Woman 1: I went through a pretty traumatic experience, and I got exposed to meningitis from a patient.

I stopped breathing, went into respiratory arrest, and it was a very difficult situation and um, I never came out of the hospital the same.

♪♪ I love to do scrapbooking, and basically, I went from a really active person, healthy, happy, to someone who was pretty much in bed all the time, crying all the time, having nightmares, unable to read, focus, it was a huge drastic change for me.

And it just changed our way of life completely for my family.

I didn't feel too good about myself.

I basically went from supermom, superwoman, to feeling like I couldn't provide at all for my family.

Um, everything I identified as Tara Bishop was stripped from me.

♪♪ I know my grandparents lived through a tragic situation.

They lived during the war between Pakistan and India.

I'd like to learn, How did they deal with all that?

And then try to apply that into how I'm going to deal with the things that I have to deal with for the rest of my life.

♪♪ - Hello, I'm Lise Simms, and each week on our show we bring you the story of someone who, for one reason or another, wants to connect with an ancestor or an entire generation of their family tree and we help them do just that.

We're an ongoing project dedicated to connecting families across generations and today that person is Tara Bishop, who's already crying.

- I am, I'm already crying.

[chuckles] - Why?

Tara: Just watching the introduction, um, just reminds me of... just everything I'm going through.

Lise: Well, let's talk about that, because your personal challenges are really what propelled you on this journey and I wanna briefly start there.

There was this meningitis-related accident, and you refer to yourself as supermom, in fact you were training for an Ironman competition?

Tara: I was, I was training for an Ironman.

- That is superman.

- Um... - And you ended up in a wheelchair for a time?

- Oh yeah, yeah, um, I could bare-- I couldn't even walk into a store.

I was so weak.

Um, I had spinal headaches as a result of spinal taps and actually hit my sciatic nerve um, during one of the repairs for the spinal-- because I got uh, headaches just sitting up, and-- Lise: I wanna know what some of the physical difficulties you've been through.

So, the headaches, this lack of being able to cognitively understand what you're taking in.

- I don't, don't remember things unless I write down.

My memory's just really bad.

I walk into a room, I don't know why I'm, why I'm there.

Um-- Lise: So that's my problem.

- [laughs] Lise: I know there were other things, there was also a lawsuit that followed it.

Tara: Yes, we were-- Because this affected our family so greatly, I went from being, you know, working, being able to do everything on my house, you know, my own landscaping and that kind of thing, um, just, we were-- it affected our family just huge, as far as financially-- Lise: Of course it did.

- We were paying medical bills, out here and there, and we were looking for some kind of justice and um, unfortunately I was painted as-- you know, they went-- attacked me personally in court, and I was painted as just this horrible, drug-using, money-seeking person, and-- Lise: Your life completely turned upside down.

Tara: Exactly.

- There's one more challenge that came quite early in your life, and that is, you lost your father at age 11.

- I did, yes.

- And really, your only connection to the Pakistani side of your family has been through your mom's support-- - Yes.

- and digging?

- Yes, she was so good.

She took us to Pakistan right after he died so we could meet our family, um, which was amazing and that was the only thing I knew about the Muslim culture.

Lise: And your mother remarried so life went on with-- - Life went on.

- someone else in her life.

- Exactly.

- Did you know much about Islam before your journey with us?

- Bits and pieces here and there.

Mostly what I heard on the news.

I really did not know-- Lise: Like the rest of us.

- Exactly.

Lise: I just want to quickly mention before we go into the open, you brought a scrapbook with you.

Tara: I did.

- Where did that come from?

'Cause that's been a big part of your process.

- Oh, I am so glad I had this.

Without this, I would have been lost the whole trip.

Because I could visually look back and look at names.

I had a very hard time with names.

Lise: Well, in the very beginning, what was the purpose of the scrapbook for you?

Planning to hold the memories for you, or?

- Um, as a way to keep cueing me of memories, as a way for me to visually put together this family that I knew nothing about.

Lise: Well, it all starts with your mom, she's the only source of information and you begin by reviewing what she knew about your ancestors, so let's take a peek at that.

Tara: Okay.

Tara's Mother: Well, I found a box with a lot of pictures that your dad had.

And this one is... your grandfather, and that's your dad, he looks like he's about 10 or 11, and then that's his older brother.

- He looks so much like David.

Tara's Mother: I know, that looks like him, like my boy.

Tara: So can I put-- Can I have this one?

