Manto writes about the partition remarkably off-handedly. In class, the idea was floated that Manto's voice is curiously semi-invested and semi-exhausted at the same time. And when I read TTS once over, I realized that his tone is so casually scathing that you don't pick up on it immediately. But Manto keeps his distance in describing the lead up to the events that decide the eviction of the crazies. It's interesting in it's own right, how this distance really reflects his disdain for the notion of partition once you think about it some. That was clever, Manto. Respect.
But moving on to the most interesting aspect of this afsaana: the idea that partition was a cleavage of realities that the State simply did not account for. Then the particular reality of the subaltern; the mental patients of a ward, whom were considered at the very edge of the marginalized spectrum. Through the resistance of these patients, I feel Manto tackles the question of national identity and what is considered home. The fact that Pakistan banna hai, but where is it? What is Pakistan? Wasn't this just India yesterday? That confusion- that change of space while the physical reality remained same- is a sentiment you don't get to see a lot of in writings about Partition. And it is demonstrated really well in the way that the the question of Toba Tek Singh's location plays out. The patients are being told that they are sent home, but this recreation of a new home is akin to exile. Very bitter reality of Partition, and Manto does well to give the reader the essence of it.
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