Kavita Puri
@kavpuri
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Creator & Host #ThreeMillion #PartitionVoices #3poundsInMyPocket @bbcsounds Co-creator #BurningSun Author Partition Voices adapted @donmarwarehouse Ex Newsnight
England
Joined October 2010
At least three million people died in the Bengal famine in British India during WW2. There is no memorial or even a plaque to them anywhere in the world. #ThreeMillion tells their story through extraordinary eyewitness accounts. Listen NOW @bbcsounds .
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45 years ago today, 18 year old Gurdip Singh Chaggar was brutally stabbed to death on Southall High Street. A pool of his blood remained on the pavement. A passer by asked a policeman who had died, he was told, "it was just an Asian."
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For 97 years, discarded in a basement of Lahore Museum, were 26,000 pages detailing the 320,000 men from Punjab who fought in the British Indian Army in WW1. Now digitised, for the first time, their descendants can search for family members. 1/4
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In Lahore at last, the city of my ancestors. I found my Dad’s street. He lived opposite a Temple which was long ago erased. But everyone knew where it once stood, including the tiny children who led me there. So in the memory of today’s residents it still stands #partitionvoices
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The survivors of the 1943 #bengalfamine in British India, which took place during WW2, are elderly now, but they never forgot it. Here are some, speaking for the first time. #ThreeMillion.
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At last am in the Bengal countryside to meet the last survivors of the #Bengalfamine. This is Malati, she is 96. She was introduced to us by her great grandson as “young lady”. Hear her remarkable testimony in a new episode of #ThreeMillion coming out soon @BBCSounds
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The killing inspired 22 yr old Suresh to start the Southall Asian Youth Movement to fight against racism - more sprung up across the country. Their motto: "Come what may, we're here to stay." This is Suresh's story:
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“I asked my friend who was travelling [to Lahore] where they had been struggling to get copies of my book from India, to leave one under a park bench, just so it could touch its earth. I wanted to know it was in Pakistan somewhere in the place my dad grew up and fled.” /1
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PUBLICATION DAY #partitionvoices. In 1947 British India was divided along religious lines. Millions migrated - Hindus & Sikhs to India, Muslims to Pakistan. Many whose lives were so disrupted by partition moved to post-war Britain. These are their extraordinary stories. THREAD
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A new edition of Partition Voices is out today to mark the 75th anniversary. Stories of a dwindling generation - who live among us - who were eye-witnesses to the end of empire and the devastating aftermath, and its complex legacy today. #partitionvoices
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Another death of a doctor. This is Manjeet Singh Riyat “the first A&E consultant from the Sikh community in the country”. So very sad.
It is with deep sadness that we share the news that we've lost a colleague. Mr Manjeet Singh Riyat was a hugely respected Emergency Consultant at Royal Derby Hospital
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That passer by was Suresh Grover. He took a piece of red cloth to cover the blood. He put bricks around it so no-one would walk there, as a sign of respect. He erected a makeshift sign saying someone had died. Protests at the racist murder followed.
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Such an honour to be on my fave @EmpirePodUK to discuss the lived experience of partition and its enduring generational legacy with @tweeter_anita and @DalrympleWill. This was an unexpectedly emotional and personal discussion for all three of us. #partitionvoices
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On this day 48 years ago, 18 year-old Gurdip Singh Chaggar was stabbed in a #Southall street. His killing sparked a youth movement of #defiance against racism. He was not “just an Asian.” His memory lives on. #3poundsinmypocket.
45 years ago today, 18 year old Gurdip Singh Chaggar was brutally stabbed to death on Southall High Street. A pool of his blood remained on the pavement. A passer by asked a policeman who had died, he was told, "it was just an Asian."
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72 years ago British India was divided along religious lines into India and Pakistan. There was joy at independence. But partition saw millions migrate and terrible violence. Some went on to live in Britain. They kept their silence #partitionvoices tells their stories. THREAD
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46 years ago today Gurdip Singh Chaggar was murdered. His killing sparked the Asian youth movements to unite against racism. Their motto “Come what may we’re here to stay.”.
