THE LEGEND OF TOBA

 Toba Tek Singh: An Indelible place

-Esha P, 20SJCCC371.

There are numerous ways to express your thoughts and feelings, for example making a movie/ documentary, drawing and painting, making a song etc., I have chosen digital art to express my views on Toba Tek Singh. Drawing for me has always been exciting, ever since I remember I have always liked to draw even while I was bad at it. It took me several months and constant nagging from my drawing teacher for me get my strokes right. Digital art is perceived to be way harder to do than it actually is, this was the first time that I actually created a digital art and it has been a fun process. One of the features of art forms like painting and music which I like is that it is open for interpretations, it can be perceived in 100 different ways from 100 different people. It doesn’t restrict your imaginations and also it is captivating to look at.

Creativity is something which all homosapiens are born it. It is something which makes us different from all the other species in the world. Creative expressions not only brings out the artist’s imagination but also helps to summarize it. In this busy world of ours where people are constantly moving from one thing to another, these creative expressions capture their mind and helps them imagine again. These expressions help in re-imagining the history, a piece of poetry or a painting or a novel or a song all of them have a story to tell. A story of how and when the art form was created and what was the artist’s reason behind creating it. For Example, the story ‘Toba Tek Singh’ written by Sadat Hasan Manto helps us to re-imagine the situation after India- Pakistan partition.

The painting is about a person Bishan Singh who is originally from Toba Tek Singh who ends up dying while wanting to go back to the place. Bishan Singh was a lunatic in the Lahore Mental Institution. He was brought there 15 years ago from his hometown when he suddenly fell ill. He always spoke gibberish and made no sense, but ever since he heard about the partition he was curious about where his hometown was located now and asked every other lunatic with him in there about it. On the moving day when he was being transferred to Indian Asylum he asked an officer the same question, the officer without knowing his condition answered saying it was in Pakistan. This only made him madder and his need of staying back to be increased. The painting is not only about Bishan Singh but also the other residents from that place. It talks about the grief bone by the residents of Toba Tek Singh when they are forced to move out of their homes because of the India- Pakistan partition. The decision taken by a few people affected the lives of millions which led to the question “Was it a right decision to accept the conditions of the Britishers?” and the same question remains unanswered till date. Toba Tek Singh was a place in India but after the split, it went to Pakistan. So the Hindus living there were forced to move in order to stay alive. The history of Toba Tek Singh is traced to a person named Tek Singh who frequented the area, given that it was situated at a point where many routes met. Tek Singh used to serve them water from the Garha Pot or also called Toba in Urdu. With time, this became the identity of the place and it was named Toba Tek Singh. The place which brought solace to the travelers and wanderers now brought tears and sadness to the ones from there.

It makes me wonder if Toba Tek Singh was a person instead of a place, how would his reaction be to when he gets to know that his people were being forced to leave him and go. The people whom he has watched growing, the people who he has helped throughout his life. Would he feel the emptiness in his heart when they go? Would he blame someone for it all to happen? Would he fight for them to still stay there or would he move on and wait for other people to come? And lastly will he be scared for in the future that his name might be changed to something other than Toba Tek Singh just because it is a Hindu name?

Just like a mystery box, no one can predict what our future holds for us. We can have innumerable amount of predictions but only one among them will come true. Maybe the future can be rosy, the people who lost their land because of the partition can gather around and then start a protest against the partition. Looking at the losses of the people, the higher ups or the people who decided the partition understand the mistake made and come to friendly terms. Even if the countries can’t be made one again the leaders can be friendly which will help change the mindset of the people looking up to them. They can come to realize that they are two brothers who were split because of manipulation. Their friendly behavior will help the millions to not lose their homes and they can continue staying where they were before partition.