06 Chapter 2
06 Chapter 2
06 Chapter 2
1959 came another novel, 'I Shall Not Hear The Nightingale' presenting a
vast 'magnum opus' on the city of Delhi. His next novel, 'The Company of
protagonist and his last novel 'Burial at Sea', which came out in 2004
the stroke of midnight on 15th of August and it takes us down the memory
there were the deep scars of partition too. One of the seventeen surviving
members of the Constituent Assembly, Dr. C. Subramaniam, shares his
ecstasy.
But then, there was the other side. The agony. The agony of
the partition of the country and the communal riots that followed. On the
eve of the Independence Day and later, large scale killings took place.
country attaining freedom, all that Mahatma Gandhi had worked for ....
have penned down the characteristic fea tures of the partition in their
respective novels. Raj Gill's first novel 'The Rape' and Chaman Nahal's
'Azadi' faces mainly on partition of India. Another novel on partition,
Ganges : H.S. Gill's Ashes and Petals/too records the significant facet of
partition theme.
being the first novelist to capitalise the partition theme in his very first
novel 'Train to Pakistan', which is perhaps one of the best and the most
published under two titles- 'Mana Majra' (in the American edition) and
'Train to Pakistan' in the year 1956. It also appeared under the title 'Dia
novel to Grove Press of New York which had announced a thousand dollar
award for the best work of fiction in India. The novel won the award and
(France). Since then the novel earned accolades from reviewers and it was
also published in Italian in the year 1997. This publication brought him
the 1997 Italian Mondello Award for literature. And most important is
fact that 'Train to Pakistan' has been translated into several European and
Indian languages, and quite recently a memorable film was made based
on the novel.
I wanted to get out. One was on the partition, the other on my community.
The partition theme was born out of a sense of guilt that I had done nothing
The gestation period of this novel was perhaps six months and
Khushwant Singh admits that "they (gestation period) ... were the most
the world of fiction writing. "It won me the Grove Press Award ... and
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 one small village,
Mano' Majra, partition does not yet mean much. Sikhs and Muslims have
"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
of the whole of the country. Like a whirlwind, the mad act of partition was
across the border in heap after heap. "The riot had become a rout."6 The
opening lines of the novel actually have a distinct note of premonition that
Sikhs and Muslims. It was surgery without an aesthesia. But the "only
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,
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." 8 The
life of the village is regulated by these trains which rattly across the near
and as it approaches the bridge the driver invariably blows two long blasts
of the whistle. In an instant all Mano Majra come awake."9 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
murder of Lala Ram Lal. Jugga that very moment is out in the fields with
his fiance, Nooran. The same night Hukum Chand, the Deputy
with Haseena, a hired prostitute. Murder and romance, but are going on
just faith."11 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 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 hourse and when they came, "they were crowded with Sikh
and Hindu refugees from Pakistan or with Muslims from India."12 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 hus-up the matter, but the
'acid small' 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
aggression, hatred and revenge. The Sikhs plan to send for each train load
rope across the first span of he 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.
Jugga, the badmash, who had been imprisoned under the false charge of
He was concerned only with Muslims' safe departure and landing into
making it as stiff as a shaft to steel and await the trains' arrival in tense
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."14
the end. When all failed, it was only Juggat Singh who saved the Muslim
August 1947 - the bestial horrors that were enacted on the Indo-Pakistan
decay..."15 The theme of partition has been popular with many other Indian
'The Rape' by Raj Gill and Chaman Nahal's 'Azadi'. But of all the novels,
novelty of this novel, that is, 'Train to Pakistan' resides in the treatment
the archetypal village, for there were perhaps tens of thousands of such
villagers where the law always has been peaceful coexistence. But these
the partition. Like war and revolution, civil strife of the kind that was
catastrophe that engulfed the entire nation and is presented with stark
realism.
