In this episode, Priyam is in conversation with Harleen Singh - a storyteller between Delhi, Toronto, and Lahore, researcher, historian, and author of the book The Lost Heer: Women in Colonial Punjab (2025). He speaks about his journey from documenting oral histories of Partition to studying women’s histories in colonial Punjab with the creation of the Lost Heer Project in 2018. He takes the listener through stories of women’s participation in colonial Punjab’s society, culture, politics, and national and reformation movements, Punjabi folk songs as modes of women’s expressions, also talking about the new modern Punjabi woman of the early 20th century. The dialogue also includes discussions on Pre-Partition Lahore as a melting pot of cultures, the refugee identity embedded in the landscape of Delhi, and women as the biggest victims of Partition, which Harleen calls the end of Punjab.
In this episode, Priyam is in conversation with Canada-based Pakistani Writer, Oral historian and Educator Anam Zakaria. Anam speaks about the personal yet deeply political nature of her work and her own positionality as is reflected in her books - 1971: A People’s History from Bangladesh, Pakistan and India, Between the Great Divide: A Journey into Pakistan-administered Kashmir and The Footprints of Partition: Narratives of Four Generations of Pakistanis and Indians.
She takes the listener through how her research on Partition led her to study the 1971 Bangladesh War beyond its reductive and simplified general understanding as an Indo-Pak bilateral issue, talking about the sensitivities of writing such a book and also delineating much of what unfolded during her time researching in Bangladesh. She also talks about her complex relationship with India in the years before and after her first visit to the country and her involvement with Student Exchange Programmes and other Cross-Border initiatives.
“This is the burden of the border. Ki Humein pata hi nahi ki woh kaise hai; unhe nahi pata hum kaise hai. When we meet, we are almost mirror reflections of each other. We are not antonyms.”
In this episode, Priyam Moonka is in conversation with oral historian and writer Aanchal Malhotra. They talk about all things that continue to transcend the geo-political borders created by the Partition of the Indian Subcontinent – elements of nature, words that travel, dreams, untainted memories that have preceded the drawing of the Radcliff Line, traditions, languages, culture, and human connections. Aanchal speaks about the precious nature of cross-border friendships, the relationships she has built and nurtured over the years with everyone who shared their stories with her, and the process of weaving the web of a unique multigenerational cross-border family for herself. She also discusses her time carrying out research in Pakistan, the isolating act of writing, moments in which India and Pakistan come together, and forces that make that happen, also underscoring the importance of familiarity of language in the process.
In this episode, Priyam Moonka is in conversation with Fatma Shah, a Lahore-based curator and writer with a keen interest in art, literature, and cultural heritage. They discuss a wide range of themes including the division of Muslim families between India and Pakistan caused by Partition, India-Pakistan Peace forums, and physically held conventions for cross-border dialogue until the mid-2000s, the division of patriotic songs and secular poetry from ‘Saare Jahan se acha’ to ‘Lab pe aati hai dua’ between the two nations along religious lines, the distortion of secular messages in nationalistic jingoistic fervor, the emergence of in-home entertainment during General Zia-ul-Haq’s regime, and the transmission of print media, radio from Amritsar and Doordarshan channels across the Radcliff line. Fatma talks about her travels to India between 1992 and 2017 and the tightening of Visa restrictions over the years. She remembers the Stardust magazine somehow making its way into Pakistan. Her mother’s time in Calcutta singing Tagore’s songs in Bengali, a connection which was lost partially in 1947 and completely in 1971, forms a significant part of her nostalgic reminiscences. Lastly, the discussion touches upon the collective and shared nature of the textile traditions of the Sindhi Ajrak, Dhaka Muslin, and Phulkari.
In this episode, Priyam is in conversation with Laraib Asdaf, founder and curator of Purana Pakistan - a public digital archive dedicated to the side of Pakistan and its people that most today are oblivious to. Laraib speaks about the Muhajir Community in Karachi, and how Partition has shaped the city, which stands out among the other cities of Pakistan and to her also seems like a ‘Mini India’ in some sense. She takes us through her Nana’s traumatic Partition experience despite which he carried no hatred in his heart for as long as he lived and the closure he could finally get in the days before he passed. She also delves into her unlearning experiences as a student in Canada sharing classrooms with Indian and Bangladeshi students and professors which really transformed the way she perceived South Asian History and those from the other side of the border. The conversation is full of anecdotes and touches upon India-Pakistan cricket matches, stereotypical Bollywood portrayals of Pakistanis, and much more.
