Where Society Fails, Individual Succeeds: A Study of Khushwant Singh’s Train to Pakistan
Virender Pal Assistant Professor of English Guru Nanak Khalsa College Yamuna nagar Haryana Mobile 09466421362
Where Society Fails, Individual Succeeds: A Study of Khushwant Singh’s Train to Pakistan Evolution of society was necessitated by two very essential things: co-operation and security. Nomadic man who used to live a life of a hunter and gatherer found it difficult to defend himself against the vagaries of weather and dangerous animals. Moreover, the man found that agriculture can not be done individually (at that time machines were not available), so the clusters of human settlement started forming which lead to the evolution of language, culture, literature, religion and society. The society was meant to indemnify human beings against any threat from outside. But if we have a closer look at the partition literature we find that the core values of the social system were inverted and the society itself crumbled under the belief system it had fostered and nurtured for so long. Culture and religion became two polarizing factors and the social structures stood crumbling and destructed from the attacks from within. At this time when society became so vulnerable that it was left to a few individuals to save the grace of humanity which was facing the onslaught of violence, rumours, prejudices and malice. Khushwant Singh’s Train to Pakistan is one such novel which shows that the institution of society is effete and helpless if it lacks heroic individuals. If the society comprises only of meek individuals then it will fail to perform the task it was meant for. Society can offer protection only and only if there are heroic individuals to keep the social values intact. Train to Pakistan is a novel that deals with the violence that emanated from the partition but at the same time it is a study how the society is vulnerable to violence and how it can be easily broken into pieces by some people. The society proves to be helpless once the onslaught starts and it is left to a heroic individual Juggut Singh alias Jugga to avert the tragedy. Though secularism is ingrained in the inhabitants of Mano Majra, yet it is not enough to avert the violence. The novelist makes one thing clear that mere passive resistance to the violence cannot help, it has to be opposed actively and the individuals should be ready to sacrifice their lives to do that. Mano Majra in Train to Pakistan seems to be a defender of humanity, secularism and ethics. Khushwant Singh makes us believe that the society in the novel is an impregnable fortress where people of all religious denominations can thrive and live in complete harmony. But then the novelist shows how this fortress crumbles in a very few steps and in fact, by showing the fall of Mano Majra writer makes it clear that Communalism is a devil that can devour any society so we should be beware of it. The novelist makes it clear in the very beginning that the dance of death is going on everywhere in the wake of partition and places like Mano Majra are very few. It seems that Mano Majra will remain insulated to the outside influences and brotherhood of the Muslims and the Sikhs will keep on flourishing. Mano Majrans may follow different religions but there are certain things like “Deo” which is a “three foot slab of sandstone that stands upright under a keekar tree beside the pond,”1 which unites the villagers along with their humanity and morality.
After having a look at the society in the village it seems that madness will not be able to prevail in the village and some questions arise: Can the situation deteriorate in Mano Majra? Can anyone harm the Muslims in the presence of the Sikhs? Keeping in view the close relations in the village violence seems to be a distant possibility. But soon a dacoity takes place in the village which shows that the society is not a real impregnable castle of humanity. The dacoits come and kill Lala Ram Lal, a wealthy money lender, and her wife cries for help, but the villagers do not react; they do not come forward to save their fellow villager. Then there is an incident involving Iqbal, a rebel who is sentimentally attracted to the socialist thinking, but primarily concerned with personal leadership. He is arrested under suspicion by the police after the murder of Ram Lal. Iqbal forces the police to take him in manacles to win the sympathy of the villagers. He is obviously expecting the villagers to speak against the arrest, but once again the villagers remain detached. All of them know Iqbal has no hand in the murder, but even then they do not speak against the injustice. This once again confirms the attitude of the Mano Majrans that they cannot raise their voice against the injustice meted out to anyone. It is important to note that when both the incidents occur Jugga is not present in the village. This incidence is also a running commentary on the inefficiency of the police force. The inefficiency the police force in the novel is not the only issue, rather the novelist makes it clear that in these times no person is free from bias and the police men are no exception to this generalization. The conversation between the Sub-Inspector and the Magistrate shows that the police are too heavily biased against the Muslims. In fact the Sub Inspector represents the popular mood of the time, these people are carrying their duty against their own sweet will, and his remark clearly shows his bias against the Muslims. His remark has a tinge of contempt for the Hindus: “They say that it is the only way to stop killing on the other side. Man for man, woman for woman, child for child. But we Hindus are not like that. We cannot really play this stabbing game. When it comes to an open fight we can be a match for any people.” (TP 20). In another conversation the Sub Inspector seems to be unhappy with the peace prevailing in Mano Majra: “The Sikhs are not doing their share. They have lost their manliness. They just talk big. Here we