Chapter I Introduction The filming of Khushwant Singh's novel Train to Pakistan recently, once again aroused interest in Singh's novels. This also led to Penguin's Collected Novels of Khushwant Singh on the one hand and on the other the writer thought of attempting one more novel The Company of Women (1999). This new interest in his literary works and his popular image of a writer of joke-books attracted literary-stock taking. This volume on Singh attempts to critically examine Singh's literary works. Born on February 2, 1915 in Hadali in West Punjab (now a part of Pakistan) Singh was the second son of Sir Sobha. His father was associated with the building of New Delhi in the Thirties. He was educated in Delhi, Lahore and London. He began his career as a lawyer and also taught at the Law College, and at Princeton University in the States - "I am product of both
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
Chapter I
Introduction
The filming of Khushwant Singh's novel Train to Pakistan
recently, once again aroused interest in Singh's novels. This also led to
Penguin's Collected Novels of Khushwant Singh on the one hand and on
the other the writer thought of attempting one more novel The Company
of Women (1999). This new interest in his literary works and his popular
image of a writer of joke-books attracted literary-stock taking. This
volume on Singh attempts to critically examine Singh's literary works.
Born on February 2, 1915 in Hadali in West Punjab (now a part of
Pakistan) Singh was the second son of Sir Sobha. His father was
associated with the building of New Delhi in the Thirties. He was
educated in Delhi, Lahore and London. He began his career as a lawyer
and also taught at the Law College, and at Princeton University in the
States - "I am product of both East and the West", what he terms Orio-
Occidental (in Khushwant Singh's India) (212).
He has enjoyed deeply the joy of life and is known more for his
books of jokes and his column With Malice Towards All, But little do
people know that he is a scholar and has penned books on religion,
Sikhism, and history of Sikhs and Delhi. He is a man who loves life fully
and deeply as is evident in his books.
Train to Pakistan was originally titled as Mano Majra (1956)
which is the centre-stage of the novel, situated on the borders of India and
Pakistan. It is a small village where Sikhs and Muslims and Hindu live
peacefully unaware of the massacre elsewhere. But the Train symbolises
the activities of life and death, and especially death and destruction.
Khushwant Singh's heroes are doomed heroes. His Juggat the
'badmash', a dacoit Sikh redeems himself by saving the trainload of
Muslims from death. Though he does it for saving his Muslim beloved,
and meets his death. Manohar Malgonkar's novel A Bend in the Ganges
(1964) encompasses the same period of Indian history. His protagonist
Debi Dayal meets with death on train going to Lahore. Malgonkar
describes the same ghastly and gory details of massacre during Partition.
Through in both the novels the novelists show a ray of hope as the
protagonists sacrifice their lives for their love. In Malgonkar there is more
to life whereas Singh portrays the tragic dimensions of Partition. Amitav
Ghosh in his novel The Shadow Lines also refers to the trainful of dead
bodies. The Partition has stirred the sensibilities of the creative artist and
we have many novels on this theme. Bapsy Sidhwa the Pakistani Parsi
writer in her novels presents the Pakistani side of the disaster. Specially
her novel The Ice-Candy Man filmed recently portrays the similar
feelings of Muslims and Sikhs in Pakistan. Chaman Nahal in his Azadi
depicts the similar sensibilities but not much notice is taken of that novel.
Singh proves to be the best in portraying in a restrained and detached
manner the feelings of the people in a small village and the shock they
feel. With realistic details and romantic notions Train to Pakistan is one
of the best novels on this theme.
I Shall not Hear the Nightingale (1959) has a limited range and
covers the freedom Movement of 1942. The novel presents both the
violent and non-violent struggle for freedom during this period. It talks of
'baptism in blood' and Goddess Durga or Kali. Sher Singh talks of
violence but is afraid of really taking up the cause of freedom. His
impulsive, immature and pseudopatriotism finds him in a jail on a
suspected murder. Singh portrays in Sher Singh the weaker side of the
2
freedom struggle. Khushwant Singh's portrayal of characters and events
is traditional and the characters remain only 'two-dimensional". It is the
woman Sabhrai that ultimately takes the centre-stage in the novel and
makes an interesting reading of the novel.
Writing in 1970, Charantan Kulshrestha, about Khushwant
Singh "s Fiction opines: he (Khushwant Singh) possesses
neither the degree of creative imagination which
characterizes their (Raja Rao's and G. V. Desani's)
sensibility nor the emotive complexity which inform their
work. And yet-to be reasonable-he achieves an intensity in
his work which is rarely shared by his contemporaries
(Considerations 123).
With the passing of time one expected Khushwant Singh to
develop his narrative technique and art of characterization. When Delhi:
A novel was published in 1990 the readers' expectations were high. The
novel records the history of Delhi in a fictional manner taking the other
view of history. 'But some consider it a fictional history and others call it
a historical fiction. In listing the details of history, historical monuments,
the rulers and the ruled, the artistic portrayal is eclipsed and the
characters remain figures on the pages and do not come alive. Khushwant
Singh's love and admiration for the city of Delhi is evident even in his
latest novel A Company of Women. Here too he lists the shopping places,
the clubs, the restaurants, the food-items very realistically. But one finds
that the details instead of adding depth to the novel, only show Delhi as is
seen through the out sider's point of view.
3
A Company of Women presents only the women who come to
Mohankumar from different parts of India as also from the U.S.A. They
appear and disappear as fast as they can, leaving behind no three
dimensional portrayal. Though Singh has provided backgrounds to them,
it has little or no meaning as it is what Mohankumar is told by these
women about their life at home. It appears Singh is a little indifferent to
what he is writing. His sole purpose seems to be writing about the
middle-aged protagonist's craving for women and his urge for
establishing his manhood. What Shobha De does for dramatic personae in
her novels, Singh has done in this one novel. The novel has no dramatic
points nor deep introspection. In a sense the realistic listing of details
only mars the dramatic situation that a man encounters after divorce and
his feeling of loneliness and uselessness in life. What he loses in
meaningfulness, he acquires in his physical fulfilment of sexuality. He
does not struggle to make his choice. Right or wrong, the protagonist
does not strive to find a way. He simply decides to have women willing
to share his bed as and when he wants. Singh presents here life without
any struggle. It is a simple life without any inner voice.
