COMMUNITY AND VIOLENCE - RECALLING PARTITION

The narratives of the survivors of partition subtly construct in retro spect domains of 'inside' and 'outside' for defining violence of those traumatic days. A desperate act of self-immolation gets transformed i nto a heroic sacrifice sanctifying the inner domain of the community, while violence in form of revenge gets displaced onto the evilness of the other inhabiting the outside. Neither self-immolation nor revenge are acts of violence in the victims' account; they are acts done as a duty, as a response to the call of the times, securing the life of the community or nation.