45 years ago today, 18 year old Gurdip Singh Chaggar was brutally stabbed to death on Southall High Street. A pool of his blood remained on the pavement. A passer by asked a policeman who had died, he was told, "it was just an Asian."
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Series 4 of #3poundsinmypocket starts on Friday at 11 @bbcradio4. Stories of the pioneers who came from the Indian subcontinent to post-war Britain and their descendants. The new series described by the Guardian as "captivating and epic" looks at 1990-2001. #Britishhistory
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For more on this period of British South Asian social history - listen to #3poundsinmypocket @BBCRadio4
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Some of the last survivors of the 1943 Bengal Famine, in British colonial India, speak about it for the first time. Hear their stories tomorrow in a NEW episode of #ThreeMillion @BBCSounds
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I know we're all talking about Dominic Cummings but on More or Less @bbcradio4 NOW another chance to hear how a week's earlier lockdown could have resulted in a 1/4 of deaths according to modellers and @katelamble who has been investigating testing has more revealing findings.
On with @TimHarford on More or Less @bbcradio4 at 0900 to discuss why there is such a vast disparity in the number of Covid-19 deaths between Germany and the UK.
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“Bengal Famine not a footnote, it was a catastrophe.” Thanks to @notketakidesai and @timesofindia for featuring #ThreeMillion today.
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I wrote this last year @EveningStandard about partition but the same can be said for colonial history. It's British history. It really is time it was taught and understood.
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Remarkable stories from across the UK from people who lived through the partition of British India #partitionvoices
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Series 5 of "Three Pounds in my Pocket" starts on Friday at 11 @BBCRadio4. Stories of the pioneers who came from the Indian subcontinent to post-war Britain and their descendants. Our history. British history. #3poundsinmypocket
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Series 3 of Three Pounds in my Pocket starts at 11 @bbcradio4. Stories of the early pioneers from the Indian subcontinent and their children. Our history. British history. Series 1 & 2 @BBCSounds #3poundsinmypocket
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Independence and Partition. Forever twinned. Iftkahr was in Delhi 73 years ago today, watching the fireworks, celebrating freedom from the British. Weeks later he had fled to Pakistan. He came to Britain in 1951, where he still lives. "India was mine as well." 1/6.
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On this day 80 years ago, Ian Stephens, the editor of the British-owned Statesman newspaper, challenged the wartime censorship rules in British India, and published two distressing photographs showing the extent of the famine unfolding on the streets of Kolkata in 1943 /1.
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Much overdue - a blue plaque for Noor Inayat Khan. An extraordinary woman - a spy in France during WW2 she died in Dachau with the words "liberte" on her lips. Thanks to @shrabanibasu_ for her tireless work in making this happen and her excellent book.
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In homes across Britain the partition of India 75 years ago isn't history but a live issue for some of its young descendants who are piecing together their complex family past to understand its legacy. Inheritors of Partition is on @BBCRadio4 at 0900 on Monday #partitionvoices
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It's hard to explain how important #Defiance is - after nearly 50 years, finally this story is being told on British TV. It's shocking and painful to watch, but it happened. It's British history we should know. On now @Channel4 commissioned @shamindernahal .#3poundsinmypocket.
“Incredible viewing whether you’re Asian or not” @TherealNihal .“Striking, compelling.” Guardian.“Powerful” Times “Eye-opening” Mail.#Defiance starts tonight, 9pm on @channel4. Score by @bishi_official . @rizwanahmed @groupm_motion #roganproductions @RajeshThind @shamindernahal
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My thanks to Susannah for allowing me to tell her story into the digging into her family's past, and the many complex emotions in stirs. The latest episode of #ThreeMillion is on @BBCSounds
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Two young men were tried in connection with Chaggar's death and received a four year sentence. This article via my friend @amanmadra
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Wonderful to wake up to these incredible reviews about #ThreeMillion @observeruk “superb account of the 1943 Bengal famine needs to be heard” and @thetimes “Three Million is the best history podcast I’ve heard in years.” Hope we can find a way to talk about difficult history.
