Partition Voices - Amrita Pritam
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Amrita Pritam (1919-2005) captured in her poem 'An Ode to Waris Shah the suffering of Punjabi women at the time of Partition. I interviewed her in Delhi in May 1997 - she talked about writing that poem on a train journey from Lahore to Dehra Dun in the aftermath of Partition. She also spoke of the women abducted at Partition and of the children they bore to unknown fathers. It was a short interview, just fifteen minutes, but powerful and deeply emotional. 'I'm sorry, it is so painful to remember', she declared.

In the radio series for which I interviewed Amrita Pritam, the third programme 'The Tearing of the Veil' begins with extracts from this conversation along with a musical rendition . The audio of that series is posted elsewhere on this site - and I've posted that programme below. It starts with a musical rendition of 'An Ode to Waris Shah'. 

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