Not often we chance on a story that in Franz Kafka’s words continuously wounds and stab us and does not flinch from acquainting us with uncomfortable truth and stupidity of our tormented history. Such an incisive story “Toba Tek Singh” is produced by Sadat Hasan Manto and a celebrated author Nasir Abbas Nayyar, whose profound post-colonial studies blazed a new trial in Urdu criticism, finds the story not just worth reading but worth retelling at a time when we are adrift on a stormy sea of religious extremism.
Nasir’s story “Bishen Singh Mara Nahin Tha” takes the reader on an emotional recollection of the darkest period of Partition that sought to subvert humanity itself.
Thoughtful improvisation
The author further explores the story of Bishen Singh with new narrative texture to zero in on the screaming idiocy of the masses. At a time when people have lost idea of civilisation, Nasir turns attention to the protagonist of Manto, ‘Bishen Singh’ to portray the implications of savagery of our time when people have no idea where exactly they are headed.
The first collection of his short stories, ‘Khak Ki Mahak’ (Fragrance of Dust), carries four laconic stories titled ‘Hikayat-e-Jadeed Wa Mabad-e-Jadeed’ (Modern and Post-Modern tales). They open up a new kind of narrative to offer poignant comments on the ludicrous state of affairs in which we live in. Opening a new perspective, the author asserts that Bishan Singh became unconscious and people hurriedly declared him dead.
A nagging question, “Where is Toba Tek Singh?” left people frightened. Bishen Singh’s cynicism prompts the author to assert that unlike man, land has no religion and it defies borders. Through the prism of Bishen Singh, Nasir skilfully put a spin on Manto’s story to express themes of, nationalism, citizenship, slavery, communalism and colonialism.
Bishen Singh’s unfathomable words tell how people tend to act in the grip of communal frenzy. Nasir creatively describes ‘ Toba Tek Singh’ as a space created by a well-made wrong and politicians from both sides have not realised it .
Nasir’s story, a stunning example of the creative usage of intertextuality, engages the readers on sensory, emotional and cerebral levels. Not many Urdu writers use intertextuality as a literary trope but Nasir’s story is a perfect example of an aesthetic exploration of various shades of intertextuality. It reminds us of Borges’s famous story, ‘Pierre Menard-Author of Quixote’ as Nasir’s story too leaves one with the dark stuff that haunts and intrigues at the same time.
The first story, ‘Kahiai ka Koh-e-Nida’ pulsates with what makes story telling a captivating experience. The story of revulsion and conflict ultimately heals, this is what Nasir asserts in stories Kaffara, Khak Ki Mahak, Kahan Hoon and Bu Aye Kahan Se as the characters unfailingly align themselves with desires of liberation and redemption and they try to reclaim reposition of their identities in the altered scenario.
Post-truth has been declared the word of the year by the Oxford dictionary as people have become indifferent to veracity. There is no denying of the fact that lies, spin and falsehood take precedence over truth and Nasir’s pulsating story, ‘Jhoot Ka Festival’ (Festival of Lie) laments that the society now sides with the most extravagant liar. The story proffers a scintillating discussion on why people take pride in speaking exclusively in hyperbole.
Nasir Abbas Nayyar’s stories make a serious attempt to understand counter-factual thinking — the hallmark of our time — and how the ubiquity of new information technology devalues the truth and his narrative dexterity casts a spell on the readers.
