M. Zahir was born in Ludhiana in the Indian Province of Punjab in 1936. His father was a doctor in the Punjab Medical Service and at the time of Indian Independence was in charge of the Government Hospital in the small town of Mukerian. Zahir describes the ancient, multicultural society he lived in, and its sudden and complete destruction in 1947 when India achieved its independence. India's independence from the British Raj was accompanied by the division of the country into India and Pakistan, a divide which resulted in unspeakable violence with the death of close to two million people. Caught on the wrong side of the dividing line between India and Pakistan, Zahir's family tried to leave by train to Pakistan. The train was ambushed and almost all the Muslims men were killed on the spot and women abducted. Miraculously, a young Hindu put his own life in danger to save most of Zahir's family. As a boy, Zahir witnessed firsthand what is described as ‘the greatest loss of civilian life in human history in the absence of war or famine’. In this meticulously- remembered memoir, Zahir describes the events leading to Indian Independence, the catastrophic train journey, and his life in the new country of Pakistan. The legacy of those events still haunts the world. Zahir, a Rhodes Scholar and a retired physician, now lives in British Columbia, Canada.

M. Zahir was born in Ludhiana in the Indian Province of Punjab in 1936. His father was a doctor in the Punjab Medical Service and at the time of Indian Independence was in charge of the Government Hospital in the small town of Mukerian. Zahir describes the ancient, multicultural society he lived in, and its sudden and complete destruction in 1947 when India achieved its independence. India's independence from the British Raj was accompanied by the division of the country into India and Pakistan, a divide which resulted in unspeakable violence with the death of close to two million people. Caught on the wrong side of the dividing line between India and Pakistan, Zahir's family tried to leave by train to Pakistan. The train was ambushed and almost all the Muslims men were killed on the spot and women abducted. Miraculously, a young Hindu put his own life in danger to save most of Zahir's family. As a boy, Zahir witnessed firsthand what is described as ‘the greatest loss of civilian life in human history in the absence of war or famine’. In this meticulously- remembered memoir, Zahir describes the events leading to Indian Independence, the catastrophic train journey, and his life in the new country of Pakistan. The legacy of those events still haunts the world. Zahir, a Rhodes Scholar and a retired physician, now lives in British Columbia, Canada.

The International Bestseller 'Barney White-Spunner's book stands out for its judicious and unsparing look at events from a British perspective.' Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times Review 'This book is at its most powerful in its month-by-month narrative of how Partition tore apart northern and eastern India, with the new state of Pakistan carved out of communities who had lived together for the past millennium.' Zareer Masani BBC History Magazine 'A highly readable account . . .' Times Literary Review Between January and August 1947 the conflicting political, religious and social tensions in India culminated in independence from Britain and the creation of Pakistan. Those months saw the end of ninety years of the British Raj, and the effective power of the Maharajahs, as the Congress Party established itself commanding a democratic government in Delhi. They also witnessed the rushed creation of Pakistan as a country in two halves whose capitals were two thousand kilometers apart. From September to December 1947 the euphoria surrounding the realization of the dream of independence dissipated into shame and incrimination; nearly 1 million people died and countless more lost their homes and their livelihoods as partition was realized. The events of those months would dictate the history of South Asia for the next seventy years, leading to three wars, countless acts of terrorism, polarization around the Cold War powers and to two nations with millions living in poverty spending disproportionate amounts on their military. The roots of much of the violence in the region today, and worldwide, are in the decisions taken that year. Not only were those decisions controversial but the people who made them were themselves to become some of the most enduring characters of the twentieth century. Gandhi and Nehru enjoyed almost saint like status in India, and still do, whilst Jinnah is lionized in Pakistan. The British cast, from Churchill to Attlee and Mountbatten, find their contribution praised and damned in equal measure. Yet it is not only the national players whose stories fascinate. Many of those ordinary people who witnessed the events of that year are still alive. Although most were, predictably, only children, there are still some in their late eighties and nineties who have a clear recollection of the excitement and the horror. Illustrating the story of 1947 with their experiences and what independence and partition meant to the farmers of the Punjab, those living in Lahore and Calcutta, or what it felt like to be a soldier in a divided and largely passive army, makes the story real. Partition will bring to life this terrible era for the Indian Sub Continent.

India today is a vibrant free-market democracy, a nation well on its way to overcoming decades of widespread poverty. The nation’s rise is one of the great international stories of the late twentieth century, and in India Unbound the acclaimed columnist Gurcharan Das offers a sweeping economic history of India from independence to the new millennium. Das shows how India’s policies after 1947 condemned the nation to a hobbled economy until 1991, when the government instituted sweeping reforms that paved the way for extraordinary growth. Das traces these developments and tells the stories of the major players from Nehru through today. As the former CEO of Proctor & Gamble India, Das offers a unique insider’s perspective and he deftly interweaves memoir with history, creating a book that is at once vigorously analytical and vividly written. Impassioned, erudite, and eminently readable, India Unbound is a must for anyone interested in the global economy and its future.

A few bloody months in South Asia during the summer of 1947 explain the world that troubles us today.

An important document in the social history of India, this volume presents the autobiography of a Punjabi family over the three tumultuous generations that spanned years from the Mutiny to Independence. The book provides an absorbing view, from within, of what British rule meant for the educated elite of the province. In its descriptions of the changing customs and values of the educated Indian in the early twentieth century, the book affords a memorable account of a critical period in modern Indian history.