– Ravi Menon (The Book Review) This novel has several interwoven themes — communities turning against each other, exploitation of women and the concept of nationhood. Three women bring them alive The radiance of a thousand suns; Manreet Sodhi Someshwar; Harper Collins Rs.499; Pages 499 In July 1947 an accomplished lawyer from England made his first, and only, visit to India. When he departed after five weeks he left behind a boundary line which created two new countries. The Partition would result in the largest communal massacre and human migration of the 20th century and would affect the lives of millions for decades. The lawyer’s lack of knowledge of India and the short time allotted to his task, are often cited as an example of how this decision was taken. It can be argued that while the process of Partition has been exhaustively examined, the horrors and misdeeds that were perpetrated by the ordinary people of India and Pakistan (the Punjab in particular) in 1946-47 have never been properly acknowledged. The Radiance of a Thousand Suns by Manreet Sodhi Someshwar invites the reader to revisit the sights and sounds of this dark era. The book has several inter-woven themes — communities turning against each other, exploitation of women and the concept of nationhood. The author uses the backdrop of the Partition, the riots of 1984 and the ordeals of three women to bring them alive. The theme of brother turning against brother is anchored by references to brief episodes from the Mahabharata. This is the story of an upper middle-class Sikh family, the Nalwas. The father is a lawyer, whose specialty is civil rights cases. He is compiling a book of oral histories of the victims of the Partition riots and the riots of ’84 in order to bring these into public discourse. When he dies, his book incomplete, his daughter Niki makes it her mission to complete the task. Historical events whether it is the Partition, the 1971 War or Emergency touch the Nalwa family at various stages. Niki’s grandmother Dadima helps rehabilitate children orphaned or abandoned during the Partition and the ’84 riots. Thus they are Sikhs by birth but in action seek to act as if the world does not recognise any religion. They take into their household a young Muslim woman Nooran, who works for them but is almost a family member. Nooran herself is in many ways the focal character of young Niki’s life. In times of crisis she asks herself ‘What would Nooran do?’ Nooran is unconventional. Her complexion ‘like the underside of a griddle’ did not detract from her self-confidence in a land where light complexion was prized and women were conditioned to please men. She looked the world in the eye, her attitude exemplified in her walk. ‘Punjabi women normally tiptoed around their men but Nooran strode like an unapologetic peacock.’ The embroidery Nooran works on — the only item she could retrieve from her house where her family was butchered by…
