SUMMARY

The short story Toba Tek Singh written by Saadat Hasan Manto has its deep foundation on
the tragic event which India and Pakistan faced before, during and after independence in the
form of Partition. The 1955 short story is based on inmates of lunatic asylums being split in
the wake of Partition with Hindu and Sikh inmates being transferred to India and Muslim
inmates going to Pakistan.
On hearing the news of the partition a ruckus develops in the madhouse. Each lunatic starts
behaving in his own unique manner. One lunatic proclaims that he is Qaid-e-azam and
another proclaims that he is Master Tara Singh, a quarrel starts between the two and so they
are separated. Another lunatic begins to run around naked after hearing the news. One
particular lunatic even climbed a tree and refused to come down because he couldnt bear the
thought of partition, he didnt want to be a part of India or Pakistan.
The author then introduces the character of Bishan Singh, an inmate who hadnt slept a wink
in fifteen years. The only form of his rest was when he leant on a wall for some time. When
he heard of the news of partition he began to utter the nonsensical phrase Upri gur-gur di
annexe di be-dhiyana di mung di daal of di laaltein By this he probably meant to convey that
everything that was happening around made no sense. He couldnt understand the reason of
the partition. Before he was sent to the madhouse he had been a wealth land owner but his
prosperity got the good of him and he lost his senses. All along his stay in the madhouse, he
went about asking the inmates where the land of Toba Tek Singh was; the reason he wanted
to know this was that he owned a piece of land there and wanted to visit the place at some
point. Because of his constant queries about this place he even came to be known as Toba
Tek Singh.
On the fateful day of exchange hell broke loose at the border, because the madmen were
uncontrollable. Bishan Singh on the other hand did only one thing, he asked the government
officials where Toba Tek Singh was. He wanted to confirm its location such that he would
rightfully go to the country where Toba Tek Singh was located. Since he was a Sikh he was
being sent to India where his relatives were awaiting him. Bishan Singh is traumatised at
being told he is being sent off to India while his village Toba Tek Singh is in Pakistan. When
the government officials didnt let him do so, he lay down on a nameless piece of land
between the two countries. This indicated that he would rather die in no mans land than
make a choice between India and Pakistan.

THEMES:
o Individual identity crisis.
o Partition and its effects
o Set in a madhouse it uses madness as a metaphor for sanity that if you were sane
enough you would have not gone ahead for such division that has lasting effects.
o The ambiguity of the nationhood in the wake of partition
o The madmen in the Lahore asylum are a microcosm of the society. Through them all
sections of the society and targeted and satirized and amidst them is Bishan Singh
who successfully resists all such identities thrust upon them by choosing something
that belongs to no one.
o The concept of Binarism can be seen in this short story. It is the distinction between
the two extremes; either here or there, no in between. It is a choice between two
politics, religion, race and creed.

About The Author:
Saadat Hasan Manto (1912- 55) He is most widely read and controversial Urdu short
story writer of the 20th century He was born in a Muslim Kashmiri family in 1912 in Punjab.
lived in Bombay, but was forced to immigrate to Pakistan during partition. He began his
writing in a period that was marked with:
British rule
Social turmoil
Struggle for independence
Division
Partition


Mantos writings
His subject and themes are marked by originality and simplicity.
Focused on storys structure and finely thought out details.
Have shocking and surprising endings.
Exposes hollowness of middle class morality.
Characters usually from fallen and rejected sections of the society
Published 22 collections of short stories, 7 collections of radio plays, 3 collections of
essays and 1 novel.
Wrote about social taboos in South Asian societies, such as; socio- economic,
injustice, love, sex, prostitution, hypocrisy etc.