ON THE FAR SIDE OF TOBA TEK SINGH
Gavlina.S
20SJCCC319
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ON THE FAR SIDE OF TOBA TEK
SINGH
In
1925 on the 15th of August A parent who gives bith a baby boy in Amritsar
Punjab, they name him toba tek singh he grows up to be a very brave boy with
lot of love for the country we could say a man who's litterly Soaked in
patriotism. Toba tek has a group of friends and he has a bestfriend named as
zahid, toba tek and zahid study in the same school and spend the whole day
together sometimes zahid would come to toba tek's house to eat
one
day toba tek and zahid would be walking in the streets zahid asks him if he
could join him to the temple, toba tek with not a second delay tells "sure
my friend" why not and they walk into the temple, people in the temple
stare at them constantly, zahid feels embarrassed and walks off the temple toba
tek asks the pujari why people stared at zahid and made him feel so
uncomfortable so the pujari says zahid is a musalman and he is a lower cast who
eats cow (beef) which is the adhi of boomi the mother of all Gods and he is a
sinner against our God. Toba tek couldn't defend hims and just walk out of the
temple and thinks did God really tell all this, has God told that some people
are not allowed to get inside the temple, he has a mindful of questions but dosen't
find answers because the only person who could answer him was God, days passed
zahid and toba tek grew up zahid was doing export business and toba tek had
joined the Indian army and fought for the country during the colonial period
and during the partition of India he was trying his best to save lives of
innocent people, during the partition it was one most thing that affected tob
tek was to loss zahid, zahid would have gone to save his buffaloes and would
have been beaten up and killed by the Hindus who thought zahid is harmful, this
broke toba tek because he didn't expect such a day to come that being
appreciated by others.
during the time of partition he faced of lot
of mental and physical trauma and pain . Because of all this he starts talking
alone and telling things to himself and people he was sent to an lunatic
asylum, toba tek gets to know that the government has decided to exchange in
lunatics, he doesn't want to go to Pakistan nor India, because everyday ever
since his childhood he wished someday everything will change and people will
start accepting eachothers, people will love one an other, but all that
happened was something unexpected, something that he can't accept, something
that he never thought of so he decides to die on the no mans land which is the
land between the borders on the two countries, because toba tek feels that's
the land he wanted to live in and die in as well, that land didn't belong to
muslims nor the hindus, it didn't have a name and was not even required to have
a name. That land was for human who has humanity more the the pride of
religion, love and not hate, friendship and not enemys, so keeping this in
mind, when given a chance to toba tek to choose where to be, he refused to
budge. Many officers try to move him but failed, so they leave him for a little
while to attend others. After a minute toba tek dies making a loud nice when
the officers run to see what happened, toba tek lyed flat on the land with a
shot on his forehead.
There dies not just a common man he died there to show love towards the land
and not the religion. He might not be a freedom fighter but not a common man as
well. His love was great .
https://youtu.be/BKGIDG8s880
A
little of toba tek still lives in many of the Indians who has broadly accepted
all human without any religious beliefs
REPORT
Art is something that is created
with imagination and skill and it is a beautiful way of expressing important
ideas and feelings. Creative expression does not only help the views but also helps
the creator it is rooted in the capacities for observation, discovery,
imagination, and courage. It wakes us up challenges , and enriches all of life.
Those who deeply commit to a creative expression, it make their whole lives a
canvas or a blank page onto which their hearts are pour, and our world is made
better because of it. now I have chosen Poster making to convey my story
because Posters are designed to be both eye-catching and informative. I have
used sketches, drawings and also includes textual elements. Posters are one of
the most easiest way of understanding and expressing, it articulate their
feelings and thoughts and it directly portrays something and makes a story more
understandable .
In a historical reimagination people would think it is the same old story that
is told and heard by many but when we use a creative mode of expression the
audience would have a different prospective before reading something, when a
creative mode of expression is used in historical reimagination people would be
more interested in it and it would have a wider reach and in depth
understanding and it will also remain something unforgettable.
Back in history we wouldn't have pictures and colours but creative expression
makes it more eye catching and intresting as people's imagination can be
limitless to create something so Art it makes history understanding in a
beautiful way
The historical context that I selected was based on the lines of toba tek Singh
by Manto, there toba tek singh is referred to a place and a person from that
place and there is no much reference or story behind the name toba tek singh.
I've referred toba tek sigh as a person in my story who is a very patriotic
person with a Muslim friend, he would losse his friend during the partition,
the makes toba tek singh depressed and this partition mentally affects him in
every possible way and he is sent to a lunatic asylum and later dies on the no
mans land which he feels he really belongs to. I've given this name "toba
tek singh" life in the story. This story involves the pain of being
drifted from loved ones, the anger and frustration of separation and the love
for the land. And it leaves a lot of questions to God in whose name people are
doing mistakes. This Idea of referring toba tek singh as a patriotic person was
because I have always had a great love and respect towards our nation and when
I read this story I was provoked to read the history of Partition, I took many
references and I was shocked to see the crimes that happen and the number of
deaths that raised in the fight, all this caused me to take it in a patriotic
way and make the protagonist feel the same way as I have felt and I would have
done at his situation. So the story basically means I put myself as toba tek
Singh.