present the plot, for the events were recent and so terrible in their utter
Majra Muslim and their safe entrance into Pakistan is in itself a complete
plot and handling of this complex plot is one of the outstanding features
of the book. "The division of the plot and the narrative technique sequence
Majra, and (4) Karma. The characteristic feature of these titles is their
implicit Indian meaning, artistically interwoven in the plot. The first part
the dacoity in Lala Ram Lolls house. This dacoity scene echoes the
inhuman and cruel actions of robber Malli and his gang. "What the reader
ultimately realises is that humanity itself has been robbed of its human
attributes, that the world has been dispossessed of its values, and that the
Universe has been stripped of its significance. The dacoity in Mano Majra
second part Kalyug, the "spirit of Kali or strife has entered into vast
masses of men in both India and Pakistan at the time of partition..."19 The
third part Mano Majra, is the microcosm of the world and the last part
Karma has two implications in the narrative context of the novel. First, in
determine his fate in the next phase of his life. Secondly, it also means
by the areas of action and character, rather it transcends and enters the
area of value judgment. Thus it is apt to conclude that the structural base
divided into acts and scenes. The action takes place once at the rest house
and another in Mano Majra village. Very neatly the action changes from
one scene to another. Thus it can be called a dramatic novel. According
between the novel of character and action and the dramatic novel. It
The story begins quite dramatically with the murder and dacoit
in the house of Lala Ram Lal. This one episode is clearly interwoven into
the main platform the beginning to the end. As a piece of fiction, 'Train
to Pakistan' "is cleverly contrived, and the interior stitching and general
that particularly every day and hour is accounted for. Any trifling action
or incident actually advances the story and is connected with the whole
and in this way a sharply rising graph of the plot is drawn. In the process
and this Third person reporter has the voice of the sociologist and the
journalist. He is a mere observer of facts. All the facts are thus, presented
stage is prepared beforehand for what’s going to take place. The opening
lines: "The summer of 1947 was not like other Indian summers",
"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.
But shot and stabbed and speared and clubbed. Both tortured. But
raped."23 At times, it is felt that the author intrudes for didactic purpose.
For instance, when Iqbal lands in Mano Majra and goes for an evening
walk, he sees: "..... from the bridge to the village and back to the railway
station; the whole place was littered with men, women, children, cattle
and dogs..... Where in India could one find a place which did not teem
with life? Iqbal thought of his first reaction on reaching Bombay. Milling
country was like an overcrowded from. What could you expect when the
population went up by six every minute - five millions every year! It made
all planning in industry or agriculture a mockery. Why not spend the same
of symbols. The train, the weather, the rain and even the dacoity scene, all
are symbolic. In fact, the train in the focal centre of Mano Majra. It is a
rhetorical symbolic. In fact, the train is the focal centre of Mano Majra.
whistling and puffing of the engine, the banging of buffers, and the
determines the destinies of the two newly formed nations. It is the train
from Pakistan which brings the corpses to India and it is that very train
last line of the novel is: "The train went over him (Jugga) and went on to
Pakistan."26
Train, in the novel symbolizes life. We are told that the arrival
and departure of the trains regulate the life of Mano Majra. Before day
break the morning mail train to Lahore from Delhi, blows whistle to
awaken the villagers. The next train from Delhi at ten-thirty finds all the
Mano Majra at work. The evening passenger train finds the men returning
home from their fields and farms. The freight train leaves the children
asleep at night and its "rumble over the bridge" dull the older people to
slumber. Even the dacoits fix their time for committing the crime with the
arrival of the goods train. "It is time to call on Ram Lal"27 and the gang
moves on slowly towards Ram Lal's house looting his house and escaping
life and action and also stands for death and disaster. A normal train has
from Pakistan had no headlights, even the "engine did not whistle". "The
Mara."28
in the novel "Mano Majra has always been known for its railway station."
