Published in 1956, Train to Pakistan is Khushwant Singh’s third and most famous work. The novel draws upon Singh’s own experiences during and after the Partition of India in 1947 and details the chaos and violence in the forming of Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan. The partition resulted in the displacement of approximately 14 million people and saw violent acts perpetrated by Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims alike.
Rather than take a macro lens perspective of the conflict, Singh analyzes it with a microlens, from the view of a small village that is eventually torn apart by the partition. The novel is set in Mano Majra, a fictional village located in India but on the border of Pakistan, where...