Tag: Partition

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urdu
Indian street sign in four languages: Hindi, English, Punjabi and Urdu. (Credit: baklavabaklava via Flickr)

I spent several months in Lucknow, India, studying Urdu.

I knew that it would be a daunting task. But I had a leg up — it wasn’t going to be completely new. Several years ago, I’d studied Hindi, which the native tongue of about 25 percent of Indians. The country’s new prime minister, Narendra Modi, appears to favor Hindi, which has alarmed speakers of India’s many other languages.

To the untrained ear, Hindi and Urdu sound similar. They share a lot of the same vocabulary. But they use different scripts. And they have different connotations.

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Vishwajyoti Ghosh, artist and graphic novelist.
Vishwajyoti Ghosh, artist and graphic novelist.Credit: Sonia Paul

Vishwajyoti Ghosh, a graphic novelist and artist based in Delhi, is curator of the book “This Side That Side: Restorying Partition,” an anthology of graphic narratives from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. His first graphic novel, “Delhi Calm,” was published in 2010. At the Jaipur Literature Festival, Mr. Ghosh spoke with India Ink about the significance of collaborating with 48 different contributors, and what it means for younger generations to retell the history of Partition in a graphic format.

Q.

What do you think it is about the graphic element of the anthology that makes the stories of Partition come alive?

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