Beyond Statecraft-- Saumya Shah

The State, identified, glorified and criticised by idealists and realists alike, is an entity that commands respect like no other. So much so, that it's given precedence over the individual that resides in the State.

Idealists like Plato and Hegel personified it and considered the State to have a mind and a will. They reasoned that the will of the State is represented by its laws and must hence always be obeyed. Hegel also toiled with the idea of worshipping the State. Woodrow Wilson, an early advocate of idealism believed in the notion that nations, as well as man, transgressed the laws of God at their peril and moral principle, constitutionalism, and faith in God were among the prerequisites for alleviating human strife.

The realists here had a different approach when it came to the protection of the state. They believed that without a government institution in power, humans retreat to a very chaotic state which would lead to “war of all against all”. Thomas Hobbes, the 17th century contractualist called it a ‘state of nature’. He believed that an all-powerful monarchy was the only way to prevent this chaos and perpetual state of war. In his rather cynical world, every man had something against the other and the only way to keep men from slicing their neighbours’ throats was to have an omnipresent power monitor their actions and hold them accountable. Men that have shared similar views as Hobbes include thinkers like Niccolo Machiavelli, Kautilya, Morgenthau and Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu.

To these men, moral reasoning wasn't much of a consideration for a ruler surrounded by greedy advisors and neighbours, all of whom were advancing their own interests.

Machiavelli, in particular has been rather blunt about men and their ambitions and how a ruler (or in this case the man or men in charge of a state and its welfare) must pacify, threaten, annihilate and reward those around him in a manner that the state and its welfare is secured. Many readers found Machiavelli extremely cynical in his book titled Prince. But to readers who must deal with affairs of the state, this cynicism and paranoia are vital in ensuring that they're always on their toes and have accounted for most if not all eventualities that their state might encounter. Machiavelli doesn't mince his words when talking about nobility and their fallacies. He exposes the insecurities that lie beneath the confident facade of powerful men and calls men (both in position of power and otherwise) as fickle minded. In his experience men have no allegiances. Their allegiance is to their own vendetta or their own agenda. They will change sides and rob and plunder the same hands that nurture them if it brings them one step closer to power. Machiavelli believed that reason and favour and rewards were effective methods but when the times come, a ruler must not hesitate from slicing the throats of men who dare to oppose him. In Machiavelli’s opinion, a ruler mustn't shy himself of making a spectacle of the destruction of power. A show of power, according to Machiavelli, is just as vital as power itself. It deters prospective rebels and silences naysayers. In his opinion, a ruler that rules by action, by fear and by a strong understanding of the psyche of his subjects is far more likely to succeed (and most certainly outlive) a virtuous one.

Machiavelli, evidently, was far ahead of his times. His words are just as relevant today as they were 500 years ago. What has changed rather is the implementation of his ideas in protection of the State. Gone are the days of slicing throats, making a statement by burning villages or hanging traitors by the town square. In a largely democratic world, a State or those in power cannot get away with public display of brutal acts in the name of protection. Machiavelli or his rulers didn't have to bother with Human Rights or Facebook or the UN. They would do as they please and no one would bat an eyelid. Power was all that mattered. Today, covert operations, classified jobs and surgical precision are the name of the game. And the embodiment of all these are the intelligence organisations of today.

“We are a fact gathering organisation only. We don't clear anybody. We don't condemn anybody. “

-   J. Edgar Hoover, Founder and First director of the FBI

Both Hoover and Machiavelli have interesting parallels in their stories. They spent their years protecting and preserving the welfare of their state. They both had significant power at their disposal and used every way imaginable to achieve their means. Hoover was infamous on having sensitive information on every person in the US Congress, including the presidents.

What separates both these men despite their similar professions is their modus operandi. While Machiavelli made bold statements in his book and was unhinged, Hoover kept the media, the public and the democracy in mind when he made a statement.

