Toba Tek Singh

- Sadat Hasan Manto

Sadat Hasan Manto’s Toba Tek Singh. The story is about Bishan Singh and some other lunatics
who live in the Lahore Mental Asylum. The story starts two or three years after the Partition.
The Government of India and Pakistan decided to exchange their lunatics from country to
other. Muslim lunatics from India would be sent to Pakistan and Hindus and Sikhs from
Pakistan would be sent to India. The lunatics were totally confused when they came to know
about the decision as they don’t know anything about Pakistan. They were unaware of where
it was situated and wanted to know whether they were in India or Pakistan. They wondered
that if they were in Pakistan how come a little while ago they were in India. One of the lunatics
climbed up a tree and decided to live there saying he would go to neither Pakistan nor India.
Another lunatic whose name is Mohammad Ali declared himself as Mohammad Ali Jinnah. A
Sikh lunatic called himself as Master Tara Singh and another young Hindu lawyer from Lahore
did not wish to go to India.

Bishan Singh is one among the lunatics of Lahore Asylum; he is the protagonist of this story.
He is a harmless old man came to the asylum fifteen years ago when he went mad. Toba Tek
Singh is his hometown where he had some land and property. His family members came to
visit him once a month, but after the riots broke out they stopped coming. It is later through
Fazal Din, a friend and neighbour of bishan Singh’s family we came to know that Bishan
Singhs’s family left for India and were safe there.

Finally, the day of exchange came and the lunatics were taken to the Wagha border. The
exchange procedure started after the formalities had been done by both sides but it proved to
be a very difficult task. The lunatics were out of control, they were screaming, laughing, crying,
running here and there making the task all the more complex. After many lunatics Bishan
Singh’s turn came for the exchange, he asked one officer where Toba Tek Singh was. When he
learns from the officer that his homelanf is in few second all heard a sudden scream from
Bishan Singh, who was lying flat face forward o the fround. And the piece of land where he fell
belonged to neither India or Pakistan.

THEMES

In Toba Tek Singh by Saadat Hasan Manto we have the theme of confusion, identity,
separation, change, control and ignorance. Taken from his Kingdom’s End and Other Stories
 Toba Tek Singh
- Sadat Hasan Manto
collection the story is narrated in the third person by an unnamed narrator and after reading
the story the reader realises that Manto may be exploring the theme of confusion. None of
the characters in the story know where they are to go. Their nationality is in question. Which
may be the point that Manto is attempting to make. He may be suggesting that after the
partitioning of India bureaucracy was so slow or unorganized that many people had to wait to
discover if they were to resettle in India or Pakistan. If anything Manto may be ridiculing both
governments over their handling of repatriation. It is also possible that Manto is exploring the
theme of identity. Each man mentioned appears to identify with one country or another. It is
as though they view either India or Pakistan as part of their make-up and the changes that are
being imposed on them are unnerving. It is also interesting that nobody appears to
understand the results of the changes.

The character who appears to be mostly effected is Bishen Singh who wants to know what
country Toba Tek Singh is part of. This is the most important question on Bishen’s mind. But
more importantly Bishen represents those in India and Pakistan who remained without a
state when it came to people being relocated. Something that is symbolically noticeable when
Bishen collapses on neutral ground between the barbed wire of India and Pakistan. It is
though Bishen is making a statement at least symbolically. While others might be pleased to
be returning ‘home.’ This is not the case for Bishen. Such are the extremities felt by Bishen
that he lies on the ground lifeless. He has been given no security as to what country Toba Tek
Singh is in (it’s in Pakistan) and his family have been moved to India. So in reality Bishen is
separated from his family. His only real source of normality. Though it is noticeable that his
family at the later stages of the story find it difficult to visit him. Perhaps out of an
overpowering sadness (Bishen’s daughter) or perhaps because they now live in India and as
such are unable to visit Bishen.

SETTING

The setting of the story may also be important as Manto could be using the setting (lunatic
asylum) to introduce irony into the story. At times the reader feels as though those in
authority for the resettlement may be of a lesser mental capacity than those like Bishen who
are living in the asylum. Nobody, including those in authority, appears to have any idea as to
how the resettlement is to progress. As mentioned not only does this leave those in the asylum
(and others) confused but Manto appears to be placing a spotlight on bureaucratic ignorance.
 Toba Tek Singh
- Sadat Hasan Manto
The management of each patient in the asylum is also questionable with the administrative
and medical professionals having very little or no control over the patients. Which is ironic as
one would expect those in authority for a lunatic asylum to have some sort of control over
their environment. This however does not appear to be the case. It might also be important
that the guards in the asylum are described by the narrator as being ‘illiterate’ yet some of the
patients have the ability to read a newspaper. It is as though Manto might be questioning the
definition of madness or what exactly qualifies a person be put in a lunatic asylum.

Overall Manto does not portray those in authority in a favourable light and he may be
suggesting that the real madness of what is happening lies outside the asylum. Resting firmly
on the shoulders of those in authority who have not planned the course of action they intend
to take. People are being displaced based on their religion as the only marker. Which is an
indecisive line to follow as it raises issues of inequality. Some of the patients in the asylum
identify themselves as Indian while others believe themselves to be Pakistani. Yet their
religion is deciding their fate when religion is only a part of an individual’s identity and some
people may choose not to be defined by their religion. Though in the case that applies to the
story. No option is being given. Bureaucracy is defining or redefining who a person may be
and where they will live. Unfortunately for those in the asylum. No one has a voice as to where
they might like to go. Just as their freedom has been taken away from them so too has their
voice.