Khushwant Singh has written many books on history, religion and
Sikhs. He has also translated into English the works from Punjabi, Urdu
and Hindi. In fact, his scholarship far outshines his literary skill. His
literary fame rests with Train to Pakistan which was one of the first
novels on Partition written in English. A. G. Khan considers it a brilliant,
brutally realistic story and examines the characters of Hukumchand, Iqbal
and Jugga and their behavioural patterns. Kamal Mehta studies the impact
of Partition on different characters in the novel and opines that Singh
chooses to narrate the disturbing impact that the community deeply felt at
4
the social and psychological level. Rupalee Burke finds an interesting
reading of exodus - the Biblical and the one at the time of Partition. She
makes an impressive observation that Partition-exodus was a cursed event
of history. In History and His-story Nilak Datta focusrses on history of
partition and personnal stories of the characters. Suza Alexander
examines how public events affect the personal lives of the small village
of Mano Majra, how it lays bare the grimly tragic situation leading to
nightmarish experiences. Amrita Patel brings out the U shape of the novel
and how the novelist establishes his vision of order over the disorder
caused by hate and ill-will. Bharati Parikh focusses on the humanitarian
view of the situation.
Darshana Trivedi studies the character of Sabhrai in She whose
heart is full of love and opines that spring will come to our barren land.
Says She that Sabhrai is an epitome of Indian Womanhood who cares for
all and waits for the Nightingale to sing. She also examines the
harmonious relationship between man and nature referring to Valmiki's
Ramayana, and Kalidasa's Ritusambhave. Indira Nityanadam discusses
the two faces of the colonized in her discussion of I Shall not Hear the
Nightingale. India Bhatt examines the portrayal of freedom struggle and
the conflict in Sabhrai's mind leading to her choice of surrendering to the
silence of death.
Taking a Kaleidoscopic Excursion through Time, Space and
History, J.D. Soni observes that Times have changed, the rulers have
changed but Delhi remains the same, the tremors of the past may yet get
repeated. Delhi is a witness to the large panorama of history - both the
brave and the bawdy. In securing History through Secular histories,
5
Sumeet Varghese examines Singh's historicizing of Delhi's histories and
how he balances both the ugly and beautiful elements of humanity. The
novel, he opines, is informed of the current political and ideological
climate and is wary about the future. Ulka Mayur on the other hand says
that Singh's history of Delhi is not that of a historian; it is that of the artist
living through history. According to Indira Nityanandam Singh looks at
Delhi from the cultural, moral and human aspects in addition to the
political and social ones. M. J. Varghese finds Delhi a Sound and Light
Show, focusing on its inherent strengths and weaknesses. But he says that
the beauty of Delhi is marred by obscene scenes and language. In
Rebuilding Delhi Ulka Mayur takes the view that the historical
monuments remain the most authentic source to understand the history of
Delhi. Singh, according to her, rebuilds Delhi, step by step through its
architecture.
In An Odyssey to Nowhere Indira Bhatt finds that the protagonist
in A Company of Women takes his journy to the land-scape of Woman's
body and is satisfied with what he gets, never thinking beyond his bodily
hungers. She opines that the novel does not signify life in any deeper
sense. It is the story of the male-female bodies. Trupti Vora takes the
psychological view of the protagonist and argues that the desire to love
and be love.. ; the root-cause of Mohankumar's behaviour. Darshana
Trivedi examines the cultural implications through the portrayal of
women in the novel.
Madhumati Adhikari opines that Khushwant Singh the short- story-
teller is eclipsed by his popular image of journalist and historian. In her
opinion though Singh cannot be ranked with the best like W.S. Maugham
6
or R. K. Narayan he succeeds in presenting a slice of life that is unusual
and yet true. As William Walsh says "Khushwant Singh shall always be
better known as an eminent Sikh historian, editor, journalist rather than a
novelist” (98).
Khushwant Singh, bom in 1915 at Punjab, had his primary
education at a Public School in Lahore and later at St. Stephen's College
at Delhi. He had his higher education at King's College, London; and
took his Bar- at- Law from Inner Temple, one of the professional
Colleges of Lawyers in England. On returning to India, he practised at the
High Court of Lahore and taught Hindu Law and jurisprudence at the
Panjab University. His career as a Lawyer was put to an end with the
partition of India, but his legal profession brought him close to human
nature and made him see man and life denuded from all its outer
embellishment.
"The Mark of Vishnu" and other stories published in 1950 brought him
into the literary world as a story writer. But his major work Mano Majra
(1956), better known by its Alternate title Train to Pakistan, which won
him the prestigious Grove Press India Fiction Prize for the year,
established him as a distinguished Indian writer. The realism of
Khushwant Singh is very much of an earthly variety. He has declared that
his 'roots are in the dunghill of a tiny Indian village' and his fiction
mirrors the picture of his roots.
Khushwant Singh's writings are characterized by a sense of realism
and humour. His use of English in the novels is very distinctive as he
employs colorful Punjabi expressions and idioms. His style, hard and
vigorous is notable for its comic spirit and gaiety.
7
The traumatic experiences of the partition shook him to the core of
his beings and the inhuman and savage killings of the innocent people
envenomed his heart. The mortifying and spine chilling incidents of
August, 1947 had shaken the faith of the people in nobility of mankind.