Tara's Mother: Yeah, you can have that one.

Tara: 'Cause I think that would be awesome to put on the front of my book 'cause it's, it's my dad and his dad.

What did he go by?

Did he go by Ishan?

I-s-h-a-n?

Tara's Mother: Mm-hmm.

Ishan.

'Kay and this is your great-grandfather, see this, this has to be his college picture.

Tara: This is Ishan's-- Both: father.

Tara: Insha?

Tara's Mother: He was a writer-- Tara: ...wealthy man.

Tara's Mother: He was a writer and a publisher and a very wealthy man.

Tara: Do we know anything about how he rose to that position?

Tara's Mother: No.

- So then we don't know much, really, about-- We just-- - When I went, I got what I could get, and it wasn't much, I really didn't-- you know, I'm not a trained genealogist.

One of the brother-in-laws uh, he had an oral history.

He was the one that gave me these names and then he knew, he knew all the kids.

He didn't have dates for them but he, he gave me them, and I feel really blessed that I got what I did get.

♪♪ Lise: Tara and her mother, Christine, have talked about Tara's grandfather, Ishan, and her great-grandfather, Insha.

Great-grandfather Insha was a wealthy publisher and Grandfather Ishan was a government official in British India.

Knowing nothing more than Great-grandfather Insha's name and profession, Tara and Christine seek the help of a genealogist in Pakistan.

Christine: I'm not even aware they have any local genealogists, I don't even think they worry about genealogy.

Tara: Well, maybe we're feeling lucky.

Both: [laugh] - Okay.

Well, I know how hard it was when I was trying to get information.

You have to understand their culture.

They live, they die, they don't really worry too much about the past.

Tara: Okay.

Oh my gosh, wow, there's a forum and resources for family history.

Welcome to Pakistan genealogy resource.

- Oh, wow.

Tara: Um, so, we were wrong, there are people who-- - There are.

Tara: And look, researchers.

Patras.

- He lives in Lahore.

Can we call?

Tara: Um, let's try it.

Let's call.

Lise: Tara calls researcher, Patras Dewan, in Lahore, the second largest city in Pakistan, and the home of Tara's ancestors.

Patras: [on phone] Hello?

Tara: Hi, my name is Tara, um, is this Pat-Patras?

Is that how you say it?

Patras: Okay.

Tara: I was wondering if you could help us do some uh, family research.

I have the name of my great-grandfather.

Uh, his name is Sardar Insha Ullah.

Patras: Okay.

Tara: We know he was born about 1870.

He probably wouldn't have been born in Pakistan, it would have been India at the time.

- That's India.

Tara: We know he was married approximately 1895.

Tara: The main family was in Lahore.

Uh, there was a farm there-- Patras: 'Kay.

Tara: and that's about all I know at this point.

Christine: What city are you in?

Tara: You are in Lahore?

- Oh.

- Okay.

- Okay.

Christine: Cool.

- Yeah, I think so.

Tara: Okay, thank you so much I'm, I'm really excited.

Tara: Okay, bye-bye.

- She's a natural.

[laughs] Tara: I'm excited.

Christine: I think-- Tara: He's in Lahore.

Christine: Yeah, he's in Lahore-- Tara: That's gonna be-- Christine: that's great.

Tara: awesome because-- Christine: Because-- Tara: he's in the area.

Christine: Most of the family is in that area.

Tara: So he... Lise: Tara and her mom discuss what she can do while Patras is researching in Lahore.

Christine: The oldest sister is still alive.

And she knows so much family history because she lived it.

And she's living in New York with her daughter and all her grandchildren are there.

There's a lot of information there, there's a lot of cousins that are in New York as well.

They could give you good information.

Lise: Tara prepares for a trip to New York City to visit various cousins that may know more about her ancestors, starting with Great-grandfather Insha Ullah, the wealthy publisher.

Tara: Yes, I need all my medicine.

Woman 2: Do you want to take a couple Zomig with you just in case?

Tara: Yes, I will take that and those have to go in my carry-on.

Ta-da!

Woman 2: You are set, Mama.

Tara: This is my family wall.

And it's all of us surrounding the family tree and then I'm gonna have pictures of grandparents for both Gordon's side and my side um, up the tree, as far as I can get.

And... That's my goal.

We'll see.

'Kay, I'll probably call you guys 'cause I have my cell phone, 'kay?

Gordon: Have a safe trip.

Tara's Daughter: See ya!