The whistling and puffing of engines fill the atmosphere of the village.
his realistic portrayal of the historical fact, but his excellence lies also in
real life. We need not have to go far away in search of characters like Meet
Singh, Imam Baksh and Lambardar. They appear to belong from one of
the neighbours. There are numerous characters in the novel for the village
individuals. But there are a few personalities who attract our attention, for
Perhaps Khushwant Singh has created this character to mock at the very
words are only a vanity. Although he is not a comic character, still his acts
make him comical. Iqbal is sent to Mano Majra to stop killings. He enteres
he village just after the murder of Lala Ram Lal. He gives statements on
claims of his pompous patriotism. His name has various implications: "He
could be a Muslim, Iqbal Mohammad. He could be a Hindu, Iqbal Chand
bewildered by the news of Ram Lal's murder. Meet Singh, the Sikh priest,
have come to stop killing and you are upset by one murder."30 This
village, whether it was right or wrong. When the time of declaration of his
services comes, Iqbal felt feverish: "Should he go out, face the mob and
...... They would kill him just as they would kill others. It was
Heavily drunk instead of stopping the killings, he lies down flat in his bed.
This shows Iqbal's delemma, his inability to take positive action, because
identity. The writer has created this personality with utmost pity. Thus he
needs our sympathy. But we cannot stop smiling at him a great moralist,
mores. He is not trapped by his environment, but has is trapped by his own
has all the theories but lacks the courage to put them into action in times
serving idealist who thinks he knows all the right answers but fail to ask
name is first heard in the dacoity scene where the dacoits after committing
the gruesome murder on their way back fire shots in the air and throw
introducing Juggut Singh aims at bringing out the essential duality in the
various charges. At the time of dacoity, he had been released from jail for
and is guided by his impulse. We are told that Jugga was the most violent
man in the district. All this is seen when Jugga is jailed on false charge of
Lala am Lal's murder, and Malli the real murderer is brought in front of
him : "Jugga kept staring through the bars as if he had not heard. He turned
pale with anger .... His-hands tightened around the iron bars ......
Jugga's hands shot through the bars and gripped Mali by the
hair protruding from the back of his turban.... Jugga yelled murderously
and with a jerk brought Malli's head crashing-against the bars. He shook
his enormous size the tallest man. in the area, like a stud bull. But at times
philosophical : "They cannot escape from God. No one can escape' from
becoming power for good. He casts off his philosophical fetters : "I am a
of love and courage which saves his mistress and the train full of Muslims.
Thus we find that an individual love of a man for a woman enables the
unheroic Jugga to transcend religious hatred and also prove that love is
the most significant factor in human relations. "He is neither 'satanic' nor
His actions are guided by conscience. At the time of dacoity his enjoying
with Haseena. Unlike Juggut Singh who is genuinely in love with Nooran,
involved with her. Hukum Chand plays an important role in the dramatic
bloodshed and mass murder, he maintains his mental balance and poise.
Chand's effort which leads to the climax of the story. His immediate
skilled painter, paints with a fine brush, all the minutest detail of his
actions, behaviour and gestures. All the detailed descriptions are vivid and
Meet Singh, the priest of the Gurudwara, typifies the stratified members
study of human nature. Although, the novel is not a study of human nature,
Singh, is that nature which all men share and the mark of its universality
is its intelligibility. This human natures refers to two things that are
human intellect. In Juggat Singh we find that his character leans more
Nooran and when he hits back Malli in the prison. His actions can be
adjudged as mindless. But this does not mean that this animal-headed man
he speaks philosophically. Words like "no one can escape from God"-
uttered from the mouth of a criminal are really surprising. Jugga's actions
are immoral, but his feelings are moralistic. Thus Jugga is better than rest
unpretentious.
