Partition

Ethnically, I'm a Gujarati. My family moved to Pakistan on its inception, and although I visit Karachi every 2-3 years, I've never been to India let alone the villiage my grandparents were born in. It also means I always hesitate when people ask where I'm from - nationally I'm British and Pakistani, but ethnically I consider myself Gujarati, and so, Indian.

I do sometimes become jealous of those who say that they're going back to visit their pind. Although I love Karachi and consider it "back home" there are no roots there. I do hope I eventually get the chance to see where some of my forefathers lived just two generations ago, but I;ve not even set foot in India at all yet.

Otherwise I think I'm pretty lucky, having links to both sides of the border. I'm close with a fair number of British Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, in a way deeper than just a shared skin colour. I'm not unique in this respect, but I may be naive in thinking this is normal a normal state of being for Asians in Britain - I didn't even realise that there was any animosity between the respective countries in the sub-continent till I was 17 or so and I do often consider what life and the world would have been like if partition didn't occur, something others may consider as absolute madness.

Who knows? Perhaps by the next sixty year anniversary there'll be some kind of South Asian Union, similar to the current European one? At the very least I'm confident that any historical issues will be exactly that: history. I just hope I'm around when it happens.

Oh and yes, I do support Pakistan in the Cricket.