DOI: 10.4324/9781003317210-8 Introduction While studying the history of human civilisation, we often come across moments that are pregnant with possibilities. In the context of South Asia, the year 1947 witnessed one such moment when the long anti-colonial strug- gle eventually culminated in the transfer of power, 1 and it led to the birth of independent India and Pakistan. One must, however, add a word of caution. For the moment in question, flled with promise and possibility, hope and happiness, tends to overshadow the presence of many who are trapped on the wrong side of history. 2 If the year 1947 marks the moment that initiated the pious task of nation-building, it also stands for the continual movement of individuals and families who crossed the freshly drawn international bor- ders, fearing religious persecution owing to their suddenly ascribed status of minority. 3 In other words, the cherished freedom tasted bitter for many as they were rendered homeless (Sengupta 2021, 580). 4 One is reminded of Aristide Zolberg’s proposition that the formation of new nations generates refugees in the process (Zolberg 1983, 31). While the observation of Zolberg holds true for the 1947 Partition, 5 Uditi Sen contests such a view as selective in nature. Though the Partition resulted in thousands of people becoming refugees overnight, the new nations also had to accommodate them within the folds of the citizenry (Sen 2018, 4). It was the most intriguing feature of the Partition because the refugees were also entitled to citizenship of their putative homeland (Gera Roy 2020, 47). The entire process of evolving from refugees to citizens was marked by claims, contestations, and statist discrimi- nation. But such lived experiences of individuals, who witnessed the bifurca- tion of the land, have barely been ofered any importance in the study of the Partition’s aftermath. 6 Over the past few decades, there has been a perceptible shift in the the- matic focus of Partition Studies. With the acknowledgement that individual experiences of displacement are generally violent and traumatic, more com- plex and localised narratives of migration and resettlement have emerged from various quarters of the society. By employing the methodology of oral history, scholars have disinterred the subjective experiences and perceptions 5 Life Stories and Material Objects Revisiting the Memory of the 1947 Bengal Partition Sumallya Mukhopadhyay