<DIV>This unique illustrated edition of a modern-day Indian classic includes previously unpublished pictures by internationally acclaimed photographer Margaret Bourke-White. In the summer of 1947, the frontier between India and its newly-created neighbor, Pakistan, had become a river of blood, as the post-Partition exodus across the border erupted into violent rioting. In Train to Pakistan, truth meets fiction with stunning impact, as Khushwant Singh recounts the trauma and tragedy of Partition through the stories of his charactersstories that he, his family and friends themselves experienced or saw enacted before their eyes. Sixty years later, in an age where these tensions still lie close to the surface, Bourk-Whites photographs of the Partition illustrate Khushwant Singhs prose with a stark and almost unbearably heart-rending subtext.</div>
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It is a place, Khushwant Singh goes on to tell us at the beginning of this classic novel, where Sikhs and Muslims have lived together in peace for hundreds of years. Then one day, at the end of the summer, the 'ghost train' arrives, a silent, incredible funeral train loaded with the bodies of thousands of refuges, bringing the village its first taste of the horrors of the civil war. Train to Pakistan is the story of this isolated village that is plunged into the abyss of religious hate. It is also the story of a Sikh boy and a Muslim girl whose love endures and transcends the ravages of war.
About the Author
<DIV>Khushwant Singh is a renowned journalist, the author of several works of fiction, and an authority on Sikh history.
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46 of 48 people found the following review helpful
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The summer of the Partition of India in 1947 marked a season of bloodshed that stunned and horrified those living through the nightmare. Entire families were forced to abandon their land for resettlement to Muslim Pakistan and Hindu India. Once that fateful line was drawn in the sand, the threat of destruction became a reality of stunning proportions. Travelers clogged the roads on carts, on foot, but mostly on trains, where they perched precariously on the roofs, clung to the sides, wherever grasping fingers could find purchase. Muslim turned against Hindu, Hindu against Muslim, in their frantic effort to escape the encroaching massacre. But the violence followed the refugees. The farther from the cities they ran, the more the indiscriminate killing infected the countryside, only to collide again and again in a futile attempt to reach safety. Almost ten million people were assigned for relocation and by the end of this bloody chapter, nearly a million were slain. A particular brutality overtook the frenzied mobs, driven frantic by rage and fear. Women were raped before the anguished eyes of their husbands, entire families robbed, dismembered, murdered and thrown aside like garbage until the streets were cluttered with human carnage.
The trains kept running. For many remote villages the supply trains were part of the clockwork of daily life, until even those over-burdened trains, off-schedule, pulled into the stations, silent, no lights or signs of humanity, their fateful cargo quiet as the grave. At first the villagers of tiny Mano Majra were unconcerned, complacent in their cooperative lifestyle, Hindu, Sikh, Muslim and quasi-Christian. Lulled by distance and a false sense of security, the villagers depended upon one another to sustain their meager quality of life, a balanced system that served everyone's needs. There had been rumors of the arrival of the silent "ghost trains" that moved quietly along the tracks, grinding slowly to a halt at the end of the line, filled with slaughtered refugees.
When the first ghost train came to Mano Majra the villagers were stunned. Abandoning chores, they gathered on rooftops to watch in silent fascination. With the second train, they were ordered to participate in burying the dead before the approaching monsoons made burial impossible. But reality struck fear into their simple hearts when all the Muslims of Mano Majra were ordered to evacuate immediately, stripped of property other than what they could carry. The remaining Hindus and Sikhs were ordered to prepare for an attack on the next train to Pakistan, with few weapons other than clubs and spears. The soldiers controlled the arms supply and would begin the attack with a volley of shots. When the people realized that this particular train would be carrying their own former friends and neighbors, they too were caught, helpless in the iron fist of history, save one disreputable (Hindu) dacoit whose intended (Muslim) wife sat among her fellow refugees. The story builds impressive steam as it lurches toward destiny, begging for the relief of action. In the end, the inevitable collision of conscience and expediency looms like a nacreous cloud above the hearts of these unsophisticated men, a mere slender thread of hope creating unbearable tension.
I was impressed with the power of Singh's timeless narrative, as the characters are propelled toward a shattering climax, as potentially devastating as any incomprehensible actions of mankind's penchant for destruction. I was struck also, by the irony: how the proliferation of a rail system that infused previously unknown economic growth potential to formerly remote areas, also became the particular transport of Death. Only a few years earlier, a rail system in another part of the world carried innumerable Jews to Hitler's ovens, another recent barbaric use of Progress, originally intended to further enrich the potential accomplishments of the human race.
