Train to PakistantA random act of violence, or rather, a premeditated act of violence, premeditated exclusively for money, against the money trader Ram Lal. The motivation for the murder and robbery of a money-lender would seem obvious to anyone in any scenario, except in India immediately after partition.tMalli and his gang did it, Jugga Budmash refuses to take part even though he has killed many because he refuses to kill a member of his own village.tA political agitator named Iqbal comes to town the next day with a sub-inspector from the government sent to keep the peace as trains full of dead Sikhs and Hindus arrive from Pakistan.tJugga and Iqbal are arrested. Jugga is tortured and rats out Malli and his crew – they are arrested. But the sub-inspector is far less concerned about this murder than preventing angry Hindu and Sikh refugees and locals from killing Muslims trying to flee to Pakistan, so he fabricates charges against Iqbal and Jugga and not only lets Malli and his gang free, but puts them in charge of the town where they committed the murder, Manu Majra.tThis is apparently a huge lapse of judgement, or perhaps a strange mistake in the plot – but the character's logic cannot be expected to be too sound as he is a drunken lecher. tAfter long debate between the Hindus/Sikhs and Muslims of Manu Majra, the Muslims board a train to Pakistan because both groups know they will not be able to save them from the vengeance of the Hindu and Sikh refugees. The Sikhs valiantly say they would defend their Muslim neighbors, but will instead defend their possessions since they must leave. But Malli's gang pillages and burns all, and after the muslims are gone, the Sikhs who were about to lay down their lives for them, are persuaded by angry refugees to kill them.tManu Majra draws a rope above the train that will decapitate all its rooftop passengers, and the villagers wait in the bushes to slaughter the rest of the passengers when the train stops to find out what has happened. tThe sub-inspector hears about this plan and releases Iqbal and Jugga in the hopes that one of them will be able to stop it. Iqbal considers trying to implore his fellow Sikhs but decides it is not worth it because they may strip him, see he is circumcised, and think he is a Muslim, and then he would simply die on the tracks like any actual Muslim, having made no impact, no push toward communism, no valiant place along other communist leaders. Instead, he drinks himself to sleep.tMeanwhile, Jugga finds out that his Muslim lover is on the train, and in-line with the allegiance he feels toward all his fellow villagers that he expressed when accused of killing Ram Lala, he climbs the rope poised to kill the passengers on the roof of the train, and even while being shot, cuts the rope and falls to his death, saving the train to Pakistan. tJugga is the gem and crux of this book. His action is in direct contrast with all the levels of inaction and lip-service paid by various politicians, from Nehru to the sub-inspector to Iqbal. He aligns with neither nation-state nor religion, but will protect those who are his brothers and those who are not acting violently against others.tIqbal is a terrific rendition of the hyper-intellectual radical.tSingh's brief depiction of Neru is intriguing – he frames him as basically a bombastic politician who gives grand speeches and sleeps with adoring western women, while his men on the ground face bodily harm for trying to keep the peace. tThe unspoken piece of this mysterious novel is where all this violence originates. The present conflict is religious and nationalistic, but if this is the root cause why haven't there always been similar conflicts between Hindus and Muslims in India, and a geographical divide between the two long ago. The answer is in the text. These people of different religions are inextricable – neighbors, lovers, brothers, friends. Politics divides them, and the political move that began all this was England's divisive tactics of exploiting the caste system and religious differences.
Train to Pakistan is a historical novel by Khushwant Singh first published in 1956 by Chatto & Windus. The story is about the feelings of the people of a village "Mano Majra" before and after the 1947 independence of India and Pakistan. The agony and the reality of the people of Indian history while the partition was in process is elaborated with a painful toil.The book is set with the background of independent India in its infancy, left to have its own set of rules but with the bruises of separation of the Nation into India and Pakistan which was the result of the venom left behind by the ’Phirangis’ as put in those days for the tyrants i.e. the Britishers. The book is written by one of the most eminent and learned man of all times who has been able to pen down the story in a clear and lucid at the same time not leaving any of the minute details, which would have not been the case for any of the amateur writers to author a book of such revealing raw and stinging truth. The book involves several powerful characters all of which revolves around a small village named ’Mano Majro’ inhabited by the rural folks without any complications of communal discriminations or innuendoes. But the still and serene lives of the people of this was interrupted with the arrival of a train full of people, not looking forward to meet their near and dear ones instead was full of corpses of people brutally slashed not sparing anyone.This ghastly incident led to the sowing of ugly seeds of communal discrepancies leading. It was very aptly described as to how the naïve and docile mindset of the simple village people was replaced by deathly and horrendous inclinations.It didn?t take much time for the fire of indifference and enmity to flare up amidst the almost forgotten fact that , instead of fighting amongst, they should condemn the true convicts. But the whole mass was eventually and painfully divided into two, the raged Sikhs and the petrified Muslims.The plot basically revolved around Hukum Chand, Iqbal singh, and Juggut Singh being the protagonists of the whole play. All this have been painted with mind boggling expertise and at the same time carrying the stipulated amount of emotion enough to be classified as a rhetorical saga. The story opens with Juggut Singh going for a quick tryst with Nooran his lady love, and at the same time the sleeping village fell easy prey to the apathy of the notorious intruders leaving behind scars of their visit and a daunting feeling in the hearts of the villagers. But all this seemed to be mundane when the story unfolds the arrival of the train with bodies of sikhs in stacks.Though there was absolutely harmony until then the whole village saw the implanting of the seeds of despise and sheer hatred among the same people who had once stood together against all the odds. It turns out to a tearful piece when one goes through the inhuman attribute of the ones in charge of the maintenance of law and order, be it the meted out to Juggut singh or Iqbal or of magistrate Hukum Chand?s voyeur with a harlot. All of a sudden the peace and tranquility was pushed into oblivion. And it was really heart rending to see the display of utter bravado of Juggut Singh and saving the lives of thousands of innocent people, who did not have any inkling to the unseen misfortune that was to take place. All this have been very well captured in succinct and down to earth rugged fashion by one of the most adroit author of all time.
