One of the finest books from Khushwant Singh. It was long ago that I read
it and even longer ago that I tried watching it on cable television, albeit unsuccessfully.
I had been sneaking glances at the tube while trying to appear busy with my fire truck and mauled GI joes. A young girl was dancing and a grand old man was Wah-wahing, that is whenever he could manage to raise his head from sipping/sniffing the scotch. One look at my slant vision - dropped jaw and my mom dutifully shooed me out of the room.
Finally it was in my freshman year that I managed to whack the book off somebody.
I’ll summarize the main characters and li’ll bit of the plot. In the
process (bet on it) pepper it with my opinion, howsoever skewed.
The protagonist is an ex village-budmaash turned lover who cannot resist making it out with the blind Imam’s daughter on moon-less nights. While
the two are busy rolling in the hay, Daakoos kill and loot with gay
abandon. By happenstance our hero is the first suspect in the eyes of
law. In no time he is put behind bars and, I remember explicitly, the
cops mention putting chilly powder in his..ahum, rectum If he doesn’t confess to the crime fast.
There is the whisky sniffing, pedophile District Collector Mr. Lal who
prefers his mustaches waxed. Our learned Mr. Lal is aware of what a
difficult phase the country is going through and this gives him sleepless
nights. Blood thirsty mobs on rampage and communal riots everywhere. But
the DC is strict that this village (mano-majro something) should not get
even a whiff of current affairs. Being aware of ground realities that
muslims have to go, no two ways about it, he wants the transition to be
as peaceful as possible. Keep the sang-froid intact. Later we see that Army tries to put a spanner in his noble efforts.
Then there is Iqbal, the red under the bed. He is a visiting commie in
disguise who wants to mobilize support for the Socialist Party of India.
Educated in London school of Comics (LSE) he is brimming with social
ideas of the same wave length as the great man Harold Laski himself.
Being particular about his drinking habits, Iqbal never moves around with
whiskey in hip flask and water cleansing tablets in tow.
Another chap who never fails to provide excitement is the village goon.
Name I can’t recall but he is always itching to give b’day bums to the
village muslims. Village Daroga plays an outstanding role in keeping him under leash but Army wants to let him loose.
Nice writing style, taut as well as descriptive and imaginative. This book by KS is one of my favorites regarding the sorry saga of partition. In fact I would recommend the movie ’’1947’’ (starring Amir Khan) too, to the bright eyed
lady who posted the request here.