Line of control

“My grandparents had come to India like many other families during the partition in 1947 and hence the stories revolving around the India-Pakistan partition were an integral part of my life while I was growing up. I was always inclined towards the subject of civics in high school, sociology of religion and social sciences thereafter, and was intrigued to learn about its impact on how we see and perceive our society. Situating the complex in the everyday, the ordinary and unpacking lived realities intrigued me. So opting it for higher studies was an obvious choice for me; I also owe it to my excellent history teacher in middle school who nurtured my interest in the subject. That underlying interest, in combination with the partition stories that I heard from elderly people in the neighbourhood after my grandparents passed away, added to my curiosity to see this particular topic from varied social perspectives and it played a major role in choosing my research topic situated within Political Anthropology and International Relations.

My work revolved around understanding the situation of the displaced borderland people who were coming in from Pakistan and settling in India without access to services and agency to choose a better life. The uncertainty revolving around their lives is a constant testament to how socio-political and historical facets affect the livelihood of Individuals based on their social…