THE LEGEND OF TOBA

THE TALE OF TOBA TEK SINGH.

-Nitin Thota, 20SJCCC348.

 

              I have chosen to make a collage as collages are one of the most efficient ways to convey information creatively and efficiently. Collages are made by arranging various pieces of visual art together usually to convey one common picture or message.

              In my collage, the theme is based on the partition of India in 1947. The different pictures show the movement of people across the new border. The muslim prisoners and lunatics were moved to the state of Pakistan and the sikh and hindu prisoners and lunatics were moved to India.

              In the story of “Toba Tek Singh” by Sadat Hasan Monto, I have assumed Toba Tek Singh as a place. The story Revolves around a sikh lunatic named Bishan Singh who was in a Pakastani asylum. His family had left him here approximately fifteen years before the partition. During his time in the asylum, he hadn’t slept and wouldn even lie down to rest. His feet were swollen with constant standing and his calves had puffed out in the middle. 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.”

             During the partition, Bishan Singh was curious to know which country his home town of Toba Tek Singh would be a part of. He asked everyone hoping to get an answer but no one seemed to know where it was. His relatives stopped visiting too so he couldn’t ask them. The older employees at the asylum knew he was well-to-do and owned considerable land in Toba Tek Singh. Everyone called him Toba Tek Singh.

              A few days before the movement, a Muslim friend from Toba Tek Singh who knew Bishan Singh came to visit. His name was Fazal Din, he came to inform Bishan Singh that his family is safe and has already gone to India and he will soon be sent to India as well. Bishan asked Fazal where Toba Tek Singh was, Fazal said it’s where it always has been.

             The day of the exchange had come. The two sides met at the Wagah border check-post, signed documents and the transfer got underway. Most inmates were against the operation. When Bishan Singh’s turn to register came, he asked the official where Toba Tek Singh was. The official said “In Pakistan, of course”. He ran back and joined the other inmates who were against the exchange. The guards tried go push him across the line to India but he wouldn’t move. “This is Toba Tek Singh,” he announced. “Uper the gur gur the annexe the be dyhana mung the dal of Toba Tek Singh and Pakistan.” The officials left him alone as he wasn’t causing any harm. Just before sunrise, Bishan Singh let out a horrible scream. As everybody rushed towards him, 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, lay Toba Tek Singh. The imagery of this scene is the central picture of my collage.

                   The reader can’t help but empathize with Bishan Singh who was just a common man that was trying to find his home town. This is just another case of tragedy caused by the partition. There are millions of stories just like Bishan Singh’s. The partition displaced between 10 and 20 million people along religious lines, creating overwhelming refugee crises in the newly constituted dominions. There was large-scale violence, with estimates of loss of life accompanying or preceding the partition disputed and varying between several hundred thousand and two million. The violent nature of the partition created an atmosphere of hostility and suspicion between India and Pakistan that affects their relationship to this day.

                 We can never be certain what the future holds for us. A prime example of this is the start and spread of the Coronavirus disease which took us all by surprise. All we can do is hope that similar events do not take place. Due to the division of people, many couldn’t make it across the border to go back home to their families and many families have lost their loved ones in the process.