Toba Take Singh
Sadat Hassan Manto (11 May 1912 - 18 January 1955) was a
short story writer from Pakistan who migrated from Mumbai. He is well known for
his short stories, he has written a large number of short stories and is
considered one of the best short story writers in Urdu. Among his short
stories, Toba Tek Singh is one of his short stories. It was one of Manto's last
stories. It was published in 1955 in Maktab Jaded Lahore.
Sadat Hassan Manto's short story "Toba Tek Singh"
is the most remarkable story about partition. This story is deeply rooted in
the tragic event that India and Pakistan faced before, during, and after
independence.
The story is a beautiful satire on the partitions and bitter
accusations on the political process and management how the people suffer due to
this partitions process, and how people were displaced from their homes. Manto with his
writing skills brilliantly criticizes in unrealized manners the behaviour
of some lunatics in a lunatic asylum in Lahore and presents an irreversible
history. An unknown narrator who seems to be Lahori tells us a series
of seemingly factual events that are not as straightforward as they appear. The
author through the unusual conversation of lunatic people put forward his
message. How there is a state of confusion in the mind of people regarding
their identity. Whether they became Indian or Pakistani, no one knows the
effects of changes.
The whole aspect of the concept of nationality has come to
the fore through the talk of these lunatics. Manto penetrates the human psyche.
Characters are presented anonymously they are neither Hindus nor Muslims but
human beings belonging to nowhere yet exist.
The authors end up the story with the most affected
character Bashan Singh known as Toba Tek Singh, in no man's land between the
two nations' barbed-wire borders. Bashan Singh a lunatic in Lahore asylum,
everyone called him Toba Tek Singh. The author tells about the character of
"Toba Tak Singh" and his early life. Bashan Singh wants to know
which country Toba Tek Singh is a part of. This is the most important question
in Bashan’s mind. But more importantly, Bashan represents those in India and
Pakistan who were left without a state during the migration.
What really makes the difference or heightens the story is
the death of Bashan on a piece of land that has no name. He prefers to die in a
place that does not belong to anyone, rather than to decide where he really
belongs.
This is exactly what happened to all those who were forced
to leave their lands, homes, and loved ones in the process of partition. The
pain and loss still linger in the hearts of all those who have gone through
this ordeal.
Manto as a man or writer was in constant rebellion
against the binary choices that religion and politics impose on human beings.
The lunatics in the Lahore asylum are a microcosm of society. Through them, all
sections of society have been targeted and exposed, and among them is Bashan
Singh who successfully competes against all such identities who choose what is
imposed on them which belongs to no one. Therefore, instead of choosing between
India and Pakistan, Bashan would not like to die in anyone's land.
References:
https://www.wordswithoutborders.org/article/toba-tek-singh
https://www.criticalbuzzz.co.in/a-critical-analysis-of-toba-tek-singh-by-saadat-hasan-manto/
https://thefeministbibliothecary.wordpress.com/2020/05/23/lite-reads-review-toba-tek-singh-by-saadat-hasan-manto/
https://penguinindiablog.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/sadat-hasan-manto-toba-tek-singh/
http://sittingbee.com/toba-tek-singh-saadat-hasan-manto/
http://bookwormreviews9.blogspot.com/2015/02/selected-short-stories-by-saadat-hasan.html