Tara's Son: Bye!

Tara: Bye-bye.

Lise: 25% of the 270,000 Pakistanis living in the United States live in the New York City metropolitan area.

This makes Pakistani Americans the fifth largest Asian-American group in New York.

♪♪ ♪♪ The first relative Tara visits is her cousin, Nasarullah, in Central Park to learn about her great-grandfather, Insha Ullah.

Nasar: Hello Tara, how are you?

Tara: Good how are you.

Nasar: Really a great pleasure.

Tara: Nice to meet you.

Nasar: Thank you.

Uh, my uncle is your uh, grandfather.

So, your uh, father is my first cousin.

Tara: Okay, okay, that all makes sense to me now.

Did you know my dad, then?

Nasar: He was the one who used to take care of me.

So, I-- Tara: Oh-- Nasar: I remember all the-- Tara: kind of-- Nasar: Yeah.

Tara: in charge of you-- Nasar: Yeah.

Tara: 'cause you were younger?

Nasar: Yes.

Uh, I brought a picture of your great-grandfather.

Tara: Oh wow.

- This is [indistinct] Insha Ullah was a great man of his time.

He was very social, philanthropist.

It was like all good human kindnesses he possessed.

That's what he teached his kids also.

- To be good people.

- To be, to be good people.

And he was 13 when he lost his father.

So, you can imagine how underprivileged he was.

He built the entire newspaper which is known as Watan Lahore, with his own pen and paper.

He wrote a lot of good things for Ummah.

Tara: So why did he start the newspaper?

Because it wasn't common to have...?

- Yes, because it was something new.

♪♪ Lise: Insha Ullah grew to maturity in the 1880's and 1890's when the Indian movement for independence was still young.

While contemporary Mohandas Gandhi worked for the Indian nationalist struggle on a global scale, Insha Ullah popularized that struggle back in a heavily Muslim part of India called the Punjab, now part of Pakistan.

His tool for social progress and independence was his Watan publishing company and newspaper of the same name.

The Watan company was one of the world's first international media organizations for Muslims and pioneered the use of the Urdu language as a lingua franca for Indian Muslims.

Great-grandfather Insha used his newspaper's publicity both to aid victims of fraud in nearby Punjab and also to build a railroad in distant Arabia to speed travel for Muslims going on the religious pilgrimage in Islam known as the Hajj.

He eventually worked with members of the all-India Muslim league to help achieve equal rights and independence for all Indians whether Hindu, Muslim, or Sikh.

By 1921, Insha Ullah was involved intimately enough with the struggle for Indian independence that he marched with Mahandas Gandhi himself.

Unfortunately, his philanthropy towards underprivileged Indian Muslims provoked the antipathy of wealthy Punjabi landlords who farmed massive estates by exploiting poverty-stricken serfs.

When these serfs came to greatly admire Insha for his humanitarian projects, a group of these jealous, wealthy landlords falsely accused Insha of embezzling funds he had collected for the poor and investing them instead in his newspaper.

Nasar: It was a bad thing but thank God, with his hard work and with his honesty he cleared his name.

A time came when the rivals were also praising his efforts and hard work, and they said and he had done a lot of good things for Ummah.

Since that your heritage is from Pakistan and you are the great-granddaughter of [indistinct] People will admire you.

♪♪ Tara: That drive to be a good person.

I didn't realize it was all the way back to my great-grandfather.

It's so important in life that no matter what happens the way you react to situations has-- says more about you than anything, than anyone else could say about you.

♪♪ Nasar talked about Ummah, and I don't know what that means, I think I probably need to learn a little bit more about what that means.

It seemed to be a very important part of my great-grandfather's life.

♪♪ Lise: Tara hopes to learn the meaning of the Ummah, at Manhattan's Islamic Cultural Center.

She prepares for her visit by shopping for a traditional headscarf in the neighborhood called little Pakistan.

♪♪ ♪♪ Woman 3: Hi, good morning.

Tara: Hi.

Woman 3: How are you?

Tara: Good, how are you?

Woman 3: Good, good.

Tara: Good.

Um, I am going to um, the Islamic Culture Center.

Woman 3: Uh-huh?

Tara: So, I need to buy some clothing so I'm appropriate.

Woman 3: Yes.

- So, can you help me?

- Yes, of course I do.

- Okay, okay.

Woman 3: [laughs] Tara: That's just gorgeous, I love this.

Woman 3: Thank you.

