TOBA TEK SINGH

                       TOBA TEK SINGH

                     Saadat Hasan Manto

Introduction

Saadat Hasan Manto is an Urdu short story writer who wrote much about the communal killings of 1947. His stories are best known to have depicted the partition of the sub continent immediately following independence in 1947. He produced 22 collections of short stories, a novel, five series of radio plays, three collections of essays, two collections of personal sketches. Much of his writings are translated into English.

Summary

The greatest of Manto’s 1947 stories is ‘Toba Tek Singh’. The madness that has gripped the subcontinent permeates even the lunatic asylums and the great decision makers of the two countries decide that since there has been such a transfer of populations as well as assets, it is only

logical that non-Muslim lunatics should be reported to India and Muslim lunatics in India transferred to Pakistan. On the day of the great exchange, there is only one man, Bishan Singh, who refuses to leave because he wants to stay where he was born and where his family lived, the

town of Toba Tek Singh in Pakistani Punjab. The exchange takes place at the common border of the two countries. They try to push him across the line into India, but he does not move because he wants to live neither in India nor in Pakistan, but in Toba Tek Singh. They let him stay standing in no-man’s-land because they tell each other that he is only a harmless old man. As the morning breaks, Bishan Singh screams just once, falls and dies. “‘There, behind the barbed wire, on the other hand lay Pakistan. In between on a bit of earth, which had no name, lay Toba Tek Singh.”

Exercises

I. Answer The Following Questions:

1. In which Pakistani city was the lunatic asylum situated?

a. Lahore b. Karachi c. Islamabad d. Rawalpindi

Ans: Lahore

2. Roop Kaur was the _______ of Bishan Singh.

a. Wife b. mother c. daughter d. Daughter-in –law

Ans: Daughter

3. What was the real name of Toba Tek Singh?

a. Kishan Singh b. Viswambar Singh

c. Bishan Singh d. Kishon Singh Aaron

Ans: Bishan Singh

4. What is Zamindar in Toba Tek Singh?

a. A newspaper b. A magazine c. A journal d. A book

Ans:A newspaper

II. Answer the following questions in a sentence or two:

1. Why did one of the lunatics climb up a tree?

He was disoriented by the confusion created out of Hindustan-Pakistan.

2. Who is Qaid –e-Azam?

Mohammed Ali Jinnah

3. Who declared himself to be Qaid-e-Azam, Muhammed Ali Jinnah?

A Muslim from Chiniot whose name was Muhammed Ali declared himself to be Qaid-e- Azam. He was an active member of the Muslim League.

4. Why did Hindu lawyer in Asylum go mad?

He loved a girl and when Partition came; Amritsar, where his beloved was, belonged to India and he was in Lahore, Pakistan.

5. What was Bishan Singh’s question to the man who believed that he was God?

Bishan Singh asked him where was Toba Tek Singh, in Pakistan or India.

6. How did the Muslim friend from Toba Tek Singh who came to visit Bishan Singh introduce himself?

He did not introduce himself. He started the conversation talking about Bishan Singh’s family. It is understood that he is a close friend of the family.

7. What was the response of the Anglo-Indian inmates of the asylum, when they realized the English had given Hindustan Freedom?

They were not elated by the news. In fact they were worried if they won’t get English

breakfasts and must be forced to eat Indian chapatti.

8. Explain ‘ In the middle on a stretch of land that had no name, lay Toba Tek Singh’

In the border of the two countries, Bishan Singh was allowed to stand in a no-man’s –land as he neither wanted to move to Hindustan nor the guards allowed him to Pakistan. Finally next morning he was found dead there.

9. What is the significance of the asylum in the story?

Manto wanted to show real madness is not within the lunatic asylum but with those who trouble the innocents in the name of communalism.

III. Answer the following in a paragraph

1. Identity in Toba Tek Singh

Manto brings alive the most traumatic episode in the history of the subcontinent. He brings out the confusion prevailing at the time of separation. Manto’s ‘Toba Tek Singh’ mainly focuses on the fear of lost identities at the time of forced morbidity. Many inmates of the lunatic asylum find it hard to understand when they are asked to move. When the news of Partition reached the lunatic asylum, the inmates reacted differently. Most of them did not even understand the constant rigmarole of Hindustan/Pakistan Pakistan/ Hindustan. Some Sikh lunatics in the asylum did not

know where on earth is Hindustan. They showed their disinterestedness by saying they did not know to speak Hindustani language. Religious divisions made no meaning among loving hearts. The whole idea of a separate nation to all Muslims and Hindu /Sikhs and moving across borders were meaningless to the innocent hearts.

