About this episode

The episode discusses Chapter 15 of Balraj Sahni's travelogue, reflecting on his journey back to Pakistan and the emotions tied to his experiences.

Chapter 15 - The travel ends, but the yearning does not.Balraj Sahni takes the train back to Wagah border and brings back nostalgia, love and questions that his conscience poses to him. Mera Pakistani Safarnama (My Pakistani Travelogue) is a Punjabi travelogue by Balraj Sahni, based on his 1962 visit to Pakistan, more than a decade after Partition. Written in Punjabi and first serialised in 'Preet Lari' magazine in the early 1960s, the book documents Sahni’s journey through Lahore, Rawalpindi, Bhera, Jhang, and Sargodha—places tied to his childhood and pre-1947 life. Structured as a factual travel account, it records encounters with people, observations of cities and countryside, and recollections of institutions, homes, and streets shaped by displacement. The text is a primary literary document of post-Partition return, grounded in lived experience rather than political commentary, and remains a significant Punjabi prose work on memory, geography, and divided Punjab. The book is more relevant today in the politically charged and communal environment of the sub-continent. Balraj Sahni (1913–1973), born Yudhishthir Sahni in Rawalpindi (then British India, now Pakistan), was a…

People in this episode

Host: Dr. Manpreet Sahota

Topics covered

• travelogue
• nostalgia
• Partition
• Punjabi literature
• memory
• geography

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Preet Lari, Government College Lahore, University of Cambridge

Books & works: Mera Pakistani Safarnama

Places: Pakistan, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Bhera, Jhang, Sargodha

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