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Mike Tolbert Mrs. Whittet World History 1A

= = = = =Imploded Locomotive To Pakistan= =Author's Background=

Khushwant Singh was born on February 2, 1915. He was born in a Sikh family in the village of Hadali in the Sargodha district ( now in Pakistan). He had four other brothers and sisters from his father, Sobha Singh, and his mother, Veeran Bai. Khushwant's grandfather, Sujan Singh had become rich and wealthy at the beginning of the centuary. He was the owner of a construction business which his father also became a partner of. His parents then had to move to New Delhi for a construction assignment.



So for the first five years of Kushwant Singh's life, he lived with his grandmother. After ther age of five he was then sent to his older brother, were they went to Modern School which his father helped constuct. He stayed there until 1930. Singh began as a writer of short fiction and then went on to becoming a historian and biographer. Singh went to high school at St. Stephens

College in 1932. After high school he went on to Government College in Lahore as an undergraduate. He also went to school to be a law student. ([|Rehman]) Khushwant Singh then became a historian, novelist, columnist, and lawyer. Now he is known in the western world for his books __Train To Pakistan__ and __I Shall Not hear the Nightingale__. He is now 94. One reason why Singh wrote Train To Pakistan is because he wanted to let people know the issues and conflicts going on in Pakistan and India. He wanted to tell all of the tribulations and triumphs he went through as a Sikh boy and man. Because of all of his writings people everywere now know the important issues that has been affecting many people in India and Pakistan.

Published Novels

 * [[image:0802132219.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg width="118" height="184" align="right" caption="Train To Pakistan (1956)" link="http://www.google.com/"]]Train To Pakistan (1956)
 * The Mark of Vishnu and Other Stories (1950)
 * The History of Sikhs (1953)
 * The Voice of God and Other Stories (1957)
 * I shall Not Hear the Nightingale (1959)
 * The Fall of the Kingdom of the Punjab (1962)
 * A History of the Sikhs (1963)
 * Black Jasmine (1971)
 * Tragedy o Punjab (1984)
 * Sex Scotch and Scholarship: Selected Writings (1992)
 * We Indians (1993)
 * Woman and Man in My Life (1995)

=Historical=

The British, in the 1800’s, ruled over India until they got their independence. Pakistan, in 1947, got its independence from British India on August 14th. After the separation between India and Pakistan they went to war. “…proposed division of the country into a Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan had broken out to Calcutta.” The land of Kashmir is in the middle of India and Pakistan. Pakistan is predominantly a Muslim country and India is mostly a Hindu country. There are a lot of Muslim’s and Sikhs in Kashmir; so Pakistan thinks that they should own that land. India does not want Pakistan to own that land so they both are at war for the ownership of Kashmir. In 1971 Pakistan was divided into East Pakistan and West Pakistan. This is because Pakistan as a whole had some issues dealing with the economy. East Pakistan did not like how West Pakistan was running things so they split up into two separate countries. Pakistan and Bangladesh.[|George Evans]

=Political=

In __Train To Pakistan__ there are a lot of political references. " If I had been five minutes later, there would not have been one Muslim left alive." This quote is referring to how Jugga had saved all of the Muslims on the train going to Pakistan. After the partition of India; Pakistan went into an economic crisis. Their government officials were leaving office and the corruption and violence of the country was rising dramatically. The government of Pakistan needed desperate help so that they can get their economy up and rising. Instead of that happening, Pakistan split up into two separate countries. Pakistan and Bangladesh. In 1947 there had been a lot of political riots. " The only remaining oasis of peace were a scatter of little villages lost in their remote reaches of the frontier." Most of the towns, villages, and cities were at war with other Hindu's, Muslims, and Sikhs. These riots were based off the partition of Pakistan.[|ABC-CLIO] Pakistan and India have been at war three times since the partition of India. The first time the two countries went to war was in 1947-December of 1948. The second time was in 1965. The most recent of the two being at war was in 1971. The Indo-Pak War of 1947. Some people refer to this war as the "first Kashmir war." The second war in 1965 started in April. Fighting broke out along the West Pakistan India border. Pakistan planned to organize a "Kashmir Revolt Day" on August 9th, 1965. This was to mark the twelfth anniversary of Sheikh Abdulla's arrest. On that same day they came with machine guns and heavy equipment. India retaliated which sprung into a war; which lasted until September of that same year. In this battle Pakistan wins some parts of Kashmir. In 1971, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) struck some Indian airfields in Northern India on December 3rd. This was the official start of the '71 war. India attacked East and West Pakistan, which they overran East Pakistan which then became the nation of Bangaledesh. After this Pakistan and India agreed on a cense-fire line in Jammu and Kashmir and signed the Simla accord.[|mastindia]

