Lest We Forget: How Three Sisters Braved the Partition - Indira Varma

“Indira Varma’s poignant, evocative, and moving autobiography is unputdownable... it describes the evolution of three sisters, before and after the trauma of Partition, and how they rebuild their lives to ultimately triumph.” — Pavan K. Varma

Indira Varma was just six years old when she first heard the world-altering news: “India is being divided.” To a child, it sounded simple—like breaking a cookie. But within months, the violent tide of the 1947 Partition would sweep her family out of their ancestral homeland, upturning their lives forever.

In Peshawar, the family had enjoyed immense prestige and wealth; they were the prominent elites who had famously gifted the iconic Peshawar Clock Tower to Queen Victoria. They owned vast lands, beautiful horses, and luxury cars. Yet overnight, they were forced to leave behind this entire way of life, escaping across the newly formed border to face the harsh, crushing reality of becoming penneless, homeless refugees in a fractured India. Like millions of others, the Partition left a profound psychological scar on Indira—one that would shape her worldview for generations.

In Lest We Forget, Varma stretches her memory back to its very beginnings to deliver a deeply intimate, multi-generational memoir. She recounts her family's grueling years in refugee camps, the exhausting instability of shuttling between unfamiliar cities, and her ultimate settlement in Delhi.

But this is far from just a story of tragedy. It is a spectacular chronicle of resilience, detailing how three brave sisters refused to be defined by their displacement. Against all imaginable odds, Varma wove a rich, triumphant life for herself, eventually establishing a highly successful business in the competitive travel industry. Written with lyrical grace and a fierce dedication to preserving history, this book stands as a powerful record of historical survival, an ode to sisterhood, and an inspiring guide to finding hope after total ruin.