are living on the border living in Sikh village as if nothing had happened.” (T.P. 20) This incident makes clear that though Mano Majrans are themselves secular, they are a passive society who cannot actively thwart the dangers that are faced by its inhabitants. Khushwant Singh shows how this passivity of the Mano Majrans paves the way for the tragedy that is only averted by the intervention of a heroic individual. The bond shared by the villagers withers gradually and the secular fabric of the society eventually gets debilitated. First dent in the society appears with the arrival of a ghost train full of corpses. The train was full of corpses Even the number of the corpses could not be counted. The Sikh officer counted the number of corpses by thinking of how many people could get into a bogie and multiplied it by the number of bogies. K.K. Sharma and B .K. Johri rightly observe: “The entire picture is indeed, very terrible. It unfolds the horrible drama of communal frenzy. The sight of geckos pouncing on the moth catching it fluttering in jaws is symbolic of the massacre that was common feature of those days.” 2 The train terrifies a fatalist like Hukum Chand, but even a more serious damage is done to the society of the village. The trains which were guiding the schedule of the villagers
now disrupt not only their schedule but their psyche also. In the earlier part of the novel train stands for “life and activity and action as it guides all the activities of the villagers in Mano Majra. But it also stands for death and disaster.” 3 It is the first blow to their brotherhood and with this train a suspicion enters their minds: “Everyone felt his neighbour’s hand against him, and thought of finding friends and allies.” (T.P.117). Although this suspicion is still not centred around religious identity, yet this incident confirms that Mano Majrans are not infallible and they too are prone to the same mistakes as committed by people in other parts of the country. The second chink occurs when the Magistrate sends a policeman to tell the villagers that Iqbal is a Muslim and Ram Lal has been murdered by Sultana, a Muslim gangster. Hukum Chand thinks that the knowledge that the agitator and the murderers were Muslims will create an altogether new situation in the village. The plan of the Magistrate is successful. Now the village is divided in “two halves.” The Muslims and Sikhs grow suspicious of one another and the communal harmony that existed before is weakened by the visit. Now the rumour of atrocities by the Sikhs on the Muslims in Patiala, Ambala and Kapurthala comes to their minds: “they had heard of gentle women having their veils taken off, being stripped and raped in the marketplace…. Quite suddenly every Sikh became a stranger with evil intent. His long hair and beard appeared barbarous, his kirpan menacingly anti-Muslim.”(T.P. 120). Similar suspicions enter the minds of the Sikhs. They remember that the last Guru had warned that the Muslims had no loyalties: “He was right and…. What had they done to the Sikhs? Executed two of their Gurus, assassinated another and butchered his infant children, hundreds of thousand had been put to sword for no other offense than refusing to accept Islam.” (T.P.120). Now the cracks start appearing in the brotherhood of Mano Majra. When the meeting is convened by the Sikhs after the visit of the Head Constable, voices start rising against the Muslims, now they suddenly realize that “there is a lot of zulm in Pakistan.” (T.P.122). One youth says: “our problem is, what we are to do with all these pigs we have with us? They have been eating our salt for generations and see what they have done.”(T.P. 123).Suddenly the attitude has changed and now the people have started blaming the local Muslims for the deeds of the others. This is the greatest harm of the communalism. It eats into the vitals of the human mind and understanding. Bipin Chandra has rightly written about this: Herein lay the special responsibility of the majority. The best remedy in such a situation was for the majority to give proof by word and deed that the fears of the minority and its mistrust of the majority were groundless…. Instead of allaying the minority’s fears, they created a psychology of fear of, and hatred towards Muslims among Hindus.4 The Sikhs know their tenants have not done anything, but now the Mano Majra Muslims have lost their identity: “The bond of fraternal feelings existing between the Sikhs and the Muslims in Mano Majra, was shattered by the unfortunate developments. The manipulation of district authorities, of the police in particular, created rift to force the Muslims to leave the village and go to Pakistan.”5 one thing that is important to note in this communication is that there is not even a single individual in the meeting who tries to assure the Muslims, though assurances are given, they are not as forceful as they should
have been. Here clearly the majority community fails to provide the security to the fearing minority. Readers see the impact of rumours on the villagers. Khuswant Singh shows how the arrival of the ghost train and then the visit of the Head Constable almost break the bond of love and friendship among the villagers. Through the society of Mano Majra, the novelist shows that any society can be vulnerable to the devil of communalism. A society can only survive the threat of communal violence if it is insulated from the rumours also. So it is very important that communication never ceases between the communities. In the novel the society is able to absorb these two threats only because the communication link between the Sikhs and the Muslims is still strong, though the response of both the communities to the incidents confirms that a passive society cannot survive the threat that is posed by the communal violence. But will it be able to absorb another shock is the question. Once again the secularism and fraternity of the village faces a challenge and this time communalism succeeds in making a serious dent in it. Once again a few outsiders arrive in the village. The structure of the scene is almost same as that of the dacoity scene. Earlier Malli and his gang came to disturb the peace of the village and this time too, the outsiders do it. Earlier in the dacoity scene Jugga was out of the village with Nooran, this time also he is not in the village. The only difference is that Malli and his gang did murder for money, this time the outsiders want to slaughter the Muslims in the name of religion. The leader of the outsiders try to instigate the villagers with a fiery speech: “Well, if this village is not dead, then it should be. It should be drowned in a palmful of water. It consists of eunuchs.”