Becoming the Storm

Not Yet Another Post-Partition Story By Tanima Ray

- Tanima Ray

Most authors on either side of the border choose to write about the partition of India and Pakistan. Yet this novel by veteran journalist Rami Chhabra brings a fresh facet to what transpired during and after the cataclysmic incident that scarred the two nations and millions of their inhabitants.

Named Becoming the Storm, published by Blue One Ink, Chhabra's debut novel at 86 weaves a thread between the preand post-Independence era set in the backdrop of Delhi. The subject in question, or focus, is a Punjabi family that translocated and expanded in India. The younger generation that has been portrayed in the book faces the struggle of creating their own identity and making a living. There is the constant tussle of hanging on to the trauma and loss, as well as traditions, and carving out a newer way of life.

In fact, what the family is going through is a reflection of what the nation is experiencing as it moves towards a newer world and regime.