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Date: September 8, 2021.
Publication: Hindu Vivek Kendra
URL: https://hvk.org/2021/0921/15.html
- Note from the Hindu Vivek Kendra: The is a series of tweets by the American Ambassador to India, Atul Keshap, about his family’s partition memories.
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Atul Keshap @USAmbKeshap
URL: https://twitter.com/USAmbKeshap/status/1434927382675087364
Today, I did something extremely meaningful and important for my family, something 75 years in the making, a respectful gesture of love, remembrance, and hope. I went to the Mughal-era Dara Shikoh library, located on the grounds of Ambedkar University, Kashmeri Gate, Delhi. 1/n
Sept 6, 2021
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Atul Keshap @USAmbKeshap
I went there to meet Ms. Mallika Ahluwalia, CEO of the
@PartitionMuseum
in Amritsar. She and her dedicated team have done a wonderful and much-needed job of honoring the memory of the tens of millions displaced or killed during #Partition, which includes my Indian family. 2/n
Sept 6, 2021
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Atul Keshap @USAmbKeshap
Ms. Ahluwalia and team now intend to establish a Partition Museum in Delhi, and are working with local authorities to refurbish the Dara Shikoh library to make it another shrine and memorial to the horrors of #Partition. A museum needs evocative links to the past, naturally. 3/n
 
 
Sept 6, 2021
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Atul Keshap @USAmbKeshap
When I visited family in #Panipat, I sought permission to donate an artifact from our grandparents, something they brought to the safety of #India when they fled for their lives from their ancestral lands.Something humble, old, personal: a direct link to a life rent asunder. 4/n
  
Sept 6, 2021
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Atul Keshap @USAmbKeshap
We know this humble lock and key came with my respected grandparents when they fled their ancestral lands. It secured a trunk that carried what meager possessions they could carry. Amidst murder, riots, and unimaginable suffering, this lock went with them to safety in #India 5/n
Sept 6, 2021
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Atul Keshap @USAmbKeshap
I remember being shown this lock when I was a little boy. My brothers and cousins always tried to open it, which is far trickier than it looks. Only one among us remembers the secret to opening such an ingenious and old device. Since 1955, it sat in my grandmother's almirah. 6/n
Sept 6, 2021
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Atul Keshap @USAmbKeshap
Replying to @USAmbKeshap
Today, 75 years after it came to #Delhi, it was an immense honor, on behalf of my entire family, and in reverent memory of our respected grandparents, to convey their lock to the
@PartitionMuseum
so future generations may see it, and reflect on the horrors of #Partition. 7/n
 
 
Sept 6, 2021
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Atul Keshap @USAmbKeshap
I bow to my grandfather, Chaudhry Bhawani Das Arora, B.A., and my grandmother, Srimati Chhinko Bai Sachdeva. May their lock and key remind us to unbind ourselves from the shackles of ignorance, violence, and hatred. May we unlock our hearts to have love for all humanity. Folded hands 8/8
 
 
Sept 6, 2021 |