=Geographic=

Pakistan is located in South Asia. The country borders Afghanistan, Iran, India, and China. Pakistan has a lot of extreme climates. The deserts of this country can get as hot as 120 degrees F. The northern mountains of the country can fall to as low as below zero. There is very little rainfall in this country. The northern part of the country also consits of the Khyber Pass. "Pakistan has four seasons: a cool dry winter from December - February; a hot, dry spring from March - May; southwest monsoon period from June - September; and the retreating monsoon period of October and November." Pakistan's climate of weather changes dramatically every season. "Pakistan is divided into three geographic areas: the northern highlands, the Indus River plains, and the Bakchistan Plateau." [|ABC-CLIO World Geography] Pakistan is 339,697 sqaure miles in area.

=Cultural=

Pakistan consist of Punjab, Sindhis, Pathans, Baloches, and Mojahirs. Pakistan is almost 100% Muslim. Their are also Christians and some Hindu's in Pakistan. " Urdu is the official language of Pakistan." Even though Urdu is the official language, English is used a lot in this country. Other major languages in this country is Punjab, Pashto, Singhi, Saraiki, and Balochi. Urdu was created by combining the languages of early invaders and settlers including, Arabic, Persian, and Turkish. The population of Pakistan is about 135 million. Because of the fact that 95% of Pakistan's populaton is Muslim; most do not eat pork. In Pakistani foods, they use a lot of spices and curry. A typical recipce is to use yogurt as a source of marination on their meats. The usual side dish in Pakistan is plain rice. Green tea is a regular drink that is served at all meals. [|Bridget] In __Train To Pakistan__ they used a lot of alcohol. Wine in the 1940's and 50's in Pakistan was used often. It was popular then as much as it is now.

=Personal Response to the Novel=

The novel __Train To Pakistan__ increased my understanding of everything from India and Pakistan's history to the Indo-Pak wars and their cultural differences. After reading this novel, I learned that there are many conflicts based off of religion and along with other things, such as economic issues. Unlike in the United States, people in these two countries had to abide by the rules that their specific religion taught. Religion, not only in Pakistan and India, but all over the middle east is very significant. The majority of the people living in these areas have some sort of specific religion that they believe in or follow. Whether it is Islamic, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Christian, and many others. Because there are some many different types of religions in one area there is likely cause that there will be some sort of disagreement. Which of course, there was. Reading and doing the research of this novel made me very familiar with the area of Pakistan and India. Before this assignment, I had very little knowledge of the area of Pakistan. Now I know many geographic facts and some political aspects of this country along with India. " The rope had been cut in shreds. Only a thin tough stand remained. He went at it with his knife, and then with his teeth. The engine was almost on him. There was a volley of shots. The man shivered and collapsed. The rope snapped in the center as he fell. The train went over him and went on to Pakistan." (pg. 181) The start of __Train To Pakistan__ started off very interesting. This is because it talked about how it was before the summer of 1947. It told the lifestlye of the people in Mano Majra. As the story went on it got sort of dull. The end off the novel was interesting because it told of how the Muslims on the train almost died going to Pakistan. They shot Jugga as he was saving the Muslims on the Train and he died. That was my most favorite part of the book. One character that I found who I liked was Jugga. This is because he was very brave and couragous in all of the things that he did. What could have made this novel a little better is if there was a lot more action in this book. A lot of the book bored me but if there was more action in it, that would have kept me more curious of what would happen next.