How many generations does one have to live in a place to be allowed to call it home? ~Dr. Brij V. Lal My great-great-grandparents were Pathans from Peshawar living in a free India a century before colonial partition separated our people along religious and perceived racial lines. Moving freely along the Himalayan foothills and through the fertile lands of the Punjab, they settled in Makha, a bedroom suburb of the growing town of Mansa, where my Dadda (great-grandfather), Abdul Gaffur Khan, was born. Probably not much later in his life, after moving to Allahabad with his family, he met and married Azima, my Daddi (great-grandmother), and from there the story of my family and our people deviates from those familiar with the history of India and its citizens.
In the…
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British Columbia History (Digital) - 1 Issue, 57.2 Summer 2024