Burning houses, destroying villages and torturing prisoners of war as a political statement is replaced with tact, surgical precision and most importantly discretion. The CIA or RAW or the Mossad don't go about bragging their power and their acts of brutality. They keep a low profile and often, get the job done. They don't ‘kill’. They ‘neutralise’. A largely media friendly vocabulary further adds to this discretion. To date, the CIA has been involved in over a dozen military coups and civil wars since its inception after WWII. Most of them weren't even known to the public until a few years ago.

To delve even further into the modern version of protecting the state, wars and civil wars and agents in suits running behind goons are a thing of the past. They are more at home in cinema than in the real world. In the real world, guns and ammunition have been replaced by sophisticated surveillance equipment that saves time, energy and prevents collateral damage. Credit for making the term ‘surveillance’ a part of the vocabulary goes to President Nixon and his Watergate scandal. Never before had the people seen a President cry and confess and leave office on national television before.

Today, the State and its ancillaries monitor everything. Our health, our finances, our holidays, our preferences, our favourite YouTube video, our favourite food, who we meet, when we meet, our hobbies, our family background - they know it all. They probably even know your favourite sitcom. The advent of the internet and the Information Age, it isn't exactly difficult for the State to keep a track of your every move. Smart TVs, smart watches, smart home appliances, they all have a self-reliant data transmitting system embedded in them that tells the state everything.

Back in the day, we were told that “Even walls have ears”. Today, everything has ears. This no doubt has caused a furor over the issue of privacy.  No one wants someone listening in on them or watching them all the time. Some might even suggest that so much information gives the government enough leverage to falsely implicate someone in order to protect those in power. To the flag-bearers of fundamental rights and liberty, all this might seem like doomsday, and to this point all the concerns they've raised are legitimate.

Keeping all this in mind, we can't discredit the work performed by these organisations or the men that run it. We need to know what the state (or those who run it) do what they do. Let's assume that we’re in the medieval ages. The only concern for a ruler was an enemy right at the gates of his kingdom or any of his faithful subjects turning against him. In other words, the only significant threat to a ruler was largely external. Internal threats were mostly confined to petty crimes and comprised of matters usually delegated to a local officer. But with the evolving times and ever-increasing access to the Internet, threats to a state have become far more complex both in size and operation. With its military might, a nation might be able to defeat a known enemy such as a terrorist organisation. But what sheer firepower can’t counter is an isolated element within a State. Let's take the example of ISIS. It’s not a big deal for the US army to remotely target strongholds of terrorist organisations and bring them down. But these terror organisations are far defter at propagating their agenda. They promote themselves to be people with an agenda and not some mindless killers. They make their ideologies seem convincing to the youth. Imagine a teenager in a European country coming across these ideologies and being inspired by them. What if he suddenly decides to bomb his neighbourhood or kill those he grew up with, simply in the name of faith? What good is the military then? Here is where surveillance and covert techniques come to use. They are triggered by key words and keep a track of individuals who display an increasingly high probability of going on the wrong track. This avoids many incidents which might have otherwise gone horribly wrong. Keeping in mind the same scenario, some might argue that the state might propagate against a particular faith or minority simply to advance its own political goals. And this is a question of ethics. Surveillance, if used ethically, is a boon and a life saver. If used by those with sinister intentions, it holds the key to autocratic power and mass oppression. In a diverse populace, there are only a few matters that can be objectively assessed. Most matters have multiple sides with supporters of each side of the argument. What might be acceptable to one party, might seem out of the question to the other. Individuality is something that has gained immense traction in the last few decades. What this means that every man and woman with a mind and a mouth has something to say. And each of them is right from their point of view.

The questions that then arise are who decides the morality of the action of the state? Who is to decide what's good for everybody? Who is to decide what lives to prioritise and who to save first? What gives someone the authority to take decisions regarding another individuals life? How much can we trust a person or a group of people to take the fair and just decision for the masses? How do we ensure that these individuals don't end up advancing their own goals? How to we even ever know what's just and fair for everyone (After all, that's subjective)? How do we ensure that there is no misuse of power? How do we prevent the prosecution of minorities simply based on media sensationalism and isolated events? How do we decide when and how human rights should be applied and who gave those that violate these rights (in the name of protection of state), the right to do so? Who is to be held accountable for when there is a misuse of power?

