India, being a country of diversities, it seems that it can hardly escape from the curses of political hatred, conflict and riot; so it is quite natural that the writers focusing on India may highlight these problems. Since it is the first novel on the theme of partition, Train to Pakistan projects a realistic picture of those nightmarish and fretful days accompanying the division.
It is regarded that Khushwant Singh intended to name the novel as Mano Majra which hints the static, but later he selected Train to Pakistan , implying the sense of change at the same time recalling the train service which is the symbol of India itself where different cultures, languages converge. With a tinge of irony, Singh introduces the image of ‘ghost trains’- the grave yard of all religious differences.
Here Singh wisely chose a village situated at the border between India and Pakistan and tried to capture the pathetic plight of the villagers of being the helpless witnesses of the riots, hatred and calamities. But when the novel begins, Mano majra is perceived to be the epitome of religious amity-a Sikh majority village, but also has the Hindus and Muslims as its inhabitants; thus it becomes allegorically representing India. The amity maintained in the village is clearly revealed thus,
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In many ways, the novel explores various Indian elements. Ram Mohammad Thomas, the name itself is enough to raise many eyebrows in the hard-hearted traditionalist India. A country where religion is given utmost importance, the name has been handled very crucially. The Novel depicts the rise and fall of a person but it is beyond an ordinary lay-man’s imagination. This shows how a young man living in a slum becomes a billionaire just by winning a TV quiz show. Taking away everyone’s breath, the uneducated waiter smoothly goes through all twelve questions. Quite amazing to digest without any explanation, he is arrested because a slum person becoming a billionaire by one day took away everybody 's