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A relic from the days of empire. Thanks to one of my £3 interviewees for sharing for Series 4 #3poundsinmypocket @bbcradio4 (out in Jan!)
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This is Moey. In the late 1980's he was part of an underground club scene where young British South Asians would skip school to dance away the afternoons before returning home in time for dinner. Hear his story in #3poundsinmypocket @BBCRadio4 at 9pm.
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My wonderful colleague @MarkUrban01 on his last day with legendary producer @mpolachowska. For old times’ sake here we are with the Tardis which used to be outside our Newsnight office at Television Centre.
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Blown away by the response and w/end reviews: “compelling” 5 stars in the Sat Mail, “superb” in The Telegraph, “haunting” in the Guardian and the choice in the FT, Sunday Mail, Sunday Times, and Observer.
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Very touched by my neighbour, a builder, bringing these (industrial) face masks round this morning for my husband to wear in the hospital.
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Both episodes on the #bengalfamine and #threemillion are now out. Thanks to my fave historians @DalrympleWill and @tweeter_anita and @EmpirePodUK for talking about this important subject where at least 3 million Indians, who were British subjects, died during WW2.
This week we are taking a break from the American Empire series to cover an important and tragic event from 20th-century Indian history - the 1943 Bengal Famine
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#partitionvoices is out in paperback TODAY. A vanishing generation who live among us. Born subjects of the Raj, now British citizens. Witnesses to the bloody end of empire in 1947. They break their silence and tell their remarkable stories. British history.
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During lockdown we heard birdsong, there was clean air, you could see the stars at night. As cities stir once again will they ever be the same - and do we want them to be? On the Inquiry this week we ask: will Covid-19 change cities.
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What do we do with statues when they no longer reflect our values. How do we reckon with our past without erasing it? And is doing nothing an option? I looked at possible lessons from Iraq, Germany, India and the US.
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Very proud of this @BBCPanorama film "Let's Talk About Race" with @TVNaga01 and produced by a brilliant production team. If you didn't see it a few weeks back, worth watching in light of the #sewellreport #bbcpanorama #letstalkaboutrace.
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NEW episode of #ThreeMillion drops today. When you put an overlooked history into the public space it unlocks so many stories. We’ve had an incredible response to the series from people with a connection to the #bengalfamine- the legacy of it persists in homes across Britain. /1.
At least three million people died in the Bengal famine in British India during WW2. There is no memorial or even a plaque to them anywhere in the world. #ThreeMillion tells their story through extraordinary eyewitness accounts. Listen NOW @bbcsounds .
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These three plaques mark an important period in the history of the anti-racism movement in Britain. 18 year old Gurdip Singh Chaggar was brutally stabbed to death on Southall High St in 1976. Suresh Grover found a pool of his blood on the pavement which had not been cleaned up. .
3 blue plaques have been stolen from outside Southall Town Hall. 2 commemorate the untimely deaths of 2 young men, 3rd the impact of local reggae band. More details & how to report info
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The heart-breaking story of Gurdip Singh Chaggar #defiance #3poundsinmypocket.
45 years ago today, 18 year old Gurdip Singh Chaggar was brutally stabbed to death on Southall High Street. A pool of his blood remained on the pavement. A passer by asked a policeman who had died, he was told, "it was just an Asian."
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The book was inspired by my father who was born in Lahore but left for what would become India. He spoke after 70 years about the horrors he saw and the sadness he felt at leaving. Like so many from that generation his memories were shrouded in silence. #partitionvoices
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History matters. The long story of why we are here. Our elders, former subjects of the Raj, invited here after the war. Their children took on the NF on the streets in the 70s. Their slogan "Come What May, We're Here to Stay." British history.
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"Famine is a social trauma too. It tears apart communities and destroys livelihoods. People are forced into the utmost indignities. such is the lingering shame that people cannot speak openly about famine, sometimes for generations." .