Khuswant Singh is also greatly disillusioned and his presumption
regarding man and life is all shattered. The inner struggle and agony
raging within him is brought about in his following remark:
The beliefs that 1 had cherished all my life were shattered. I
had believed in the innate goodness of the common man. But
the division of India had been accompanied by the most
savage massacres known in the history of the country I had
believed that we Indians were peace loving and non-violent,
that we were more concerned with matters of spirit, while
the rest of the world was involved in the pursuit of material
things. After the experience of the autumn of 1947,1 could
no longer subscribe to these views. I became an angry
middle-aged man, who wanted to shout his
disenchantment with the world I decided to try my hand at
writing (99).
Khushwant Singh gives vent to all the venom and indignation felt
by him at the horrifying tragedy of brutality and savagery in his novel
Train to Pakistan. He pours - out the agonizing tale of human tragedy and
the sinister impact of the partition on the peace-loving Hindus, Muslims
and Sikhs of "Mano Majra", realistically with scathing irony. Khushwant
Singh has designed the novel to explore and expose the brutal and
8
hypocritical image of man and simultaneously present his faith in the
values of love, loyalty and humanity.
Mano Majra, a small village, close to the Indo-Pakistan border
serves as the setting for the novel. For centuries in this village, Muslims,
Hindus and Sikhs have loved each other as brothers and lived together in
peace. But this tiny village becomes the microcosm of communal conflict
and violence generated by the partition.
Even in the midst of such inhuman violence there are people who
boldly encounter the cruel games of destiny with fortitude. Jugga, a
confirmed ruffian, conquers the mighty forces of the wickedness and
savagery by sacrificing himself for love. Harish Raizada rightly observes:
The heroic spirit of man is revealed in the novel not by men
who are considered religious and respectable in the public
and supposed to have innate goodness but by a man like
Jugga who is treated as a confirmed ruffian"(Common
Wealth Fiction: 162).
The novelist beautifully and artistically presents various symbolic
connotations through his novel Train to Pakistan. The first symbol is
Mano Majra which is representative of a village, a society and a country
i.e. India itself- A land which once believed in " Ahimsa", Mano Majra, a
village lost in the remote reaches of the frontier and far from the
maddening crowd of city and towns, gives the picture of Unity in
diversity. Here the Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims lived peacefully together
as they have been living since time immemorial. Though the frontier
9
between India and Pakistan turns into a horrifying scene of riot and
bloodshed, everything is calm and quiet in Mano Majra. They live in a
world of their own unaware of the idea of partition and the political
situation of the country.- Many Mano Majrans are unconscious of the fact
that British have left India and India is partitioned and is being governed
by the Congress Ministry. The sub-inspector of Police's report to the
inquiry regarding Mano Majra gives a vivid picture of the ignorance of
the Mano Majrans:
I am sure no one in Mano Majra even knows that the British
have left and the country is divided into Pakistan and
Hindustan. Some of them know about Gandhi but 1 doubt if
anyone has ever heard of Jinnah (22).
The train which symbolized life and action, became a symbol of
death, disaster and disharmony with the arrival of the ghost train from
Pakistan loaded with dead bodies of Hindus and Sikhs. It stuns the Mano
Majorans and fills in them the evils of violence and revenge which leads
to the conspiracy of the massacre of the Mano Majra Muslims. The train
is let to pass the bridge to Pakistan with the sacrifice of Jugga. Thus the
train stands for life and death.
Khushwant Singh's portrayal of different characters suffering from
the crisis of values during the period of unprecedented human tragedy is
remarkable. He presents different characters in their typical situations
summarizing the human life. These are Hukum Chand, the high officer in
Government Administration, Meet Singh, the Sikh priest, Iqbal Singh, the
rationalist and non-communal political worker, finally Jugga whose
10
morality stands as a relief against the hypocrisy and cowardice of these
characters.
Although Juggat Singh occupies a very central position in Train to
Pakistan he cannot be labelled as the hero of the novel. Mano Majra is a
real protagonist of the novel, neither Jugga nor Hukum Chand nor lqbal
has a fully dominant role as Mano Majra has.
The novel is indeed a message of hope and compromise. The basic
instinct of man i.e the man-woman relationship is vividly brought out in
the novel. To Dr. S. P. Swain, "Khushwant Singh's Train to Pakistan with
its realistic and touching portrayal of characters, chiefly round, lays bare
the grimly tragic situation of the human context in which his fictional
people march towards the altar of self-immolation. Train to Pakistan is a
"nightmare with an exciting finish, one closes the novel with a sense of
relief (Iyener 1973 : 501) A novel unbeatable in its extraordinary power
and unrelenting realism.
11
Chapter II
Partition of Hearts
The partition of India has been one of the most traumatic
experiences of our recent history. This political partition of India
disturbed the Indian psyche and also its social fabric. It brought to an
abrupt end a long and communally shared history. It caused one of the
great human convulsions of history. It made the social sense of our nation
coarse, generated a sense of vengeance and distorted the political
judgements. Worst of all, it deranged the understanding of the moral
rightness of the people. Prof. Bhalla puts it in these words,
The partition had broken the covenant that men must make
with men, castes with castes, religion with other tolerant
religions, without which our survival is always precarious
and our enslavement by barbarian is certain (xi).
Bharati Butalia also observes in this regard that,
Partition was surely more than just a political divide or a
division of properties, of assets and liabilities. It was also....
a division of hearts (7).
Partition was and has remained a decisive event in India's social
and political life, the reason is being its volume and scope with regard to
India.
Over twelve million people exchanged their homes and countries.
Such a massive transfer of population took place at a very short notice
when people were not yet ready for the transfer. Over a million people
were killed. These massacres took place everywhere and it accompanied
the movement of the people across the boundary; and it often expedited
it. More than 75,000 women were raped and abducted. The families were
divided; homes were destroyed; crops were left to rot and villages
abandoned. (Butalia 4) It is quite natural that it touched all and
particularly the creative writers. Many writers took up this event and
explored its aspects in their fictional as well as non-fictional works. Even
after 54 years, it has not ceased to be relevant.
