UNIT-4 LS.10 The Refugee – K.A. Abbas

The Refugee

                            -K.A. Abbas         

Introduction:

1. K.A. Abbas is one of the stalwarts of Indian writing in English. He also has directed many movies. His writings focus mostly on the pathos of oppressed people. His short story “The Refugee” opens the eyes of readers to the injustice done to an old Sikh lady and describes the horrible events happened during the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947.  It was a time when nearly ten million people fled from Pakistan to India and vice versa as refugees.  They were uprooted from their home and family.  There was bloodshed everywhere. The writer sketches the events in the life of an old mother called Maanji and thereby throws light on the sufferings of millions of people during the partition.

Maanji’s life before the Partition at Rawalpindi:

Maanji is the mother of the author’s Sikh friend.  Before Partition, life was a bed of roses to Maanji.  She lived in Rawalpindi (now in Pakistan) in a two-storied house. She had steady income from many rented shops and harvest from her own land.  She had a buffalo and so milk, curd and butter were available in surplus. Being a Sikh, She distributed butter milk to all her neighbourhood and won the love and affection of all her Muslim neighbours.  The elder Muslim women called her Behanji (sister) while the younger ones called her Maanji or Chachi (mother) affectionately.  Rawalpindi was the whole world for her.Her son worked in Bombay. She felt sorry for the son at there who could earn lot of money but not able to get pure milk or ghee and various types of fruits.

The Life of Maanji during Partition

The news about impending Partition in newspapers worried many Sikhs and Hindus in West Punjab (now in Pakistan) but not Maanji.  Many warned her that it was dangerous for a Sikh to live there and even her own son in Bombay asked her to come there.  But she strongly believed that her Muslim neighbours were friendly to her and all of them were her own children.

Maanji’s life after the partition at Bombay:

In front of Maanji’s house, a tongawallah (horseman) was stabbed to death because he was a Hindu.  They also went on stabbing the poor horse and killed it that had “neither religion nor caste.” This heinous crime made Maanji to abandon her home and neighbours in Rawalpindi and move to Bombay as a refugee.  In Rawalpindi, she had two male servants and a maid but here she has to cook, wash, clean, and do everything herself, living in a single room.  All her life’s savings and possessions are lost but not her hospitality.   She suffered a lot but never cursed anyone for that.  There was no anger or self-pity in her silent heart against anyone.

In Bombay, Maanji and her husband lived in a small rented house with their son. The house was very small with a single room. That room served them main hall, kitchen room,   bathroom and also as store room. At Rawalpindi she had few servants to do her house hold works. But now she does all sorts of her work in the house at Bombay. She kept her house very neatly. Occasionally, she sent letters to her Muslim neighbours at Rawalpindi. They also sent letters to Maanji. On reading them, she was moved to tears. She never hated any of her Muslim neighbours even there was communal hostility between Hindus and Muslims. The Old memories were very sweet to her and she wept on the past happy incidents with them.

Conclusion:

K.A. Abbas has portrayed the scenario of communal riots and an old woman affected by it. Maanji is an epitome of motherhood and good natured woman. Her Muslim neighbours are also good in nature. But the dirty politics and inefficient governments has made an irreparable gap between the lives of them.