A novel is considered to be the most social of the literary forms,as it explores the human conditions through the use of narrative fiction and records mankinds struggle with itself in a social context. The great novels are deeply rooted in socio-cultural tradition which is a sum total of actions,habits,customs,and believes of an organic community.
Train to Pakistan is one of the classics of modern Indo-Anglian Fiction.It mirrors a picture of the bestial horrors inacted on the Indo-Pakistan border during the terror haunted days of August 1947. The "leaders" has sown the seeds of communial suspicion and the partition was the result.Like the whirlwind, the mad act of partition was uprooting masses of humanity,mingling them,and throwing them across the border in heap after heap.
Mano Majra a border village on the bank of the Satluj,with a railway bridge spaning the river was known for peaceful co-existence and communal harmony. But 1947 was not like other times.Suspicion and viloence has griped the year and an ill-wind carried them even to little oases of communal harmony like Mano Majra .
Mano Majra is an example of Indian culture par excellence. It is inhabited by a Hindu family of Lala Ramlal, Sikhs, and Muslims.They live peacefully without any malice towards one another. Khushwant Singh has very beautifully described Mano Majra which has three brick buildings--one is the home of Lala Ramlal,the other two are the Sikh Temple and the Muslim Mosque. These three buildings enclosed a triangular shape with a large Peepul Tree in the middle. Mano Majra thus represents India transcending the regional boundaries.
The bridge mentioned in the novel bridges the gap between the Sikhs and the Muslims. The final act occurs on the bridge where everything is set to kill the Muslims going to Pakistan by train. It is triumph of Love and Sacrifice. Jugga who is 'Badmash' is surprisingly surcharged with fine emotions and tries his best to save the Muslims from being killed. The Train to Pakistan does not carry the dead bodies of the muslims, it carries rather a message for people living on the other side of the border. Mr. Singh attempts through exposition of a very many problems of Indian Society has been confronted with for age together. A man who laughs and makes all laugh for the sake of life......and love.
" let the dead have the immortality of fame
but the living the immortality of laugh and love."
By Amar Pratap Singh
Department of Linguistics
Banaras Hindu University