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Germany has recorded under 8,000 deaths from Covid-19 - yet the UK, Spain, France and Italy (all with smaller populations) have had many times more fatalities. This week on The Inquiry I speak to four experts to ask why the disparity. Producer @jimofrank
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“Rigorous, illuminating, emotionally resonant” #ThreeMillion is among The Sunday Times best podcasts for the summer - check out the list for all the many brilliant recommendations. A new episode is out next month.
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This week in 1984 the Golden Temple was stormed by the Indian army. It was a shocking moment for British Sikhs. @amanmadra recalls seeing his mother cry for the first time as she saw the TV images. Here's the @bbcradio4 ep from series 3 #3poundsinmypocket
Series 3 of Three Pounds in my Pocket starts at 11 @bbcradio4. Stories of the early pioneers from the Indian subcontinent and their children. Our history. British history. Series 1 & 2 @BBCSounds #3poundsinmypocket
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Chuffed #partitionvoices is on this @GuardianBooks summer reading list, along with so many brilliant reads
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Over the moon to be working with @DonmarWarehouse and @TaraTheatre on the adaptation of Partition Voices and for these precious testimonies to be given a new life on stage. #partitionvoices #silence.
In Sept; SILENCE, a co-production with @TaraTheatre directed by Abdul Shayek - a new play by Sonali Bhattacharyya, Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti, Ishy Din & Alexandra Wood to mark the 75th anniversary of Partition. Adapted from Kavita Puri’s Partition Voices: Untold British Stories
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Yesterday @Ms_PatelHistory taught her year 12 about the effect of partition using 3 interviewees from #partitionvoices. Three people who had not thought their stories important enough to tell their own families now being discussed by schoolchildren. This makes me so happy
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Today on the 77th anniversary of #Independence I am thinking so much of my #partitionvoices interviewees, some of whom are no longer with us. They were born subjects of the Raj, witnessed the traumatic birth of two nations and migrated to Britain. British history.
PUBLICATION DAY #partitionvoices. In 1947 British India was divided along religious lines. Millions migrated - Hindus & Sikhs to India, Muslims to Pakistan. Many whose lives were so disrupted by partition moved to post-war Britain. These are their extraordinary stories. THREAD
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Tomorrow the latest series of #3poundsinmypocket starts @bbcworldservice. Stories of the pioneers who came from the Indian subcontinent to post-war Britain and their descendants. Described by The Guardian as "captivating and epic, this series looks at the years from 1990-2001.
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Feel so honoured to win this and the radio prize for #partitionvoices and thanks to my amazing team
And the overall winner of the 2018 #PublicHistory Prize is. @BBCRadio4's "Partition Voices", presented by @kavpuri! The whole series is available here:
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Who knew #Chiswick was twinned to these places including #Lahore and #Jalandhar (courtesy of a Chiswick friend)
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Thanks to @RadioTimes for the lovely review of Inheritors of Partition and making it their pick of the day. Out next Monday @bbcradio4 at 0900. Produced by @AdeaneAnt #partitionvoices
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Excited to see the new cover for my paperback out in July #partitionvoices.
'Kavita Puri's book is the most humane account of partition I've read' - Nikesh Shukla. We're really pleased to show you the new cover for #PartitionVoices by @kavpuri, publishing in paperback in July
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“The scars of partition are in Britain too” in today’s @guardian #partitionvoices #inheritorsofpartition
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So lucky to have had a hand-delivered copy of this most precious book. In the Language of Remembering by @AanchalMalhotra out on May 10.
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This is shocking. "India racked by greatest exodus since partition due to coronavirus."
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"Noone else has done anything comparable to BBC's oeuvre, with firsthand testimonies. It is moving, beyond words. We owe much to Kavita Puri and that team for bravely tackling the famine." With thanks to @openmagazine #ThreeMillion .