We have a lot of fabric, different kinds of the many countries-- Tara: Okay.

- and plus, we have many ready-made clothes and we have so many kinds of scarfs, lace and everything.

Tara: Now I'll need help learning how to tie the scarf.

Woman 3: Yes.

Tara: I don't know how to tie the scarf.

Woman 3: Yeah.

On, on the head.

Yeah, just you put it to cover your hair.

- 'Kay, so your hair has to be covered?

- You cover your breast, and you cover your hair.

That's, whatever it is, that's the meaning of the scarf.

You look beautiful.

- It's a little itchy, let me try this other one, see if it's maybe not so itchy.

Well, that red is gorgeous-- - Yeah.

- the red with the gold.

That is beautiful.

Woman 3: Yeah.

Let's try the red one.

This red one here.

Yes, that's what I was thinking.

All three pieces are there.

Thank you very much.

- Thank you so much.

Thanks a lot.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

- Have a good day.

Tara: Thank you-- Woman 3: You too.

Tara: for all your help.

- No problem.

Both: Thank you.

Woman 3: Anytime.

Tara: 'Kay, bye-bye.

Woman 3: Bye-bye.

Tara: So we need to go to the Islamic Culture Center which is 3rd and between 95th and 96th.

At um-- I spent about ten minutes trying to get my head scarf, she made it look a lot easier at the store then it really is because it keeps slipping off my hair, so I hope I'm okay, I hope I have a little leeway because I'm a guest.

Okay, let's see if we can do this.

Hopefully I'm good.

♪♪ - Will you help me with my scarf?

I haven't worn a scarf before.

♪♪ - Oh that's so much better.

Better.

Oh, much better than what I did.

Thank you, thank you.

Okay.

♪♪ Lise: Tara meets with Shamsi Ali, the imam, or leader, of the cultural center, to ask about the Ummah.

Shamsi: The concept of Ummah certainly is an important concept in our religion, and it does mean that every single individual that have faith in this religion is considered a part of our family, a part of our nations.

It's why in the Qur'an it is stated that you are one nation.

In other words, we are basically binding by this faith.

Beside Islamic Ummah or Muslim Ummah, Islam also acknowledges what we call Ummah mesharia, the human being family.

In fact, there is a verse in the holy Qur'an says, all mankind we created you from a single male and a female and we made you into nations and tribes so that you may get to know one another.

- Okay.

- In other words, the different races, different ethnicities, uh, languages that we speak, uh, culture that we follow basically is a part of God's creations and that is very much highly respected.

So regardless of the faith that you follow we consider you, consider you our brother and sister in humanity.

So, I just wanted to show you a verse in the holy Qur'an that talk about Ummah.

Lise: The Qu'ran, a series of divine messages given through the Prophet Muhammed, inspires near one and a half billion believers of many different ethnicities.

- [speaking Arabic] You have been evolved as an Ummah to contribute to humanity.

And this is a direct challenge for the Muslims as a nation to do every possible way to contribute positively to the human's life.

Scientifically, technologically, economically, socially and always culturally.

It is very, very important.

And that's basically the purpose of Ummah.

- My great-grandfather started the Watan paper that apparently connected Muslims across many communities that had not been done before.

- Wow.

- And so they say that is why he has made a great contribution to the Ummah because he allowed Muslims from many areas on the subcontinent there-- Shamsi: Mm-hmm.

- to communicate with each other and talk about social issues and religious issues and political issues and the name Watan-- Shamsi: Mm.

Tara: I learned, means nation.

Shamsi: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

- So now it complete, completely makes sense to me because of what you explained that the nation is all, but one, but you're trying to include everyone.

Shamsi: That's-- Man 1: [singing in Arabic] Lise: Tara's visit to the cultural center happily coincides with Ramadan.

Ramadan is the name of the ninth month in the Islamic calendar and marks a time of restraint and self-improvement for Muslims.

During the month of Ramadan, a believer will fast from bodily desires like food and drink from dawn to dusk each day.

[singing in Arabic] Shamsi: So, at the end of the day, of the Ramadan, okay, every day we are going to, to break our fast, it's called iftar.

Tara: Iftar?

Shamsi: Iftar.

We start out iftar by eating a very simple food like dates or drinking water or milk or like, in this case, there is a banana over there.

Tara: Okay.

Shamsi: And then we proceed to our sunset prayer.

Tara: Okay.

Shamsi: Okay, inside.

