Booked special: Sam Dalrymple on British Raj's forgotten reach, five partitions

A special edition of Booked with Gaurav Sawant features author Sam Dalrymple discussing his book Shattered Lands: Five Partitions in the Making of Modern South Asia. The conversation explores the vast reach of the British Raj a century ago, stretching from Yemen to Burma and the often-forgotten histories of territories once tied to India. Dalrymple traces five major partitions between 1930 and 1971 that birthed 12 nations, revealing little-known links between Burma’s 1937 separation and the idea of Pakistan, early Pakistan-backed insurgencies, Nehru–Edwina Mountbatten dynamics, Sardar Patel’s behind-the-scenes power, and covert military actions in Kashmir. The discussion also covers Cold War brinkmanship during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, the role of General Jacob in securing Pakistan’s surrender, and other untold stories from the subcontinent’s turbulent decolonisation.