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 OrioOccidental (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

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.

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

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,

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- storyteller 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

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.

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

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

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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

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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.

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

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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

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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.

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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

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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 policeinspector 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.

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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

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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 'kitbag' 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

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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 selfdeception. 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.

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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

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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

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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

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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.

24

Jugga doesn't know the tradition of the ritual of 'seva'. He waves a flywhisk 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

25

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 Cainlike 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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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 money lender Lala Ram Lai, the Mullah Imam Baksh, Sikh lambardar, Banto Singh, Meet Singh, the bhai of Gurudwara, Iqbal (Singh) a western educated immature communist, Jugga, Malli and his gang of robbers, Jugga's sweetheart Nooran, and Hukum Chand, the Deputy

Commissioner of the district on inspection in Mano Majra whb indulges in love sport with a young Muslim pro Haseena are some of the major creations in the novel. As Asnani remarks:

Khushwant Singh obviously wishes the reader, to see Mano Majra as a microcosm of the communal temper of the country during the days of partition. The peaceful life of the villagers is disturbed when the first stories of the atrocities arrive, but for the villagers of Mano Majra they remain the happenings in another world, the idyllic tranquility remains (96).

As the story unfolds dramatic happenings catch the reader's imagination. The murder of the only Hindu money lender Lala Ram Lai

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shocks the villagers. As usual the culprit is thought to be Jugga- a burly No. 10 Badmash. He is a known criminal and spent as much time in jail as at home. He has as if inherited this legacy from his father, Alam Singh. Although the decoits were Malli and his gang, Jugga is suspected to be the one involved in this murder and decoity. His mother implores Jugga, not to leave his home after sunset as he is released on bail. But the signal of the arrival of goods-train pushes him to go in the fields where his beloved Nooran waits impatiently. He decides to go and get lost in her arms till the sound of the gunshots turns them nervous and stunned.

Many incidents and happenings are narrated. Human interest is sustained through dramatic events and upheavals. Iqbal gets arrested so does Jugga the next morning after the murder of Lala... Hukum Chand feels restless through the night after the gunshots. He does not want to get involved into controversy, hence orders to arrest suspicious looking Iqbal and Jugga.

Gradually the village Mano Majra where harmony among the Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus prevailed before the terrible "rumours of atrocities committed by Sikhs on Muslims in Patiala, Ambala and Kapurthala reached the Muslims" (141), then the air became poisonous. "Quite suddenly every Sikh in Mano Majra became a stranger with an evil intent... For the first time the, name Pakistan came to mean something to them- a haven of refuge where there were no Sikhs" (Ibid). In turn "the Sikhs were sullen and angry. "Never trust a Mussulman," they said... Muslims had no loyalties... Besides the people of the village knew that "a trainload of Sikhs massacred by Muslims had been cremated

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in Mano Majra. Hindus and Sikhs were fleeing from their homes in Pakistan and having to find shelter in Mano Majra" (142).

When it came on the villagers, they were all of the same opinion about the Muslims of their village. "They could not refuse shelter to refugees: hospitality was not a pastime but a sacred duty when those who sought it were homeless" (145). Thus humanity in the face of such a dire situation was still alive in the hearts of these villagers. To them, "loyalty to fellow villagers was above all other considerations... no one had the nerve to suggest throwing them out, even in a purely Sikh gathering..." (145-146).

It is only when Imam Baksh with other Muslims arrive with the news about the neighbouring villages which were evacuated, they wanted the consesus of the villagers about their future. Again the bright ray of hope is seen when the conversation ensues between villagers and Imam Baksh: "It is like this, Uncle Imam Baksh. As long as we are here nobody will dare to touch you. We die first and then you can look after yourselves"(147).

Imam Pnksh was moved to tears by this sentiment and response: "What have we to do with Pakistan? We were born here. So were our ancestors. We have lived amongst you as brothers"... (Ibid)." The lambardor spoke: "Yes, you are our brothers. As far as we are concerned, you and your children and your grandchildren can live here as long as you like..." (Ibid).

