Ans. in this respect, Attia Hosain’s Sunlight on a Broken Column (hereafter Sunlight) is an important book for coming to terms with the continuing effects of nationalism in postcolonial india. The novel spans a thirty-year period between 1932 and 1952, covering India’s transition from a colonial to postcolonial state. It is narrated from the point of view of Laila. a Muslim girl who has been orphaned at a young age and is now living with her extended family of tal uqdars (landlords) in Lue know. The novel portrays Laila’s growth from girlhood to womanhood and her experience moving from her grandfather’s more ‘traditional, ‘ ‘orthodox household to her uncle’ s more ‘modern, ‘ ‘reform’ household. Although historically, tradition and modernity have been figured as opposites in the dominant discourse of the Muslim community in colonial north india, Hosain’s novel suggests this is a false dichotomy used to manage elite, patriarchal and ethnic interests competing for ascendancy during the nationalist movement and after. Despite their emancipatory claims, arguments or both traditional/orthodox and modern/refom