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Over the moon to be a finalist with @AdeaneAnt and Emma Rippon in this wonderful prize and also for the recognition of #ThreeMillion and those whose lives were overlooked for so long.
Congratulations to the finalists for The Orwell Prize for Journalism 2024!. "We are proud to shine the spotlight on these extraordinary writers tackling important subjects with style, precision and urgency." - Janine Gibson, Chair of Judges. Find out more:
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Growing up all I ever wanted to do was work on #newsnight. Last night we gathered to say goodbye to some legends. Tonight is the last programme in its current form. Lucky us to have worked there with some of the best in the biz.
We come to praise Newsnight not bury it. Newsnight EoDs (programme editors) and presenter from circa 2012 @dan1kelly @BreakwellNeil @kavpuri @maitlis
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Thank you @EasternEye for an ACTA and recognition for #ThreeMillion and the incredible team behind it @AdeaneAnt @eloisewhitmore Emma Rippon and commissioners @djoeclarke @JMZLon.
Congratulations to Kavita Puri for winning the Best Presenter Award at the Eastern Eye Awards!.She continues to captivate and inspire millions with her work. Let us congratulate her for her amazing work. @kavpuri.@ace_national @EdwardianHotels @hindujagroup.#EEACTA #ACTA2024
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The Children of the #Gaza War - by filmaker @rjamesjones & @bbclysedoucet. Important viewing. #BBC2 9pm #Gaza1YearOn
http://t.co/ZtNqkJympo.
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Have been waiting for something like this for a long time. And @DalrympleWill and @tweeter_anita are the perfect hosts. Exciting! #empire.
So here is some news. Tomorrow the fabulous @tweeter_anita & I begin a new podcast- Empire, sister pod to The Rest is History & the Rest is Politics. This week is the 75th anniversary of Indian Independence, so the first season is about British imperialism in India 1600-1947.
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Now look, an abundance of copies @LibertyBooks_ @lhrlitfest which makes my heart swell. #partitionvoices /2.
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Still pinching myself that this happened a year ago #partitionvoices.
Tonight we’re celebrating the launch of #PartitionVoices by @kavpuri at @Dauntbooks!. Based on original interviews from the award-winning, landmark BBC Radio 4 series – #PartitionVoices brings to the fore the seldom-told but shared history between South Asia and Britain.
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Been going to @Dauntbooks for decades and to see this in their window feels completely unreal but so so wonderful #partitionvoices
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Thanks to the Sunday Times for the lovely review of Inheritors of Partition, and how nice to share it with the brilliant @EmpirePodUK and @DalrympleWill and @tweeter_anita (ep 3 is spellbinding.) #partitionvoices
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Thanks to all the academics who took part and advised the team, all the scholars who have written about the Bengal famine that fed into our research, the archivists that painstakingly helped us and @TheLondonLib for supplying so many books at short notice and for long loan!.
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76 years on from independence and partition, stories are still being re-written. I loved the response to this - a reminder there is more that unites than divides us. #partitionvoices #independanceday.
In Lahore at last, the city of my ancestors. I found my Dad’s street. He lived opposite a Temple which was long ago erased. But everyone knew where it once stood, including the tiny children who led me there. So in the memory of today’s residents it still stands #partitionvoices
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Karam still finds it hard to talk of 3 September 1947. On that day there was a raid on his village. A spear covered with poison pierced him. He still has the scar. His Sikh father was killed by a Muslim mob, but his sister was saved by their Muslim neighbours. #partitionvoices
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Excellent coverage from my colleagues in India. One told me this week the professional & personal has blurred in the most morbid way. By day, trying to write stories on the pandemic, at night trying to find medicines, oxygen, hospital beds for loved ones.
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Thanks to @RadioTimes for making “Three Million” their radio pick of the week. All episodes drop @BBCSounds on Friday. #threemillion #bengalfamine
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In the audience @GlosHistFest were two sisters and their husbands. After the session they showed me a yellowed, crumpled piece of paper. It was a typed letter from their father to be read on his death. He died in the late 90’s and had a final request. (1/4).