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Yet the imminent danger of refugees coming in throngs makes the situation of the village quite uncertain. Hence the precaution to ask the Muslims to go to the refugee camps until safety returns. On the other hand Nooran who was deeply shocked by her father's command to pack everything and leave Mano Majra is beside herself. She wants to linger behind, but thinks it impractical, still, hoping against hopes, that she can visit Jugga and inform him about the new life taking shape in her being. This desire to inform propels her to face his mother. She undergoes insults hurled at by Jugga's mother.

Hukum Chand released Jugga just on time. The moment he reached Mano Majra he inquired about Nooran and the rest of the village. He knew the conspiracy to kill the trainload of Muslims going from Chundunnugger and Mano Majra to Pakistan.

In a flash, he realised that Nooran too was leaving along-with her father on the same train in the dead of the night. In a supreme moment of sacrifice Jugga decided to save the life of Nooran as well as all the passengers on the train.

Thus "the simple uncalculating love of a man for a woman asserts itself " in the words of Iyenger and averts the catastrophe. Thus, the plan of a handful of fanajtic young Sikhs from outside Mano Majra in order to retaliate, to blow up the bridge and the train scheduled to carry Muslim refugees to Pakistan failed. The seed of humanity, love and thoughts of his beloved in the heart ofJugga blossoms. Jugga -a self-confessed local ruffian realizing that the revenge might mean danger to his Muslim beloved Nooran manages to slash at the rope with his kirpan:

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He went at it with his 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 on to Pakistan (208).

Khushwant Singh builds a powerful series of episodes with the background of Indian landscape, Indian sights and sounds, Indian manners and gestures as only a keenly observant and sensitive novelist can depict them. Train to Pakistan to use the words of Professor William Walsh, "is a tense, economical novel, thoroughly true to the events and the people. It goes forward in a trim, athletic way and its unemphatic voice makes a genuinely human comment" (100). Since its publication in 1956, Train to Pakistan has remained popular all throughout as a testimony of its lasting success in the annals of Indian writing in English.

Chapter III Summing Up Khushwant Singh's Train to Pakistan juxtaposes the plight of Mano Majrans before the summer of 1947 with their plight after the partition. The three parts, setting, plot and characters, constitute the structure of this novel.

Mano Majra is the setting for almost all the incidents of the novel. The novel covers the timespan of a few months from the summer of 1947 to September of the same year. During this period, the people of the whole village pass from the state of happiness and steadiness to that of bitterness, disturbance, insecurity and uncertainty. The plot is realistic as it deals with the historical event of partition. Before the partition, the life in Mano Majra is described to be very peaceful, harmonious and unaffected by the political events of the country. The villagers represent the true spirit of India. All of them venerate

...a three-foot slab of sandstone that stands upright under a keekar tree beside the pond. It is the local deity, the deo to which all the villagers-Hindu, Sikh, Muslim or PseudoChristian-repair secretly whenever they are in special need of blessing (10-11).

Before the partition, the arrival and departure of trains keep the isolated villagers in touch with the rest of the world and give them an idea of the changing time of the day. The trains become irregular after August 1947 and the steady and smooth life in Mano Majra also gets disturbed. The trains coming from Pakistan bring the dead bodies of Hindus and

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Sikhs and along with them, terror, chaos and disorder. In turn, how should a train to Pakistan go? Should it not be sent with the dead bodies of the Muslims of Mano Majra ? Though it is intended to be so by many, the self-sacrificing love of Jugga breaks the rule of the jungle, "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth". On this battleground of Mano Majra, the forces of evil are vanquished by one of the forces of good, that is, love.

