The Partition of India in 1947 has been touted as the World's most complex divorce!
It couldn't have been described better as India & Pakistan fought over every movable & immovable assets leading to crazy stories
A #HistoryTour that revisits crazy anecdotes from 75 yrs ago! 🧵
The first thing was the name itself. Congress claimed the name India rejecting a proposal to be named 'Hindustan' instead
Since Pakistan was seceding, India held on to the name and it's international recognition like the UN entities etc.
The next was money. HM Patel & Mohammad Ali were entrusted to figure out who gets the cash in banks. They got into a fight, so Sardar Patel locked them into a room & told not to come out until they resolved
Pakistan got 17.5% of the Cash in return to cover 17.5% of India's debt
Currency notes follow money right? There was only one press which could print money and India had it. Pakistan didnt have a mint to print their own money!
So, they made a provisional currency taking Indian Rupee notes and rubber stamping 'Pakistan' on it!
Next was Govt assets! Chairs, tables, mirrors, shelves, clocks etc across the country was counted and had to be split separately
Officials started to hide their best typewriters in fear of losing it & tried to give away their broken desks instead! All offices turned into a mess!
A great story comes from Lahore. In the city's police station, along with the furniture an additional split was needed. The police band was split a flute & a trumpet for Pakistan, drums and cymbals for India!
A trombone was left & a fist fight started on who gets it!
The most ironical split was with the Indian Library. Who will get the books?! The national archives had some great books.
The Encylopedia Brittanica was split alternate volumes to each. Dictionaries were ripped alphabetically A-K for India and L-Z for Pakistan! 🥺🥺
Pakistan wanted half of Taj Mahal to be broken and shipped to them as it was built by Mughals. India claimed Indus river not to flow to Pakistan as it was sacred to them for millenia.
Such impractical fights also made the news. Obviously to no avail.
The Viceroy had 12 regal horse driven carriages. 6 in gold and 6 in silver. Mountbatten proposed who gets which set to be decided by a coin toss.
Major Govind Singh & Major Yacoub Khan, heads of the presidential guards went into the toss. Govind shouted 'Heads' &..... he won!
It was not just the people who had to move but books, bank notes, chairs etc had to move!
Moving houses is itself a pain today. Imagine what it took to move countries! Stories such as this makes one wonder on craziness of history!
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