Author: Khushwant Singh
Genre: Fiction, Historical
Published: 1956
BookMarks
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
Train To Pakistan is set in India at the time of Partition. It’s a story of how a political act changes the lives of the villagers living near the border. How people who have lived together for generations in harmony are suddenly changed. One fine day, people do not find themselves safe in the their home lands and are forced to move to another. And there are those who loot and pillage, other seek revenge and the cycle of horror continues. The officials are nearly as helpless.
It is a harrowing tale. One wonders for the people uprooted by Partition, what was the price paid for the Independence. As a villager wryly remarks "Freedom is for the educated people who fought for it. We were slaves of the English, now we will be slaves of the educated Indians—or the Pakistanis."
The book is a difficult read delving into the tragedy at what should have been the happiest moment of the nation, its Independence. And yet, even 75 years later, one wonders what kind of madness had gripped the common people that they unleashed such horrors on each other!
Reading the book also makes me wonder – the tragedy of the Partition is hardly depicted in popular culture and it is being forgotten. There are efforts like the Partition Museum at Amritsar, but slowly it is vanishing from the conversations.
Something which should not be forgotten.
Previously on BookMarks: Journey to the Center of the Earth
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