The Well of Memories: Women, Setting and Plurality in Khamosh Paani

Selected alternative narratives are often side stepped and brushed away while creating a hegemonic discourse, in order to concretize the notion of a nation and give it an identity of its own. However, when such alternative narratives are recovered from the cobwebs of history, they tend to question the singular monolithic entity of the Nation-State. This paper explores the trauma and horror of the Partition of British India into India and Pakistan in 1947 and its aftermath even after 53 years, as narrated in the film Khamosh Pani: Silent Waters (2003), directed by the Pakistani documentary filmmaker Sabiha Sumar. Further, it draws attention to the ways in which a female body is subjected to territorisation and how religion, border, society, and patriarchy did influence women’s choices during the upheavals of 1947. The paper finally addresses the question of plurality at moments of death and analyses how the Partition has been a trauma without terminal.