<p>Cole Frazier
Mrs. Katherine Tracy
English 210 WWW
31 October 2012
Clash of Religons
Khushwant Singhs Train to Pakistan is based one of the most brutal events in history, in which a millions men, women, and children were innocently killed. The actual story takes place in a fictional border town of Mano Majra where Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims live crossing lives. The Sikhs are wealthy and few in number, owning all the land in the town, while the Muslims are tenants of the Sikhs. Singh has a unique way of molding real time experience and historical facts into a fictional novel that one cant help but to turn the page and see what else is in store. The city is stuck in the abyss of religious struggle along with the forbidden love of two of the locals whom are of opposite and conflicting religions.
The story begins when the head of the only Hindu family in Mano Majra is violently murdered. Shortly after the murder, Iqbal Singh, a well- educated social worker from England, arrives in town. Many couldnt comprehend why he showed up to the small village, and the majority did not know how to react to an educated man who looked like them yet was unorthodox in his religious views along with how he lived everyday life. Igbal and Juggut, the infamous village gangster, were both arrested and charged for the murder of the Hindu moneylender. Despite Juggut’s well-deserved reputation for causing problems, it is clear that he has no guilt for the killing of the Hindu moneylender because on the night of the murder Khushwant portrays him in a field on the outskirts of town with his lover. He uses the contrast of Juggut and Iqbal to show the difference in the Indian society and how education doesnt even compare to the separation of that of the religious persecution. They have lived very different lives, yet both were suspects and were patronized. The town has lived in harmony for the most part up until now. They do not wish to conform to these ways, yet like along with the rest of India, they do.<br>
The ridiculous, evidence-less arrests of Juggut Singh and Iqbal for the murder of the moneylender are quickly followed by the arrival of two “ghost trains” from Pakistan, which are full of murdered Sikhs and Hindus, all of whom have been gruesomely hacked and beaten to death. There have been many stories of Hindu and Sikh refugees being killed as they fled their homes from what was now Pakistan, but this train was the first such incident witnessed by the villagers. After thousands of bodies were cremated and thousands more buried is mass manmade graves, the bad luck for Mano Majra continued. Heavy rain pounded the town during monsoon season, bringing the bodies out of their shallow graves to float aimlessly through the streets. Whether Khushwant Singh is describing the gruesome scene of the trains full of decaying bodies, the smell of the flesh of those being cremated, or the flooded streets being filled with floating human and animal bodies, he depictions these fictional events as real and as hauntingly powerful as possible.
The Sikhs of Mano Majra had always promised to defend their village and the people who inhabited it, even if it meant their life. However, groups of Sikh refugees started to evacuate eastward into India, bearing horrific reports of massacres and inhumane atrocities. Mano Majra is the scene of an immense battle of religious hatred. Hukum Chand, the magistrate who is often referred to as "the Government, realizes that the local religious situation is out of control, and the only way to resolve the problem is to get the Muslims to leave as quickly as possible until it is safe for them to come back. The Muslims are forcefully evacuated to a refugee camp. After the Muslims leave, the villagers see hundreds of mutilated bodies being carried downriver in the monsoon-swollen waters, indicating a massacre somewhere upriver in Pakistan. That evening a group of Sikh strangers come to Mano Majra and force some of the villagers into joining an attack on a train full of Muslims the next evening in revenge for massacres of Sikhs in Pakistan. The headman protests that the train will have Mano Majra Muslims on it, but the strangers ignore him. Hukum Chand is informed of the rumors of the planned massacre and wishing to prevent it, frees both Juggut Singh and Iqbal from jail. Shortly there after, Juggut gets a miraculous feeling. He decides to ruin the plans to murder the Muslims by cutting the rope that was planned to stop the train. The irony of the religious injustices is over come and though this courageous action results in his death, Juggut saves the Muslims and the train continues to Pakistan. Through all the religious turmoil, the act of heroism of Juggut represents that mankind can overcome much adversity.
Singh uses an unorthodox way of using his real experience into a very likeable novel. He uses real events that occurred during the Partition of India and twist it into a fictional novel. Train to Pakistan is a brutally realistic novel that depicts an unlikely hero that transcends the borders of religion to save his enemies.</p>