Khamosh Pani
Khamosh Pani : An essay
The movie Khamosh Pani is set in The Charkhi village, in Pakistan in the year 1979. The film revolves around the concept of the trauma and atrocities faced by Ayesha (and many other women, Muslim and Hindu) during the time of the Partition of India and Pakistan. It deals with a side of Partition that we haven’t explored ever before. Watching the film gave me and insight about a whole new history that I had never imagined.
Ayesha is the embodiment of women who were mercilessly abducted, and raped. She, along with the other women in the family, had been ‘martyred’, to save the families ‘honor’, akin to the story of Mangal Singh in the article we read (1). She ran away, however still was abducted and raped. She chose to marry her abductor, and they had a son, Saleem. But why not return back to her homeland? Was it because the law did not give women the choice to resist being recovered? If their relationship with their abductor was voluntary, judgment was taken by police officers of both countries who were apparently capable of doing so fairly (2). Or was it due to the fact that she now had a son, and people would point fingers at his nationality, more so a finger at her. People felt that along with abduction, settling with the abductor with a child was a shameful and immoral act. So she wouldn’t ever be accepted the same way in her native country, like she used to. In this wild chaos, the child would be the one who actually suffered. In their narrow mindset about Hindus and Muslims, people would divide the child, who would be left without his parents, or treated as illegitimate and be probably killed (3). Perhaps this is why Ayesha decided to convert to Islam, because she knew she would never be able to start a new life with her son if she never adopted Islam, given the conditions of where she lived.
Also, her abductor wanted to marry her, because he regretted raping her. Even though this does not justify or nullify in any case the act
The movie Khamosh Pani is set in The Charkhi village, in Pakistan in the year 1979. The film revolves around the concept of the trauma and atrocities faced by Ayesha (and many other women, Muslim and Hindu) during the time of the Partition of India and Pakistan. It deals with a side of Partition that we haven’t explored ever before. Watching the film gave me and insight about a whole new history that I had never imagined.
Ayesha is the embodiment of women who were mercilessly abducted, and raped. She, along with the other women in the family, had been ‘martyred’, to save the families ‘honor’, akin to the story of Mangal Singh in the article we read (1). She ran away, however still was abducted and raped. She chose to marry her abductor, and they had a son, Saleem. But why not return back to her homeland? Was it because the law did not give women the choice to resist being recovered? If their relationship with their abductor was voluntary, judgment was taken by police officers of both countries who were apparently capable of doing so fairly (2). Or was it due to the fact that she now had a son, and people would point fingers at his nationality, more so a finger at her. People felt that along with abduction, settling with the abductor with a child was a shameful and immoral act. So she wouldn’t ever be accepted the same way in her native country, like she used to. In this wild chaos, the child would be the one who actually suffered. In their narrow mindset about Hindus and Muslims, people would divide the child, who would be left without his parents, or treated as illegitimate and be probably killed (3). Perhaps this is why Ayesha decided to convert to Islam, because she knew she would never be able to start a new life with her son if she never adopted Islam, given the conditions of where she lived.
Also, her abductor wanted to marry her, because he regretted raping her. Even though this does not justify or nullify in any case the act
Citations: (2) Pg 4, Butalia, Urvashi. 2000. The Other Side of Silence: Voices from the Partition of India. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. (3) Pg 6, Butalia, Urvashi. 2000. The Other Side of Silence: Voices from the Partition of India. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. (4) Pg 20, Butalia, Urvashi. 2000. The Other Side of Silence: Voices from the Partition of India. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. (5) Pg 31, Butalia, Urvashi. 2000. The Other Side of Silence: Voices from the Partition of India. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. (6) Pg 30, Butalia, Urvashi. 2000. The Other Side of Silence: Voices from the Partition of India. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. (7) Pg 23, Butalia, Urvashi. 2000. The Other Side of Silence: Voices from the Partition of India. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. (8) Pg 23, Butalia, Urvashi. 2000. The Other Side of Silence: Voices from the Partition of India. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. (9) Pg 5, Pandey, Gyanendra. 2001. Remembering Partition: Violence, Nationalism and History in India. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. (10) Pg 23, Butalia, Urvashi. 2000. The Other Side of Silence: Voices from the Partition of India. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.