Hospitality and Loss: “Talking About My Heart”

From the perspective of the third generation, this chapter is both a conversation with partition survivors and an exploration of two themes that continue to characterize and shape Punjabi communities. The first is a profound sense of loss that was caused by the partition in the form of uprooting from homes and societies, loss of property and livelihood, the death of family members in the journey across borders, and the witnessing of brutal violence and its aftermath. The second theme that this chapter explores is the idea of Punjabiyat, a cultural quality of being Punjabi that can be captured for progressive politics in India today. This idea of Punjabiyat encompasses Hindu, Sikh, and Muslim cultures, is built around Punjabi, a language spoken by all three groups, and, in India, relates to a regional imaginary, the larger part of which remained in Pakistan as only Eastern Punjab remained in India.