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The first work by an Indian author that I ever read, Train to Pakistan is a superb book on many levels. It is a documentary of Punjab, its people, its culture. Its a narrative of the gruesome events that burned northern India in 1947. It is a story of the cultural, political, and intellectual atmosphere of India at the time. And it succeeds BRILLIANTLY. It brings the reader into the picture so vividly, its rather disturbing. If the reader is a product of the society the athor writes about, or is intimately familiar with it, and possesses any amount of intellectual spark, this book is an absolute must read. How much it'll mean to you if you are not familiar with the culture of Punjab, I don't know.
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
To get some insight on the people behind the muslim-sikh-hindu troubles in India and Pakistan, this is a must-read. It is a brilliant story told in a way that gives the reader an excellent inside on the human factor during the time of the separation and liberation of India and Pakistan. A stranger, a non-religious muslim who has spent most of his life in England, a modern thinker, comes to a small village on what was to be the border between Pakistan and India. In this village, sikhs and muslims live in peace. But in the world around them, the troubles start. In this small village, hell soon breaks loose. In the centre of it all is a young couple from different religions, whos fate together is made impossible from this sudden outbust of sectarianism on both sides. It's a marvellous book.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
The Idian-Pakistani conflagration of 1947 in a quiet village
By a river, near a railroad bridge and a station, life goes on as it has for many years. Yet, in 1947, with the partitoning of the Indian subcontinent into Pakistan and India the... Read more
Published 5 months ago by zorba
Train to Pakistan
I have started this book and I am enjoying it very much, thank you..It is the first time That I have read anything by this author.
Published 6 months ago by patriciajoan white
Tragic love story
This 1956 novel by Khushwant Singh is a tragic love story. Juggut Singh, a Sikh, is in love with Noorm, a Muslim, and they hope to marry. Read more
Published 11 months ago by iris flannery
A beautifully written glimpse into Partition
I have conducted numerous interviews on this subject, especially with those who witnessed the events near the frontier. Read more
Published 18 months ago by GS
A masterpiece in any language
In an era consumed with questions of genocide and ethnic cleansing, it's remarkable that the human convulsions of India's partition has largely slipped through the historic cracks,... Read more
Published on October 4, 2009 by R. L. Huff
On Track!
Due to its unbelievable impact, partition will be a part of any book by an Indian or Pakistani writer. Read more
Published on September 18, 2009 by Dick Johnson
A classic story during the time of partition of British India
During the time of partition of a Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan, the peace loving Sikhs and Muslims of small village near the Pakistan border are affected by the disturbing and... Read more
Published on July 13, 2009 by Jayesh Naithani
Great
I enjoy learning more and more about Indian culture, and Train to Pakistan delivered. Very informative book, giving insight on India's caste system and religions in 1947. Read more
Published on May 23, 2009 by William G. Adams
The train gets off to a slow start...but then...WOW
Powerful images in the finale of this book will keep you up at night. I advise any reader not to finish the novel at bedtime. Read more
Published on March 25, 2009 by AKA
A sleepy town of Mano Majra
August 1947. Indian independence. At that time, did the freedom from the British rule mean much to Indian people? Maybe yes. Maybe no. Now, I value my freedom very much. Read more
Published on September 16, 2008 by Jane Austen
Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
The summer of 1947 was not like other Indian summers. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
subinspector saluted, wire gauze door, head constable, peepul tree, hurricane lantern Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Hukum Chand, Meet Singh, Mano Majra, Juggut Singh, Imam Baksh, Sat Sri Akal, Inspector Sahib, Babu Sahib, Ram Lal, Banta Singh, Iqbal Singh, Mohammed Iqbal, Muslim League, Sardar Sahib, Sentry Sahib, All Muslims, Prem Singh, Deputy Sahib, Igbal Singhji, Lambardar Sahib, Sunder Singh, Alam Singh, Harey Ram New!
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Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
The summer of 1947 was not like other Indian summers. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
subinspector saluted, wire gauze door, head constable, peepul tree, hurricane lantern Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Hukum Chand, Meet Singh, Mano Majra, Juggut Singh, Imam Baksh, Sat Sri Akal, Inspector Sahib, Babu Sahib, Ram Lal, Banta Singh, Iqbal Singh, Mohammed Iqbal, Muslim League, Sardar Sahib, Sentry Sahib, All Muslims, Prem Singh, Deputy Sahib, Igbal Singhji, Lambardar Sahib, Sunder Singh, Alam Singh, Harey Ram New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
52
books
cite this book:
See all 52 books citing this book
- A Divided Legacy: The Partition in Selected Novels of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh by Niaz Zaman on 16 pages
- Alternative Indias: Writing, Nation and Communalism (Cross/Cultures 82) by Peter Morey on 11 pages
- Amritsar to Lahore: A Journey Across the India-Pakistan Border by Stephen Alter on 7 pages
- English Across Cultures: Cultures Across English : A Reader in Cross Cultural Communication (Contributions to the Sociology of Language) by Ofelia Garcia on 6 pages
- Passport Photos by Amitava Kumar on 4 pages
See all 52 books citing this book
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