Teaching "Train to Pakistan"

For many years, I knew about Khushwant Singh's Train to Pakistan. I knew that on the question of the Partition of the Indian sub-continent, this was the book to read. While teaching Indian Literature, I mentioned it again and again. It is only this month, however, that I have been able to read Train to Pakistan, as part of the readings for my South Asian Literature course.

Having just finished reading it, I am happy I placed it immediately after Ahmed Ali's Twilight in Delhi. There are significant overlaps between the two. I am also happy that after Train to Pakistan, we will be reading Bapsi Sidhwa's Cracking India. I have taught Cracking India, a novel that brings up some of the very issues we encounter in Train to Pakistan.

Train to Pakistan centers around the village of Mano Majra, populated by Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs. They have their places of worshop there and live in harmony. As the killings in Pakistan and India grow more feverish and Muslims escape to Pakistan and Hindus to India, the village of Mano Mijra struggles with very difficult questions: whether to ask the Muslims to go or to let them continue to live in the village in accordance with age-old customs of hospitality.

Train to Pakistan is a gripping story, in many ways. I had read about the Partition and Indian Independence, but this novel gives a human face to the historical accounts, in the sense that it explores the impact of the Partition on human beings. Its exploration of bigotry and tensions between Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs ought to make us take a close look at ourselves.

In discussing this novel, I mentioned various other works that contain the same theme: In the Book of Dede Korkut Muslims long for and celebrate the killing of infidels. In the Song of Roland the Christians long for and destroy Muslims. I mentioned Gassire's Lute, the West African epic in which we hear disparaging comments about the dog like Borama. I also mentioned the American bishop who said: kill a commie for Christ.

Even though, in this novel, we are encountering fictional characters, we can hear and feel what they are going through and what they are thinking about. We experience the life they live where they live; we see the sights, hear the sounds, and smell the smells. As Hemingway would say, Train to Pakistan is a true book.

Train to Pakistan is a gripping novel, whose events are foreshadowed on the very first page:

The summer of 1947 was not like other Indian summers. Even the weather had a different feel in India that year. It was hotter than usual, and drier and dustier. And the summer was longer. No one could remember when the monsoon had been so late. For weeks, the sparse clouds cast only shadows. There was no rain. People began to say that God was punishing them for their sins.

Interestingly, the trains we read about are all coming from Pakistan, laden with dead bodies of Hindus and the lucky few who are not dead. Only in the end is there a story of a train going to Pakistan. There is suspense surrounding the approach of this train, with a stunning surprise ending as Juggat Singh, whose image has all along not been particularly good, commits an unexpected, breathtaking act of heroism and bravery, foiling a well planned ambush and massacre of the Muslims traveling on this train. Juggat Singh dies as the train proceeds to Pakistan.

Teaching "Twilight in Delhi"

My South Asian Literature class in now comfortably underway, in its fourth week. We started with Mulk Anand's Untouchable, which I have taught many times. We then studied Ahmed Ali's Twilight in Delhi, which I had not read before.

Reading Twilight in Delhi in the wake of Untouchable has been a valuable experience, a broadening of horizons. While Untouchable relates the experience of Indian Hindus, Twilight in Delhi deals with Indian Muslims.

Never having read a novel about the world of Indian Muslims, I found Twilight in Delhi refreshing. Fortunately, I know something about Islam, especially coming from Tanzania, a country where about half of the population is Muslim and about half Christian.

I spent considerable time explaining Islamic principles to my students, as a way of establishing the groundwork for discussing Twilight in Delhi. I described the five pillars of Islam and showed three videos: this one, which presents the Islamic call to prayer; this recitation of the Quran; and a small boy's recitation of Surah Yasin.

Twilight in Delhi deals with such themes as patriotism, love, and marriage. It portrays family life, wedding customs, healing and burial practices. From its very beginning, Twilight in Delhi exudes nostalgia for the Delhi of the past, whose grandeur and magnificence fell apart as a result of British rule.

This novel presents the fate of Delhi as a metaphor for the human condition. In ways reminiscent of existentialist writings, characters in Twilight in Delhi contemplate and talk about the meaning of life and the transience of human achievements. This reminds me of Al-Inkishafi, the classic Swahili poem, which reflects on the demise of the old famous Swahili cities, making us wonder about the meaning of life itself.

Teaching South Asian Literature

A few months ago, I designed a course on South Asian Literature. It would focus on India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, the location of one of the world's oldest civilizations, whose contributions to the world include Hinduism, the Mahabharata and Ramayana epics, and literary works in many languages. I am teaching the course this Spring.

Over the years, I have taught literary works from this part of the world, such as Gitanjali, by Rabindranath Tagore; Untouchable, by Mulk Raj Anand; Kanthapura, by Raja Rao; The Vendor of Sweets, The Painter of Signs, and The Guide, by R. K. Narayan; Nectar in a Sieve, by Kamala Markandaya; Fire on the Mountain, Baumgartner's Bombay, and Fasting, Feasting, by Anita Desai; Cracking India and The Crow Eaters by Bapsi Sidhwa.

I did not, however, teach all these works at one time or in one course. I included two or three such texts in my courses on Post-colonial Literature or Introduction to Literature. I always include a work by R.K. Narayan in my Hero and Trickster course.

The South Asian literature course is an opportunity to focus on one part of the world, exploring the dialectical and dynamic relationship between literature, history, culture, religion, and politics. I look forward to guiding my students through an exploration of not only the unique artistic contribution of each writer, but also how these writers appropriate indigenous traditions such as folklore, as well as "Western" and other foreign traditions.

Here are the works I am teaching: Untouchable, by Mulk Raj Anand; Twilight in Delhi, by Ahmed Ali; Train to Pakistan, by Khushwant Singh; Cracking India, by Bapsi Sidhwa; Anil's Ghost, by Michael Ondaatje; Reef, by Romesh Gunesekera, and The God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy.

I have neither read nor taught most of these works, but I like exploring new areas of literature. One might ask: where is Kalidasa? Where are Tagore, Salman Rushdie, Anita Desai, Shashi Deshpande, Amitav Ghosh, Meena Alexander and so many other writers? How can you teach South Asian Literature without including Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children? Where are the playwrights and the poets? All these would be valid questions, but there is only so much one can do in one semester.