crossed migrated to the other side of the border because of economic reasons rather than the political one.
all migrations to Pakistan from at least my areas stopped completely in early 80’s. i haven’t seen anyone going now because of less opportunities their.
Whoa! There were still people migrating to Pakistan in the 80s? That must have been quite an experience.
I agree, migration now makes no sense. Indian economy is booming, and all those stories of discrimination and riots are probably anecdotal or ancient history.
no…the trend started in late 70’s and halted completely in early 80’s [80-81].
now the only immigration that is still going on is the spousal migration. shaadii karo aur visa lo…magar, India is maamile meN saKht hai…bahot kam visa diyaa jaataa hai.
