I shall not hear the nightingale , Khuswant singh’s second novel, is the story about love, pride, passion, religion, culture and all the things that represent Indianness. It is set in the pre-war conditions in 1942-43, when the British government was thinking to free India.
The story starts with Sher Singh and his revolutionary friends, preparing themselves to start a war against British rule in their province. On the other hand, his father Buta Singh was one of the magistrate; and has inborn loyalty towards British government and people. The story moves on with this entirely different thinking pattern of father and son, each busy to attain their own pride in their group of people.
On the other hand, Madan a family friend of Sher Singh was involved in his drama with Champak and Bina, wife and sister of Sher Singh.
The turning point of the story was when Sher Singh was caught by police in his revolutionary activities, and was faced with a dilemma to save him and his father’s hard earned reputation, or to save his revolutionary friends.
Sabhrai, mother of Sher Singh was a godly figure in the story, always involved in religious practice, and I think that makes her the most powerful character in the story ,for it was this Sabhrai, who brought the good ending to the story.
Khushwant Singh, in this novel has proved that he is truly an Indian, with his description of Indian culture, religion practices, superstitious of a common man, and most important life of Indian men and women.
But talking about the story, I feel that he didn’t provide the satisfying ending to the parallel drama of Madan and the two girls.
On the whole, a good story to read that would not disappoint you but one thing I regret is choosing this book as my 75th book; and I must say that this is not among the finest works of Khushwant Singh, and probably it has got no stand against his other novel ‘Train to Pakistan’.
This book review submitted by Chetan
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Thanks for the honest review! Probably the scriptwriter for 1942-A Love Story based his script on this work!
what the fuck!!!!!