Nevertheless, it is also a fact that the partition "could not become
the central part of national discourse" (Bhalla 15). Prof. Bhalla rightly
states that people have various sorts of memories. If this event brought
out the brutality, inhumanity and madness of mankind, it also brought to
light the acts of kindness, decency, courage and selflessness. There were
many acts which were free from racial and religious prejudices.
Partition reveals the weaknesses as well as the strengths of our
society as a nation. This strength is the tremendous capacity of Indian
society to come out of the most traumatic crises. Its capacity tolerates
whatever pain and shock and returns to normalcy soon again. This
capacity to rise again after the setback has kept India alive in spite of
constant onslaughts for over two thousand years. This is because of
psychological toughness as well as the flexibility on the part of the
society.
This has been a weakness too. Indian society tends to forget
everything so soon. Perhaps that is why partition could not be the part of
our national discourse. This forgetting and forgiving nature of the society
13
has disabled India to learn some hard lessons from its past. India has
remained blind to its history. It could not develop the historical sense. It
continued to face calamities and disasters, invasions and betrayals, but
did not as a society try to stop them forever. Or it did not learn how to
stop them occurring. Thus, it failed to take wise stock of circumstances,
the communities and the other nations. India kept on geographically
contracting itself over centuries. It did not do anything to stop the
process. Even the partition hasn't forced us to look at this matter. Again,
within 50 years, India is facing the partition-like situation in Kashmir and
the leaders, the bureaucrates and people in general are indifferent to the
problem. The people of Kashmir are the ones who had witnessed the
partition first hand. Yet they could not stop the worsening of the
circumstances in the post independence era. People are at loss to discover
what they stand for, what they owe to others and the nation, what is good
and what is bad. The many qualities which have been our strength,
because of the weakness at the core, turn out to be our weakness.
Khushwant Singh in Train to Pakistan (1956) picks up the event of
the partition. He explores the impact of it on a small village of Mano
Majra. The village allegorically stands for India. The multiple responses
of people reveal the responses of people in general. He tries to discover
the true Indian response. He does so by juxtaposing the people, their
views and also their actions. He tries to present the Indian/Punjabi/Sikh
ethos and identity. There are many shades of this identity and the novelist
succeeds in showing them in categorical terms. All the while he maintains
his perspective very clear and gives each view critical treatment. He
convincingly gives true Indian response to the event through this novel.
14
Train to Pakistan is set in a small Indian village situated near the
newly carved border of India and Pakistan. The village is populated
equally by Sikhs and Muslims. Both the communities have been living
quite peacefully so far. The people are simple, innocent and busy in their
own routine life. In spite of the partition, it has maintained harmony. But
as a result of the partition, refugees start flowing to India from Pakistan.
They bring with themselves unnarratable sad stories of displacement,
arsons, murders, rapes and so on. Furthermore, Mano Majrans witness
how the communal forces from Pakistan send a trainload of dead bodies
of Sikhs and Hindus. Also, the river Sutlej is discovered with corpses of
Hindus. The only Hindu of the village Ramlal is murdered. All these
things lead to the rise of tension. Now the village can't remain unaffected.
The police wants to maintain the law and order situation. It wants the
Muslims to go to Pakistan for their safety. It is ready to provide them
facilities to reach Chundunnugger safely from where a train is to go to
Pakistan.
At this juncture of time, a group of youths wants to take revenge on
Muslims here. The leader is heard speaking that if hundreds of innocent
Sikhs are being killed and women raped and abducted, why not do the
same to Muslims here in order to make Pakistani Muslims stop nonsense.
This is the climax of the novel.
The author focuses on the impact of the partition on the minds of
the people. He presents diverse views that came on the surface then. He at
the same time tries to bring to light the genuine Sikh/Indian/human voice
and through it its ethos. He reveals these voices by putting them in debate
over the issues. He makes Bhai Meet Singh, the Lambardar Banta Singh
15
and Jugga Singh represent the rural rooted true Sikhs. They have right
understanding of the Guru(s) and their teachings. On the other side are
Iqbal Singh, the nameless youth in military dress, Malli, and the police-
inspector either representing the perversion or misinterpretation of
Sikhism.
The novelist constructs an overall picture of these people i.e. their
appearance, actions, words and feelings. The rural folk represented by the
Bhai and Lambardar is simple, emotional, undereducated and hence
lacking in the rhetoric and the art of putting arguments. They keep very
low profile, always consider themselves to be ignorant and others as
powerful and clever. They have faith in the rituals, they regularly
assemble in the gurudwara, offer prayers and read the Guru Grath Saheb.
The words they may not understand very well, but the implications of the
sayings they do. They are concerned with their duties to others. They
don't think of distant future but of the immediate future. These people are
selfless, generous and accommodating.
The opposite group though varied and isolated among itself shares
a few features in common. Having been well- prepared, they have
arguments, which are at the very first instance so rational and convincing.
Theirs are more reactions than actions. They are what the circumstances
have made them in given situations. They are therefore concerned with
what is temporary or temporarily relevant. They are prejudiced in their
vision and are self-centred. They have a sort of force in them, which often
becomes arrogance.
16
Iqbal Singh is one of the prominent voices from this group. He is
an outsider in both literal and metaphorical senses. He is from city,
educated in England, and he thinks himself to be progressive, socialist
and a reformer. He feels that he has solutions to the problems of the
people. He has given up his Sikh identity by disowning the traditions of
long hair, turban, steel bangle etc. Moreover, he got himself circumcised,
and he has dropped Singh from his name as a result of which he can
easily go for a Sikh or a Muslim.