These
are some important references in the partition
PARTITION
OF INDIA AND PAKISTAN( 1947)
In
August 1947 was one of the greatest migrations in human history this partition
of India forced millions of people to leave their homes to move to the other
state. the division of British India into two
independent dominion states India and Pakistan. millions
of Hindus and Sikhs headed to The Dominion of India, today the Republic of
India and millions of Muslims trekked to the Dominion of Pakistan, today
the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the People's Republic of
Bangladesh. The partition saw the division of the British Indian
Army, the Royal Indian Navy, the Indian Civil Service,
the railways, and the central treasury. During the partition of India and
Pakistan There was large-scale violence, Over 18 million people migrated to join
their particular religious majority. At least a million people died in communal
violence in the process, Gangs of killers set whole villages in flame, killing
men and children and the aged while young women were being raped. pregnant
women had their breasts cut off and babies pulled out of their bellies and
infants were found literally roasted on spits. The violent nature of the
partition created an atmosphere of hostility and suspicion between India and
Pakistan that affects their relationship to this day. The population
of undivided India in 1947 was approximately 390 million. After partition there
were 330 million people in India The partition involved the division
of two provinces, Bengal and Punjab based on district-wise
non-Muslim or Muslim majorities.
Punjab a state bordering Pakistan, is the heart of India’s Sikh community The
city of Amritsar, total migration across Punjab during the partition is
estimated around 12 million people and around 6.5 million Muslims moved from
East Punjab to West Punjab, and 4.7 million Hindus and Sikhs moved from West
Punjab to East Punjab. Many Hindus and Sikhs lived in the west, and many
Muslims lived in the east, and the fears of all such minorities were so great
that the Partition saw many people displaced and much inter-communal violence.
the number of deaths were estimated at 2,000,000.The worst case of violence
among all regions is concluded to have taken place in Punjab Virtually no
Muslim survived in East Punjab and virtually no Hindu or Sikh survived in West
Punjab.
Bengal The province of Bengal was divided into the two separate
entities of West Bengal, the Dominion of India and East Bengal, the
Dominion of Pakistan.
Thousands of Hindus located in the districts of East Bengal were of Pakistan,
being attacked, and this religious persecution forced hundreds of thousands of
Hindus from East Bengal to seek refuge in India. there were not sufficient
plans for the administrative operation entailed in partition. The British left
a situation of civil unrest and religious tension which was very destabilising
for the new governments. Since Partition, there has been conflict between India
and Pakistan - particularly over Kashmir which both states says should belong
to them.
Pakistan and India have gone to war with each other, and there was conflict
when East Pakistan broke away and became Bangladesh. Kashmir is still an
unresolved issue and remains a source of conflict between India and Pakistan.
Toba Tek Singh by Sadat Hasan Manto
"Toba
Tek Singh" The story is about Bishan Singh and some other lunatics who
live in the Lahore Mental Asylum.
Two or three years after the Partition, The Government of India and Pakistan
decides to exchange their lunatics from one country to other. Muslim lunatics
from India would be sent to Pakistan and Hindus and Sikhs from Pakistan would
be sent to India. The lunatics were confused when they came to know about the
decision as they don't know anything about Pakistan. They were unaware of where
it was situated and wanted to know whether they were in India or Pakistan. They
wondered that if they were in Pakistan how come a little while ago they were in
India. One of the lunatics climbed up a tree and decided to live there saying
he would go to neither Pakistan nor India.
Bishan Singh is one among the lunatics of Lahore Asylum, he is the protagonist
of this story. He is a harmless old man came to the asylum fifteen years ago
when he went mad Whenever he spoke it was the same mysterious gibberish:
"Uper the gur gur the annexe the bay dhayana the mung the dal of the
laltain." Toba Tek Singh is his hometown where he had some land and
property. His family members came to visit him once a month, but after the
riots broke out they stopped coming. It is later through Fazal Din, a friend
and neighbour of Bishan Singh's family he came to know that Bishan Singh's
family left for India and were safe there.
the day of exchange came and the lunatics were taken to the Wagha border. The
exchange procedure started after the formalities had been done by both sides
but it proved to be a very difficult task. The lunatics were out of control,
they were screaming, laughing, crying, running here and there making the task
all the more complex. After many lunatics Bishan Singh's turn came for the
exchange, he asked one officer" where Toba Tek Singh was?". When he
learns from the officer that his homeland is in Pakistan he refused to budge.
Many officers tried to move him but failed, since he was a harmless old man so
they left him for a little while to attend others.
After a few second all heard a sudden scream from Bishan Singh, the man who had
stood erect on his legs for fifteen years, now pitched face-forward on to the
ground. On one side, behind barbed wire, stood together the lunatics of India
and on the other side, behind more barbed wire, stood the lunatics of Pakistan.
In between, on a bit of earth which had no name a piece of land where he fell
belonged to neither India nor Pakistan
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