And afterward we are going to go down to have our dinner or meal.

Tara: A full meal.

Shamsi: That's a full meal, yeah.

Tara: And that's part of the celebration.

Man 1: [singing in Arabic] Man 1: [singing in Arabic] [wind blowing] Lise: Early the next morning, Tara receives a video from Pakistani researcher, Patras Dewan, summarizing his research on her great-grandfather, Insha Ullah.

Woman 4: Hi Tara.

We are thankful... about his life and what he done his whole life.

[speaking Punjabi] [speaking English] uh, since 19, 19... 11... [speaking Punjabi] We really enjoyed working on this Generations Project and we learn a lot.

I'm really excited so I can also find about my uh, ancestors, about my forefather so I can keep record for them.

I'm happy and um, I love this uh, Generation Project.

Thank you so much.

- Wow, that was really cool.

[chuckles] [silence] I just, I just never realized I guess, that I would be related to someone who was so fundamental I guess, in um, helping to um, help so many people.

Again I'm totally surprised at how overwhelmed I am.

Um, didn't expect to come here crying.

[chuckles] I knew absolutely nothing except he owned a newspaper.

I knew none of this other stuff.

Like Nasar said earlier, I do, I feel blessed to be one of his great-grandchildren.

Yes, hi Patras.

How are you?

- I am doing good today.

I wanted to tell you thank you so much for the video, it helps me picture who you are so I appreciate that, and it was neat to see the sights.

The monument was very exciting, and the newspaper for, for the Watan.

Patras: Mm-hmm.

Tara: Thank you so much again for all of your efforts, I really, really appreciate it.

Patras: Mm-hmm.

Tara: Okay, bye, bye.

Patras: Bye, bye.

♪♪ Tara: No one's been writing anything down all of this time.

A lot of the history is oral so the information that we did have was from people's memory.

Which is why we don't have, even though I guess uh, Insha was famous, we really don't know when he was born, and we really don't know exactly when he died because apparently they just didn't write things like that down.

♪♪ I'm thinking that would look really regal next to the picture of my great-grandfather.

I mean that is so regal looking and both those pictures of my grandfather and my great-grandfather are just very striking.

You know, I'm really excited, and I have some pictures I can visualize now.

Um, talking to Nasar, I didn't even know about him, and he had information about my great-grandfather so there might be more relatives who have information about my grandfather.

Ishan, his family would have been the family that had to relocate during the civil war between India and Pakistan.

♪♪ Lise: After the British withdrew from a newly independent India in 1947, many sectarian conflicts among Indians, previously suppressed by British hegemony, were renewed.

Cultural tensions between Indian Hindus and Indian Muslims were especially volatile, in spite of peacemaking efforts by Hindus like Mahandas Ghandi, and Muslims like Tara's great-grandfather, Insha Ullah.

Because of these tensions, the withdrawal of British forces from India ultimately produced not one, but two new countries, a Hindu-majority India, and a Muslim-majority Pakistan.

The understated historical term for the split, partition, belies the tragic conflict that eventually engulfed the two states along their new border.

This tragedy especially affected Tara's grandfather, Ishan and his family, who lived in the sensitive border region of Kashmir, when partition's violence erupted.

Before the time of partition, Kashmir was a quasi-independent kingdom situated between India and the part of India that would one day become Pakistan.

In 1925, many years before the violence of partition, a Hindu aristocrat named Hari Singh became the Maharaja of Kashmir, a royal position endorsed by British colonial rule.

This new maharaja was troubled not only by the crushing poverty of the rural poor, but also with the long-standing cultural friction between the Muslim majority and the minority Hindu elite.

Almost immediately, he hired the first Muslims ever to participate in Kashmir's government.

One of his first appointments was Tara's grandfather, Ishan Ullah, who served as the maharaja's minister of agriculture.

Ishan's work implementing the maharaja's reforms, included the Agriculturalists' Relief Act, passed in 1927.

This law was meant to help the rural, mostly Muslim poor, escape a cycle of debt that had left them in virtual slavery.

Tragically, the maharaja's decades of reform were not powerful enough to inculcate Kashmir against partition, the cultural war that became the dire concern of the entire Indian subcontinent soon after 1947.

To learn more about her grandfather, Ishan Ullah's experience during partition, Tara meets with her uncle, Rehan, in downtown Manhattan.

Rehan: I wanna tell you about my dad.

Tara: Yes, I want to learn more.

Rehan: My dad's name was Ishan Ullah.