These are questions that have remained unanswered. These are the questions that might remain unanswered for a very long time—not because they're hard to answer but because those in power aren't compelled to do so.

“Men in general judge more from appearances than from reality. All men have eyes, but few have the gift of penetration.”

- Niccolo Machiavelli

(The views expressed by the author are purely personal, and not necessarily endorsed by the Department of Political Science, Mithibai College.)

Class Activity: Learning about Partition through 'Pinjar'

India’s Independence came at a heavy cost. The nation stood divided and so did its people. People who had lived all their lives as neighbours and friends—relations that transcended communal considerations—suddenly turned into bloodthirsty monsters. The largest mass human exodus across borders was marked by blood-curdling stories of horror and violence, of human frailties and the whole social fabric shredded into its lesser self.

It took a while for these stories to be adapted into literature and films. Reality was, in fact stranger and fiercer than anything they would have generated through fiction. Two names have stood out in literature who have written extensively and unmasked the gory details of Partition—Saadat Hasan Manto and Amrita Pritam. Among her other works, Amrita Pritam wrote ‘Pinjar’ (The Skeleton) originally in Punjabi in 1950. It came as an early compilation of the social mores, of the pain of Partition and the aftermath.

The story talks about the nation at the brink of Independence. It revolves around the female protagonist Paro who is betrothed to an individual but gets abducted by a Muslim, Rashid to settle intergenerational scores. The family refuses to accept Paro when she escaped the captivity to uphold “family honour” and the gentle, considerate way in which Rashid treats her despite being the captor pushed into seeking revenge. Partition saw massive caravans walking across “borders”, of women being abducted, villagers overpricing basic necessities for the traversing people and an overall dispossession and loss of belongingness.

‘Pinjar’ tells us how Paro ingenuously helps her sister-in-law escape such a forced marriage. It dwells on how Rashid’s and Paro’s efforts come to fruition when the girl is reunited with her husband (Paro’s brother) and family in a refugee camp. The same family who rejected Paro in the name of family honour have come to terms with the times and accept the daughter-in-law. Rashid, though married to Paro and deeply in love with her, silently wishes to accept her choice if she would want to return to her natal family and the person she was earlier betrothed to. But Paro chooses to remain with Rashid, both characters rising way above the troubled times they were thrown into with little control over the situation.

The book thus came to be considered ahead of its times, radical even. It came to be translated into many languages. The English translation was done by Khushwant Singh while the Denis Matringe translated it into French. The French translation in fact got Amrita Pritam the prestigious French La Route des Indes Literary Prize at the age of 86 years in 2005 for the translated work. By then, Chandra Prakash Dwivedi had brought the Hindi feature film by the original title in 2003. The work came into fresh light with the critical acclaim secured by the film as also the year’s Nargis Dutt (National) Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration and the National Film Award- Special Jury Award/ Special Mention (Feature Film) for Manoj Bajpai’s depiction of Rashid. 

While the film stops at Paro choosing her life with Rashid, the classroom activity was to visualise how the story went thereafter. Having seen the enormous refugee and rehabilitation crisis, torn families and the overall socio-political scenario in the film, the activity aims at making students visualise the times and give their individual versions of the unfolding of the story.

Astha Vaishnav on how she thinks 'Pinjar' would progress

After Puro successfully manages to send Lajjo back to her family, she resumes the normal routine of life. She accepts the way her life turns out to be. She accepts her new identity—the identity which helps her continue with her life. 

A few weeks pass by and Puro still shivers with the visuals that run in her mind’s eye as she works in the field. Flashes of riot hit women running in the fields looking to save themselves clutter her mind. She shivers at that thought but shakes it away. She smiles, feeling glad about how she was able to save Lajjo from a lifetime of horror. An idea strikes her and she decides to implement it. 

