MANO MAJRA - KHUSWANTH SING

MANO MAJRA  - KHUSWANTH SING

    Khuswanth Singh is an Indian writer in English. He is a versatile writer. He is frank and fearless in expressing his opinions. ‘Train to Pakistan’ is the first historical novel of Khuswanth Singh. The novel is based on the Hindu- Muslim riots of 1947 which followed the partition of India. Mano Majra is an extract from “Train to Pakistan”. It is about how the life and activities of the people in that village are controlled by trains.

About Mano Majra

     Mano Majra is a tiny place. It has only three brick buildings. They are Lala Ram Lal’s home, the Sikh temple and the Mosque. There are only about seventy families live in Mano Majra.  Lala Ram Lal is the only Hindu family the others are Sikhs or Muslims. There are few families of sweepers whose religion is uncertain. At the western end of the village there is a pond surrounded by Keekar trees. Under a keekar tree beside the pond there is three-foot slab of sandstone. It is the local deity, the deo to which all the villagers worship secretly whenever they are in need of god’s blessing. The village is on the banks of the river Sutlej. It is the largest river in Punjab. About a mile north of the village the river is spanned by a railroad bridge.

Railway station in Mano Majra

     Mano Majra is known for its railways station. It has several sidings where less important trains can wait, to make way to the express trains. A small colony of shopkeepers and hawkers sell food, betel leaves, cigarettes, tea, biscuits and sweetmeats to the travelers. In the station, the station master himself sells the tickets and collects the tickets, sends and receives messages over the telegraph and waves a green flag for trains. His assistant will lit the lamps on the platform in the evenings.

Mano Majra and Trains

No express trains stop at Mano Majra. Only two trains, one from Delhi to Lahore in the mornings and the other from Lahore to Delhi in the evenings will be stopped for a few minutes. The only regular customers are the goods trains. The sidings are always occupied by long rows of wagons.  When the countryside is steeped in silence, the train sound can be heard all through the night. All this had made the people very conscious of trains. In the early dawn, the train from Delhi to Lahore crosses the bridge, the driver invariably blows two long whistle. In an instant, all   Majra comes awake. The Mullah at the mosque will start the morning prayer, followed by the priest at the Sikh temple. By the time 10.30 a.m. a passenger train from Delhi comes in life in Mano Majra. Men are in the fields. Women are busy with their daily chores. Children graze cattle by the river. When the midday express goes by, Mano Majra stops to rest. Men and children come home for dinner and the siesta hour. When the evening passenger from Lahore comes in, everyone gets to work again. The women cool the evening meal. Then the families eat supper of vegetables and chapatti, and sip hot creamy milk out of large copper tumblers. When the good train steams in, they say to each other ‘there is the goods train’.  It is like saying goodnight. The mullah and the priest do the prayer. The goods train takes a long time at the station, when it leaves, the children are asleep.

It was the condition of the village before the summer of 1947.