Estimated reading time: 9 minutes

Lines that Changed Lives

In 1947, the Partition of India split British India into new nations—India and Pakistan, with East Pakistan later becoming Bangladesh. A hastily drawn boundary called the Radcliffe Line carved the subcontinent in two, designed by British lawyer Sir Cyril Radcliffe, a man who had never set foot in India before making a decision that would change millions of lives.

The Radcliffe Line cut through Punjab and Bengal along religious majorities, but its rushed and arbitrary path unleashed chaos. It sliced villages in half, tore families apart, and split farmland overnight. As borders hardened, millions fled across them, triggering mass migrations and waves of communal violence. Between 10 and 15 million people were displaced, and the trauma of Partition etched itself permanently into the histories of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

A powerful history, little known in the United States, now takes center stage at the Los Altos History Museum. The exhibition, 10,000 Memories – Partition, Independence, and WWII in South Asia, runs through May 24, 2026, and brings the past to life through voices that lived it. Curated by the Berkeley-based 1947 Partition Archive, the exhibit weaves together firsthand accounts, rare archival photographs, and immersive multimedia storytelling to capture the human experience of Partition.

Borders, Bloodlines, and Memory

“Part of our mission is to tell intercultural, intergenerational stories of the local people of Los Altos,” says Kuljeet Kalkat, President of the Board of the Los Altos History Museum.

He emphasizes that when South Asian families shaped by Partition see their experiences reflected, they should feel seen and rooted. “Your experience and you know what you went through—we feel should be preserved,” Kalkat says, underscoring a deep sense of belonging.

“If it happened to people who live in Los Altos, if it’s part of their family stories, if it’s part of their family history—then it’s part of our history too. It’s important for us to talk about it,” adds Anna Toledano, Executive Director of the Los Altos History Museum.

At the heart of the exhibition is a shared conviction that memory matters. “We want people to know that their stories and their histories also matter,” says Dr. Guneeta Singh Bhalla, founder and Executive Director of the 1947 Partition Archive.

The World Came Looking for India

The exhibit opens by tracing the early colonization of the Indian subcontinent, beginning with Spanish and Portuguese efforts to bypass Arab intermediaries and trade spices directly with India. That global race for access reshaped the world. “Of course, Columbus ended up in the Americas, believing he had reached India. All of this unfolded within about five years. For a long time, the Americas were even called the West Indies because Europeans thought they were part of Asia, or somehow connected to it,” says Dr. Bhalla.

Dr. Bhalla explains that much of this history remains unfamiliar to audiences in the United States, which is why the exhibit starts there. It tells the larger story of empire by spotlighting the many East India companies—not just the British—and their gradual conquest of India. The narrative then builds toward the collapse of the British Empire after World War II, a power vacuum that erupts into violence and ultimately leads to Partition.

The Human Stories of Partition

The 1947 Partition Archive preserves intimate oral histories and personal testimonies that reveal the human cost of Partition through the voices of those who lived it. While the organization has collected more than 10,000 stories worldwide, this exhibit spotlights twenty firsthand accounts recorded from people who now call Los Altos home.

At the exhibit’s January 28 launch, two survivors took the stage and shared deeply personal, emotional journeys that brought history into the present.

Baljit Dhillon Vikram Singh

Baljit Dhillon Vikram Singh has raised her family in Los Altos since the late 1960s, but Partition shattered her childhood when she was just six years old. One night, violence forced her family to flee. She was awakened suddenly and was carried down the stairs to the waiting Jeep, where her father stood tall and strong. He signaled—we must leave now while it’s dark before the sun rises, so we are not stopped and detained on the way.” They began a life-altering journey without realizing they were leaving their village forever. They never looked back.

Along the way, she witnessed scenes that still haunt her. She remembers a canal filled with “bloated human bodies, some headless, some without limbs, arms, hands, feet, some naked, some clothed, earthly possessions, animals, beds, trunks.”

When Pakistani soldiers stopped the family, an officer chose mercy, recognizing her grandfather as a man who had once saved his life years earlier.

Decades later, Singh still wrestles with questions that have no easy answers. She wonders, “Why was the Motherland partitioned? Why did millions get displaced and millions lose their lives? Why was she among the lucky ones?” She knows the images will never fade, the trauma will never leave, and her fear of drowning will always prevent her from putting her head under water. Yet she continues to honor the ancestors who sacrificed everything to restore normalcy to her and her brother’s lives—and she carries forward a lasting truth: a single act of mercy and generosity can save an entire family.

Narinder Lal Kasturia

Another survivor featured in the exhibit, Los Altos resident Narinder Lal Kasturia, was just 17 when Partition tore through his life. He still carries the memory of the butchering and killing he witnessed, and he continues to wrestle with how such violence could have taken hold. Before Partition, he recalls, the two communities lived without division or distrust.

“We can talk about everything that happened… but will it patch up all this difference?” Kasturia asks. “That’s a big question.”

Lessons Learned

“So we tell that story, show its consequences, and then tie it back,” says Dr. Bhalla. “We don’t do this in a very deliberate manner, but hopefully people will understand that it connects to where the United States is now.” She emphasizes that the exhibit is firmly evidence-based—and intentionally complex. “It’s not this clean story. It’s very messy, and it’s important that we learn it that way. It’s very multidimensional.”

Kuljeet Kalkat wants Los Altos residents to see the Partition as a world-shaping event whose lessons still matter today. Dr. Bhalla places it alongside the twentieth century’s most defining moments: “We want them to be able to look at this major historical event on par with the Holocaust and Hiroshima, Nagasaki and so on—this major event that really changed geopolitics and continues to impact us all over the world.” She adds, “We want to awaken everybody to what polarization can unleash and what lessons we could learn from the past.”

Anna Toledano notes that this history rarely surfaces in the United States, despite its lasting impact. “This is a story that isn’t really talked about so much… and was a hugely impactful event,” she says, pointing to colonialism’s long shadow. The exhibit, she explains, may surprise visitors by revealing how these earlier partitions and traumas still shape conflicts people recognize today.

Voices Beyond Borders: Los Altos Remembers

Raashina Humayun, a Los Altos resident and donor to the 1947 Partition Archive, reflects on how history is told differently across borders. “You read history in India, it tells one story; if you read it in Pakistan, it tells another story,” she says. “But with lived stories, lived experiences—no one can say that’s not true. And when we have more than 10,000 stories collected, preserved, shared—people can understand what might really have happened, what people might have really gone through.”

Anita Manwani, also a Los Altos resident and donor, feels honored to share these stories. “I’m very honored to be part of this whole community in Los Altos that does so much for everyone who lives here and truly respects the diversity we have here.”

Manwani notes that the exhibit holds special meaning for the South Asian community, as many parents lived through Partition. “It is the largest migration of refugees in the history of the world, and perhaps the least documented.” She adds that countless stories remain untold, as the generation that lived them is quickly fading away.

Through this exhibit, the voices of those who experienced Partition rise above borders and textbooks, reminding us that history is not just dates and events—it is lived, remembered, and preserved in the hearts of those who endured it.

“10,000 Memories: Partition, Independence, and WWII in South Asia,”
On display Jan 29 – May 24, 2026
 FREE.: Thursday – Sunday, noon-4pm.