Partition

An excerpt from ‘Toba Tek Singh’ by Saadat Hasan Manto

A couple of years after the partition of the country, it occurred to the respective governments of India and Pakistan that inmates of lunatic asylums, like prisoners, should also be exchanged. Muslim lunatics in India should be transferred to Pakistan and Hindu and Sikh lunatics in Pakistani asylums should be sent to India.

Whether this was a reasonable or an unreasonable idea is difficult to say. One thing, however, is clear. It took many conferences of important officials from the two sides to come to this decision. Final details, like the date of actual exchange, were carefully worked out. Muslim lunatics, whose families were still residing in India, were to be left undisturbed, the rest moved to the border for the exchange. The situation in Pakistan was slightly different, since almost the entire population of Hindus and Sikhs had already migrated to India. The question of keeping non-Muslim lunatics in Pakistan did not, therefore, arise.

While it is not known what the reaction in India was, when the news reached the Lahore lunatic asylum, it immediately became the subject of heated discussion. One Muslim lunatic, a regular reader of the fi re-eating daily newspaper Zamindar, when asked what Pakistan was, replied after deep reflection: “The name of a place in India where cut-throat razors are manufactured.” This profound observation was received with visible satisfaction.

The complete short story ‘Toba Tek Singh’ appears in the Booklet of the DVD release. The English translation, by Khalid Hasan, was first published in ‘Kingdom’s End and Other Stories’ (London, Verso, 1987)

Scriptwriter and film historian James Leahy’s interview with Ken McMullen also appears in the Booklet of the DVD release.


Contents
Disc Info

Partition Boxshot

UK 1987
Length / Main Feature: 78 minutes
Length / Special Feature: 60 minutes
Sound: Original stereo
Black & White and Colour
Original aspect ratio: 1.33:1 full frame
Language: English
Subtitles: French On/Off
PAL R0  
RRP: £12.99
Release Date: 27th August 2007
Second Run DVD 030

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