Freedom at Midnight

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Meenu is full of writing prompts and she also aspire to become a published author one day or the other. The composition of this book is such that you won't find it difficult to read through the pages, and the authors have weaved it with simple, yet strong literature. Are the authors really unaware of the vast number of people who were killed in 17th and 18th century England because of differences of "sects" of a religion. Their life, their contrast way of working, their thought process and the respect they both have for each other was written down spectacularly. One possible reason for this lack of crucial details: the authors want the readers to believe that the violence of partition, and partition itself, was largely the fault of Muhammad Ali Jinnah - the political force behind the creation of Pakistan.

I can't give it more than a star and my sentimental associations with the book prevent me from shelving it as disappointing, waste of time or should never have been written as it deserves. The electrifying story of India's struggle for independence, told in this classic account (first published in 1975) by two fine journalists who conducted hundreds of interviews with nearly all the surviving participants - from Mountbatten to the assassins of Mahatma Gandhi. On the other hand, the authors were clearly Anglophiles enamored of the last British Viceroy in India, Lord Mountbatten.

It is fair to say that if India had not forced its freedom in 1947 the world would he a very different, and certainly even more troublesome, place than it is. May also contain light spine creasing or a few markings such as an owner's name, short gifter's inscription or light stamp. When people talk about a book that deals with the freedom and partition of India, somehow this one comes to the mind of everybody.

The obvious racial undertone gets a new height when the authors bring forth idiotic and almost dead Aryan invasion theory to explain why Punjabis are a "marshal" race, as opposed to the "small and dark Bengalis" who are "mere Asiatics.The process by which we succeeded in remaining free, is a saga that is richer and bigger than the sordid pulp produced here. If you want to read something that really gets to the heart of the enormous complexities of British rule in India, the Indian liberation movement, the key characters on all sides, and the results of partition (including present day legacies): read Michael French's excellent 'Liberty or Death'. The authors do it ingeniously through a multitude of character‐sketches, a perfectly acceptable method since the whole imbroglio was as much a matter of character as of principle.

It opens with a full description of all the scriptural and other sacred referents involved in a Brahmin man heading out to the fields to take a dump in the early morning. This is a highly readable look at one pivotal year in the history of India: 1947, the year that marked the end of British rule and the partition of the subcontinent into two new nations, India and Pakistan. Having been there most of the time in question and having assisted at must of the encounters (except, perhaps, serving the Maharaja his morning tea) I can vouch for the accuracy of its general mood. The authors delve deeply into orientalist lore to depict the exploits of the maharajas (princely rulers of various territories who had their sovereignty revoked upon independence in 1947 and their titles and privileges rescinded 25 years later), and are not shy about including salacious - often stomach-churning and horrifying - stories.The quartet of Jinnah, Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel ( Iron man of India), along with Lord Mountbatten were the decision-makers for India's fate, which, to the chagrin of all Hindu leaders, was a 'Partition'.

Seventy years ago, at midnight on August 14, 1947, the Union Jack began its final journey down the flagstaff of Viceroy’s House, New Delhi. With a heritage stretching back nearly 200 years, HarperCollins is one of the world's foremost English-language publishers, offering the best quality content right across the spectrum, from cutting-edge contemporary fiction to digital hymnbooks and pretty much everything in between. At one point, the book talks of "millions of cattle who ate all the food that could have used to feed the Indian masses" but ignorantly decides to skip the tale of the famines caused by the Raj, that killed more Indians than Jews killed by Hitler.She is talking baby steps towards that goal but very much motivated to reach there in the near future. Having been there most of the time in question and having assisted at most of the encounters, I can vouch for the accuracy of its general mood. This urgency to finish the job as quickly as possible led to decisions that ripped apart the social fabric of the country, echoes of which are still heard in contemporary Indo-Pak relations. The enormous success of the international writing partnership of Collins and Lapierre is based on the phenomenal non-fiction bestsellers OR I’LL DRESS YOU IN MOURNING, IS PARIS BURNING?