ANALYSIS:
A 1955 publication by twentieth century colonial Indian-Pakistani writer Saadat Hasan Manto,
Toba Tek Singh is an engrossing and profound short story about the relationship between
India and Pakistan, a satire on the idea of partition. Manto, known for his daring
representation of distressed state of Indian partition in his stories has set the stories amid the
time of partition between India and Pakistan. Originally written in Urdu language , the story
deals with the inmates of the “lunatic asylum at Lahore.” The characters and the setting are
tools of reflective reality of the contemporary time of distress and chaos. With a tinge of
autobiographical memory, Manto uses the mental asylum as a picture of miniature of the
world where people of different caste and religion dwell and face the psychological trauma
and imbalance. The main character of the story, Bishan Singh, is symbolic of the pain and
trauma of displacement. In addition to him, the fellow inmates of the asylum are the partition
 Toba Tek Singh
- Sadat Hasan Manto
refugees who suffer from mental illness but are seen to appear saner than the outer world of
political chaos and governmental rift.

The first two paragraphs of the story give an introduction about the time when the story is set
and the plot that follows. The two paragraphs foreground the time of exchange and the
circumstances under which the “governments of India and Pakistan” came upon a pact of
exchanging the lunatics of the counter religion of the respective countries, i.e., India and
Pakistan. It is in the third paragraph that Manto brings into the story the dilemma of the time
of exchange and the theme of mental illness. The asylum is the representative symbol of the
whole continent and madness a metaphor for trauma that people and refugees went through.
The forceful movement of people is evident of the “tough job” and the “pure bedlam” when the
people were reluctant to migrate from their native places for the mere reason of their religion
of birth. The border lines are arbitrary and artificial. The lunatics show a more humanistic
aspect of the society where the governmental aids are nothing but pure politics.

While the story is a piece of fiction, it is imbibed with light of the real exchange in the year of
1950 when the Hindu and Sikh patients from Pakistani asylum were moved to India and the
Muslim counterparts moved to Pakistan. Thus, the Asylum of Lahore showcases the big
picture in small confinement. The madness of these inmates of the asylum is more about the
madness of partition violence than their personal impairment. The trauma of partition
appears to be so absurd that it has a profound psychological impact on these inmates, in
particular, and the sufferers of the partition, in general. The ruthlessness prevailing in the
humankind is the cause of the uncertainty and loss of sense of belonging and disturbed
identities. The character of a Sikh lunatic interrogating about the exchange with a fellow Sikh
offers a speculative insight on the insignificance of demarcation on basis of caste and religion.

“Sardarji, why are we being deported to India? We don’t even know their language.”

The above words also throw a light on the innocence of people who are caught in the web of
political world and suffer a loss of identity when try to align with the outer world of chaos.
Manto shows underlying righteousness of these lunatic inmates of the asylum with the words
that “Not all the inmates were insane.” The innocence of their minds and hearts deny them any
influence of the outer world. “They had only a vague idea about the division of India or what
 Toba Tek Singh
- Sadat Hasan Manto
Pakistan was. They were utterly ignorant of the present situation.” Another reason for their
ignorance is the lack of literacy among them and the absence of their reach to media,
“Newspapers hardly ever gave the true picture…” The only thing they were aware about was
some “Quaid-e-Azam” who had made the state of Pakistan. But “they were all at a loss whether
they were now in India or in Pakistan.” The inmates are distressed with their loss of identities
and belongingness: “I don’t want to live in India and Pakistan. I’m going to make my home
right here on this tree.” All the outer chaos of partition is displayed in the hubbub in the
asylum when the Muslim lunatic proclaims himself to be Jinnah and Sikh lunatic to be Tara
Singh. The induced violence symbolizes the communal riots amid the times of partition.
Moreover, the absence of psychiatrists in the asylum shows Manto’s criticism of the partition
by emphasizing the diplomatic government and bureaucratic procedures.

Manto’s use of easy style and language with words like “zamindar,” “bloody Indians,”
“Sardarji” keeps the reader involved, and the use of omniscient narrator keeps the story intact.
However, the main conflict is shown with the character of Bishan Singh who utters “gibberish”
words and is interrogative about his town Toba Tek Singh. While his attachment of Toba Tek
Singh implies his identity and belongingness, his mutterings represent the amalgamation of
varied religions, languages, and thoughts, all mixed without balanced proportion. “It was all so
confusing!” However the coming of Fasal Din gives an idea of hopeful humanity. The division
of Gods, separation of love, the inability of communities to take the decisions et al is all
represented by Manto with his own suffering and confusion.

The action reaches the peak when Bishan Singh gets mad over the situation of his Toba Tek
Singh and refuses to go to any place, but sit stiff between the two borders and claim this
nameless land his place of belonging as “no power on earth could dislodge him.” The last
paragraph of the story evokes pity and despair to the humanity criticizing the insignificant
border lines made by humans to separate the people who belong to no religion but to religion
of humanity and their birth. The psychological trauma of such partitions tear the
belongingness of people apart and disturb their identities which Manto was always against of
and thus criticized in his works. The narrator ultimately refers to Bishan Singh as Toba Tek
Singh. It is the place that belongs to him and not him who suffers for psychological
belongingness. Saadat Hasan Manto thus succeeds in posing a satire on loss of psychological
equilibrium of people during partition and relationship between the governments.