was saving life when endanger-ed, preserving the social structure and
afford to have morals. Only the satisfied can speak of morality. Iqbal's
stress is on the fact that poverty leads religion and not morality. Hukum
accepted gifts and obliged friends when they got into trouble, he was not
dancing....., but he was not immoral .... He lived well."38 So the writer
himself says. Thus actions are not justifications of man's character and his
above religion, caste and creed. For the very concept of religion has
nation itself was divided into Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan. It is not
appropriate to blame only the Politicians for the division of he country but
is a part of education. Khushwant Singh also lays bare the very interest of
Novels and fictions are true mirror of the time and the novels
has tried to analyze the diverse relationship between the characters of two
he has laughed at their favorite follies and vices. The worst nature is
has been depleted in Madan Lal and Champak. Khushwant Singh has also
made a satiric hints that in upper aristocratic classes vices can easily be
disguised under the name of virtue. Pleasures and amusements mostly rule
these characters. Shunno, the maid servant, is there to represent the comic
which Shunno belongs depicts how they are misguided and exploited in
the name of religion. Personalities like Buta Singh and Wazir Chand, both
magistrates, play their roles in semi feudal world of power and greed in
Singh's lust for power made him of pretentious nature. He was always the
butt of comments and criticism. Wazir Chand's envy never spared Buta
Singh. He was always ready to strip Buta Singh mockingly. In fact, Buta
people has tried to show the double faced character of human belongs.
Their aim and ambition restrict to the self. Even Sher Singh who is
fighting for the cause of the country is not free from this vice. He tries to
get the "best of the two worlds: the one of security provided by his father
who was a senior magistrate, and the other full of applause that would
Buta Singh and Sher Singh have mostly tense relationship, but both father
and son are guided by sheer self-interest and double0faced nature. Buta
Singh too shows his loyalty to the English in order to avail himself of
power, position money and prestige, and at the same time he allows his
son to take part in the nationalist movement. Buta Singh's advice to Sher
is always on the right path, guided by her faith. She is a deeply religious
and nature which comes near to perfection and it is because of this quality,
it is only Sabhrai who sustains the novel. She dislikes gossiping like
Shunno and discourages her when she makes slandering remarks about
universal and moral defects of the society as he saw them. In 'I Shall Not
Hear the Nightingale' he has shown all the oddities of social relationship
and social convention. But the odd revelations are not that of the whole
society; it restricts to only two families of Buta Singh and Wazir Chand,
Skill."41
marriage. We are informed that Madan being the only son had been
and the pattern of man-woman relationship that exists among the vast
English."42
that arranged marriages are the accepted norm in India. And in arranged
marriages it is lust which rules the couple and later on they get the chance
"It is only after lust begins to lose its potency and there
Singh. In the novel the writer has given a nice commentary on 'privacy'.
He write:
life in India, urban and rural of the rich and the poor....
joint family system and its drawbacks and how joint family system is a
consequence for the absence of privacy and unfulfilled desires. All this
that is why when people get privacy they behave in odd ways. This
heroism. Khushwant Singh has been complimented for his stark realism.
Singh has shown that religion and faith leads one towards positive values.
Sabhrai is the strong force behind the family around which all the other
She is extremely religious and always looks forward to the welfare of her
sense which often goes with people of deep religious convictions."47 The
sacred Granth Saheb is the source of all knowledge and enlightenment for
her. She deeply loves her children and her family. She is also concerned
with other creatures. She advises Sher Singh to sell his shot-gun for "It is
the cause of sin. To take the life of innocent creatures is sin."48 She is
illiteratel; still her talks arouse our interest in her. When she knows about
her sons speeches at the meetings, she tells him not to say so, as they eat
the self of the British. Sher Singh reacts: "Who eats whose salt? They suck
our blood."
This shows her loyalty to her husband and the employers who
give her family the bread. She was satisfied with whatever she had.
She".... looked up at her family. They were all there including the dog and
they were all well and happy. That was enough for her."50 She is a
traditional lady who cannot defy the words of her husband. Sabhrai knows
how to overpass the talks of Shunno and chides her for gossiping and
Sabhrai's illness had cast a dark shadow on Buta Singh's family, and every
member of the family was anxious about her health. Surprisingly, after a
The smile still played on Sabhrai's pallid face. Beena came close to her
and she whispered the same words into her daughter's ear. Beena also
still smiling."51
comic spirit. At the time of crisis, when everyone fails she comes as a
saviour of her arrestees son and also the family. In fact she serves as
saviour of all the lost souls in the novel. When she received a telegram
from Buta Singh at Simla asking her to return home at once, the world of
telegrams and violence invaded her religious and pious life of moral
values. After her return she was received at the railway station by Mrs.
