Train to pakistan summary
Malliet's 'Death of a Cozy Writer' is liberally laced with humor, sprinkled with re… 1 day ago RT JD_Cunningham_: My new post - for a bit of fun G.M. Fisher, who writes lovingly of her early life, notable experiences and meals - and how… 1 day ago RT JacquiWine: Spending the afternoon with M. Anticipating… Just Finished… Just Added to the TBR… Recently Tweeted « Jul Sep » Currently Reading Also Reading. – featuring Kamila Shamsie, Mohsin Hamid, Tahmima Anam, Fatima Bhutto, Kiran Desai, Pankaj Mishra and others Partition: 70 years On – Authors consider its legacy and the crises now facing their countries Obituary: Khushwant Singh by Reginald Massey Buy a Copy of The Train to Pakistan via Book Depository It builds to a terrible climax and will leave them and generations to follow scarred by the experience.īrilliant, a compelling read, and one that was relatively respectful to all who were affected and to readers with vivid imaginations, who don’t need certain scenes described in overly graphic detail.
![train to pakistan summary train to pakistan summary](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81+TViUP1gS.jpg)
The fate of the two young men becomes a political consideration, justice playing no role. The town’s Muslims are told to leave and eerily quiet trains begin to arrive in the village, causing consternation and fear. Iqbal and a young local man are wrongly arrested for a murder just as the village arrives as a point where it can longer deny what is happening elsewhere in the country. We were slaves of the English, now we will be slaves of the educated Indians – or the Pakistanis.’ ‘Freedom is for the educated people who fought for it. But what will we get out of it? Educated people like you, Babu Sahib, will get the jobs the English had. ‘Why, don’t you people want to be free? Do you want to remain slaves all your lives?Īfter a long silence the lambardar (Headman/Revenue collector) answered: ‘Freedom must be a good thing. The villagers aren’t convinced by Iqbal’s idealistic view that freedom will follow Independence. ‘Babuji, tell us, why did the English leave?’ ‘We live in this little village and know nothing,’ the lambardar put in. What is all this about Pakistan and Hindustan? When the trains become delayed, the rhythm of the village gets out of sync and worse when the trains begin to stop in Mano Majra, life will never be the same.Īn educated young man named Iqbal arrives from Delhi, sent by his party to observe the impact of the news. The trains are symbolic to the story, portenders of what is to come in the past they have run like clockwork and though they rarely stop, the lives of the villagers is intricately linked to their passing.
![train to pakistan summary train to pakistan summary](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/9psOG7zYFRY/maxresdefault.jpg)
Khushwant Singh takes the Punjabi farming village of Mano Majra, a small village on the border between India and Pakistan, one of strategic importance to the railway system, and narrates the moment when news of this change arrives and shows how it affects this community. Witness to killings on both sides of the India-Pakistan border, his novel is his reflection of events in that period in history, his frustration with various parties and people in positions of authority and a comment on the individual living in fear. The author, who died in 2014 at the age of 99, belonged to a Sikh family, with roots in the area that was to become Pakistan, was an outspoken critic of the establishment, intolerant of hypocrisy, who abandoned his studies in law and diplomacy to become a writer. Train to Pakistan was written in 1956, a mere nine years after the British drew a controversial line through India, sending Muslims to the newly named Pakistan and banishing Hindus and Sikhs from that territory. It was a moment in history that demonstrated what happens to humanity when fear and panic take hold in the wake of political posturing and it is devastating.
![train to pakistan summary train to pakistan summary](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/PXBl5S_m56Y/hqdefault.jpg)
![train to pakistan summary train to pakistan summary](https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/tabs.web.media/d/1/d1qb/d1qb-square-400.jpg)
There are so many tragic stories surrounding the independence of India and the formation of East and West Pakistan, or the 1947 partition, as it’s often referred to, sadly thousands that will never be told because there is no one left to tell them.