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Train To Pakistan


It is summer of 1947. But Partition does not mean much to the Sikhs and Muslims of Mano Majra, a village on the border of India and Pakistan. Then, a local money-lender Lala Ram Lal is murdered, and suspicion falls upon Juggut Singh, the village gangster who is love with a Muslim girl Nooro. But then a train carrying dead bodies from Pakistan arrives. The local magistrate tries his best to hide the reality from the villagers. But they get to know the real truth. The refugees from the Pakistan also want to kill the Muslims in the village but the villagers manage to safely send them to the nearest refugee camp. But then a stranger comes to the villager and incites communal passions. The village is transformed into a battlefield, and neither the magistrate nor the police are able to stem the rising tide of violence. Amidst conflicting loyalties, it is left to Juggut Singh to redeem himself and reclaim peace for his village.
First published in 1956, Train to Pakistan is a classic of modern Indian fiction. This book by Ravi Dayal and Penguin is the latest Paperback edition. It is a must read telling a tale of our own nations story, when millions from this side went to that side and vice versa. He presents the story in such light manner reader sometimes forgets that it is a partition story.

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