With Love, To Lahore

In this episode, Priyam is in conversation with Amy Singh, a poet, writer, storyteller, facilitator, and advocate of cross-border peace from Chandigarh. Amy is the host and producer of the Partition Podcast - Agla Warqa and the founder of the initiative: Daak: to Lahore with Love. Amy talks about her first visit to Lahore, almost like a homecoming, dreamy, magical, and yet familiar and full of warmth and love. She reminisces about the heartwarming relationships she built with the people she met at the Faiz Festival in Lahore earlier this year, especially recollecting her fond memory of the visit to Ustad Daman’s grave, whose Nazm she recites in the episode. The discussion explores the ongoing pain and separation across borders juxtaposing it with stories of togetherness and friendship. They also speak about the shared legacy of Urdu and Punjabi poets and writers across borders, the act of writing and exchanging letters focusing on Amy’s cross-border initiative – Daak: To Lahore with Love, and the systematic erasure of native languages in India and Pakistan. The conversation culminates with Amy reading out her first letter to Lahore, which she wrote in 2016 amid rising tensions between India and Pakistan and had posted to GPO Lahore.