Poem: Gulzar's TOBA TEK SINGH

 

Poem: TOBA TEK SINGH

GULZAR

 

Class BA VI Sem. English Hon’s

Partition Literature

 

Background:

 

Toba Tek Singh is a short story based on the partition of India, written by Saadat Hasan Manto. It was first written in Urdu and published in 1955. It is interwoven with the theme of partition and its emotional and psychological effects on the human psyche. Manto very realistically depicts the division of society into different sects after the partition in the name of religion. It tells the story of the migration of Hindus and Muslims to India and Pakistan respectively after partition in the name of religion. The story is set two or three years after the 1947 partition when the governments of India and Pakistan decided to exchange some Muslim, Sikh, and Hindu lunatics. It revolves around Bishan Singh, a Sikh inmate of an Asylum in Lahore, who is from the town of Toba Tek Sing.  Toba Tek Singh is regarded as Satire on Partition. It reflects how after partition the political system of both countries India and Pakistan forces the common people to leave their native place on the basis of religion. Therefore, the decision of the Higher Authorities of both India and Pakistan, that non-Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs should go to India, divided people on the basis of religion and forced them to leave their ancestor’s homes against their will. The story is about Bisha Singh and some other lunatics who live in Lahore Mental Asylum. The story starts two or three years after the partition. The Governments of India and Pakistan decided to exchange their lunatics from one country to other. Muslim lunatics from India would be sent to Pakistan and Hindus and Sikhs from Pakistan would be sent to India. The Lunatics were totally confused when they came to know about the decision as they didn’t know anything about Pakistan.  The story is about Bisha Singh and some other lunatics who live in Lahore Mental Asylum. The story starts two or three years after the partition. The Governments of India and Pakistan decided to exchange their lunatics from one country to other. Muslim lunatics from India would be sent to Pakistan and Hindus and Sikhs from Pakistan would be sent to India. The Lunatics were totally confused when they came to know about the decision as they didn’t know anything about Pakistan.They were unaware of its location and wanted to know whether they were in India or Pakistan. One of the lunatics climbed up a tree and decided to live there and decided to live there saying he would go to neither Pakistan nor India. Besides,  a Sikh lunatic called himself Master Tara Singh and another young Hindu lawyer from Lahore did not wish to go to India. Bishan Singh is one of the lunatics of Lahore Asylum. He is the protagonist of this story. He is a harmless old man who came to the asylum fifteen years ago when he went mad. Toba Tek Singh is his hometown where he had some land and property. His family members came to visit him once a month. But after the riots broke out they stopped coming. Later through Fazal Din, a friend, and neighbor of Bishan Singh’s family, we came to know that Bisan Singh’s family left for India and were safe there. Finally, the day of exchange came and the lunatics were taken to the Wagha Border. The exchange procedure started after the formalities had been done by both sides but it proved to be a very difficult task. The lunatics were out of control. They were screaming, laughing, crying running here and there making the task all the more complex. After many lunatics Bishan Singh’s turn came for the exchange he asked to register, Where is Toba Tek Singh? It is in India or Pakistan. The official tells it is now in Pakistan. Toba Tek Singh was a Sikh and Hindu dominated village. But villagers were forced to leave their ancestral place after partition.  Bishan Singh tried to run but was overpowered by the Pakistani guards. They tried to put him across the diving line toward India. Just before sunrise, Bishan Singh, the man who had stood on his legs for fifteen years screamed and as officials from the two sides rushed toward him, he collapsed to the ground that had no name.

      Summary of the poem:      

Toba Tek Singh by Gulzar, recipient of Jnanpith Award 2024, talks about Bishan Singh. Bishan Singh hails from the town of Toba Tek Singh, now in Pakistan. Bishan Singh is the main character of Saadat Hasan Manto’s short story ‘Toba Tek Singh’ published in 1955. Gulzar is deeply touched by the agony of Bishan Singh as well as the partition pangs described in Manto’s story. So, Gulzar directly adopts the title and adapts the story through his poetic imagination. He has something more to tell Bishan Singh about what happened even after the official partition of 1947.

 

The poem consists of eight stanzas. There are two major sections in the poem. The first section presents a preliminary sketch of Bishan Singh and the second section depicts the brutality and horror of the partition. Gulzar starts his poem with Bishan Singh. Bishan Singh lies in the no man’s land at Wagah border. He refuses to leave his motherland. Gulzar finds him still there. Bishan Singh’s swollen feet remind the poet of his mental agony. Moreover the incoherent muttering ‘opad di gud gud di moong did al di laltain’ refers to the political turmoil persisting on during partition. It also shows the disaster that ordinary people faced.

 

Gulzar says he has to find ‘that mad fellow’ somehow. He used to speak up from a higher branch of a tree as if ‘He’s god’. Moreover, the poet says he has to decide which village is in Pakistan and which one belongs to India.  He broods over what he has to say to Bishan Singh as when he will descend from the tree. Gulzar in the poem wants to meet Bishan Singh at Wagah Border. He says he has to tell Bishan’s friend Afzal about the death of his dear ones namely Lahna Singh and Bheen Amrit. They somehow managed to escape from Pakistan but in the end, they were butchered. Bloodthirsty men not only displaced their heads but also looted their belongings.

 

In the last section of the poem, the poet refers to the nameless killings of thousands of humans. Moreover they didn’t even leave a little girl, here referred to as Bhuri. Her parents might have been killed and only she survived. But, they thought what the meaning of keeping that girl alive was and rest is history. The girl who grew one finger height every year, had been shortened each year in her grave after being killed at the hands of nationalists. Moreover, the poet says there were a lot of mad people like Bishan who had yet to reach their destinations. They were standing on either side of the newly drawn border between India and Pakistan. At last the poet again quotes the mutterings of Bishan Singh. But this time there is an addition. The last part of this quote : ‘ Hindustan te Pakistan di dur fitey munh’ means ‘India and Pakistan go to bloody hell’.

 

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