This Is Not That Dawn (Jhootha Sach) by Yashpal, translated from Hindi by noted print and broadcast journalist, Anand, is one of the greatest novels on the Partition.
Yashpal joined college in Lahore where he befriended Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Bhagvati Charan. They became part of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association, advocating armed struggle for liberating India.
The killing of police officer Saunders at Lahore in December 1928 and the bomb attack in the Central Assembly in Delhi in April 1929, brought death for his comrades, while Yashpal got jail in January 1932 for bombing the dining car of the Viceroy’s special train in December 1929.
The first part of the novel is based in Lahore, that crucible of all that was good amongst Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs, the gali biraadri as Yashpal termed it, until the stirrings of sectarianism took hold of the subcontinent.
The second part of this book covers India from 1947 to 1957, the struggle by the displaced to resurrect themselves, and get on with their lives.
Penguin Books India
Price Rs.599