East Side Stories was staged at the JANUS, Black Box

East Side Stories was staged at the JANUS, Black Box  featuring Theatre veteran Sanchayita Bhattacharjee and directed by Mahmud Alam .

The play, which was held to a packed auditorium, spoke about The partition of India was a traumatic experience for all, but was more so for the millions of people who crossed the borders on both sides. 

It is generally accepted that the 1947 Partition of Bengal is very different from that of West Pakistan,  because of numerous social, political & historical reasons. 

The 1950 communal riots caused a massive number of people to enter West Bengal. The very core of everyday lives of these people were so intertwined,  that the wounds still continue to fester.   Interestingly the westward migration has continued unabated for the last seven decades since independence.

The identity of the Bengali people, whether Hindu or Muslim, rests on their shared language, rituals & customs as well food habits & memories.

The emergence of Bangladesh as an independent nation in 1971 is proof that the partition of India on the basis of religion was wrong.

History is witness to the fact that whenever there is violent uprooting & displacement of a people, the question of gender becomes a serious issue & at the same time compulsions of survival start to take precedence over moral concerns. We see it happening again like a re - emerging cancer in today's world.