Vignettes from the Holocaust/ Saadat Hassan Manto

Good riddance

Pakar lo, Pakar lo! Don't you let him go.' They gave him the chase. The man was nabbed. When a spear was being pierced into his body he pleaded in his trembling voice. 'Please don't kill me! Please don't kill me! I am going home on chutti (vacation).'

A raw deal

There were ten or twenty girls. They paid forty-two rupees to buy off one of them.

The man was furious when the girl disclosed her name.

'Were we not told that you belonged to another community!'

'He pulled a fast one on you,' the girl replied.

The man rushed to his friend's house.

'That bastard has cheated us. He palmed off to us a girl from our own community. Come, let's pack her off.'

Hospitality delayed

Rioters brought the running train to a halt. People to the other community were pulled out and slaughtered with swords and bullets.

The rest of the passengers were treated to halwa, fruits and milk.

The chief assassin made a farewell speech before the train pulled out of the station: 'Ladies and gentlemen, my apologies. News of this trian's arrival was delayed. That is why we have not been able to entertain you lavishly -- the way we wanted to.'

Mourning the dead

The mob turned to its next target -- Sir Ganga Ram's statue. They rained lathi blows on it, hurled bricks and stones. One of them disfigured the statue with coal tar. Somebody else collected old shoes to make a garland out of them. He proceeded towards the statue.

But the policemen appeared on the scene. They opened fire.

The man holding the garland of shoes was hit by a bullet. He was sent for first-aid to the nearby Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.

Initiative

The first untoward incident occurred near the crossing of the hotel. Soon thereafter a policemen was posted there.

The very next day another incident took place in the evening. Right in front of the store. The cop posted earlier was brought to that spot.

The third incident happened at midnight. Around the laundrette.

The inspector commanded the sepoy to move to the new area of tension.

The sepoy deliberated. After a while he said: 'Dispatch me to an area where a fresh skirmish is likely to take place.'

'Mishtake'

The knife slid down his groin. His pyjama cord was cut into two. His genitals were exposed.

'Chi, chi, chi, I've made a mishtake,' the assassin said with a sense of remorse.

Respite needed

He isn't dead yet. See, see, he is still gasping for breath.'

'Let it go, yaar. I am already exhausted.'

Translated from the Urdu by Mushirul Hasan.

Excerpted from India Partitioned: The other face of freedom, Part I, Lotus collection, Roli books, New Delhi, 1995, Rs 595, with the publisher's permission.