Salman Rashid’s A Time of MadnessA Memoir of Partition: A Testament of Personal Odyssey

Abstract

Salman Rashid is Pakistan's most prominent travel writer. He has written nine travel novels. His debut memoir is titled A Time of Ma dness. The pa rtition of India in 1947 into two sepa ra te na tions, Pa kista n a nd India , wa s considered a ma noeuvre by the Colonia l British to use Divide a nd Rule ta ctics. The end consequence wa s dea dly ma yhem. People lost their identity while a ttempting to esta blish themselves in a new na tion a nd their na tive country. In the ensuing ma ss migra tion, they were sca rred a nd exiled. Millions of innocent individua ls were trea ted inhuma nely. The turmoil a nd disorder of life da nced on them. This book depicts the a uthor's persona l a dventure aga inst this ba ckground. To the rea ders, his own experiences a re a sta rk rea lity. "Consequently, when the memory of Pa rtition is irrevoca bly oblitera ted with the rise of my genera tion, we sha ll be left with no hope," he finishes the Memoir. The grea test tragedy will not be the loss of lives a nd property during the 1947 turmoil. Those efforts would ha ve been in va in since they never inspired us."