Separation, Partition and Death.

The death of Aba jee symbolizes the two partition episodes discussed in this novel. The impact it leaves and the vacuum it creates in the life of people attached to Aba jee resonates with the impact of these partition episodes. We see Ama jee separated from Aba jee, who to some extent represented her last ‘basti’. This again highlights feelings of exile and separation which partition also created. We see both of these characters are exiled into different spaces; it is not only Ama jee who has to face the separation, rather Aba jee is forcefully exiled into a different space because of his death.

As a result of this event, the only reaction we get from Ama jee is of forceful acceptance of the circumstances. She is shocked, traumatized and eventually covers the cold body of Aba jee with a blanket. Her grief is only expressed through soundless crying. These are all signs of acceptance. There is no abrupt reaction to Aba jee’s death which shows that death, similar to partition affects one deeply but does not make one revolt against the reality of situation. Even Aba jee, before dying is not scared of his death. He accepts his separation from this world to another, by considering himself a ‘guest’ who has ‘no right on the land’.

We later discover the deep impact of Aba jee’s death on Zakir. He wanders off into the streets which are not a safe place to be at; he says prayers in random Mosques which are on high alert. Furthermore, he is not intimidated by the firing episodes we can hear in the background setting of the novel. He is ignorant of all the threats this could cause to his life.

Thus it can be argued that Hussain has shown the true impact partition causes on ones’ soul and mind through the death of Aba jee.