Scent of a memory
THE WEEK India|February 05, 2023
Aanchal Malhotra’s debut novel is rooted in the many stories of the partition—her forte
NIRMAL JOVIAL
Scent of a memory

A memory intangible to the core shared by her mother helped oral historian and author Aanchal Malhotra give form to her first novel-The Book of Everlasting Things. Malhotra's maternal grandfather used to work as a chemist at a pharmaceutical firm. He would bring home samples of fragrances, and mix them with the water in the air cooler during summer. And, the house would smell like heaven. That scent still lingers-both in the memory of Malhotra's mother and in her own wish for a whiff of it. Traces of it-malleable as memory is-seeped into Malhotra's imagination and helped her shape her novel's protagonist-Samir.

Samir hails from a family of perfumers in pre-partition Lahore. It is amid the perfume bottles in his family-owned ittar shop that Samir falls in love with Firdaus, an apprentice calligrapher. But their love story gets shaped and reshaped during the partition, which divided not just land but people as well into Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs. Released in December, the novel evokes a mixture of scents of people and places, too-that survived that bygone era of terror and fear.

Partition history is Malhotra's forte. A decade ago, she became a collector of memories, materials, and even sighs of that bloody age of mass exodus. Her Remnants of a Separation (2017) revisited partition via objects that refugees carried across the border. Her second book, In the Language of Remembering (2022), traced the “long-term, cross-border, generational legacy of the partition”.

Esta historia es de la edición February 05, 2023 de THE WEEK India.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

Esta historia es de la edición February 05, 2023 de THE WEEK India.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

MÁS HISTORIAS DE THE WEEK INDIAVer todo
William Dalrymple goes further back
THE WEEK India

William Dalrymple goes further back

Indian readers have long known William Dalrymple as the chronicler nonpareil of India in the early years of the British raj. His latest book, The Golden Road, is a striking departure, since it takes him to a period from about the third century BC to the 12th-13th centuries CE.

time-read
3 minutos  |
November 17, 2024
The bleat from the street
THE WEEK India

The bleat from the street

What with all the apps delivering straight to one’s doorstep, the supermarkets, the food halls and even the occasional (super-expensive) pop-up thela (cart) offering the woke from field-to-fork option, the good old veggie-market/mandi has fallen off my regular beat.

time-read
2 minutos  |
November 17, 2024
Courage and conviction
THE WEEK India

Courage and conviction

Justice A.M. Ahmadi's biography by his granddaughter brings out behind-the-scenes tension in the Supreme Court as it dealt with the Babri Masjid demolition case

time-read
2 minutos  |
November 17, 2024
EPIC ENTERPRISE
THE WEEK India

EPIC ENTERPRISE

Gowri Ramnarayan's translation of Ponniyin Selvan brings a fresh perspective to her grandfather's magnum opus

time-read
4 minutos  |
November 17, 2024
Upgrade your jeans
THE WEEK India

Upgrade your jeans

If you don’t live in the top four-five northern states of India, winter means little else than a pair of jeans. I live in Mumbai, where only mad people wear jeans throughout the year. High temperatures and extreme levels of humidity ensure we go to work in mulmul salwars, cotton pants, or, if you are lucky like me, wear shorts every day.

time-read
2 minutos  |
November 17, 2024
Garden by the sea
THE WEEK India

Garden by the sea

When Kozhikode beach became a fertile ground for ideas with Manorama Hortus

time-read
4 minutos  |
November 17, 2024
RECRUITERS SPEAK
THE WEEK India

RECRUITERS SPEAK

Industry requirements and selection criteria of management graduates

time-read
3 minutos  |
November 17, 2024
MORAL COMPASS
THE WEEK India

MORAL COMPASS

The need to infuse ethics into India's MBA landscape

time-read
5 minutos  |
November 17, 2024
B-SCHOOLS SHOULD UNDERSTAND THAT INDIAN ECONOMY IS GOING TO WITNESS A TREMENDOUS GROWTH
THE WEEK India

B-SCHOOLS SHOULD UNDERSTAND THAT INDIAN ECONOMY IS GOING TO WITNESS A TREMENDOUS GROWTH

INTERVIEW - Prof DEBASHIS CHATTERJEE, director, Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode

time-read
3 minutos  |
November 17, 2024
COURSE CORRECTION
THE WEEK India

COURSE CORRECTION

India's best b-schools are navigating tumultuous times. Hurdles include lower salaries offered to their graduates and students misusing AI

time-read
8 minutos  |
November 17, 2024