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This clip shows images of the Uberoi family home in New Delhi, India, as filmmaker Safina Uberoi describes her family fleeing during the anti-Sikh riots of 1984. She recalls her father taking off his turban so that no one would know he was Sikh. Across images of a door being unlocked and opened, Safina describes returning to their house, saying that although it had not been burned, it never looked the same again. In an interview, Safina’s sister Zoe says that she discussed the riots with a friend who expressed anti-Sikh sentiments but insisted that her attitude was not 'personal’. Zoe says it is personal, adding, 'Nobody’s going to ask about me personally, before they burn my house down’.

Educational value points

• The anti-Sikh riots mentioned in the clip were triggered by the assassination of the prime minister of India, Indira Gandhi, by her two Sikh bodyguards on 31 October 1984. Gandhi had ordered the storming of the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the holiest site in the Sikh religion, but which had been occupied by armed Sikh secessionists. The riots that followed resulted in more than 2,700 Sikhs being killed. Sikhs are one of the minority groups in India making up only 1.9 per cent of the 1.09 billion population, which is predominantly Hindu (80 per cent) and Muslim (13 per cent).

• Zoe describes an example of prejudice, which can be seen as a preconceived opinion or bias, either favourable or unfavourable towards a person or group. Zoe’s friend displayed contradictory prejudice, which was favourable towards Zoe personally, but unfavourable towards Sikhs in general.

• My Mother India is an autobiographical documentary in which members of a family share their memories of events that have shaped their family history. Often used for the preservation of community and family histories, oral history is the recording of the memories of people’s unique life experiences. It complements, extends and questions existing written records. It is also a way of giving a voice to those who may previously have been denied the chance to contribute to the existing record.

• Safina’s narrative reveals her ability to empathise with oppressed people from other times and situations. Safina’s personal experiences make her reflect on another traumatic time in India’s history and deepen her understanding of her father, who lived through that time. The Partition of August 1947 saw the division of the Indian subcontinent on the basis of religion into predominantly Hindu India, and predominantly Muslim East and West Pakistan. Twelve to fifteen million people moved between the two countries. As Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan fled to India, and Muslims in India fled to Pakistan, widespread violence broke out, resulting in an estimated 2 million deaths.

• The film gives a very personal account of the experiences of a refugee family forced to flee their home under threat of death or torture.

• My Mother India won many awards, including Best Australian Documentary at the Real Life on Film Documentary Festival and the Special Jury Award at the Hawaii International Film Festival. Safina Uberoi’s other documentary credits include Faith and Brides of Khan.

This clip starts approximately 38 minutes into the documentary.

This clip shows images of the Uberoi family home in New Delhi, India, as filmmaker Safina Uberoi describes her family fleeing during the anti-Sikh riots of 1984. Footage of burning cassettes and photos is shown along with a door being unlocked and opened.
Safina Uberoi, the filmmaker My father left his house without his turban so no-one would know that he was a Sikh. With his unmanning, I understood for the first time what partition and 1947 must have meant to him. We were lucky, really. Some brave friends hid us in their homes and no mobs found us. My brother and my father were safe and when we returned to our house, it was still standing. But it never looked the same again.

Zoe Uberoi, the filmmaker’s sister, is being interviewed.
Zoe Uberoi I was talking to a friend at school and we discussed the whole riots thing and I could not get across to her that there was something wrong with killing people who had done nothing, for just being who they were or for being born a certain way and I gave up. I realised there’s no — I mean I burst into tears myself and she said, ‘But I don’t mean you.’ I said, ‘But, yes, you do. You mean me and everybody else like me.’ And she said, ‘But I don’t mean personally you,’ and I said, ‘Nobody’s going to ask me about me personally before they burn my house down.’