No Return Address: Partition and Stories of Displacement by Manjira Majumdar

Bengal as a province was divided several times by its rulers for various reasons—to manage it better, divide its spoils among the conquerors, or to break the spirit of a rebellious and creatively inclined community. But what did this division mean to a Bengali? How did it impact their identity, culture, lives and future generations? How did they take the Partition and the consequent slicing off of their community? Sadly, these are the questions that haunt generations of Bengalis—their memories stowed away in trunks, pieces of documents, dying dialects, photographs or the deepest recesses of their mind. The displacement through Partition brought in alienation, sorrow, longing and a sense of loss in its tow. The resultant rootlessness bred strong emotions. No Return Address: Partition and Stories of Displacement is a collection of 10 short stories and one long fiction exploring the different aspects of one’s identity—placing it in relation to one’s family, community, country, social class as well as one’s own self.