Once There Was Me

A narrative that is deeply personal but one that the world must read - especially today when differences can be deadly’ –PARO ANAND, author of No Guns at My Son’s Funeral

‘A riveting and interesting tale of one man’s search for his identity, and his roots’ – KISHWAR DESAI, Chairperson, The Arts and Cultural Heritage Trust for setting up The Partition Museum, Amritsar and author of Jallianwallah Bagh 1919: The Real Story

'One man's attempt to break free from the stranglehold of the past in order to usher in a brave new India.'–VIKRAM KAPUR, author of The Assassinations: A Novel of 1984

‘A deeply personal account on a sprawling canvas of history in which desires and conflicts intersect with borders and pogroms.' –ANIRUDH KALA, author of The Unsafe Asylum: Stories of Partition & Madness

'Deeply emotional, and scathing in its treatment of organized religion. Powerful!’ – AMANDEEP SANDHU, author of Roll of Honour

Caught in the web of communal violence repeatedly, Bobby Sachdeva stares at his burning house set afire by the bloodthirsty mob of the anti-Sikh riots in Delhi. As a fourteen-year-old, his world turns upside down, exactly at the age his father had escaped from Pakistan during the Partition of India. Recovering from the trauma, Bobby re-builds his business and journeys across the US and China, experiencing a life unhindered by religious animosity. Having experienced both sides of religion – of immersion and detachment – he starts questioning the role of religion in our lives. Based on his vision of an emergent India, Bobby finally submits a PIL in the Supreme Court for religious shrines to distribute their excess income for the downtrodden. What happens next as religious hardliners turn against him?

PRAISE FOR Stories of Us BY BOBBY SACHDEVA

‘Bobby Sachdeva has the rare talent to think of original stories. The stories move you, often question prevalent beliefs and expose shams of our society. There is a visual quality in the storytelling that makes the stories accessible’– BOBBY BEDI, film producer and director, Kaleidoscope Entertainment Ltd

‘These stories of inhuman bondage, be it of blind faith, lust or exploitation, will hopefully shock the reader out of complacency to seek answers to the questions’ – NIRUPAMA DUTT, poet, journalist and translator

‘His short stories will give you more than enough fodder for understanding life. What better way to succinctly capture the lengths of moments in words’ – KRISHIKA LULLA, film producer, Eros International

‘These thought-provoking stories … make us question many undesirable aspects of everyday life which we mindlessly subscribe to. A very readable, interesting book’ – MITRA PHUKAN, author, translator and columnist