He is a parasite on the society. He stays in the Gurudwara, enjoys
its facilities as well as the charities of the villagers. Yet he does not
honour the traditions of the place. He keeps himself aloof, drinks whisky
there and tells the bhai that he takes medicine. The eatables which he has
brought with him, he eats alone. He keeps his things locked. He is of no
use to people when the village was passing through unprecedented crises.
In fact, he is neither capable nor of the mind to do anything. He can sleep
well when villagers are not able to go to bed. He lives in his own world.
He is a big hypocrite. As such he subscribes to the leftist ideology,
and he has been in Mano Majra to unite the peasants and workers and
also to make them fight against the government and injustice. He
describes the politicians as the race of four twenties as they do not
"believe what they say" (63). He thinks that they have been cheating the
public and not honouring their feelings. Satirically, whatever he thinks
and says is equally applicable to himself too. The author reveals this by
showing the gap between his words and actions. He, too, does not respect
the feelings of the people. When Banta Singh brings milk for him and
insists on him to drink it, he says "I don't ever drink milk. But if you
17
insist I will drink it later. I like it cold" (61). But soon the author narrates
what was in the mind of Iqbal in these words, "Iqbal had pleasant visions
of pouring the milk with all its clotted cream down the drain"(61).
Though he has come to convince the people of socialism, he is not able to
answer their simple questions about independence. Moreover, he does not
want the people to know that he is a comrade because they won't accept
an atheist i.e. a comrade.
Iqbal pretends that he has lot of compassion for the villagers but it
never gets translated into his actions. His ideology remains confined to
his words only. He thinks that religion is irrelevant and it has played
havoc with mankind. Nevertheless, when he returns from the jail,he
realizes that if he is taken to be a Muslim, he will be killed. He realizes
that Sikhism can be a shield for his safety. He assumes Sikh identity.
When some one asks him, "You are a Sikh, Iqbal Singhji?" He replies
positively and adds when further asked about his hair that he is just a
Sikh without long hair and beard (196). He too does not do what he
believes in!Thus, he can change his role conveniently.
He makes a lot of show that he is interested in people. The narrator
reveals the wide gap between his words and actions. When he talks to the
bhai about the village after coming back from the prison, his tone is quite
neutral and dry. While talking to him, Iqbal is busy with his petty 'kit-
bag' and its contents. Also he busies himself in inflating his mattress!
When he is told about the plan of Malli and others, that of attacking the
train taking Muslims to Pakistan he tells the bhai, stretching himself on
the mattress and tucking the pillow under his armpit, "You can't let this
sort of thing happen!.... the people on the train are the very same people
18
they were addressing as uncles, aunts, brothers and sisters."(192) When
the bhai expects him to do something as he thinks Iqbal can, being an
educated one, he replies, "Me? Why me? What have I to do with it? I
don't know these people. Why should they listen to a stranger?" (193)
Ironically and satirically, he had been to the village to tell the people
something, but he is afraid of facing them. He is a coward. He is also an
escapist. He does not wish to invite the wrath of the youths. What is more
satirical is, he tries to justify whatever he does. He indulges in self-
deception. He thinks that stopping the people would be "an utter waste of
life... In a state of chaos self-preservation is the supreme duty."(194) He
further tries to justify himself in these words,
If there were people to see the act of self-immolation
cinema-screen, as on a, the sacrifice might be worthwhile; a
moral lesson might be conveyed…, Who would know that
you were not a Muslim victim of a massacre? Who would
know that you were a Sikh who, with full knowledge of the
consequences, had walked into the face of a firing squad to
prove that it was important that good should triumph over
evil? (194-5).
Iqbal further feels that 'The doer must do only when the receiver is
ready to receive. Otherwise, the act is wasted' (195) Ironically, after every
sip of whisky the things become clearer to him. His words that he should
not 'turn green at small acts of destruction' (195) reveal to which extent
his sensibility is dead.
19
Iqbal is a nice satirical picture of the pseudo intellectual and
progressive elite class that criticizes all others but is itself impotent to
contribute anything to the society. The author however mentions that the
people look at it with great expectations and unfortunately, it fails to
understand its role in the given time. It remains rootless, alien and cut off
from the Indian cultural ethos which are the sources of energy.
Iqbal wants to be a leader though he does not have the qualities of
a leader. He is confused though he has a definite ideology. He goes to
people with the superiority complex and not as one of them. He is not a
realist but lives in his make-believe, imaginary world. Further, he is
neither honest nor courageous. He is not ready to face hardships of life.
Tension forces him to give up his dream, ideas and even morale. He does
not change the tide of the time, instead he gets changed with the changes.
M.K. Nike mentions that "the only role that Iqbal, the communist
who comes to the village for party work, seems to play is that of acting as
the mouthpiece of the author." This is not true. In fact, the author drives a
bitter satire on him. He stands exposed and is ridiculed. He falls in the
eyes of the readers. The author has been successful in bringing to light
wide gap between what he promised to be and what he did. He attacks on
his hypocrisy. So, he can't be his mouthpiece.
Khushwant Singh presents a dichotomy between these rural elderly
people and a young Sikh boy who is in his teens. He is excited, agitated
and militant in his views. He is a reactionary. He is governed more by
impulse than by reason. He also has a lot of misunderstanding regarding
the nature of service and duty to the society and humanity. He has his
20
own interpretation of a few basic things regarding Sikhism and the role of
a Sikh in the time of utter crisis.
The boy has his own notion of self-honour. The brutal killings of
the innocent Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan by Muslims have disturbed
him a lot. He wants to stop it and hence wants to convey signals to the
Muslims by killing their brethren on this part of the border and thus tell
them the Sikhs and Hindus can also do the same.