Joyce Taylor. At once she though something was wrong with her family.
She prayed to God to give her tight and hope in the hour of depression.
When on reaching home she found everything in disarray, she too was
shocked but quickly regained her posture and poise. Sabhrai who was in
the habit of announcing her decisions at the spur of the moment, on the
She says: "What is the hurry? We have waited so many days. We should
think about it a little more."52 She is cool and calm; almost like a vast sea
whose depth cannot be fathomed. Sabhrai who never defied her husband's
words, her moral values encourage her to do so; she takes her own
adamant faith instilled in her the strength and guided by her Guru she
guides her son. First of all she went for a non-stop reading of the Granth.
Then Sabhrai meaningfully decided to spend the long cold winter night in
the precincts of the Gurudwara. She passed the night sitting beside the
"sacred Granth" "on the hard and cold marble floor. An icy wind blew
over the water, through the trellised fence, into her bones ....
Sabhrai did not know what prayer one recited during the night;
so she went through all she knew by heart.... But the tumult in her mind
was not stilled. They were going to hang her son if he did not mention the
Her mother's heart wept bitterly for her son. But suddenly a
picture of the last Warrior Guru came to her mind. "There was a man. He
had lost all his four sons and refused to give in to injustice. She was to
lose only one."54 And with the thought of her Guru she got the
enlightenment. The gray light of the dawn brought hope and confidence
to her anguished heart. She found peace in her soul and returned home to
be ready for her visit to see Sher Singh in jail. Now she had no doubts.
"She was a Sikh; so was her son." She is ready to sacrifice her son for the
sake of the country. She is indeed a true warrior. When Sher Singh seeks
her advice, she says: "He said my son had done wrong. But if he named
the people who were with him he would be doing a greater wrong. He was
no longer to be regarded as a Sikh and I was not to see his face again." 55
Sabhrai pasted the sacred dust on her son's forehead: blessed him and left.
Sabhrai in fact is not only guided by her faith and religion but also by her
Her last thoughts are whether Sher Singh has confessed and ignored her
advice. Joyce Taylor respects her and feels specially, drawn towards her.
people" behind her. She embodies the instinctive understanding of life and
the wisdom of the race. Sabhrai represents the wisdom of the ancients,
and had power to probe in to realities of life and discover the truth of
man's existence.
References
p.185.
3. Ibid.; p. 185
4. Ibid.; p. 186.
5. Khushwant Singh: Train to Pakistan, Ravi Dayal Publishers, 1992,
p.9
6. Ibid.; p. 10
7. Ibid.; p. 10
8. Ibid.; p. 11
9. Ibid.; p. 12
10. Ibid.; p. 13
12. Ibid.; p. 44
Publishers,1994, p. 324
18. Ibid.; p. 76
19. Ibid.; p. 76
20. Edward Muir, The Structure of The Novel, London, 1928, p.88.
21. Ibid.; p. 88
p.9.
24. Ibid.; p. 58
25. Ibid.; p. 12
27. Ibid.; p. 16
28. Ibid.; p. 94
p.48
30. Ibid.; p. 51
32. Stephen Ignatius Hemenway, The Novel of India, Vol. I & II,
p.136.
35. Ibid.; p. 83
p.104
39. Khushwant Singh, I Shall Not Hear the Nightingale, Time Books
40. Ibid.; p.
1985, p.5-2
42. Khushwant Singh, Sex, Scotch and Scholarship, (ed) Rohini Singh,
45. Santha Ramo Rau, The New York Times, Book Review, December
46. Ibid.; p. 26
47. Khushwant Singh, I Shall Not Hear the Nightingale, Time Books
48. Ibid.; p. 16
49. Ibid.; p. 78
50. Ibid.; p. 82