In this well-contrived plot of journey Khushwant Singh shows how partition took place and the situation at the end turns out to be different from the one at the beginning of the novel. The title itself is suggestive of journey. In the first part of the novel, people travel smoothly, slowly and safely from Delhi, via Mano Majra to Lahore and vice versa. In the later part, quick and disturbed journey is depicted. Hindus and Sikhs who travel from Pakistan to India, travel for the last time. On the contrary, Muslims who are sent to Pakistan from India are sent alive because of the sacrifices of people like Jugga. So one can notice the element of romance in this apparently realistic plot. The budmash Jugga loves Nooran and stern Hukum Chand has soft comer for the young prostitute Hassena. This tenderness prompts him to order the sub-inspector to free Jugga from the jail. The reader can get the glimpses of a higher reality and a deeper psychology because of this romance. It leads, the reader to the inner structure of psychological, social or philosophical theory of why men behave as they do. This motivation increases the 'illusion of reality'.

The characters of the novel have meaningful names. Hukum Chand, being the magistrate is capable of giving Hukums. i.e., orders/ commands. The name Nooran has at its root the word 'Noor' which means light, lustre or splendour. It is for her that Jugga cuts the rope and along

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with her a trainful of Muslims are restored to life. Haseena means beautiful and attractive. Iqbal Singh, a secular communist, has the word Iqbal in his name which is often the first name in both Muslim and Sikh communities The second half Singh shows that he is a Sikh

When the men with power and authority sulk in their chamber in indifference and inactivity, religious men and politicians recoil in fright and timidity, it is Jugga, the romantic deviant who boldly combats the forces of darkness and death. He sacrifices himself in an attempt to save his beloved Nooran and consequently saves the lives of thousands of Muslims targeted for massacre. Jugga's selfless deed averts the gloom of inhuman violence encircling the tiny village and imparts the hope and goodness in humanity. His indomitable courage and unconquerable will, marks him as the symbol of undying goodness, love and self sacrifice. He is the most convincing character in the novel possessing the qualities of good and bad in equal proportion.

Khushwant Singh has created a common man like Jugga with many flaws in his character to highlight the dignity of man. But a serious reading of the novel makes one realize the fact that Jugga's heroic deed and sacrifice was an effort to explicit his love for an individual and not all humanity. His endeavour to rescue his beloved was plainly a personal interest which in-turn becomes national. He staves off the fatal mischief with the prime intention of saving his Muslim beloved Nooran. He risks his life and manages to slash at the rope with his kirpan (knife).

He went at it with his knife, and then with his teeth. The engine was almost on him. There was a volley of shots. The

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man shivered and collapsed. The rope snapped in the centre as he fell. The train went over him, and went on to Pakistan (181).

Jugga a common and a confirmed ruffian's selfless deed makes him a martyr and a tragic hero. His heroic death is a sacrifice that unmasks the hypocritical and machiavellian civilised society. Khuswant Singh through this event compels us to consider what man has made of man. The peace loving people of Mano Majra are injected with the venom of communalism and egoism, by the people in power only to further their own nest. They succeeded in divorcing the people from their much-loved brethren, which results in alienation, enmity, hatred, anger and revenge.

Juggat Singh, popularly known as "Jugga", the budmash, number ten (10) possesses a degree of self awareness. He is a rare combination of the criminal and lover; at the time of crisis the lover in him takes a very prominent decision of rescuing his beloved even though she is a Muslim but during the act of extrication, he is shot by his co-religionists. The novelist tries to express the vision of life through love and dedication. Khushwant Singh's view of man is represented by Jugga's split personality of earthly brutality and passionate love: he is a being inexorably and hopelessly divided between good and evil, noble and ignoble, sacred and profane. Khushwant Singh writes:

I thought it was time one exploded this myth of innate goodness in man. There are innate evil in man. And so I just wrote about it, and I did create one character whom I stuffed

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with the so-called innate goodness of man, and he is the only character which is entirely fiction (192).

Khushwant Singh believes in the stark and naked realism of life unlike the photographic and artistic reality portrayed by R. K. Narayan and Mulk Raj Anand.

