Train To Pakistan (PB)

Train to Pakistan is not a light read. It is one of those few efforts to save what little love is left between India and Pakistan. It was written to show the slaughter of innocents that took place after the partition and how the violence was never needed, but people were made to believe that it was. Khushwant Singh makes his point with this book that there is no categorical distinction of a person as good or bad and that even the best of relationships, which are built upon the virtues of comradeship and empathy, can be totally engulfed in troubled times by selfishness, intolerance, hypocrisy and falsehood. It also portrays that the test of ones character is only in tough times- via the contrast of the two lead characters of the novel.The language of the book is simple and gripping.The story of Train to Pakistan is slow in the beginning but picks on gradually as the events unfold. The end is the best part of the book because, when I finished reading, I was in tears.

It was a book which leaves the reader utterly thoughtful. There are times when people take glory in committing the most inhuman of acts on another human being just because he/she happened to belong to another religion. Life can, at times, be so cheap that it may become dependent on circumcision of reproductive organ. In such situations the human race becomes mad, people become thirsty of each other's blood. At the time of partition millions of people died, many Sikhs, many Hindus, many Muslims, and people resorted to religion, religious books to justify their sinister deeds; that was the time when people felt glory in killing, in raping, in mutilating just because the victim was Sikh/Hindu/Muslim .........The book is about partition, but it is as relevant for today's world as it would have been in 1947. Even today people are not free to marry another person just because they belong to different religions. So much madness is going on throughout the world. There is religious extremism (terrorism) giving rise to madness to kill and there are vested interest which protect such madness.The books gives a message silently but very effectively that human beings have to realise that we all are human being, and there is no glory in unnecessary killing and wanton destruction. Perhaps the society will relaise it at some point of time, somewhere, someday ... a religion of humanity ...

Khushwant singh was master writer.This is first book of khushwant singh that i read.Now i understand why people are so crazy about his writing.In this book he present some stories around the partition time.How different stories get connected and leads to acommon ending is masterpiece of khushwant singh.It contains all elements of human emotions ftom love lust to anger sadness jealousy etc.I myself became so attached to it after completion that i could not sleep for 2 days without remembering characters of story.

I feel stupid merely thinking of reviewing the Khushwant Singh's book, Train to Pakistan but of course, it has to be done, and so, here it goes:Train to Pakistan is the story of the small village of Mano Majra. It starts at the time of partition, soon after when the English have left India leaving a broken country in their wake. The muslims have fled to Pakistan and have had their independence for a day already. And now that the Britishers are gone, the sense of religion has been increasing ten-folds. The love between the Hindus and the Muslims has been replaced by hatred and this hatred is becoming evident in the large number of corpses flying here and there. However, despite all of this, the small village of Mano Majra is safe. It has a train station but very few trains stop by and so, they generally do not have any information about what is happening in Delhi. Besides, these people have known each other for a long time. They do not hold any enmity toward each other because of their religion. All is well until the murder of the richest money lender in the village. That one night changes everything. What makes this novel special (other than the fact that it is an Indian classic) is the fact that throughout its entirety, it is a rather uneventful story. Things happen but they do not hold a very huge importance. The most important event in this novel, in fact, the highlight of this novel is the climax. That is also where the book takes its name from. Another special thing about this novel is that it talks of a time when Hindus and Muslims lived together in harmony. There is also a young couple here—a Muslim girl and a Sikh boy—both of who have fallen in love with each other (another thing that sets the climax). So in a way, this story is also a love story, although that is not the primary theme of it (for which I'm rather glad myself). Anyway, what I intend to say by mentioning this couple is that despite the time of turbulence in the country, and despite the situation in the rest of the country (or rather, two countries), people in Mano Majra live happily. That is, until a few policemen come and try to diverge the two communities. They take the Muslims away with the intention of taking them to Pakistan and then a few more Hindu come with the intention of harming them in their trains, of sending a train of corpses to Pakistan. And in that moment, the Sikhs of Mano Majra forget their brotherhood for the sake of religion. Through all of this, Khushwant Singh shows the situation of India and Pakistan, of Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims and how, in the end, religion is the easiest way to persuade someone to do something.This book perfectly captures the horrors of the partition of India. Despite the brutalism, I still believe this book was rather sugar-coated by Singh in order to make it readable by all people. I loved the book for showing about the culture of Punjab, about the pre-partition situation in small villages of Punjab and above all, displaying how the police system has always been weak in India. Bringing Iqbal behind the bars proves just that. So overall, I'm rather happy for having come across a book like this. It reminded me of the hard times the two nations of India and Pakistan have faced in their past (and continue to face even today—71 and a half years later. A definite recommendation.

This is a brutal story about a village and it's people on border during partition in 1947, yes during India Pakistan partition. This book is about how the reality of partition changed their life and their fate. This is something about ground zero situations they went through. They inhaled sheer horror and waited for their mighty fates.Package was delivered before time as always.Kudos amazon!

This is a kind of book which you definitely want to take a slow ride, absorbing every word, every character, every detail. Because you don't want to finish something delicious too quickly. Do you? Khushwant Singh was a master storyteller, without any doubt. His narration in this book is amazing. The words, the sentences, the description, all are so vivid that, most of the time, I found myself to be a part of Mano Majra.Though it's a small book, only having 190 pages, but the story those pages holds, tells a lot about the life and times, right after the independence of India.Please don't dare to miss this one. As always Amazon is amazing.

What a loss Khushwant Singh has been to the world, who later lived to 100, a rare humanist amongst the sea of religious dogma. This novel is essential reading for anyone wishing to evoke the horror of partition and the lives caught up in it. Realistic and unsanitised, especially for its time, I inherited a copy from my father , who kept telling me to read it, but it was a long time before did: after he died in fact. Now I give copies of this to folk wanting to know more about India and this time.

The book is not so great as the reviews suggests. It had so many abrupt story lines or pointless contents on it. And the ending wasn't what we'd expect it to be. I would've liked a proper explanation on the ending rather than many meaningless blabbers on the rest of the story.

The writing style is amazing. The subject matter is one of the biggest tragedies of 20th century

India on the Pakistan border during partition. Well developed and interesting characters, a fascinating insight into the lives and beliefs of villagers and officials during a time of great trauma.

Loved this book! Short and sweet read, but evokes emotion. Although written by a Sikh, paints a non-partisan picture of the partition of India. As a person of Pakistani heritage, I would say this is essential reading for any descendant of India.