The orange turned into copper and then into a luminous russet. The northern horizon, which had turned a bluish grey, showed orange again. Khushwant Singh narrates this breathless and disquieting calm of the village thus: The life at Mano Majra before August 1947 is idyllic. People of different communities – Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and Muslims live together here for decades after decades in peace and harmony until the summer of 1947. Nothing remarkable is at this unknown village, except one railway station that is important for the trains to cross only one-track bridge on the river Sutlej. Mano Majra is a small and obscure village in Punjab. Before I undertake this investigation, I first look into what Khushwant Singh deals with in this novel.

The contrast between the communal violence during the time of the partition and the fundamental goodness of some individuals is the unique feature of Khushwant Singh’s Train to Pakistan.Īccepting this premise as a starting point, the present work here aims at finding whether any character or any event in Train to Pakistan directly or indirectly reveals any crisis of communal identity or not. Two communities living together in peace and harmony for centuries start killing each other in communal pride and hatred. The crisis of identity is not the dominant theme in Khushwant Singh’s Train to Pakistan. Indeed the novel is a faithful record of how human disaster has taken place during the gruesome period of Indian partition. Here the columnist explains how one identity split into two and the sensitive way Khushwant Singh handles it, in the weekly column, exclusively for Different Truths. The ordinary Hindus and Muslims do not want the partition. Imam Baksh and his daughter’s sense of belonging to their village, Mano Majra where they have been living in peace through generations hints at their apprehension of being uprooted from their own soil. Pluralism and tolerance for each other is one of the important characteristic features of Indian psyche. But, the centuries old communal harmony between the Hindus and the Muslims at the grassroots is subverted by the planners of the Indian Partition and transfer of population. People of different communities – Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and Muslims live together here for decades after decades in peace and harmony until the summer of 1947. Nothing remarkable is at this unknown village, except one railway station that is important for the trains to cross only one-track bridge on the river Sutlej.

Before Basudeb undertakes this investigation, he first looks into what Khushwant Singh deals with in this novel. The present work here aims at finding whether any character or any event in Train to Pakistan directly or indirectly reveals any crisis of communal identity or not.

Train to pakistan analysis