Mano Majra, is a symbol of permanence, immobility and passivity. People as one family live together sharing each other's happiness and sorrow. Of Mano Majra the novelist writes:

Mano Majra is a tiny place. It has only three brick buildings, one of which is the home of the moneylender Lala Ram Lal. The other two are the Sikh temple and the mosque There are only about seventy families in Mano Majra, and Lala Ram Lal's is the only Hindu family. The others are Sikhs or Muslims, about equal in number there is one object that all Mano Majrans - even Lala Ram Lal -venerate. This is a three-foot slab of sandstone that stands upright under a Keekar tree beside the pond. It is the local deity, the "deo" to which all the villagers - Hindu, Sikh, or pseudo-Christian repair secretly whenever they are in special need of blessing" (2)

'Deo' the local diety becomes the symbol of communal harmony, who is worshipped by the whole village disregarding the religion, caste and creed.

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There are many such villages like Mano Majra where the law has been peaceful and free from communal strifes. When violence and communal riots broke out in various parts of the country, Mano Majra was the only remaining oases of peace, ignorant of the violence and bloodshed around it.

In contrast to Mano Majra, a fixed point in space, the train is a symbol of movement. The train signifies groups of people heading towards various destinations - may be delinking themselves from their birth place at the same time uniting them to their roots. Train is also a symbol of machine age, leading to the increasing degree of dehumanization. Train also serves as a Time Guide for people of Mano Majra. The villager's activities are patterned according to the arrival and departure of the train and is the only source which links the village to the outer world: "All this has made Mano Majra very conscious of Trains" (4).

Mano Majra awakes when the mail train rushes through on its way to Lahore. By the time the 10.30 morning passenger train from Delhi comes in, life in Mano Majra has settled down to its duii daily routine. As the midday express goes by, Mano Majra stops to rest. Men and children come home for dinner and the siesta hour. When the evening passenger from Lahore comes in, everyone gets to work again and when the night goods train steams in, Mano Majra goes to sleep with the prayer by the Mullah and the Sikh priest. This pattern of life in Mano Majra had remained same till the summer of 1947.

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Almost all major characters of Train to Pakistan are dynamic. The budmash Jugga of the initial stage of the novel turns out to be the saviour of Nooran in particular and many Muslims in general. Hukum Chand, the stern bureaucrate of the area, really falls in love with Haseena. His utilitarian approach changes at the end. Iqbal Singh represents a thoroughly disciplined, urban social activist with his drastic views and strong individual likings and dislikings. All female characters of the novel are blondes in the special sense of the term as it is suggested by Wellek and Warren. ("The blonde is the home-maker, unexciting but steady and sweet" (220).

These three elements form, what John Crowe Ransom would call, the structure of the novel.

The pattern of this novel has a U shape, but at the same time it cannot be called a comedy. The idyllic status of life is disturbed by the violent actions of the partition, but again, by the sacrifice of Jugga, the victory of love and goodwill is depicted. So, unlike tragedy, the catastrophe is averted and, at the cost of Jugga's life, unlike Pakistani Hindus, the Muslims are sent alive to Pakistan. Through this pattern, the novelist establishes his own vision of order over the disorder caused by hate and ill-will.

Thus, Train to Pakistan is the story everyone wants to forget, yet one cannot overlook this stark reality of our past. When the nation was on the threshold of new dawn, it also faced unprecedented destruction, bloodshed and trauma. Khushwant Sing has successfully delineated this unpleasant phase of our national history in the novel.

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Works cited
Primary Source Singh, Khushwanyt. Train to Pakistan. New Delhi : Ravi Dayal Publisher, 1988. Print.

Secondary Source 1. Bhatt, Indira. The Fictional world of Khushwant Singh. New Delhi : Creative Books, 2002. Print. 2. Iyengar, K.R. Srinivasa. Indian Writing in English. New Delhi : Sterling Publisher, 1990. Print. 3. Raizada, Harish. Train to Pakistan: A study in crisis of values. New Delhi: Classical Publications, 1988. Print. 4. Shahane, V.A. Critical Essays on Indian Writing in English. Madras : Macmillan, 1977. Print. 5. Sharma, K.K. & B.K. Johri. The Partition in Indian English Novels. Ghazizabad: Vimal Prakashan. 1984. Print. 6. Walsh, William. Common Wealth Literature. London: OUP, 1973.