Early the next morning she readies herself in her ‘costume’, embracing her new ‘avatar’ and character as the shawl seller. She maps out the entire village and mentally makes a note of the number of women or girls like Lajjo who are the victims of riots and are held hostage in their new “homes”. One by one, over the period of one month, she tries to help them escape with the help of Rashid. She collates the information about the girls’ families from the information desk set up at the border between India and Pakistan. 

Of course, the entire village is shook! People start guessing about who could possibly be behind all of this. Gossip and grapevine cannot place the responsibility on Puro though. A year passes by and the guessing and doubts of the villagers die down and everything returns to normal. One afternoon Puro’s home finally has a good news breaking. Rashid and Puro are ecstatic with the anticipation of their child. All worries and anxieties are now laid to rest and their baby girl brings new joys to their lives.

Few years down the line, Reha is a smart young lady for her 14 years. Puro though is diagnosed with leukaemia and speedily counts her last days. She calls Reha next to her and narrates her life story amidst tears of joy, pride and remorse. She did not expect Reha to understand it all at this stage but knew some day the bright young woman that she was growing into, she would one day certainly would.

With Puro gone, it was increasingly difficult for Rashid to stay on in the village for the memories that flooded each corner. Reha secures admission in a prestigious institution in Delhi and after great difficulties in securing the visa, father-daughter duo move to India.

It’s been 7 years since Puro’s death. Reha is a 21 year old young woman pursuing her career in journalism. She decides to write a book and dedicate it to her mother. She then sets on the journey of writing a book discovering her brave heart mother through her selfless act and courage.

The book gets published and makes it to the international list of bestseller books. Rashid and Reha get overjoyed. Reha receives a letter from the UN, congratulating her on her book. The UN are impressed by the humanitarian service rendered by Puro and have decided to posthumously felicitate Puro’s contribution towards human rights. They have invited Reha and Rashid to the UN headquarters to accept it on Puro’s behalf. 

Reha becomes a full time journalist and a human rights activist and continues to inspire and touch many lives. Rashid, is obviously proud and filled with joy but decides to be a silent spectator—he still doesn’t forgive himself for having abducted Puro.

Saumya Shah takes the ‘Pinjar’ story two decades ahead

Twenty three years had passed. Hameeda woke up with the same dream about the day when Rashid had kidnapped her on horseback. The dream often haunted her. But it had stopped being a nightmare 21 years back when she had given birth to their daughter Zoya. She found solace in finding Rashid sleeping peacefully next to her every time she was woken up by the dream. Sometimes she just smiled at the irony of it.

She was lying on the same bed which was destined to be hers even before she was kidnapped. The Sheikhs (Rashid’s family) had taken back all the property from the Sajjadis who had seized Ramchand’s haveli and farms once they had left the village to move to India. The Sheikhs were more affluent and their social standing in village was a major contributor to that. They felt entitled to the property only when Lajjo had requested Rashid to take back her father’s land. Her father, who she had found later, was burnt alive by the same Sajjadis in the name of Pakistan and Islam. Lajjo, who had been captured and enslaved by them in her own house, had asked for one last favour from Rashid.

Hameeda couldn't sleep. Twenty three years and she would still go back in time and revisit the first meeting that she had with her father after the time when he had shut doors of his haveli on her and asked her to return to her kidnappers. Her father had come to Rattowal to visit her in the final month of her pregnancy. It was not the safest time for an Indian Sikh to cross border and come to Pakistan but her father took the chance. He bribed a few patrolling officers to escort him safely. Her father had fallen to his knees on her doorstep, begged her forgiveness. She had tried to lift him up to his feet, but instead, she dropped down next to him and both had cried inconsolably. It was Rashid who got her some water and stopped her. He had been extremely caring about her health ever since he knew that Hameeda was carrying again. Rashid had even picked her father up and asked for forgiveness. Her father did not have many words of forgiveness though. Deep down, both knew how equally responsible and guilty they were for Puro’s fate.

Puro had chosen to be Hameeda when she chose her fate for the first time in Lahore. She had the opportunity to go back to Amritsar and start a new life with Ramchand. But she had chosen Rashid. Her life until then had been based on decisions of her father, Rashid, village heads who had decided to take away the madwoman’s child that Puro was raising or the government, which decided which country she is a part of and separated her from her family by the stroke of a pen. She often debated her own self, unsure about her decision.

