Train to Pakistan - Khushwant Singh

“I am the village badmash..... I do something and its always wrong”

I had heard a lot about this book. So I had a basic idea of the storyline and plot before I started reading it. Yet, while reading this book, at no point,did I feel it to be predictable or boring. The way it describes the pre-partition days, the impact of parition and its after-effects(which are left unstated mostly) kept me engrossed.

 Key Points:

• Reading this book made me realize the basic principle behind Gandhi ji's lines, “An eye for an eye,makes the whole world blind” Both the sides,Hindus and Muslims, justify their acts because the “other side is doing it too”. Neither of them takes responsibility for their own actions. This knee-jerk response from both sides leads to a lot of bloodshed.
• “Chaos is good, its fair”. The book makes a good case against it. As the Muslims evacuate their homes , the charge of their property is given over to the local goons “to protect till the rightful owners come back”. The unscrupulous and the greedy are the only ones who enjoy seeing the Muslims leave. 
• Actions speak louder than words. Education has a tendency to complicate simple things. What's obvious to the uneducated seems complicated to us. While the educated social worker,Iqbal sits and ponders over the point of self-sacrifice and Hukum Chand, the local magistrate, debates with himself the extent of his duties and responsibilities, the uneducated simpleton,Juggut Singh, faces no such doubts and worries. He does what needs to be done.

Reasons to read it:

• The India-Pakistan partition was a gruesome and painful affairs. By concentrating on the human element, the book shows how much damage was wrought in the span of a few days.
• The dilemmas faced by the various characters are beautifully described. A lot of people could have done things to stop the wrong doing. The reasons why they did not do it, the ways they might have justified their actions to themselves, all of it is described nicely.
• The simple manner in which such heavy topics are dealt with makes it a fun read.
• There's something in the simplicity of the characters which ensures that you won't forget the story anytime soon.

Memorable quotes:

“The point of sacrifice is the purpose. For the purpose, it is not enough that a thing is intrinsically good, it must be known to be good.”

“Freedom is for the educated people who fought for it. We were slaves of the English, now we will be slaves of the educated Indians - or the Pakistanis.” 

It's one of the best books I have read. Hope you enjoying reading it too.

Cheers.