India, Aug. 31 -- June 1947. In the courtyard, bundles were tied with quick hands, while the smell of coal dust from the station carried through the breeze. A warning had come from relatives across the border: send the women and children now; the men would follow when it was safe.

Six-year-old Santosh Kumar, born in the small village of Sari in what is now Pakistan was leaving behind her father, grandfather, and grandmother. She travelled with her mother, her aunt, two sisters, and two brothers. They carried no heirlooms or jewellery, only small bundles of clothes and food.

Inside the train, the air hung heavy with heat and coal smoke. Outside, the Punjab plains unfurled in slow waves of gold and green beneath a swollen July sky. The wh...