In this episode, Priyam is in conversation with Amy Singh, a poet, writer, storyteller, facilitator, and advocate of cross-border peace from Chandigarh. Amy is the host and producer of the Partition Podcast - Agla Warqa and the founder of the initiative: Daak: to Lahore with Love.
Amy talks about her first visit to Lahore, almost like a homecoming, dreamy, magical, and yet familiar and full of warmth and love. She reminisces about the heartwarming relationships she built with the people she met at the Faiz Festival in Lahore earlier this year, especially recollecting her fond memory of the visit to Ustad Daman’s grave, whose Nazm she recites in the episode.
The discussion explores the ongoing pain and separation across borders juxtaposing it with stories of togetherness and friendship. They also speak about the shared legacy of Urdu and Punjabi poets and writers across borders, the act of writing and exchanging letters focusing on Amy’s cross-border initiative – Daak: To Lahore with Love, and the systematic erasure of native languages in India and Pakistan.
The conversation culminates with Amy reading out her first letter to Lahore, which she wrote in 2016 amid rising tensions between India and Pakistan and had posted to GPO Lahore.
In this episode, Priyam Moonka is in a cross-border conversation with Haroon Khalid. Haroon speaks about the genesis of his work on religious syncretism in Pre-Partition and Pre-Colonial Punjab and non-Muslim history and heritage in Pakistan. He unpacks the homogenization and crystallization of religious identities under colonial rule, exemplifying the historicity of shared folk traditions and practices across ‘religions’. The discussion traces larger patterns between folktales and cultural practices that blur the boundaries between religions as we see them today. We look at the Sikh Rababi tradition of Kirtan, Waris Shah’s Heer Ranjha, Sufi traditions like Dhamaal, the Tandava of Shiva, worship of certain trees and animals with roots in the Indus Valley Civilization, the shrines of Data Darbar and Shah Hussain, and laying of the first brick of the symbol of Sikh Faith – the Harmandir Sahib – by a Muslim Saint.
About the Guest:
Haroon is a writer, journalist, and educator with an academic background in anthropology. He has traveled extensively around Pakistan and has written about minority rights, folk traditions, politicization of history and heritage, nationalism and identity, etc. Haroon is the author of four books – A White Trail (2013), In Search of Shiva (2015) Walking with Nanak (2016) and Imagining Lahore (2018). He has also written two nonfiction short books called The Enigma of Pakistani Identity (2017) and Beyond the Other (2016) as well as 350+ articles for numerous highly regarded publications. In his work, Haroon explores fluid identities, traditions, and religious practices that challenge the notion of exclusivist identities that define communities in South Asia today.
In this episode, Priyam Moonka is in a cross-border conversation with Hussain Khalid, an independent creative practitioner based in Karachi, Pakistan. They discuss everything from childhood memories of Garmi ki Chutti at Nani Ghar, Ekta Kapoor Serials, the sitcom Shararat, Sanju's magic pencil in Shaka Laka Boom Boom, and Chhaiya Chhaiya toy phones to the shared heritage and coexistence of communities in Pre-partition times. Hussain talks about his ancestral home in Gujrat, West Punjab, which is a Pre-partition Gurudwara, allotted to his grandparents after they migrated from the Indian side of the border in 1947. They discuss cross-border tensions at the time of war, the baggage of generalization, the powerful state narrative of hostility, percolating into children's textbooks, and the need to counter narratives of hate with those of love and peace.
In this episode, Priyam Moonka is in a cross-border conversation with Umair Hashmi, a British-Pakistani filmmaker and photo-journalist based in Lahore. They discuss a wide range of nostalgic experiences from the Pre-Cable times common to those on both sides of the Indo-Pak Border, in the 1990s, especially associated with Doordarshan shows and Bollywood films like Maine Pyaar Kiya and Mohabbatein. They also talk about the Pop Culture that has been transcending borders and bringing citizens of both nations together in contemporary times, the age of social media. Umair also takes us through his time in the UK relishing the Gujarati Fafda and Dhokla, and the South Indian Dosa and having friends from all over India, the common South Asian Identity blurring the differences created by the Radcliffe line back home.
An Introduction