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One of my favourite places in London and never more important or relevant than now.
At a time when travel was difficult, the Cast Courts brought copies of art and architecture from around the globe together under one roof. Take a tour around them.
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So many stories like this in Britain. So many still to be unearthed. Some, after 75 years, may already be lost. Thanks to @guardian @ainajkhan and @thaslima_b for documenting these. #partitionvoices.
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For the past 4 years @chloehadj and I have been working on "Burning Sun" for @BBCRadio4 looking at the sex scandals that shook the K-pop world. It's a shocking story of power, excess, and depravity. Here it is . ep 6 on its way soon. #burningsun
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"What bothers me is the general sense that we live in a country where some people think racism is either imagined, or in people’s minds, and I think that is a notion that has to be fought." @CliveMyrieBBC on the racist abuse he receives as a BBC presenter. So sad.
Clive Myrie details racist abuse he receives as BBC News presenter | Race | The Guardian
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India's devastating second wave has seen hospitals turn patients away, oxygen supplies run out, and makeshift crematoriums in car parks as the number of bodies mount. This week on the Inquiry we ask: what went wrong in India #COVID19India
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Gurbakhsh was 12 when he would see trains loaded with corpses passing near his family's fields in the Punjab. One day a Muslim woman fell off the train with her two children. The Sikh villagers protected her and took her to a place of safety. #partitionvoices
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Thanks to the team @UKPHA, @amanmadra and @GavinRand for this extraordinary and important resource detailing the huge contribution of Punjabis to the war effort. #Britishhistory 4/4.
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Another chance to hear series 3 of #3poundsinmypocket on @BBCRadio4 tonight at 21:00 looking at the 1980's. In ep 1 we hear of a cultural flourishing amongst the second generation as well as dramatic events which shocked British Sikhs.
Series 3 of Three Pounds in my Pocket starts at 11 @bbcradio4. Stories of the early pioneers from the Indian subcontinent and their children. Our history. British history. Series 1 & 2 @BBCSounds #3poundsinmypocket
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Look who turned up to my @BloomsburyInst chat on #partitionvoices (and he didn’t ask any tricky questions thank goodness)
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Exciting. Director Mira Nair is a legend #asuitableboy.
First look image of Lata (Tanya Maniktala) and Mrs Rupa Mehra (Mahira Kakkar) in @BBCOne’s #ASuitableBoy:
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The Guardian describes Three Pounds in My Pocket as "the radio series preserving the nation's south Asian past." The new series starts today at 11 @bbcradio4 or listen back @bbcsounds #3poundsinmypocket.
Series 5 of "Three Pounds in my Pocket" starts on Friday at 11 @BBCRadio4. Stories of the pioneers who came from the Indian subcontinent to post-war Britain and their descendants. Our history. British history. #3poundsinmypocket
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This is a ground-breaking project with Lahore Museum and @UKPHA. Learn more later this month @BradfordLitFest.
Are you interested in your Punjabi WW1 past? Or just learning more about your ancestral village's contribution in 1914?.Join me and a team of historians at The Bradford Literature Festival on Saturday 25 June for a workshop to help you start your research
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Feel quite emotional reading this piece from @guardian - thank you @ciaranthapar: "'This is British history': the radio series preserving the nation's south Asian past" #3poundsinmypocket.
I spoke to @kavpuri about her BBC Radio 4 documentary series, 'Three Pounds In My Pocket' - the first oral history of south Asians in Britain. Series 4, about the 1990s, starts tomorrow, 8th Jan 📻
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In the last ep of #ThreeMillion @bbcradio4 at 1330: why the history of the #bengalfamine is not written by the survivors, and how remembrance of it 80 years on is complicated in Britain but also in India and Bangladesh today.
At least three million people died in the Bengal famine in British India during WW2. There is no memorial or even a plaque to them anywhere in the world. #ThreeMillion tells their story through extraordinary eyewitness accounts. Listen NOW @bbcsounds .
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