(T.P. 147). Here again there is nobody to counter the specious arguments of these people. The Sikhs are acknowledged as a martial class in the country from time of the tenth Master Sri Guru Gobind Singh. Even the British developed admiration for their martial skills. The leader of the outsiders, in his speech, attacks that part of men where they are most vulnerable: pride. In a carefully worded speech he says: “Do you know about the massacres in Rawalpindi and Multan, Gujrawala and Sheikhupura? What are you doing about it? You just eat and sleep and call yourselves Sikhs –the brave Sikhs! The martial class!” (T.P. 149). These lines have sufficient fire power in them to rouse even the cowards. These frenzied people only meet a mild Protest from Meet Singh, but he is brushed away. There is no collective effort from the villagers to counter the meretricious arguments of these people. In fact, no body shows the courage to stand up to these people, which shows the utter failure of the social system and a society like Mano Majra which seemed impregnable in the beginning crumbles in three steps. In fact, incidents like this were very common during the partition time where the majority community failed to do its job. After listening to the fiery speeches of the outsiders not only Malli and his his gang and the refugees come forward to serve as volunteers, but “some villagers who had recently wept at the departure of their Muslim friends also stood up to volunteer.” (T.P.152). This surrender before the communalism shows that the villagers have finally succumbed to the devil after absorbing the first two blows. The process of degeneration started by the ghost train is complete now. The focus is now on the two individuals: Iqbal and Jugga. It is important to note that both the individuals are totally contrasting personalities. Iqbal is an
educated young man with sophisticated manners who has come to the village with the intention of doing something worthwhile for the people while Jugga is a known criminal infamous for his crimes. Hukum Chand frees them in expectation that they might be able to do something to save the Muslims. While Iqbal proves to be a fake idealist; a coward who tells Meet Singh “You cannot let this sort of thing happen! Can’t you tell them that people on the train are the very same people they were addressing as Uncles, aunts, brothers and sisters?” (T.P.168). This shows that instead of doing something himself Iqbal is relying on an old man Meet Singh to do something, but Jugga does not waste any time and straight away starts thinking of the ways of saving Nooran, his beloved. V. P. Sharma has rightly commented: In a set up where educated people are either effete like Iqbal or corrupt like Hukum Chand and the police Inspector, only a desperate act of person like Jugga- romantic, pure of heart, illiterate but wise- is called for to save the situation.”6 That the novel is a study of a society degenerating under the impact of communalism is also testified by the sacrifice of Jugga who saves hundreds of Muslims. His sacrifice is important as he is considered an unsocial element, a recalcitrant and a renegade by the society. A person who is believed to be the breaker of the social norms turns out to be the greatest defender of the social mores and sacrifices himself for an emotion that is the basis of the social structure: love. On the other hand Iqbal who is epitomized by the society as a sophisticated and educated person proves to be a coward. In fact the criminal status of Jugga itself confirms that there are some serious flaws in our social systems which must be ironed out. A person like Jugga who was shunned by the society by labeling him as a criminal is transformed into a hero by the love of a girl. So the society as a unit was definitely capable of doing a much better job, but instead of trying to reform Jugga it had ostracized him, which again underlines the failure of the society. Mohsin Mirza Shikoh rightly says: “Train to Pakistan, like the best of partition literature explores humanity under duress, as well as the moral probity and the courage of the individual. The book encourages introspection and is very relevant even today…the novel explores and lays bare the mysterious mysterious well springs of courage, endurance and affection, from which human beings draw inspiration at moments of distress to rebuild their lives and sustain faith in themselves.”7 References: 1. Singh, Khushwant. Train to Pakistan. New Delhi: Time Books International. 1956.2. 2. Sharma, K.K. and B.K.Johri. The Partition in Indian English Novbels. Ghaziabad: Vimal Prakashan. 1984.73. 3. Shahane, Vasant A. Khuswant Singh, Twayne’s World Author Series. Boston: Twayne. 1972.70. 4. Chandra, Bipin. Communalism in Modern India. New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House. 1984.140. 5. Sharma, K.K. and B.K.Johri. 75. 6. Sharms V.P.”Communalism and its Motifs in Three Post Independence Novels: Khuswant Singh’s Train to Pakistan, Bhisham Sahni’s Tamas and Chaman
Nahal’s Azadi.” Recent Indian English Literature ed. S.D. Sharma. Karnal: Natraj Publishing House. 1998.229. 7. Shikoh, Mohsin Mirza. “Khushwant Singh’s Train to Pakistan” Pangs of Partition Vol.II The Human Dimension: Introduction. Ed. S.Settar and Indira Baptista Gupta. New Delhi: Manohar Publishers.2002.341.