The boy whose name is not given stands for those nameless youths
who were carried away on the path of violence by the anarchy of
partition. He represents those who believe in tit for tat policy. He very
conveniently quotes from Sikh traditions. Since the elderly people stop
him and his like, he has no regards for them. Rather he makes fun of
them. He asks the Mano Majrans, "What sort of Sikhs are you? You just
eat and sleep and you call yourselves Sikh - the brave Sikhs! The martial
class ! (170)... He expects these people to kill two Mussalmans for each
Hindu and Sikh.They wish to kill as that will stop the killing on the other
side. His intentions seem to be good and at first instance convicing but
then lambardar and bhai Meet Singh counter question. They say that had
there been a war with Pakistan, they could have fought bravely with
Pakistani army, but it was not a war and people were not soldiers.
Secondly, people who have not committed crimes why be killed? This
boy argues whether the people killed in Pakistan were criminals/ guilty.
Bhai doest't agree with him that Muslim women should be ravished
because though Muslims killed all the four sons of Guru, the Guru
instructed his followers not to touch any Muslim woman. The boy quotes
from what the Guru said about Muslims, " Only befriend the Turk when
21
all other communities are dead" (172). The dialogue continues beautifully
ahead with Meet Singh saying that no one tells to befriend them.
Nonetheless, he reminds him that the Guru too had one of them who
stabbed the Guru, while he was asleep. Poor Meet Singh tries to defend
himself by arguing that there are bad ones everywhere, the stabber being
one of them. The boy resounds again to show a single good to him. He
tells people that Muslims know no argument except the sword only. The
arguments stop as the elderly generation has no words to convince the
youth.
The boy feels that he has been successful. He feels flattered as the
voice of wisdom is silent now. He now assumes a role of new 'avtaar'. He
now tries to play the role of the 9th Guru himself. The author parodies the
memorable event of the birth of Khalsa panth three centuries ago.
Satirically, this boy tries to give new turn to the Khalsa panth. The boy
asks the audience "Is there anyone beloved of the Guru here? Any who
wants to sacrifice his life for the Sikh community? Anyone with
courage?" (173) Old words and phrases are being interpreted in new
terms. It is a great irony that it takes place in a Gurudwara itself.
Meet Singh is still concerned with Mano Majra Muslims. However
he goes unheard. Satirically enough the person to respond to the call of
new Guru is Malli who is neither a Sikh nor has had good reputation.
Malli heroically says," My life is at your disposal." Soon, the author
reveals the motive of Malli. "The story of Jugga beating him had gone
round the village. His reputation had to be redeemed" (174). The new
'avtaar' reminds people of the five superman who had come forward to
sacrifice themselves for 'dharma'. The other four 'supermen' who come
22
forward are the companions of Malli himself. It is a great irony that these
five people are the parasites on society. They can't be useful to people.
These are hooligan, anti-social, absolutely self entered and immoral
people. They don't have anything to do with India, Sikhism,"Hinduism,
society and its values. However the new 'avtaar' is pleased to have these
murderers of a Hindu. Perhaps he is not aware that they are the very
destroyers of peace. These robbers of Mano Majra become the protectors
of the same. They won't lay down their lives for others; rather they will
not hesitate taking the lives of others themselves. This reveals the
character of the opportunists amongst the people in general. They shout
good slogans but do selfish things.
The author also reveals the interaction between the religious bhai
and the earthy and sensual Jugga. Jugga is presented as a badmash, decoit
and hooligan. He is seen with the Muslim girl Nooran involved in sensual
pleasure. He is ill- reputed and ignorant of the Gurubani i.e. the teachings
of the Guru. Yet he has full faith in the Gurus and their teachings. He also
has trust in Bhai Meet Singh.
The author reveals the character of Jugga symbolically. When
Jugga goes io gurudawara in the night, "In dark he looks larger than ever"
(198). In the darkness of anarchy and madness all around, he looks bigger
and brighter. He has come to hear the words of the Guru. It hardly matters
whether the words are from the Guru Granth Sahib or any other source.
The bhai reads from the Morning Prayer as morning is to take place i.e.
the forces of darkness in the form of Malli and his companions are to fail
because of Jugga. The way morning brings hope, Jugga is the hope for
humanity in his own way. He has now transcended his earthy character.
23
Jugga doesn't know the tradition of the ritual of 'seva'. He waves a fly-
whisk over the bhai's head. What is important however is the fact that he
is closer to the ideals of Sikhism. He has understood the essence of
Guru's moral teaching of doing good for others and abstaining from the
wrongs. He has conviction that by saving the innocent Muslims, he is
going to do something good. He has overcome the sensualism. He now
feels for others and their well-being. There is a great transformation in
him. Ironically, this illiterate and badmas rustic comes to represent the
values ever honoured by India. The moment one overcomes selfishness,
had becomes a true Indian/human being.
The novel opens with a description of' communal riots precipitate
by reports of the proposed division of the country into a Hindu India ar a
Muslim Pakistan' that had broken out in Calcutta and 'the death roll had
mounted to several thousands.
Muslims said the Hindus had planned and started the killing.
According to the Hindus, the Muslims were to blame. The fact is, both
sides killed. Both shot and stabbed and speared and clubbed. Both
tortured, both raped (9).
This is the grim scenario of the novel. Could anything be more
beastii with men having forgotten their human nature and humanity?
People for either side of the border desired to cross it over to safety.
Hundreds of thousands of Hindus and Sikhs who had lived
for centuries on the Northwest Frontier abandoned their
homes and fled toward the protection to the predominantly
24
Sikh and Hindu communities in the east, they travelled on
foot, in bullock carts, crammed into lorries, clinging to the
sides and roofs of trains. Along the way - at forts, at
crosslands, at railway stations- they collided with panicky
swarms of Muslims fleeing to safety in the west. The riots
had become a rout. By the summer of 1947, when die
creation of the new state of Pakistan was formally
announced, ten million people - Muslims and Hindus and
Sikhs - were in flight (9-10).