What do You think about Train To Pakistan (1994)?
Probably one of the best works of fiction by Khushwant Singh and the Indo-Pak partition saga. Train to Pakistan is a classic story of human endurance and struggle through a mass movement. Freedom got us our own government, our own flag, our own anthem, our own country, but for a commoner he lost his own house, his own people, his own identity. The story is as simple and common as possible – a small peaceful village, regular corrupt officials, ordinary ruffians and holy men. The partition wave hits them like a hurricane and scatters them all over – some kill, some die, some run, some give up, some watch, some plot, some fight. Isn’t any tragedy just a multiplication of all our personal tragedies and any good deed just an individual motive. Khushwant Singh handles the subject sensitively and truthfully never loosing his control over reality. The government officials remain corrupt but with a damage control agenda, they twist right and wrong only to do what seems best. The local ruffians become the great saviours of religion and God, the avengers of the blood of brothers and honour of the women. The local men live their ordinary lives giving in to destiny and the orders from the high command. The narrative gets powerful and hair raising at the description of arriving train loads of mass dead bodies. But in all this one insignificant man, one ordinary thug, saves hundreds of lives, changing the course of history with only one simple act of love. A must read. Some interesting portions of the book:Population – How could you check increase in population? In the land of Kamasutra, the home of phallic worship and the son cult.We say Das (10) Number ka Badmash – derived from the number of the police register in which names of bad characters are listed.We say 420 to cheaters and liars – derived from Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code which defines the offence of cheating.
—Neha
This is one of the books we used to teach the class "The World After 1945" at the University of North Carolina. As a teaching tool for history, it is mixed, although it is a very interesting read. Its strengths are in introducing students to an environment most know little or nothing about (the northern border areas of India) and to ethnic and religious divisions very different from those in the US. It's major weakness is that, as a work of fiction, it is not representative of actual historical fact, and may give more insight into the mind of the author than into social or political realities. The story centers around a town names Mano Majra, in which "Sikhs and Muslims have lived together in peace for thousands of years." The partition of the country into a Hindu state (India) and a Muslim one (Pakistan) at first barely affects this community, but soon refugees are traveling the lone daily train that stops in this remote village, and tensions begin to build. The breaking point comes when a train filled with corpses arrives and demonstrates to the residents the horrors of the civil war raging around them. Suddenly neighbor turns on neighbor, and paranoid plots are developed. People who had been close friends suddenly regard one another as vicious enemies, and (of course) a romeo and juliet subplot develops about a young Sikh in love with a young Muslim. While parts of the story seem contrived, it does present a very convincing view of a world divided by religious intolerance and fear.
—Michael
The history of India-Pakistan independence; of the twin countries that was separated immediately after birth is familiar to all. The impact of partition on the people on either sides were humongous. People had to live their land, livelihood grab whatever they could carry and migrate in huge numbers, only to never see their homes again. Kushwant Singh, himself born in a Sikh family from East Punjab, in his book “Train to Pakistan” brings us a glimpse into the actual lives of Punjabis then at the time of partition. Not at a political, but a common man’s perspective of the partition. What does the change of governments mean to an ordinary pheasant living in a village?Mano majra is a small fictional village by the banks of river Sutlej. Its a mainly Sikh occupied village, which also has a considerable number of Muslim families dwelling within. In that village, the Sikhs and Muslims live in perfect harmony. Mano majra being located near the newly formed border gets frequented by trains to and from Pakistan. The whistle of the engines, loading and unloading of goods, the clickety-clakety of the rails becomes the center of focus for the villagers. The narration begins with a robbery at the village and proceeds on the wheels of love, romance, religion, evil villains, investigating cops… Everything so normal until one day when the “ghost” train heading towards east stops at the Mano Majra station. The story takes a turn from there. With a little twist of events in the otherwise peaceful village, at the verge of calamity breaking out a plot is made it to send the Muslims. From there the narrator takes us through a journey of brotherhood to blood thirsty enmity that partition imparted on people of different faiths.From the beginning to the end the story maintains its pace, with a dramatic ending bringing out the message that the author wants to convey. The narration sticks to the point, beautiful and crisp.In addition to the rich description of Kushwant Singh the book that I have also has many real-time photos captured at the time of partition. The photographer Margeret Bourke-White, Time-Life‘s photo correspondent then, is considered to be one of the great photographers of all time. If the words paint a mental picture, the photos tell a story of their own.
—Prasanthi
