This book summarizes the nearly six decade-long efforts at restoring the loss of homes, livelihoods, and national territory in 1947. This study tells the story of Hindus and Sikhs from the North West Frontier Province and West Punjab who made India's capital their new home. Based on the everyday life of the migrants in three resettlement colonies, the book focuses on the period between 1947 and 1965-from the time of Partition till the official closure of resettlementwork. It shows how Partition stands as a living theme, a point of reference for the Delhi Punjabis. The author revisits this book with a new introduction in the paperback edition.

• List of Tables


• Acknowledgements


• Introduction to the Paperback Edition


• 1. Narrating Everyday Forms of Past


• 2. State and Community in the Narratives of Displacement


• 3. The Last Journey


• 4. Governmental Policies and Practices of Resettlement


• 5. Restoration of Loss


• 6. Missing Fields


• 7. Claims of Locality


• 8. Ethnic Amnesia


• 9. A Community of Narrative


• Bibliography


• Index


• About the Author

Ravinder Kaur is Professor of Sociology, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.