Toba Tek Singh (short story)

Toba Tek Singh, written by Saadat Hasan Manto, is a short story, published in 1955, about inmates in a Lahore asylum who are to be deported to India - following the 1947 partition. The story is a "powerful satire" on the relationship between India and Pakistan [ [http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00urdu/tobateksingh/storynotes.html? Toba Tek Singh - About the story - Columbia University] ] . A film based on the play was made in 2005. [ [http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~sbajaj/afi/toba/summary.html Summary of Toba Tek Singh] ]

Plot summary

The story is set two or three years after the 1947 partition, when the governments of India and Pakistan decided to exchange their Muslim, Sikh and Hindu lunatics.

The story revolves around Bishan Singh, a Sikh inmate of an asylum in Lahore, who is from the town of Toba Tek Singh. As part of the exchange of lunatics Bishan Singh is sent under police escort to India, upon being told that his hometown Toba Tek Singh is in Pakistan, he refuses to go. Toba Tek Singh is a real town, now in Pakistan.

The story ends with Bishan lying down between barbed wire: "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."

Critical reaction

On the 60th anniversary of partition the Pakistani theatre group Ajoka, as part of a series of plays and performances, performed the play in India it was described as a "commentary on the state of affairs between the two countries, where sub-committees, committees and ministerial-level talks are the panacea for all problems". [ [http://www.hindu.com/fr/2007/08/17/stories/2007081750370300.htm Beyond the shadows, Friday Review Delhi : The Hindu] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.sacw.net/partition/tobateksingh.html Toba Tek Singh in English - The South Asia Citizens Web]

* [http://www.lehigh.edu/~amsp/2006/07/saadat-hasan-mantos-letters-to-uncle.html A review of Saadat Hasan Manto's stories]