Now the trains were often four to five hours late and sometimes as
many as twenty. When they came, they were crowded with Sikh and
Hindu refugees from Pakistan or with Muslims from India. People
perched on the roofs with their legs dangling, or on bedsteads wedged in
between the bogies. Some of them rode precariously on the buffers (44).
The shouting and clamour would continue until long after the train
had left the station. The same thing was repeated again and again, till the
compartment meant for fifty had almost two hundred people in it, sitting
on the floor, on seats, on luggage racks, on trunks, on bedrolls, and on
each other, or standing in the corners. There were dozens outside perched
precariously on footboards, holding on to the door handle. There were
several people on the roof. The heat and the smell were oppressive (52).
'Independence meant little or nothing to these people'. What we have here
is a harrowing situation, a national calamity, wherein is discerned a Cain-
like insolence in Indians who not only refuse to play their 'brothers'
keepers', but indulge in dehumanizing slaughter of their brothers. Imam
Baksh tells Meet Singh, "We have lived among you as brothers." The
25
long history of human violence and man's inhumanity to his fellowmen
that began with the murder of Abel seems to have reached its zenith in the
above events.
Thus, the exodus went on with 'convoys' of Sikh and Hindu
refugees from Pakistan coming through and Muslims going out across the
border and the police relieved from absence of communal disturbance in
Mano Majra on the frontier. The 'Gandhi-caps' in Delhi are the
counterparts of the Pharaoh and are held responsible for the catastrophe.
The reader is awoken with a start at the conversation of Hukum Chand,
the sub-inspector and the Magistrate. The former is intimated about
convoys of dead Sikhs coming to this side of the frontier at Amritsar and
the Sikhs retaliating by attacking a Muslim refugee train and sending it
across the border with over a thousand corpses, not without writing ' Gift
to Pakistan' on the engine. What kind of an exodus is this, we ask? But
the worst is yet to come.
One morning, train from Pakistan halted at Mano Majra
railway station. At first glance, it had the look of the trains in
the days of peace. No one sat on the roof. No one clung
between the bogies. No one was balanced on the footboards.
But somehow it was different. There was something uneasy
about it. It had a ghostly quality. As soon as it pulled up to
the platform, the guard emerged from the tail end of the train
and went into station-master's office (93).
There was a great commotion in Mano Majra and the Mano
Majrans spent hours in anxious speculation. They were asked to fetch all
26
the firewood and kerosene they could from their homes, for which they
would be paid.
A soft breeze began to blow towards the village. It brought
the smell of burning kerosene, then of wood. And then -a
faint acrid smell of searing flesh.
The village was stilled in a deathly silence. No one asked
anyone else what the odour was. They all knew. They had
known it all the time. The answer was implicit in the fact
that the train had come from Pakistani (100).
The sight of women and children with 'eyes dilated in horror',
'bodie scrammed' in the compartment, 'lavatories jammed with corpse
with young men' and the 'nauseating smell of putrefying flesh, faeces and
urine', brought darkness over the people's hearts. There is much more of
such gruesome narrative in the novel to read. It was only then that the
people realized that it was 'a trainload of dead' that had been responsible
for kindling 'false hopes' in their hearts. Imam Baksh's words fall like
water drops on lotus leaves. "There is no need to cry. This is the way of
the world." From here we undertake a comparative study of the Biblical
Exodus and the exodus in the novel.
The four chapters of Khushwant Singh's first novel Train to
Pakistan frame the narrative within the bounds of a journey that takes
place at the end. The journey motif is of course implicit in the title itself,
though the journey may not necessarily have an element of the personal
in it. The movement in the novel occurs essentially on two planes the
27
micro and the macro. The former plane would include the presentation
and praxis of individual history and the latter, the enactment of large
impersonal historical forces. This generates the narrative tension between
'history' (historical events like the partition) and 'his-story' (individual /
personal histories like that of Juggut Singh and Imam Baksh). This
distinction does not refer to a feature that feminism and postcolonialism
share, notably a distrust of the critiques of official historical narratives.
This tension between history and 'his-story' where one tries to merge with
the other albeit unsuccessfully is highlighted by the detailed use of
everyday objects that impinges on the reader's consciousness. Indeed one
can hardly fail to notice the loving care Singh lavishes on the sheer
physicality of objects presenting them in sharp focus even in the midst of
dialogue so much so that sharp edges, the sense of weight or the glint of
metal make their corporeality felt.
It is no wonder then that the first and third chapters ('Dacoity' and
'Mano Majra') deal more with the inner world of the village and chapters
II and IV ('Kalyug' and 'Karma') with larger historical changes in the
country that finally envelop the small village called Mano Majra.
The very identity of Mano Majra depends on its railway station, as
it is known to the outside world for the latter. The place is "very
conscious of trains', its life being regulated by the arrival and departure of
goods trains. The whistle, the pounding of the engine, the shunting of
wagons-all regulate the life of the village. A sensational episode like the
dacoity at the moneylender's house is laden with the sense of close
sensual contact with heavy objects. The dacoits carry spears, carbines,
door hinges burst open, piles of trunks give way, a chromium plated
28
nickel torch is playfully tossed by one of the gang, gold and silver
bracelets are snatched.
As the gaze shifts to the government rest house and its occupant
the district magistrate appropriately named Hukum Chand, the familiar
objects of his everyday use, the furniture, all are keyed to project the
pompousness of government machinery. Thus the glittering brass
emblems of orderlies flit by, pampas-stick chicks, big cane chairs, and
tables groaning under the weight of full whisky and soda water bottles
lying idly, shining black pumps belonging to the magistrate all highlight
the importance of the occupant. Even as the sub-inspector and his boss
converse about the disastrous political situation near the frontiers, the
objects placed around the participants seem to have been deliberately
dwelt upon. As the first chapter opens up the possibilities of narrative,
new characters emerge, notably Iqbal. Khuswant Singh has lavished care
upon Iqbal's luggage The tin of Australian butter, dry biscuit packets, hip
flask, air-mattress-all serve to highlight his difference from the rest of
Mano Majra. The policemen who come to arrest him at the village
gurdwara are taken aback by his difference from others chiefly by his
belongings with which they are not familiar. Iqbal's treatment at the jail
too is different. Singh takes care to mention that brass plates, pitchers, a
glass tumbler, a chair table, charpoy and old newspapers-all possible
amenities are provided to him.
