Unit-V: Short Fiction

Chapter - 8
Bhisham Sahni : Amritsar Aa Gaya

Brief Introduction

There are few passengers in the train and the main travellers in the compartment are three pathan traders, a Babu, one sardarji, an old woman, and the author who is narrating the incidence taking place during their journey. The narrator's focus is on a frail and nervous-looking babu sitting in the train compartment and mocked in a friendly way by three Pathan traders. At the onset of the journey the sardarji was telling about the stories of war he had fought on the Burmese front with the white soldiers. Whenever he talked about white soldiers he laughed derisively. One of the pathans was a jovial man who had joked throughout the journey with a frail looking Babu. When the train crossed the river Jhelum the jovial pathan untied a bundle, took out a piece of meat and nan and offered everybody and the frail Babu also with the comment that the "dalkhor" Babu would be able to please his wife after eating his offered food. The Babu's manhood is thus shattered and he feels quite humiliated and insulted as all the passengers laugh loudly at this humour made at his stake by the pathan. Sardarji also joked by saying that Babu is not taking food as the pathan had not wash his hands. The pathan replied by telling that as Babu is not eating the non-vegetarian food he should go and sit in the ladies compartment. Everybody laughed at large again. Meanwhile the train stopped at a station and lots of passengers pushed their way in.

One man who was filling his water pot at the station realized the train started moving and in a frenzied manner he rushed towards the train. "But the manner in which he had been startled was revealing in itself." Other people understood the scenario and "Within a few seconds, the platform was deserted." This graphic description portrays the picture of the terrified passengers who at any cost want to leave their native place and safely migrate to the divided other part of the subcontinent. Writer expresses that, "I had seen people run in fear like that before."

The mood changes as the train passes towns where a riot is raging.

"Since I had seen many riots, I could sense the slight change in the atmosphere. The sound of doors shutting, people standing on rooftops, and an eerie silence they were all the signs of a riot."

The countryside is filled with fleeing refugees. Suddenly there was an altercation at the door. The passengers were trying to get in the compartment. The inside passengers were shouting and opposing them by saying that there is no room inside. "As long as a passenger outside tries to force his way in, people inside oppose him. But the moment he gets in, all opposition subsides and he becomes a part of the inner world of the compartment, and at the next station he begins to shout and scream at other passengers trying to get in." Without paying attention to the protests of the other passengers, a man who had a drooping moustache and was wearing tattered clothes tried to squeeze his way into the compartment. He turned around and began pulling in an enormous black trunk. "Come on, climb in!" he shouted to someone behind him. A thin, frayed woman climbed up, followed by a young, dark girl of sixteen or seventeen. People continued to scream at them. The man was breathless, and his clothes were soaked through with sweat. Having pulled in the trunk, he began hauling in a bundle of wooden legs for his cot.

"I have a ticket. We are not travelling without tickets. I was lucky to reach the station."

Suddenly all the passengers fell silent. But the Pathan sitting on the lower berth, blind with rage, suddenly got up and tried to kick the man. Unfortunately, he missed him, and the kick landed on the wife's stomach. She screamed with pain and collapsed on the floor.

As the train approaches Amritsar, the babu has vengeance on his mind. He finds an iron rod. He is an angry nationalist now. He hits it on the head of a Muslim man who is pleading to get into the train. We feel the horror of the blows on a helpless man. The babu's main regret is that he is unable to find the Pathans and take revenge.

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