{"product_id":"the-unsafe-asylum-stories-of-partition-and-madness-9789387693272","title":"The Unsafe Asylum: Stories of Partition and Madness","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'Is it Partition time again?' Ma asked when I drove her to the station to put her on a train.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFeeling her heart pounding against my chest, I patted her on the back and said, 'Don't be silly. Partitions do not happen every day.'\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBut that was later.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the aftermath of Partition, India exchanged the Muslim patients in its Mental Hospitals for their Hindu and Sikh counterparts in Pakistan. This collection of interlinked short stories explores the impact of this decision in both countries, against the larger backdrop of the ongoing consequences of Partition. Rulda Singh and Fattu (Fateh Khan), recently discharged patients from Lahore's Mental Hospital, find themselves separated by the deportation, possibly for ever. Years later, Prakash Kohli, an Indian psychiatry student, hears Rulda's account of his journey to India, with its casual official cruelties and unexpected tenderness. When he visits Lahore at last, Prakash discovers the story of his own birth in 1947, forms a lifelong friendship with a Pakistani colleague--and realizes that nobody knows why so few mental patients survived the exchange.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs Prakash becomes troubled, and then fascinated by finding the missing stories of these patients, he realizes that Partition continues to have a profound effect on the psyches of the ordinary people whom he treats. A middle-aged woman passes on a recurring delusion of being chased by murderous mobs to her children. A young boy from Simla is convinced that Benazir Bhutto, the Pakistani President's daughter, loves him and they discuss world affairs in his dreams every night. An elderly lawyer recounts a love story, doomed by impassable bureaucratic hurdles. And Prakash, seeing Punjab go up in flames again under a militant call for another land of the pure, wonders if Partitions can continue to happen every day, after all.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThese stories, and more, with their recurring and shared characters, remind us that Partition does not merely lie in the past. Powerful and unsettling, this collection is essential reading.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=AUTH-11916534\"\u003eAnirudh Kala\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Speaking Tiger Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/10\/2018\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 256\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.56lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 7.81h x 5.06w x 0.54d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9789387693272\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN10:\u003c\/b\u003e 9387693279\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBISAC Categories:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-FIC\"\u003eFiction\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-FIC019000\"\u003eLiterary\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-FIC\"\u003eFiction\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-FIC025000\"\u003ePsychological\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-FIC\"\u003eFiction\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-FIC029000\"\u003eShort Stories (single author)\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThis title is not returnable\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Speaking Tiger Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42668960973037,"sku":"9789387693272","price":34.13,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0550\/8097\/6621\/products\/img_32f4bc10-4cd8-4459-aaec-c3939776ad31.jpg?v=1649463562","url":"https:\/\/sureshotbooks.com\/products\/the-unsafe-asylum-stories-of-partition-and-madness-9789387693272","provider":"SureShot Books Publishing LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}