Tara: Okay, my mom gave me this picture right here.

Rehan: Uh-huh.

Tara: Do you recognize that?

- Yeah, that's my dad, that's me, and that's your dad.

And that's a very beautiful memories about my father.

Every time I think about my father, I think about how honest he was, sincere he was, caring he was, a very loving, very gentle soul.

He used to help poor people in Jammu, and there was an orphan, young boys, and he would help them a lot and educate them.

So, he had to start a school for Muslim children.

- He felt that personal responsibility.

- Personal responsibility to educate Muslim children.

Because he himself was a scholar, a very, very well-educated man.

Tara: Okay.

There was the war between Indian and Pakistan and Fehmida's got how many children at this point?

- Nine children.

India and Pakistan separated because of religion and my father really believed that Kashmir would stay in Pakistan-- - Okay.

- so he wanted to stay in Kashmir.

But eventually in the end uh, Kashmir decided to stay with India.

There was a war broke out between Hindus and Muslims and Sikhs people.

And Hindu people wanted Muslim people to leave Jammu.

So, they were killing Muslim people, and Muslim people were majority, they wanted to stay there.

And my father's father and mother they lived in Lahore.

So, they decided to come back to Lahore.

So, when they were moving, we decide, my dad wasn't gonna stay there and when they were starting killing people then my dad decided to move because there was violence.

We were at the station, and what they were doing they were taking people far away, the busses and the trains they were killing them-- butchering them.

- Oh my gosh, oh my gosh.

- And the word came out later on, don't take a train anymore wait a day or two.

Lise: The "death trains" during 1947's partition are a chilling example of the horrors to which Kashmiris like Tara's grandfather, Ishan, were subjected.

Both the newly independent India and an emerging Pakistan pressured the Kashmir to join their side.

Grandfather Ishan's ruler, the Maharaja of Kashmir, resisted the pressure and insisted that Kashmir would remain independent.

Later that same year, Pakistan invaded Kashmir in order to pre-empt an Indian invasion.

Worried for the safety of his kingdom, the maharaja decided to pick a side and signed his kingdom over to India.

As the Pakistani army advanced on one side, and the Indian army advanced on the other, Kashmiri civilians were caught in the middle.

Hindus and Sikhs fled south to India, while Muslims fled north to Pakistan.

In the heightening chaos, armed gangs of Hindus and Muslims began targeting fleeing civilians.

The gangs hijacked trains heading for the opposite side, killing everyone on board except for the train conductor.

Every time the eerie spectacle known as a "death train" pulled into a Pakistani or Indian train station, the retaliatory violence escalated.

Despite the risk to his safety, Tara's grandfather, Ishan Ullah, loyally stood with the maharaja and remained in Kashmir.

As the violence escalated, however, it became clear that Ishan would have to flee to Pakistan with his wife and children.

♪♪ Rehan: So it was a big chaos and it affected my father very much, my mother and everybody, forever-- - How did it affect them?

- Because my father left his house there, his friends there-- - I mean like, personally.

Did he-- - Because he left his job, his life.

There was for many, many years emotional thing.

His very close friends were Hindus, his very close friends were Sikhs, his friends were Muslim.

Some of his friends stayed there so he had to start all over again.

- So, there's a lot of loss.

- A lot of emotional loss, property loss, physical loss, psychological loss.

Why Hindu people killing Muslim people, Muslim people killing Hindu people, one time they were very, very best friend.

It was one of the saddest moments of my father's life.

Tara: So, I was trying to find out more information.

Rehan: Mm-hmm.

- I contacted someone through the internet-- Rehan: Mm-hmm.

- who is in Lahore-- Rehan: Mm-hmm.

- and he has some information about um, great-grandfather.

Rehan: Uh-huh.

- And uh, took a video and I actually watched the video.

So I'd, I'd like you to see it because I thought it was really neat.

I actually started crying when I watched it.

[chuckles] Yeah, I-- It was very neat.

- Tara I would like to watch that video with my sister, Munaza, and our daughter and our grandchildren.

Please come tomorrow evening, Friday, Friday is a holy day in the Muslim religion.

Tara: Okay - And it's Ramadan and please come and break the fast with them.

[laughs] Tara: Okay, okay.

Well, I didn't get to break the fast last night with, with-- at the mosque, so that would be, that would be really cool.

- Please come, and my sister's very loving and she loves your father very dearly and she raised your father like her son.