As the larger historical forces touch Mano Majra, the state
machinery literally swings to action. Singh is careful to emphasize the
physicality of the rough large mud green army trucks laden with soldiers
armed with sten guns carting away the wood and oil provided by the
29
villagers on demand for some unknown reason. As the stench of burning
bodies spreads through the air, Hukum Chand is haunted by the visions of
the dead. These visions are not the ethereal phantoms of an ancient
mariner but are the memories of the grotesque rendered terrifying by their
association with objects that in themselves do not conjure up images of
the dead and the dying. Thus yawning empty windows of the train from
Pakistan remind
Hukuum Chand of the spears, shots and spikes that rained on the
hapless people inside. Hukum Chand is haunted by the memory of an old
peasant jammed between rolls of bedding that he perceives is alive. He
can only seek relief from the horror of remembering not by the brilliance
of the diamond pin on the prostitute's nose but by the liver salts taken
with a hot cup of water from his heavy thermos. As the sub-inspector
executes the communal plot hatched on the orders of Hukum Chand, the
latter casually uses a pencil to clear his earwax as he gives orders to the
head constable at Chundunnugger police station.
With Chapter III, "Mano Majra', the inner world of the village is
again the focus of attention. As the communal picture is carried out to
perfection by the head-constable, the village is cleft into two as "a knife
cuts through a pat of butter'- As villagers become restive, Iqbal's religious
identity is testified through the iron bangle he sports on his wrist. With
orders for evacuation of Muslims from the village, as Imam Baksh a
much-respected weaver of the village goes to pack, Singh is careful to
provide an inventory. Their familiarity and spartan quality highlight the
misery and poverty of the Punjabi peasant and by implication the
majority of those millions who were uprooted by the Partition. The
30
government machinery again is quick to interfere; heavy trucks plow their
way past the slush. They are harbingers of separation and conflict. With
fear instilled in their hearts, as the Muslims of Mano Majra are herded
into trucks, guns pointed at their backs, they are forced to come to terms
with a journey into a land, which they cannot accept as their home. At
this juncture too, it is crucial to note how Singh makes the misery of their
condition clear. The officer in charge does not allow the villagers to carry
much of their belongings and the robber gang of Malli is given charge of
their property. The villagers are forced to depart with their meagre
belongings. It is an additional surprise to them as they are made aware at
the last moment that they will be shifted to Pakistan after a few days stay
at Chundunnugger refugee camp.
The final chapter brings to a close all the developments carried out
so far. The larger world of communal strife intrudes completely into the
sleepy hamlet with Malli and his gang looting and pillaging the now
unoccupied Muslim homes. Government machinery too tears up the earth
to bury the casualties of a train from Pakistan. A roving Sikh band
intrudes upon the subdued villagers, the main focus of our attention being
the boyish leader with his revolver protruding from the holster, his power
being projected as dependant on the weapons he carries. As he chalks out
the plan to the awe of some of the subdued villagers to attack their own
Muslim brothers headed to Pakistan by the train from Chundunnugger,
Hukum Chand plans to set Iqbal and Juggut Singh free. The district
magistrate's act is born out of despair for his police force will not fire at
Sikhs. Juggut's love for Imam Bakh's daughter Nooran, both of whom are
on board the train to Lahore, is felt as a sure guarantee of his desire to
stop the marauders. This chapter which concludes the hitherto thematic
31
preoccupation of alternating between the microcosm and the macrocosm,
is of course different from its predecessors. The focus here is on
individual effort (or lack of it in Iqbal's case) to change the impersonal
forces of history. As Iqbal and Juggut Singh are released as per Hukum
Chand's plan, the narrative unbelievably shifts to Iqbal and his political
philosophy. One must here wonder why Singh dwells on his political
worker who is rendered ineffective by a singular unwillingness to dare.
Iqbal's pretensions to leadership have been dwelt on before by Singh in
chapter 1 .The clue lies in the loving detail with which Singh dwells on
Iqbal's belongings. Through the eyes of bhai Meet Singh who is
interested in his air-mattress, the focus on Iqbal's hip flask and celluloid
tumbler, as he drinks himself to sleep, the contrast with the man of action,
Juggut Singh is clear. The focus lies in Juggut Singh's firm unshaken faith
in word of the Guru. As the reluctant Meet Singh reads out the Morning
Prayer to Juggut Singh, the latter departs for the mission which will
ultimately cost him bis-life.
It is notable that the shattered Hukum Chand's reverie about
people's tryst with destiny is also densely packed with objects familiar
and every day. They revolve around people whom he knew. Thus his
colleague Prem Chand who went to Lahore to retrieve his wife's jewelley
dies at the hands of a mob. Sundari, the daughter of his orderly and newly
married, meets her destiny at the hands of a mob who break her bangles
that she thought would be an event bound to happen in her conjugal bed.
Sunder Singh, a man whom Hukum Chand had got recruited in the army,
shoots his family with his revolver to avoid their being defiled by
marauders.
32
The shock treatment is deliberate and effective. The tension in the
narrative between the private worlds of Mano Majra, the lives of its poor
inhabitants and the larger world of the bureaucracy and the state, between
"his-story" and 'history' is thus achieved through a sharp focus on objects
fami liar and of everyday.
Khushwant Singh's Train to Pakistan (1956) evokes the peaceful
frightening phase before and after partition of India and Pakistan.
Life was quietly peaceful till August of 1947. The characters of the