Lost Generations

“Sachdeva captures with great skill the tragedy of Sikh refugees. Besides the sizable loss of life and property, the exodus from Rawalpindi and other parts of western Punjab also resulted in their distinct cultural identity being submerged within the larger mass of the Sikh Jats of East Punjab. With brutal candour he critiques the misogynist values and beliefs related to honour, prestige and status permeating such middle class Sikh society. The dowry issue, extravagant weddings, overly religious pretensions and superstitions are woven into a plot comprising several other characters as well. The predicament of the lost generations is conveyed graphically with sympathy and imagination in this epic novel. It should be read widely.”

Dr. Ishtiaq Ahmed, Author of ‘Punjab Bloodied, Partitioned and Cleansed’ (2012) in his book review in ‘Daily Times’ Lahore Pakistan 1-July-2014.

“Manjit Sachdeva's Lost Generations is a reflection of his own self-search through the pages of history of his land of origin India. It is a narrative par-excellence by a skilled story teller. ... One can also smell the fragrance of a true Punjabi culture while travelling through one episode to the next. A book worth having both in personal collections and public libraries.”

Sameer Roy in Amazon.com review Sept-2013.

“Transporting, culturally interesting, and a page-turner to boot.”
Paul O’Gorman, Associate Professor of Atmospheric Science,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA

Written in the genre of black humour with satire, Lost Generations is the most morbid and grotesque story of 20th century history about the Partition of Punjab in 1947, in which up to 2 million people died on both sides of Radcliffe’s partition line, hundreds of thousands of women were raped, abducted and sold into slavery and millions of businesses and properties on both sides were plundered and incinerated during the last days of British raj and after British forces left the sub-continent in what is described by Stanley Wolpert in his aptly titled book Shameful Flight.
It is the tragicomic saga of deracination of a well-off Sikh family forced out of Rawalpindi as told through their point of view, and their struggles and partial rehabilitation in Delhi. The story covers a span of almost 200 years from 1790 to 1984 CE.
The novel climaxes with the carnage of predominantly refugee Sikhs in Delhi in November 1984 following the assassination of Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards.
It is a story of misogyny, sexism, racism, intolerance, corruption, exploitation, and materialism —all innate to Indian society—described through black humour.