Ayesha

There is a very strong element of irony in Toba Tek Singh. Through the various insane characters Manto displays his incredulity at the event of partition. And his critical perspective on partition has nothing to do with the political, or historical or geographical, but simply the very immediate horror of violence that accompanied partition. Through his narrative, he is trying to understand how the basest of human actions could occur on such a large scale. And this is reflected in the dialogue of the characters. Bishen’s speech is nonsensical, complete gibberish. It seems to reflect the utter incomprehensibility of the loss of human conscience that accompanied partition. It’s this idea of complete disarray, confusion, and most importantly a crisis of identity. This is further represented in the fact that Bishen’s dialogue contains three languages- English, Urdu and Punjabi. Yet again, there is a sense of displacement and a separation from one’s cultural identity.

Another interesting thing about Toba Tek Singh was its exploration of the concept of a motherland. Not the cold, geographical notion of nationhood, but a more organic idea of a homeland, associated with the place one has lived. It’s a much more confined concept but it’s so much more understandable than abstract notions like Muslim identity and a Muslim homeland. How can one comprehend the idea of a new home when they've had to leave everything behind- all the relations they've had for a lifetime and all the memories made in that place? Today, as third generation Pakistanis, we seem to only consider the many material sacrifices that the migrants made in order to reach their “true” home. Popular discourse will focus on the fact that despite all these material hurdles, at the very least they could join their “Muslim brothers and sisters”. But the bigger sacrifice on their part, and the one we are unable to grasp, was not their houses or their wealth but their very homeland. In the story, Bishen Singh refuses to choose either of the two places, and in his own way preserves his sense of home.