The Other Side Of The Divide: A Journey Into The Heart Of The Country Across The Border

What happens when one does go to Pakistan? What is one likely to find there? This book attempts to unpack the 'heart of darkness narrative around Pakistan and present a contemporary portrait of a country that is much more than its politicians, security agencies or the army. It is as vibrant, as conflicted, and as much suspended between tradition and modernity, as its neighbour across the border. Journalist Sameer Arshad Khatlani uses his travels in Pakistan as a device to talk about the country in a way that breaks down Indian stereotypes of it as a chaotic, regressive, repressive land. He dares to look beyond clichés and comes up with some startling insights. Interwoven with the narrative is the exploration of the experience of being Muslim in the subcontinent in India, in Pakistan, in Punjab, before Partition, after Partition, in contemporary times.