The case of the no mans land: Toba Tek Singh an analysis

Toba Tek Singh, a piece of land that was one of the prime objects of and in question in Sadat Hassan
Mantos prolific work Toba Tek Singh. A land that was a child of the nation called India. But later it
was orphaned just like Manto during the creation of what is now called Hindustan and Pakistan.
And here we get to see the blood, gore and fear left behind by that christening in blood called Indias
partition. And through this paper I also wish to further explore an already explored concept i.e. the
partition of our glorious nation into two halves, due to the fact that we could not maintain diversity.
The we here I am using to refer to the Indian who considered themselves Hindus and the people
who considered themselves Muslims. As they were the ones we are to really congratulate for the
partition not only of our country, but also for the bloodshed caused by it. In short with the partition
it was not just a piece of soil that was divided but also the spirit that was once a nation. And Sadat
Hassan Manto talks just about this in his short stories.
Before I talk to you about his work, I am obliged to make a mention of Manto. As to understand his
works completely we need to understand the person named Manto. Mantos chronicling of chaos
started during the partition of India in 1947. But at first Manto had begun his writing career at fist
with translations of authors like Oscar Wilde, Maxim Gorky, Victor Hugo and others into Urdu, these
works had influenced him to go in search of his own mooring. His first short story was Tamasha
which he had written based on the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, but later he started writing satire. His
work could be called Dark Humour as it had portrayed the darkness of the human psyche, an innate
sense of human impotency towards darkness and contained a satirism which resulted in him
composing his Magnum Opus, Toba Tek Singh.
Toba Tek Singh was a satirical masterpiece, which showed the life of some inmates in a mental
asylum in Lahore. 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, and revolves around Bishan
Singh, a Sikh inmate of an asylum in Lahore, who is from the town of Toba Tek Singh. Before
beginning my central argument, I must first relate the story to the readers as it shall be most helpful
for further understanding my argument. The story is set in a mental asylum where the Indian and
Pakistani have taken an important decision, and that decision is to divide even the lunatics in the
asylum, as send them to their native places. The asylum in question is at Pakistan and the Sikh and
Hindu lunatics are the ones that shall be exchanged or sent back to India, while Muslims shall be
received by them. The majority people in the asylum are insane (the reason for this usage shall be
explained later), and the reason Manto used them is quite important as he shows us that division of
Indian population that has not been affected or are un-aware of the partition of India. The question
Molbi Sab, whats this Pakistan? makes that clear and the humorous answers given to those
question makes it even clearer. The reason for me using the word majority to state the condition
of the inmates was due to the fact that even non-lunatics who were criminals and their relatives had
bribed the officials there so that they could escape judgement and they were the only ones who
knew of the partition and what Pakistan really was. Some of the lunatics (the real ones) who had not
completely lost their minds were very much bothered about the question of choice and they were
driven out of desperation to a point of indecision, and one of them even said that he did not want
both and decided to live on a tree, as he had burned his circuit, thinking and pining about the fact
that he would have to part with his Sikh and Hindu friends.
After all this comes our upar di gur gur di annex di be dhyana di mung di daal of the lantern.
Bisham Singh, who the guards in the asylum had never seen sleeping, (this might be an indication of
insomnia) even once in 15 years. And his answer for the question of India or Pakistan was Upar di
gur gur di annex di be dhyana di mung di daal of the Pakistan Government the meaning of this is
unknown to the readers, but there is enough gap to speculate hypothetically that he might be
dismissing the governments, through these statements. But again this interpretation can be
contested as the word Pakistan gets replaced by Toba Tek Singh.
He later begins to ask the other inmates about the location of his hometown Toba Tek Singh, but
none had offered him satisfactory answers as they too were at times confused. Then the narrator
tells us of Bisham Singhs life and temperament. We get to know that he was a gentle man, who did
not have that gentle an appearance, and he had never quarrelled with anyone in the asylum. And
before he became insane, Bisham Singh became insane he was a prosperous landlord, and when he
fell ill, they chained him up in iron shackles and brought him to the asylum and after admitting him
they left. They used to visit him every month till the problem of partition cropped up into the social
scenario. He in the asylum had a nick name Toba Tek Singh, which might have been given to him
due to his obsession with the place. He was the (readers can speculate) not completely insane,
though the narrator mentions that he had no sense of time, he used to be always aware of the time
when his family members would visit. And he used to get himself into tip-top shape on that day. But
when the issue of Hindustan-Pakistan arose then his relatives visits also stopped. After a while the
voice in his heart which informed him of his relatives arrival also stopped. Later when his frustration
levels reached a fever pitch, he had asked about Toba Tek Singh to a lunatic who claimed that he
was god. But even he did not give a satisfactory reply, and Bisham Singh again out of frustration
enunciated another upar di gur gurthe true god is ever alive which meant that: you are the God
of Muslims! If you were the God of Sikhs, youd surely have listened to me. Again this statement
shows us the dichotomy between Hindus and Muslims are shown and the more significant fact is
that even a person, who is insane, has that feeling inside him. Then a friend of his named Fazil Din
visits him, he comes with the news of news that his family has migrated to Hindustan, but even to
him, Bisham Singh enquires about Toba Tek Singh. But even he was thrown into a state of confusion.
And Bisham Singh gets angry with him and asks him to get out.
Then the fated day of the exchange arrives, the lunatics are seated in Lorries and all of them are
escorted to Wagah border, majority of the lunatics were not in favour of this exchange. Then when
Bisham Singhs turn came, he asked the guards where it (the place) was. And the guards who were
obviously cold and unfriendly had said that it was in Pakistan. And so Bisham Singh in desperation
tried to rush back to Pakistan, but was stopped, and started to cajole him to go to Hindustan. And
due to his harmlessness no further force had to be used. And the next day, early in the morning he
had stopped at the land in between the barbed wire, and he screamed out that, that piece of land
which did not have a name was Toba Tek Singh.
This part of the story is very important to the readers, as it shows us one of the greatest want that is
exhibited by the character Bisham Singh. We get to see both India and Pakistan which is split and is
behind barbed wires. Those barbed wires here can connote to the various differences that today
divide India and Pakistan into two un-joinable halves of a medallion that was once whole. And the no
mans land that lay in between was maybe a Toba Tek Singh that Bisham Singh had envisaged, the
land of oneness with no difference or distinction. But later when he realized that, his Toba Tek
Singh will never be found, he had chosen that strip of land, which belonged to the same mother,
over choosing sides. The question which Bisham Singh faced was indeed very difficult just like the
same question which Manto had to face, and so like Bisham Singh, Indias greatest short story writer
Sadat Hassan Manto had met his end. Manto unlike Bisham Singh was never happy with his choice of
Lahore, as when there he craved for Mumbai, and when in Mumbai he craved for Lahore. And
choosing between India and Pakistan for him was like choosing between his eyes, and that choice for
him was impossible, so finally he wished and craved for a country that was never bound by any
barriers, differences or inequality. And his craving for that India was the feeling that had resulted in
one of the greatest satirical works in India, Toba Tek Singh.