Amrita answers “In the last few pages, in Hukum Chand's...”

Alexis asked this question about Train to Pakistan:

In the last few pages, in Hukum Chand's internal dialogue, he uses the phrase "came to his/her tryst" multiple times in reference to horrible experiences of people he knew (a colleague, the daughter of his orderly, & someone he recruited into the army). What does that phrase mean?

Amrita This refers to the famous and oft quoted midnight speech made by the first Indian Prime Minister, Jawahar Lal Nehru, on 15 August 1947. Which, you can…moreThis refers to the famous and oft quoted midnight speech made by the first Indian Prime Minister, Jawahar Lal Nehru, on 15 August 1947. Which, you can see for yourself from the excerpt below, was full of optimism at the dawn Independence for India. The ground reality, as we see in the book Train to Pakistan, is something else all together.

"Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially.

At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity.

At the dawn of history India started on her unending quest, and trackless centuries are filled with her striving and the grandeur of her success and her failures. Through good and ill fortune alike she has never lost sight of that quest or forgotten the ideals which gave her strength. We end today a period of ill fortune and India discovers herself again. The achievement we celebrate today is but a step, an opening of opportunity, to the greater triumphs and achievements that await us. Are we brave enough and wise enough to grasp this opportunity and accept the challenge of the future?"(less)

flag