Some nights she wondered how her life would have been in Amritsar with her family and Ramchand. Her family had accepted Lajjo, they would have accepted her too. She had chosen Rashid because he had earned her respect. She still wasn’t sure if he had earned her love. It didn’t happen overnight. It’s not atypical of an Indian woman to adapt to and accept her husband’s life, family, culture as her own and establish that as her way of life.

It had been 21 years since she had given birth to her daughter. She had named her Zoya—meaning alive, life and joyous, loving and caring. Nobody could understand the essence of

the name like Hameeda. She didn’t want her daughter’s spirit to be captured and caged. The first night when she put Zoya to sleep, with Rashid laying next to Zoya, Hameeda could never be surer of the decision that she had made. That night, she put all her doubts to rest, forever.

Hameeda had stepped on the Indian soil for the very first time since Partition and a lot had changed in those seven years. Streets in Amritsar were rebuilding after all the riots at the time of Partition. She saw many new faces in the city, and noticed many old ones missing. She wondered what had happed to them, but she knew the answer to the question. Madness! She thought it was truly Pinjar for religion.

Hameeda was there at the time of Baisakhi. Zoya was with her as well. It was her first time in India. Hameeda was overwhelmed to meet her family after 7 years. Trilok had become member of Congress and gotten a job with the government. Trilok and Lajjo had a 5 year old daughter whom they had named Puro. Rajjo had a 7 year old son too. Ramchand had gotten married to Janaki, the girl who had run away from the camp and Hameeda had rescued. Seven years and they had still not been able to locate her family. Her youngest brother was an eight year old school going boy who aspired to give speeches for his profession. Hameeda was touched by the innocence of it. Hameeda could see the thrill on Zoya’s face when she met her cousins for the first time. Hameeda would never forget this trip. It was her reunion with the people and the country that she had lost.

It was 5 o’clock in the morning when she woke up with the same dream. She knew she had a long day ahead. It was the day of Zoya’s marriage. Unlike Puro on her wedding day, Zoya was much thrilled about it. Zoya was to marry Iqbal, the eldest son of their neighbour, whom she had grown up with. His was from a respected family in Rattowal and Iqbal was a doctor of bones. Hameeda could not remember the word for that doctor though. Zoya was marrying him by choice and that was all that mattered to Hameeda. Hameeda could not say the same about Maahir. He was only three years younger to Zoya but always acted like the older brother, over-protective of his sister. Maahir showed how happy he was for his ‘Behena’ but everyone knew who was going to be most heartbroken once Zoya would leave. She had assured him that she is only moving to the house next door and she would still wake him up each morning. But both knew the better truth. Hameeda would often see glimpses of Trilok and Puro in her children and would get more than overwhelmed.

Hameeda was half way through her life in which she was alive. She didn’t know what future would hold for her and her family, but one thing she knew for sure was she would never settle for anything lesser than Freedom for her people.

Eesha Sawant on pain, suffering and emotions in years following 'Pinjar'

Puro and Rashid bid farewell to Trilok, Ramchand and Lajjo. Puro fell for Rashid’s good-naturedness and especially the act of mingling with the crowd to let her decide her way forward without hesitation. She decided to stand by him through the lifetime. They went home with new found respect and love for each other. She forgave him for his misdeeds and they lived comforting and supporting each other throughout their lives.

Trilok was happy on finding Puro alive but it was shortlived as he would never see her again. On returning home, he held his parents responsible for whatever happened with Puro and their family. He never gave up on her and constantly wrote letters to her about his life and she reciprocated with equal warmth. As time flew, Puro bore two children and Trilok sent his blessings. Lajjo survived but was suffered from the trauma for years thereafter. She was truly indebted to Puro for saving her and reuniting her with her family. She missed her parents and prayed to know their whereabouts and survival.

