ZARINA AKRAM CHAUDHRY

“I do feel like going and looking at my house … Now that I think of it, it was such a privilege, one mosque on this hand and one on the other hand.”

Zarina Akram Chaudhry was 13 at the time of Partition, and the eldest sister to a family of eleven siblings. She migrated with her mother and sisters in 1947. Her father was away working in Bhatinda, and the family was suddenly advised to leave as violence broke out around them. In Pakistan, Zarina became the backbone of her family, making sure her younger siblings went to school and were educated. While the journey was terrifying, she is grateful that they reached Bahawalnagar in Pakistan safely. She says it may be because her house in Ferozpur was between two mosques, and this blessing protected their family.