2. Give an account of the lunatics in the asylum.

The lunatic asylum consisted of people from all religions and no religion. Some of them were not lunatics at all. They were murderers. They were kept there by their family to protect from guards. Most of them were confused about the Pakistan Hindustan rigmarole. Most of them did not want to leave the asylum. Some Sikh people did not want to go to Hindustan because they said they did not know how to speak their language and Hindustanis were arrogant people. One man showed his protest by climbing up a tree and when ordered by guards to come down he climbed even higher. He came down and cried bitterly hugging his friends. There was a Muslim from Chiniot , who claimed he is Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Quaid-e-Azam. There was a lawyer who lost his sanity when his beloved, from Amritsar was now part of Hindustan. There was another man who bathed fifteen times daily, gave up bathing altogether. There were some Anglo-Indians who were sad to know that the British have left India. They thought they will have to eat Indian Chapati instead of English cuisine. There was another man who declared him to be God. There was a Sikh, who never slept or sat for years. His feet were swollen from standing too much. He listened about the matter of taking Sikh lunatics to Hindustan with great seriousness and sometimes muttered gibberish. His name was Bishan Singh and he kept on asking where is Toba

Tek Singh.

3. Explain the significance of the title “Toba Tek Singh”

According to legend there was a kind hearted man who served water and provided shelter to worn out travellers irrespective of their caste and creed. ‘Toba means pond,.which eventually was called Toba Tek Singh. Manto portrays a social and psychological territory in which madness is the reigning norm. Manto wanted to show no world is born out of political turmoils and names of places are just irrelevant. In the end, humanity matters. In the legendary story the place got its name after a religious leader who was kind hearted. In the turmoil of fanaticism and communalism, people never bothered where Toba Tek Singh is. Only one man's quest remained.

4. What is the picture of partition that emerges from the story?

Partition was the outcome of the thirst for power. It was a traumatic event in the history of the Indian subcontinent. In ‘Toba Tek Singh’ Manto portrays a disturbing picture of Partition and its outcomes on the inmates of a lunatic asylum. Real madness is not in mental asylums but here in the society which has turned blind of communal hatred. The inmates’ response to the news is horrifying and disturbing. Their protests are in the most innocent ways like climbing up a tree and

refusing to come down or giving up bath or crying at the thought of missing his friends. Lovers and families split by imaginary borders are the victims of this nationalistic evil. They resisted to the last moment in their harmless ways. Many were brought to the border by lorry and in that cold weather officers found it hard to put off the chaos. Some refused to get down from the lorry, some ran wildly, some ran nakedly, some cursed and shouted and some others cried and wailed. Even women created troubles for the guards. Most lunatics were not in favour of the transfer because they could not comprehend the reasons for being uprooted from one place to another.

5. Comment on the ending of Toba Tek Singh.

Bishan Singh's usual quest of where Toba Tek Singh is never answered. At the border he asked one of the guards where is Toba Tek Singh. The official laughed and said it is in Pakistan. On hearing this he refuses to move to Hindustan and ran to the remaining group waiting for their turn. He refused to move and yelled Toba Tek Singh is here. As he was a harmless man he was allowed to stay there. Next morning a loud cry was heard and Bishan Singh was found lying prostrate on the ground. In the middle, on a stretch of land he died on a piece of no man's land believing it to be his Toba Tek Singh.

IV. Answer the following questions in about 300 words:

1. Consider lunacy as a metaphor of communalism.

India was a land where the Hindus, Muslims and the Sikhs lived in unity, peace, harmony and brotherhood. Because of the divide and rule policy of the British, seeds of communalism were thrown to the hearts of the people. The power hunger politics made many to leave their land and

home and be refugees on the other side. Thousands were killed on both sides.

Manto takes a detached stance and hardly criticizes Partition. He is neither in favour of India nor of Pakistan. The lunatics in the asylum do not even know what is Pakistan and why they should leave. Heated discussions take place in the asylum. One man thinks Pakistan is a place in India where they manufacture razors. Another man shouts ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ and slips down the bathroom floor. One man declares himself to be God. A lawyer lost his sanity when Amritsar, were his beloved belonged, was made part of India. Real madness is not inside the asylum but with those fanatics who preach violence. A government following true secularism is the only reply to communalism.

2. Analyze Toba Tek Singh as a caustic satire on the absurdity of partition.

Satire is the use of humour, irony exaggeration or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity of vices. Satire is the best weapon to attack and show the stupidity of a government. Manto skillfully does this in his short story Toba Tek Singh by making its setting a lunatic asylum in Lahore. Through the innocent protests and gibberish of the inmates of the asylum, Manto makes us realize real lunacy is with the government who pluck out these people from their rootedness. What has both the nations gained out of this religious divide. What meaning has religion gained over love and brotherhood? Only questions remain at the expense of common people's lives. Manto’s short story is a piece to think about for all times. Madness is used as a metaphor to shed

light on the absurdity of the whole exercise of Partition. Let us promise we won’t repeat history.                            

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