Puro’s parents were forlorn because they lost Puro and consequently Trilok and Lajjo too. They learn the about Puro and her courageous, selfless act from Lajjo and broke down. Puro’s mother spent rest of her life mourning her loss while her father suffered extreme guilt. Trilok, over the years became a successful lawyer and preferred to move to London with Lajjo. The sight of his parents always reminded him of Puro.

Ramchand remained a bachelor. He still loved Puro and wrote poems of yearning and loss. His futile search for his parents was unending. He left for Delhi in an attempt to escape the darkness in his life—he had lost both his parents, the family home in Lahore and Puro. His poems and writings brought him immense fame and he was one of the most renowned writers of his time. He wrote letters and couplets addressed to Puro but never gathered the courage to post the letters, partly because of the fact that he wanted to forget her.

One day Ramchand came across an old acquaintance from Lahore in Delhi. This brought his world crashing on him. He learned that his father was out in the market that fateful day when their family lost everything. As he was hurrying home to avoid the marauding mob, a stampede broke out in which he fainted. On regaining consciousness, he tried to go back home but he had to hide until the arsonists were gone. He bled profusely but managed to reach his house only to find it empty. He was stabbed to death just as he left his home in search of his family.

Ramchand’s mother, on the other hand, was transported from one camp to another, in search of her son and husband. She arrived at a refugee camp in Punjab, only to witness the injured and dead people and victims of rape and assaults. She had herself been abducted by the miscreants and had suffered the same fate while being locked in a room. She was undernourished as she was given not more than a single roti a day. She could not survive long thereafter.

The poetry written by Ramchand then, dripped of personal pain and loss. 

Simran Khairnar on how she thinks the 'Pinjar' story would continue

Puro decided to stay on in Pakistan with Rashid. She accepted the fact that she was married to Rashid. She appreciated him as a person and had also started developing feelings for him.She wanted him in her life. He was a good man who had proved his commitment towards her when he helped Puro rescue and reunite Lajjo with her family. He had also protected Puro from the communal strife. She also realised that Rashid truly and genuinely loved her and had gone out of his way to help Puro and other women caught in the difficult times.

After helping her sister-in-law to get back to her family Puro decided to take a stand for every woman and girls being harassed in the society. Rashid was of course always ready to help his wife in every step that she took. It was his way of seeking penance for the sins he had committed including abduction of Puro. Rashid also started creating awareness about women empowerment and their security. Since 1947 both husband and wife committed themselves to the cause of rescuing women and girls from forced marriages, disowned by families and other ills of the time and reuniting them with their lost families where necessary and possible. Puro worked on just one thought that no woman or girl should be a ‘pinjar’. She wanted to change the outlook of people towards girls being ‘paraya dhan’.

Puro built a strong name for herself in the society with her work. She faced criticism and social alienation due to her work in the public. She took her cause further and started a school to educate women and girls to ensure their economic independence. She had seen her own plight and that of Lajjo in recent past and believed women had to look after themselves. Puro and Rashid, despite their own financial constraints, opened their home to young women who had no support and families. They faced severe opposition to the point where people tried to set their home on fire and made it difficult for them to move about in public.

Their cause spread undaunted and more people got associated with them thus reaching out to more villages and houses. While initially the newly formed government ignored them and their visits and petitions, it grudgingly appreciated the work they did.

Puro started writing a book on women empowerment and everything she went through in her life. It had her voice, fears, experiences, joys and tears and her resilience. She wrote how much she missed her family and why she decided to stay back in Pakistan with Rashid. She also penned her thoughts about how her circumstances made her strong in her own way. If she had not faced all those conditions, she would never know or understand the time they were in. She stated that phase made her stronger and gave her the strength to fight all the problems that would come her way. The book once published secured deep respect and support as much as it earned criticism. The book gave her a wholly different identity.

Puro and Rashid built a non-governmental organisation and furthered their cause of female education and empowerment. Their efforts gradually started bearing fruits. Puro became a role model for many. Rashid’s support to his wife and what she believed in is also no less commendable. 

