Throughout "Train to Pakistan", "Cracking India", and "The Inheritance of Loss", there are two narratives: we are shown the character's personal narrative, and the narrative of the nation. In each of these novels, we are shown at least one, if not many, relationship narratives, which prove to almost go against the narrative of the nation which is about division. The two narratives within these books interact in a very complex, multi-layered, and interesting way. The romantic relationships are twisted when they are seen as representative of an aspect of the national narrative of divorce. The romance narratives speak to the national one by giving an example of the way the crisis India faced interacted with those who resided within its ever changing borders.
In my previous essay, I mentioned the importance of noting that India was being "raped" not by strangers, but by its own people. This thought can be perceived in each of these books, and constitutes one of the first steps in understanding the conflict that engulfed India. The next step is to understand how the division of India sliced apart relationships and consequently, its citizens were forced to establish a new understanding of their identity. This is where the national narrative interacts with the personal narrative. The new identities facilitate the violence and change of relationships and due to being established by the national narrative, they bring the divorce of the nation into the personal lives of the characters. In Jawaharlal Nehru's "Speech On the Granting of Indian Independence" on August 14, 1947, he stated that "We [the Independent India and its citizens] have to build the noble mansion of free India where all her children may dwell". There is an attempt to make the national movement a way to unite the vast groups within the nation, but we instead see unity being taken away from the nation and given more so to the flags of the various religions.
[...] The summery of the book says this love endures through the dark age they live, in some ways it does, since that hope for a better future is survives all the attempts to snuff it out, but by the end of the novel there is an echo which the reader can hear, and that echo is the sound of the unity within the village shattering. “Train to Pakistan” shows how quickly unity falls apart among the stress the nation put upon its people. [...]
[...] He becomes a member of the mob, and has an interesting place in regards to it. When the mob assaults the Parsee house looking for Hindus, it is Ice-Candy-Man who gets the whereabouts of the hidden Ayah. Ice-Candy-Man tells Lenny that he is meant to “protect Ayah with [his] (page 194). He then betrays this statement to allow Ayah to get raped, become a prostitute, and later on become his wife. Ice-Candy-Man gets taken up by this feeling, and takes Ayah away from the Parsee family. [...]
[...] We see a path here where the national narrative of divorce starts to divide its people and in doing so creates unimaginable spasms of violence. Ayah and Ice-Candy-Man's relationship stands as an example of how a world of violence can create relationships between people. Their relationship is one that holds Ayah in and makes her feel dead. If we look at the novel as showing us various relationships grown through violence we can see how the various groups could once live peacefully together as brothers and comrades, but the national turmoil turns them into enemies: changing the way these groups will interact and relate forever. [...]
[...] We see a love relationship between Sai, a very westernized Indian, and Gyan has become drunk on the need to create a new identity of himself through revolting for a new country to call his own. Gyan start to notice how his newly formed identity is changing his current relationships, such as his love affair with Sai. Gyan says, [Sai] was defining his hatred, he thought. Through her, he caught sight of it -oh and then he couldn't resist sharpening it, if only for clarity's sake.” (Page 190). [...]
[...] The sikh priest murmurs the evening prayer to a semicircle of drowsy old men and women the children are asleep. The older people wait for its [the Goods train that is the towns goodnight call] rumble over the bridge to lull them to slumber. Then life in Mano Majra is stilled, save for the dogs barking at the trains that past at night.” (page This passage gives a great view at the way these two groups are able to live together, pray together, and sleep in houses next to each other, without any fear or feeling of distain for each other. [...]
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