by N. H. Senzai
tehzeeb: “Culture and manners” in Urdu
Urdu: South Asian language in the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European family of languages; national language of Pakistan, official language of five Indian states, and one of the twenty-two scheduled languages in the Constitution of India
vindaloo: Highly spiced, hot Indian curry from the Goan Coast
Walaikum Salaam: Traditional response to “Salaam Alaikum”; means “And upon you be peace”
Acknowledgments
A BOOK COMES INTO the world with the help of many hands. Thanks to my agent, Michael Bourret, who has gently guided my writing career. Much admiration to the extraordinary team at Simon & Schuster who take my words and turn them into books! My publisher, Paula Wiseman, who continues to believe in my work. And Sylvie Frank—part editor, part counselor, and part lion tamer—who wrung every last bit from me to create the best book possible. I was inspired by scholars and writers who’ve spent their lives examining the history and culture of the Indian subcontinent, in particular my professors at UC Berkeley and Columbia University—Bruce Pray, Ayesha Jalal, and Frances Pritchett. And historians Yasmin Khan and William Dalrymple, and innumerable writers whose stories I grew up reading. Thank you to family and friends who’ve provided their personal accounts of Partition and the impact it had on their lives. To my first line of readers, Hena Khan, Imtiaz Ghori, Farah Hasnat, and Michelle Chew—you are awesome. And of course to my two beloved peanuts—Farid and Zakaria Senzai.
Author’s note
AFTER WRITING TWO BOOKS based largely on my husband’s family stories from Afghanistan, I decided to delve into my own family’s history, rooted in India. As I dug deeper into my past, I kept coming back to August 14, 1947, and the Great Partition that divided Pakistan from India. Both my parents and their families were born in India, yet they (like millions of other Muslim families) had to decide whether to stay in their ancestral homeland, India, or to emigrate to Pakistan, a country established for Muslims. In the end, my dadiamma (father’s mother) refused to budge from our estate in Northern India. Like her, half of India’s Muslims chose to stay put. My naniamma (mother’s mother) and her family, like Alia’s parents, decided to move to Pakistan. My grandfather left a thriving medical practice and much of what they owned behind, and made the perilous journey to Pakistan. As Muslims streamed out of India, Hindus and Sikhs left Pakistan, leading to the single largest migration of people in history. Towns, villages, and entire cities were uprooted, as unparalleled violence erupted across the coutry.
That history has shaped who I am and continues to be a strong part of my identity. When people ask me, “Are you from India or Pakistan?” I don’t have a simple answer. My paternal grandparents are buried in India, while my maternal grandparents are buried in Pakistan. I have deep roots in both countries and continue to visit both. Since I was born in the United States, I cannot claim citizenship to either. In the end, I explain that I’m from both. It is a response shared by millions of others who faced a similar fate. Throughout history, India was a mosaic of identities, divided along various ethnic, racial, religious, and linguistic lines. There was conflict between them, but they had co-existed, blending culture, arts, architecture, literature, and cuisine. But after a century of British rule, deep fissures had formed. And as independence loomed, rival groups jockeyed for power. One of the clearest lines of demarcation fell along religious tensions, as clashes between calculating Jawaharlal Nehru, idealistic Mahatma Gandhi, and taciturn Muhammad Ali Jinnah came to head.
Seventy years later, India and Pakistan, both nuclear powers, have fought two wars against each other and continue to employ campaigns of subterfuge and terror across their borders—struggling as only true siblings can. Neither country’s fate has been ideal, but India is economically better off and politically more stable, while Pakistan has struggled with military coups and economic hardship since Jinnah’s death, just thirteen months after Partition.
As a product of both countries, I find it disheartening to watch Indian and Pakistani politicians continue to promulgate antipathy and vitriol towards one another. Recently elected Hindu hardliners such as Modi in India and religious extremists in Pakistan continue to play the nationalist card and invoke hatred along religious lines. This is especially disheartening since both countries have also failed to address key issues at home: poverty; women and children’s rights; access to education; and the rights of class, caste, and minorities.
Both countries have paid a heavy price for Partition and there are many on both sides who question whether Partition should have occurred. Even in my family there are those who feel it was beneficial and those who vehemently insist it was a terrible mistake. It was after talking with both ends of the spectrum that Ticket to India came to life. The story is mostly fiction, but it also provides a glimpse into historic events that impacted millions. The reason I felt so compelled to tell this story is that so few kids in the West have heard of Partition. While kids may know something about Gandhi, spicy curries, yoga, or the Taj Mahal, few know about the history of these two countries. While my aim was to share this difficult and painful story, it was also an opportunity to shed light on the rich culture, diversity, and history of the Indian subcontinent.
—N. H. S.
About the Author
N.H. Senzai is the author of the acclaimed Shooting Kabul, which was on numerous state award lists and an NPR Backseat Book Club Pick. Its companion,Saving Kabul Corner, was nominated for an Edgar Award and was praised by School Library Journal: “Recommended for any fan of multicultural literature or realistic fiction.” While her first two books were based in part on her husband’s experience fleeing Soviet-controlled Afghanistan in 1979, Ticket to India is based on her own family’s history. Ms. Senzai lives with her family in the San Francisco Bay Area. Visit her online at nhsenzai.com.
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Also by N. H. Senzai
Shooting Kabul
Saving Kabul Corner
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2015 by Naheed Hasnat
Jacket illustrations copyright © 2015 by Béatrice Coron
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The text for this book is set in Bembo.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Senzai, N. H.
pages cm
“A Paula Wiseman Book.”
Summary: When twelve-year-old Maya and big sister Zara set off on their own from Delhi to their grandmother’s home of Aminpur, a small town in Northern India, they become separated and Maya decides to continue their quest to find a chest of family treasures that their grandmother’s family left behind when they fled from India to Pakistan during the Great Partition.
ISBN 978-1-4814-2258-1 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4814-2260-4 (eBook)
[1. India—Fiction. 2. India—History--Partition, 1947—Fiction. 3. Adventure and adventurers—Fiction. 4. Families—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.S47953Ti 2015
[Fic]—dc23
2015013276