Pranali Deshmukh’s powerful focus on a hitherto peripheral character in 'Pinjar'

Puro waves goodbye to her family with a heavy heart and returns back to her house with Rashid. As they take their road home they see several people like them, torn families, broken individuals and a general question regarding the goings on.

Iqbal and Seema were married in Undivided India. But with the communal tensions flaring, Seema’s natal family chooses to move to India with whatever little they can gather. Their young child, Ramin, has a hundred questions. He asks whether at all he’d see his maternal grandparents; whether he could visit them, write to them. Seema has no answers to the questions herself. Ramin questions how he—a combination of Ram and Rahim in his name—can hold multiple faiths in one and not the people. Iqbal is rendered speechless at these words and believes that they should now leave the question of right and wrong to one’s own Almighty.

Puro (now Hamida) and Seema (now Zoya) exchange smiles at this conversation, hiding multiple shards of pain, anger, loss and helplessness they themselves carry within them. They talk about their daily chores and recipes and expertly silence the storms raging within them. Ramin soon forgets the conversation and skips and swings between Puro and Seema all the way back home.

Ramin’s question is not completely forgotten though. While Puro cooks and serves Rashid with hot rotis at dinner, she cites the question evaded earlier in the day. She wants to know what they would tell their children if they asked them the same. Rashid ponders over it but has no answer. Puro has a sleepless night over the seemingly innocent question raised by Ramin.

Over the next few days, Lajjo, Trilok and Ramchand walk back and reunite Lajjo with her mother. Ramchand is heartbroken over Puro’s decision and there is no night that passes without him reminiscing the time he spent with Puro. Lajjo and their mother see the pain but no words can console him and they really have none. Each one of them has suffered.

Lajjo leaves with Trilok for their new house. All along, Lajjo feels eyes on her and whispering about her abduction and forced marriage in Pakistan. She feels humiliated and no amount of Trilok’s reprimanding the people can alleviate her pain. The shame is accentuated when her parents-in-law refuse to acknowledge her. Their distrust, disgust and neglect add to her trauma. They ask Trilok to refuse to accept her as his wife since she is now defiled. What was most shocking was Trilok now had no say over what his parents said. His silence and suspicion in the eyes broke Lajjo. She is asked to leave the home at the earliest and no amount of her pleading would make them change their minds. Lajjo is furious on hearing this from a man whom she loved deeply and had waited patiently to be rescued for. In hot furious tears, she challenged his integrity and education if he had such a narrow mind. She does not want to spend another day in the house where she had no respect.

Lajjo spends the night in the park nearby and is woken up by people pelting stones and shaming her. She is saved by a wealthy Parsi couple, who take her home and tend to her bleeding wounds. The Zaveris give her a patient hearing and kind-heartedly invite her to stay in their house as long as she wanted.   

Year 1948...

Puro and Rashid now have twins. Lahore is now divided between people who hate India and between those who are still hopeful and looking for a bright future. Puro tunes in to the radio each day to hear about India. The two newly-formed countries do not share cordial relations and she wonders how her infants would grow up to think about India and Hindus.

Puro learns of the Pakistani attack on Kashmir and India’s retaliation and changed relations. For the first time, Puro questions her decision to stay back in a place which will now never have the same relations with India. Never once though does she repent the decision of choosing to live with Rashid. She may not be rich but Rashid treated her with utmost dignity and care.

Year 1950...

 Lajjo stays with the Zaveris in a democracy now. The Zaveris have come to appreciate Lajjo’s learning and opinion. They believe that she would make a significant contribution as a civil servant. They encourage her to take the Union Public Service Examination and sure enough she clears the examination. She defies all social norms now to hold an office that can serve the people. Trilok learns his quiet lesson from the sidelines.

Lajjo visits Lahore in official capacity and makes it a point to pay a visit to Puro. Puro is proud of Lajjo and shocked at her family’s behaviour towards Lajjo. Lajjo though confesses that she now knew that it was wise on Puro’s part to choose Rashid for the human being that he was rather than judging him on the religion he belonged to. Puro smiles knowingly.

