Four-year-old Pali is separated from his Hindu family during the chaos of India’s 1947 Partition. Left behind in newly-formed Pakistan, he is adopted by a kind Muslim couple, with whom he lives for seven years — until one day, his birth father arrives to bring him back to India. Caught between two nations, two religions, two families, and two names, Pali embodies the violence of colonialism and its aftermath. Originally published in 1989, renowned Indian writer Bhisham Sahni’s critique of communalism in India speaks as much to the post-Independence moment as it does to the present. Pali explores the trauma of forced migration, the cruel nature of borders, and the power of human connection: all through the eyes of one little boy.