New Delhi: US’ interim Chargé d’Affaires in India Atul Keshap Monday visited Dara Shikoh library, located on the grounds of Ambedkar University in Delhi. During the visit, he donated an ancestral lock — that belonged to his grandparents who fled to India during Partition — to the Partition Museum being built at the library.
Keshap, an Indian-American with roots in Punjab, shared the news on Twitter.
Today, I did something extremely meaningful and important for my family, something 75 years in the making, a respectful gesture of love, remembrance, and hope. I went to the Mughal-era Dara Shikoh library, located on the grounds of Ambedkar University, Kashmeri Gate, Delhi. 1/n pic.twitter.com/beP4uiq8qY
— Atul Keshap (@USAmbKeshap) September 6, 2021
“When I visited family in Panipat, I sought permission to donate an artifact from our grandparents, something they brought to the safety of #India when they fled for their lives from their ancestral lands,” he said, adding that the lock secured a trunk carrying his grandparents’ possession while they were attempting to flee riots and violence.
Keshap made the donation to Mallika Ahluwalia, CEO and co-founder of the world’s first museum to remember the Partition of India located in Amritsar, Punjab.
Keshap has led a 27-year career as an American diplomat, having served previously at the US Embassy in New Delhi and as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia. He most recently served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and also as the US ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
He was born in June 1971 in Nigeria. His father, Dr Keshap Chander Sen, was born in Punjab and served as a UN development economist. His mother, Zoe Calvert, had earlier served in the US Foreign Service when she met and married Dr Sen in London. She had also served at the US embassy in India between 1958 and 1960.
Partition Museum in Delhi expected to open in early 2022
The Dara Shikoh library, which once belonged to a Mughal prince, is to be refurbished into a museum to honour the millions of families displaced or killed during Partition. It will be similar to the Partition Museum in Amritsar that was set up in 2017 by the Punjab Heritage and Tourism Promotion Board, The Arts and Cultural Heritage Trust (TAACHT), along with Ahluwalia and team.
Ganeev Kaur, curator of exhibitions at Partition Museum in Amritsar, told ThePrint that the museum in Delhi is expected to be complete by January 2022. “Our team moved into the Dara Shikoh library to start work a few months ago. It was allotted to us by Arts And Cultural Heritage Trust under ‘Adopt A Heritage’, Ministry of Tourism. The other partners are Delhi Government and Delhi State Archeological Department.”
She added that apart from Keshap and family, the team has been interviewing other prominent families and individuals, including former prime minister Manmohan Singh, who have memorabilia and stories about experiencing the horrors of Partition. “We are also trying to get in touch with the Sandoz family, that owns the chain of restaurants, as well as examining the way the Partition affected the Parsi community,” said Kaur.
“Apart from the Punjabi and Bengali community, we are also gathering oral histories and memorabilia from the Parsi community and the Sindhi communities …among those whose family stories will feature here include the very interesting narrative of Justice (Rohinton Fali) Nariman’s family and others,” she said. Rohinton Fali Nariman is a former judge of the Supreme Court.
Also read: Let’s talk about Partition. We owe this debt to the dead and the displaced