Kinjal Desai carries the 'Pinjar' story forward

The story continues from the point where Puro decides to not leave Rashid and stay with him in Lahore. Ramchand, Trilok and Lajjo left for India, each with their own set of worries. Lajjo is tense and fears whether Trilok’s family would accept her at all. After all, they had not accepted their own daughter Puro for fear of social shame. Trilok is worried about how he would fend for his family in a new place, whether he would get a job and how he would deal with the expenses of setting up a new home. Ramchand misses Puro and is silently upset with her decision to stay back. Additionally, he also had to look for his lost family.

It is still not ‘happily ever after’ for Puro and Rashid either. Rashid’s family refuse to accept Puro and want her to go across the border since she is a Hindu. They feared the backlash that the family would suffer if the communal elements caught on the fact. Rashid tries to tell them that now that she is married to him, no one should have any objection to her presence in Pakistan. Afterall she had a Muslim name tattooed on her forearm. This somewhat convinces Rashid’s family and they half-heartedly accept Puro.

In India, the devastated parents of Puro and Trilok see how they lost their beloved daughter in the name of family honour. They do not want to lose Lajjo. She is already traumatised by what she has undergone in the days she had been abducted. The nightmares she gets do not recede for weeks despite the care taken by Trilok and his parents. 

Trilok and Ramchand now have houses to live in—not ‘homes’ yet. They continue to look for Ramchand’s parents and have visited nearly all refugee camps. Finally he comes across a woman shrunken and delirious in the medical camp who somewhat looks like his mother. Not only is it his mother, but his fears are confirmed that the communal violence and the inhumanity have not spared senior women either. She had suffered the same fate of gang rape as several other women at that time. Ramchand cannot bear to see his mother in this condition. He wants to nurse her back to good health. But the pain, suffering, humiliation has been so much that the mother chooses to hang herself to death one day. Ramchand is a completely broken man. He has no hope, no family, no love in his life. He is contemplating an extreme step when Trilok and Lajjo bring a cause in his life again. They convince him into looking for lost people and torn families and tend to the people whose wounds run deep in their minds.

Across the border, Rashid does everything in his might to buffer Puro from the communal hatred but she is not completely insulated from the changed behaviour of the people around her. Riots still have not completely stopped and survival is a challenge. The fear that Rashid’s family has had, materialises before them when anti-social elements want to ‘cleanse’ their neighbourhood of all Hindus. They knock at Rashid’s door when he is away. Rashid had been able to quell arguments citing that Puro was a part of the same society before Partition and that she is no foreigner. Now that she was alone and vulnerable, the mob could get their way. Rashid returns just in time to see Puro being dragged outside their home by the mob. He rescues her from their clutches but cannot save her from the bullet fired by one of the members of the mob. He lunges at the man with hatred and fury but gets shot down as well.

Partition truly spared no one.

Chaitra Bidaye's version of how 'Pinjar' pans out thereafter

This movie ends where Puro (Urmila Matondkar) has to make choice between Rashid and Ramchand. She had the choice to get married to Ramchand and start a new life but she chooses to marry Rashid. The reason behind her decision is not shown in the film. But I feel after the film ends, her choices need to be analysed.

Though Puro is married to Rashid this forced marriage is akin to death. She feels like a pinjar, who exists but has ceased to live. Puro should rethink her decision and should marry Ramchand not for family honour but to make a new start. If she is with Rashid she will remember all that has happened to her. It will make it difficult for her to move ahead. It is true that she somewhere wishes to be with Rashid. But who knows, it could be the Stockholm Syndrome!!!!

Ramchand can give her a life that Rashid certainly cannot. Ramchand will not exploit her or harness her. He will give her all the freedom. I feel Puro’s parents should accept her back home. Instead of family honour they should think about what is best for their daughter. Puro deserves Ramchand and Ramchand deserves Puro. By being with Ramchand the trauma that Puro underwent and her status in the society and family will also change and she will not be held as victim of anything nor will she have to give penalty for family honour. Puro with get respect and honour from Ramchand and like this her life will have a new start.