Train to Pakistan |
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Khushwant Singh
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Pages: 192 (Paperback)
ISBN: 0802132219
Pub: Avalon Travel Publishing
Pub date: 2000-08-25
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 193831
Reader Reviews:
The horrors of partition in the Punjab..... (0/1 people found this helpful)
What a superb,concise account of the partition of India in 1947. Every page of this novel was almost perfect, the balance,the narrative,the message.
Khushwant Singh has managed to convey the horror of 1947 in the Punjab with clarity and venom as the communal violence spreads along the borders of the new states. He uses the voices of his characters to give some account of the bloodletting and violence that caused peaceful communities to implode. The trains in the novel are at the centre of the message as they carry refugees back and forwards past a little Punjabi village by the banks of the Sutlej river.
New Delhi seems a world away from the chaos enveloping the region, the neat incisions of the political cartographers are revealed as gaping wounds. The Sikhs and Muslims in this novel are the victims of the horror,Singh portrays the inter-faith traditions of the village and the difficulties that result as their awareness of the horror in Pakistan is revealed.
The stories of the local bad boy Juggat Singh and a party worker back from england are woven into the fabric of tragedy and terror. The martial Sikhs facing daily murder and violence,the muslims who don't want to go to Pakistan,there are many confused people here as the new order comes into being.
A lot of the blame for this horror lies with the unhealthy speed at which the British pulled out of India and the obvious danger of splitting a religiously mixed region (the Punjab) into two different nations. The Sikhs possibly suffered worst during that summer of 1947 but nobody living along that border will ever forget the communal hatred and massacres that burst upon them and scarred the creation of Pakistan for ever. 5 stars.
The pain of Partition (8/8 people found this helpful)
There are a number of excellent factual books on Indian Independence, but relatively little fiction, at least available in the UK. 'Train to Pakistan', however, more than makes up for the shortfall.
Set in the Punjab, it charts the descent of a community of Sikhs and Muslims into mutual fear and hatred as a result of the decisions of politicians, and events elsewhere, over which they have no control.
The construction of the book is masterful, instilling at the outset a genuine sense of forboding before building up to a climax that encompasses the futility, waste and despair of the violence of partition.
This is a book I read in one sitting, firstly because it is short, but mostly because it is one of the most compelling books I have read in a long time. Highly recommended, it is a snapshot of a momentous and harrowing period of the Indian subcontinent.
a poignant saga of partition (7/8 people found this helpful)
an absolute gem from Kushwant Singh - each page captures the suffering,misery and courage of both the hindus and muslims during partition. A brilliant and moving novel.
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