Please come tomorrow-- Tara: Okay.

- for dinner for Ramadan Tara: Okay, I will.

- And we all love you very, very much.

Tara: That, I-- That will be just so neat to see everyone.

- Yeah.

Tara: I'm excited.

♪♪ Lise: Tara arrives at the family iftar early to sneak a moment with Cousin Mini and her Aunt Munaza to get their perspective on the family's experience during partition.

♪♪ - I think I definitely like Long Island better than Manhattan.

I like space.

It's beautiful.

So, I'm excited to be here in New York.

I've been doing a lot of research about the family and what I've been doing is I got some pictures from my mother that she gave me of my grandfather, your father-- - Uh-huh.

- and this would be Rehan and my father.

It looks so much like my brother-- - Yes.

- and my son, Jaden.

- Okay.

Tara: Uh, Rehan told me a lot about his personality and I was wondering if um, you could tell me a little bit more of your memories of what happened during the war, during partition.

What was it like for you?

Tara: And how-- you're how old at this point?

Tara: Sixteen years old.

Mini: When the riots started in India, my grandpa, he sent his family to Lahore, Pakistan.

And my mom and her sister and two younger brothers which is your dad and Rehan along with their mother.

They went to Lahore with their grandparents.

Tara: Okay.

- So, they were safe there but of course they were very worried you know.

And my mom tells me that she would always be like, we pray and she said she was always be praying and praying and her mom too, always crying and worried for her husband and her older three boys.

- Because they, they were separated?

- Yeah.

- And so, to have everyone back together-- Mini: Yeah.

- You wanted to make sure that that happened.

Mini: Yeah, and every time they planned on taking a trip, they were told that all the people who were trying to cross the border were killed, were slaughtered.

And it was so much bloodshed.

Tara: And so, they were able to come back?

- Yeah but, yeah but they weren't able to take any public transportation, so then a raja was a good friend of his, uh Grandpa's.

So, he arranged for a special uh, jeep to carry him and the boys to make them cross the border.

That's how they arrived safely.

Tara: So, they say that I look... - Like your grandma.

- I do look like my grandmother?

- Yeah.

- So, do you know, do we have any pictures of her, photographs?

- My mom has one in-- - In Pakistan right now.

- You do have one in Pakistan.

Could I get a copy of it to put it in?

- Yeah, sure, when I go there, I'll bring it for you.

- So, I'm trying to put husband and wife.

- Yeah.

- And um, we got the picture of great-grandfather.

Mini: Ah, yes.

Tara: So, do we have any pictures of Maraj?

Mini: Yeah.

Munaza: No, no.

Tara: We do?

- Uh, yeah, one of my daughters has, uh, I've seen the picture.

- Can, can I get a copy of it-- - Sure.

- for my book?

I would love that, thank you.

Um, I guess I didn't realize how hard it would be to find pictures but through war-- - Yeah.

- you lose things.

Mini: Right, right.

- And so it's-- I wanna thank you so much.

You've given me so much information.

I'm so excited to get a picture, 'cause I have, have not been able to get pictures of the women and I'm excited.

So, I have a gift for you too.

I have a video about your grandfather, my great-grandfather.

[laughs] - Thank you.

♪♪ [people laughing] [indistinct chatter] Tara: First of all, I'm so thankful that all of you came and we're doing this.

Two things, if you haven't seen, I've been collecting pictures so you can pass this around and if you have any pictures of family, give them to me and I'll put them in the book.

The other thing is that part of this was, we've been contacting, um, a person, this is Patras, and he's in Lahore, and he did some research.

And so he's going to tell us all about what he's found out about my great-grandfather, so this is about Insha, my great-grandfather, baji's grandfather.

Patras: To explain in my own language, I hope you'll like it.

[speaking Punjabi] [speaking Punjabi] [indistinct chatter] [clapping] - Welcome Tara.

- Oh, I tried this, I tried this at the restaurant, so good.

- You'll like the cake even more.

- Oh, that is beautiful.

Thank you.

♪♪ [indistinct chatter] Tara: That was really cool.

Lise: That was really cool, you said?

You were raised a Christian.

- I was.

Yes.

My mom took us to church, and um, I had no idea, I did not know much about Islam at all.

Lise: It seems that you've embraced it.

Tara: You know I-- it's amazing, I think I learned more than I really knew.

I think my dad taught me many of the concepts.

We just never framed what he was saying as this is, you know, my religion, he would just say this is, you know, this is what good people do.

