Gandhi_Philosophy

THE AGONY OF PARTITION IN ‘TRAIN TO PAKISTAN’ Dr. Seema Singh* Every year on “15th of August” we Indians become witness to an exhilarating experience- ‘The Ecstasy’. The ecstasy of being a free country takes us down the memory lane where we contemplate the India of 1947. But then at once it reverberates of the other side- ‘The Agony’. The agony of partition of our country and the communal riots that erupted was traumatic which left its impression on the society, the politicians and the intellectuals. The trauma of partition stirred the creative genius of Indo- Anglian novelists too and the novels like - ‘Azadi’ by Chaman Nahal and ‘The Rape’ by Raj Gill painted the features of partition. Manohar Malgonkar’s ‘A Bend in the Ganges’ conceived on epic dimension is based on partition theme. Another novel, written by H.S.Gill, ‘Ashes and Petals’ also evokes the partition theme. Of all these writers Khushwant Singh enjoys the distinction of being the first novelist to capitalise the partition of India and Pakistan in his very first novel “Train to Pakistan”, which is perhaps one of the best and the most powerful novels on the relevant theme. The freedom movement and the freedom of India were turbulent, heroic and bloody and the furious winds of change and destruction, death and rebirth blow through the pages of ‘Train to Pakistan’. The formal creation of Pakistan had by the summer of 1947 led to the massacre of almost a million of Hindus and Muslims; actually it was a surgery without anaesthesia. The story of ‘Train to Pakistan’ revolves around the haunted days of August 1947. Certainly there are many other novels based on the partition theme but of all the novels, novelty of this story resides in the treatment of the tragic aftermath of partition. The novel is set in an imaginary village ‘Mano Majra’ situated on the border of India and Pakistan. It is the summer of 1947. The frontier has become a scene of rioting and bloodshed. But in Mano Majra, partition does not yet mean much. Sikhs and Muslims have lived peacefully together until independence, until the summer of 1947. The story begins: “The summer of 1947 was not like other summers. Even the weather had different feel in India that year. It was hotter than usual and drier and dustier. And the summer was longer. No one could remember when the monsoon had been so late ... People began to say that God was punishing them for their sins.”1 This unusual mood of the summer reflected the riotous mood of the whole of the country. Like a whirlwind, the mad act of partition was uprooting masses of humanity. It was mangling them and throwing them across the border in heap after heap. “The riot had become a rout.”2 The opening lines of the novel actually have a distinct note of premonition that foreshadows the catastrophe which is looming over the tranquil atmosphere of Mano Majra. The village was an oasis of peace in the remote reaches of the frontier. The cool and calm ambience of this peaceful village at once attracts us. It is an isolated, border village on the banks of river Sutlej, with a railway bridge spanning the river. Its exceptional beauty existed in its functional integration. There were about equal number of Sikhs and Muslims and a single Hindu family. Still the law of peaceful co-existence, and not communal strife, prevailed there. The most striking feature of this tiny village is its ‘railway station’. Only two passenger trains stop here - “One from Delhi to Lahore in the morning and the other from Lahore to Delhi in the evening.’3 The life of the village is regulated by these trains which rattle across the nearby river bridge. We are informed that Mano Majra is very conscious of trains: “Before daybreak, the mail train rushes through on its way to Lahore and as it approaches the bridge the driver invariably blows two long blasts of the whistle. In an instant all Mano Majra come awake.”4 The next train at 10.30, a passenger train from Delhi finds all the villagers at work. The midday express passes by when the inhabitants of Mano Majra are at rest. The evening passenger train again finds Mano Majra active and at work—men return home from their farms and women are busy with their daily chores: “When the goods train steams in, they say to each other, ‘There is the goods train.’ It is like saying goodnight.”5 On the eve of the swelling act in Mano Majra high drama is going on, all simultaneously. Action begins with house-breaking and murder of Lala Ram Lal. Jugga, that very moment, is out in the fields with his fiancé, Nooran. The same night Hukum Chand, the Deputy Commissioner of the district, is camping in Mono Majra, philandering with Haseena, a hired prostitute. Murder and romance, both are going on simultaneously just before the arrival of the ‘ghost-train’. “We are of the mysterious East. No proof, just faith. No reason, just. faith.”6 Mano Majra too belonged to this ‘mysterious east’. It was not an exception. The mind of communal suspicion had begun to surround it. Soon, this little 2 oasis of communal harmony was engulfed by the fire of hatred and violence. The tyrants did not come at the usual time. Now they were late by hours and when they came, “they were crowded with Sikh and Hindu refugees from Pakistan or with Muslims from India.”7 The storm that had begun to blow was ready to uproot whatever came in its way. The ‘ghost-trains’ went past at odd hours of night which disturbed the dreams of ‘Mano Majra’. And the arrival of one such train shattered their dreams, for a train load of corpses from Pakistan crossed the railway bridge near Mano Majra. Hukum Chand tried to hush-up the matter, but the ‘acrid smell’ of burning flesh made implicit to the villagers that the train had come from Pakistan. The village which once throbbed with life ‘was stilled in deathly silence.’ Another ‘ghost-train’s arrival ignites the fire and the village becomes a battle-field of conflicting loyalties. The Deputy Commissioner plans a strategy to evacuate the Muslims dividing Mono Majra in two halves. Immediately the Sikhs become suspicious over Muslims’ loyalty. The swelling up situation compels the two communities—one to leave the village and another to let them leave. The voice of sanity and reason is drowned in the voice of aggression, hatred and revenge. The Sikhs plan to send for each train load of dead from Pakistan, two across. A conspiracy is hatched to stretch a rope across the first span of the bridge a foot above the funnel of the engine so that when the train, fully loaded with Muslim refugees, passes under it, the rope will sweep off all the people sitting on the roof of the train. At this thrilling and nail-biting climax, Hukum Chand releases Jugga, the badmash, who had been imprisoned under the false charge of Lala Ram Lal’s murder. His philosophy was – “individual’s conscious effort should be directed to immediate ends, like saving life when endangered, preserving social structure and honouring its conventions.”8 He was concerned only with Muslims’ safe departure and landing into Pakistan. Skillfully he manages to scare away the Muslims to refugee camps and incites Jugga to let the train pass on to Pakistan. According to the scheduled plan, the avengers tie the rope making it as stiff as a shaft of steel and await the trains’ arrival in tense anticipation. Suddenly Juggat Singh, manages to reach the rope: “He whipped out a small kirpan from his waist and began to slash at the rope... He went at it with the knife and then with his teeth. The engine was almost on him. There was a volley of shots. The man shivered and collapsed. The rope snapped in the centre as he fell. The train went over him and went to Pakistan.”9 3 Thus the high mounting drama brings a sense of relief only at the end. When all failed, it was only Juggat Singh who saved the Muslim lives. Actually, the novel is a nightmare with an exciting finish. What is unbelievable has actually happened. A simple uncalculating love of a man (Jugga) for a woman (Nooran) saves the situation. Mano Majra is conceived as one of the living characters in the dramatis personae of the novel. It is the archetypal village, for there were perhaps tens of thousands of such villagers where the law always has been peaceful coexistence. But these frontier villages were atrociously destroyed under the gruesome impact of the partition. Like war and revolution, civil strife of the kind that was witnessed in parts of India in 1947 was, in fact, a bulldozer that leveled up things, leaving an ominous calm in the wake of the precedent destructive storm. ‘Train to Pakistan’ is silhouetted against this vast catastrophe that engulfed the entire nation and is presented with stark realism. The theme of the novel revolves around the haunted days of August 1947 — the bestial horrors that were enacted on the Indo-Pakistan border. Novelty of this work resides in Khushwant’s approach of the theme from a humanitarian perspective. Indeed it would not have been an easy task to artistically present the plot, for the events were recent and so terrib1e in their utter savagery and meaninglessness. Writer confirms that the very concept of religion divided the hearts of villagers of Mano Majra—most important of all, the nation itself was divided into Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan. It is not appropriate to blame only the politicians for the division of the country but also religious frenzy was the cause of devastation and destruction. It is a fact that to the teeming millions, religion is deep-rooted in their psyche. For the masses, religion is above everything and morality is highly influenced by religious orthodoxy, superstitions, fate and destiny. And the main cause behind such thoughts is lack of awareness because awareness is a part of education. Actually ‘Train to Pakistan’ deals adequately enough the problem of communalism and violence. In his short story ‘The Riot’ Khushwant satirizes the communal frenzy. ‘Delhi’ another novel too explains in great detail the disturbances the city Delhi witnessed since the ancient times. The periods of Balban, Taimur, Mughals and the British- all saw the communal frenzy. ‘Delhi’ the novel ends with the gruesome murder of Budha Singh, the night watchman of the apartment in the riot that erupted after the assassination of Smt. Indira Gandhi in 1984. 4 Through all his relevant writings Khushwant tries to project that communal attitude is directly related to religious fanaticism and unless man comes to realize that human beings are more important than their religions and that there is a kind of religion which may be called human religion, communal frenzy may erupt from time to time and would endanger human civilization and culture. The first test of a cultured civilization is its spirit of tolerance, of accommodation, of coexistence. Communalism is a blatant negation of this feeling of togetherness. Communalism is a kind of unpredictable storm which destroys the big and the small alike, without any discrimination. Basically ‘Train to Pakistan’ is a passionate comment on inner conflict between the communities. At the same time it reflects the feelings of the writer. In an interview Khushwant Singh said: “I had no animosity against either the Muslims or the Pakistanis but I felt that I should do something to express that point of view. And I did that….”10 He elucidates his opinion in one of his articles published in Hindustan Times where he states that there was nothing to choose between what the two communities where doing at the time of partition. “I felt ashamed of all of them… I lost faith not only in humanity but also my faith in my religion…I really thought that whole country was coming to an end.”11 But there was a ray of hope; thus the safe passage of the train to Pakistan. Jugga shows the ray of light in the cruel world of darkness and despair. 5 Khushwant Singh: Train to Pakistan, Ravi Dayal Publishers, 1992, p.9. Ibid, p.10 3 Ibid,p.11 4 Ibid,p.12 5 Ibid, p.13 6 Ibid,p.196 7 Ibid,p.44 8 Ibid,p.118 9 Ibid,p.207 10 Mahfil,” Mahfil Interviews Khushwant Singh”, Mahfil, 1969. 2 1 Khushwant Singh,I Thought the Nation Was Coming to an End’, The Hindustan Times, September 28, 1997. Sunday Edition. 11 * Teacher of English B. V. S. H. S. Sadaquat Ashram, Patna, Bihar, India. 6 7