Train To Pakistan: A Realistic Picture of Partition Period

Abstract

Train To Pakistan represents a realistic picture of the Partition time in the history of India. The novelist does not suffer from any inhibitions when he throws light on the great human catastrophe of this period and the inhuman events that followed. Because of religious fanaticism millions of people pulled out their roots of the places where their forefathers had lived for centuries. In 1947, when the new country Pakistan was formally announced, about ten millions people – Hindu, Muslims and Sikhs were shifting their places of living. They collided with each other and there started communal riots which led to the killing of a large number of innocent people of both the sides. In fact, the virus of partition had become active in the entire part of the country. The situation became worse when a train loaded with the dead from the Pakistan had arrived at Mano Majra. The study of the novel shows that by focusing on micro level, i.e., the village Mano Majra, Khushwant Singh depicts what was happening at macro-level, i.e. in the whole country.