Lise: Mm.

- And, you know, we want to be good people.

Um, I-- You know, and you think as a Christian, I try to be such a good person, I try to do the right thing, I try to love my brother, I try to, you know, take care of people who've had things happen to them or, you know, the downtrodden.

And they believe the exact same thing we do, I just found it so amazing, fascinating as I've been reading the Qu'ran and studying more and more about the culture.

It's been amazing.

Lise: Are you finding the concept of Ummah in your life?

This, this contributing to life.

How are you going to do that?

Tara: [sighs] You know, I have been in survival mode for that last eight years, you know, I deal with pain every day, all these physical things, these mental things and you know, I, I, I've started little.

You know, I started with the Boy Scouts, you know, and little things here and there.

You know, I just hope as I get stronger and as I continue to heal, I can continue to do that.

And I, I try to teach my children the best that I can um, and really, you know, I may not be able to do as much anymore, I may not be as physically active as I was before, but I can still be a super person, I can be a super mom, I can, you know, be a good person and I think that is what I need to come out of this whole-- Lise: Mm.

Tara: journey remembering, that, you know, I, I came from incredible heritage.

I had no idea of all of these things that, that my family did and how amazing this-- it all was to me.

Just finding that strength that they had.

Lise: A lot to be proud of.

Tara: I had no idea.

All growing up my uncle called me Tara rani, rani means princess and I just, you know, Oh yeah, that's what you just, you know, you call little kids princesses.

Girls love to be called that.

And, and you know, I've really taken that in a different light now because of the amazing things that my family did-- Lise: Yes, yes.

- just amazing.

Lise: You took some of this down in your scrapbook-- Tara: I did.

- and I would love if you'd share a couple things with us.

Tara: Oh, I-- You know, there's one picture in here that I just love.

Lise: [chuckles] - And this is um, after my interview with baji.

I... Lise: Can you hold this on your knee-- Tara: I can.

and I think this camera can grab it.

Tara: Okay, I hope the glare is okay.

Lise: It's perfect.

- Okay.

I, she, I gave her a kiss and then she gave me a kiss and I am just soaking it in.

Lise: [chuckles] - I'm just loving it.

I just absolutely love this photo.

This was probably one of my happiest memories of the whole trip was just being around my family and just embracing this culture that I knew nothing about.

Um-- Lise: Were you surprised with your physical limitations and what you've been through in the last eight years as you said, were you surprised, just the actual journey of shooting this show is arduous for a healthy person.

Lise: Oh yeah.

- Did you surprise yourself at all?

Tara: Um-- Lise: Or learn anything?

- Wow I, I came home exhausted it took me like three weeks just to be able to recover.

But um, you know, I just dug deep for that energy that I needed to get, you know, each individual thing that I did, and that's my personality, is I give everything to whatever I am doing and then I would kind of collapse after.

Both: [laughing] Tara: Um-- Lise: Have you seen a picture of your grandma, who you supposedly look like?

Tara: No, I haven't seen a picture yet, I am hoping that, that my family in Pakistan is going to work on that and I am hoping so bad-- I'm one-- it, it is very hard on me to travel, but I will make whatever sacrifices necessary to get over to Pakistan to try to write as much information-- Lise: Mm.

- as I can, so it's written and it's down so that everyone from here on out will have that written knowledge of all these wonderful things.

Lise: Beautiful, Tara.

I feel like I hear how much this has changed your life, American Christian, Pakistani, I mean, there's so many levels now that you seem to be embracing.

Tara: Oh yeah.

Lise: How do you describe yourself now?

Tara: [sighs] Um, wow, it's-- I don't even know how to explain it.

It's like coming out of a fog and just everything's crystal clear.

Um, just simple things, I, you know, I am very-- my taste is very different from my mom, I love, you know, just the paisleys, the fun prints, um, you know, the jewelry, it all makes sense now.

Lise: And you seem to have come to life.

Tara: Yeah, I, this has been an amazing journey for me just really exciting, something for me to just really focus on and enjoy.

Lise: And carry with you.

Thank you, Tara Bishop, for sharing this beautiful rich heritage of yours with us.

Tara: Thank you guys, for helping me do all of this.

Lise: You're welcome.

Tara: It's been amazing.

Lise: And thank you for watching.

This conversation with Tara continues on our website.

Please join us at byutv.org.

I'm Lise Simms and I look forward to seeing you on the next Generations Project.

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