‘Family histories have a special resonance, an attention to the small, everyday details, an interest in the minutiae of real lives that is often missing in dry, factual chronicles. They contain stories of suffering and endurance, pain and misery, even anger as well as vignettes of hope and renewal, of courage and conviction, of rising above the constraints of time and circumstance. Kafila is a tale spun on the loom of Time, weaving memory with history, the personal with the political, creating a tapestry of loss and hope, displacement and belonging. Sumant Batra’s sweeping family saga reaffirms faith in humanity in fractured times, as well as a shared past and an inclusive future. It demonstrates the human cost of a terrible tragedy, a cost borne not by any one community but all those millions who lost their loves, homes and loved ones in one of the largest exchanges of population between two countries.’ – Dr Rakhshanda Jalil, Writer, Translator, Literary Historian

‘Written in immaculate detail, part family memoir, part historical documentation, Kafila carefully revisits the tragedy of those millions who were called “refugees” in their own country, after being forcefully uprooted overnight in 1947. The narrative of the author’s grandfather, Kesar Dass, and his extended family is an important addition to Partition literature as it traces the family’s traumatic journey across the newly demarcated border. It is not only emotive, it is also brilliantly researched as it tracks these brave-hearts and their resilience through rehabilitation and resurgence, finally becoming nation builders, though they had lost everything during the violence and darkness that eclipsed the country in those troubled times.’ – Kishwar Desai, Author and Founder, Partition Museum, Amritsar and Delhi

‘When I heard that Gobind’s son (Sumant Batra) is writing a family memoir on Partition, memories buried for decades surged after some effort as age had blurred them. I was only fifteen or sixteen years old when my prosperous and happy family was uprooted from Multan one fine day. We crossed the border with nothing but fear, staying hungry for days. Our struggle for survival continued for years. With this book, the world will know what we went through and how we survived. This memoir isn’t just history; it’s our soul’s cry.’ – Thakur Dass, Delhi, ninety-three-year-old survivor of Partition, son of Sumant Batra’s grandfather’s elder sister

Sumant Batra is an Indian lawyer with nearly three-decade global experience in the areas of insolvency and bankruptcy. He ranks among the thirty leading international insolvency experts identified by GRR, which recently conferred on him the award for ‘outstanding career’ in insolvency, in recognition of his contribution in insolvency, globally. An International Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy, Sumant is the only Indian to have earned this distinction. He is the only Asian and the youngest to have served as president of the London-based INSOL International. Sumant’s contribution in the development and shaping of Indian insolvency policy and industry are well-recognised. A champion of cultural initiatives, Sumant is the founder and architect of a number of innovative projects to promote Indian heritage and literature, including the popular Kumaon Literary Festival. He is the author of The Indians, a bestselling coffee-table book that includes a foreword by Cherie Blair, and Anarkali; and co-author of An Actor’s Actor:The Authorized Biography of Sanjeev Kum