Rajinder Singh Bedi (1933-1984)

One of the most versatile voices among the 20th century Progressive writers, Rajinder Singh Bedi took to writing fiction in Urdu long before the language became a divisive tool in the hands of politics. Urdu came naturally to him, as it would to anyone born in Sialkot (village Dhalli-ki, now in Pakistan) before Partition.

Urdu was the language of sophistication, of literature, in the early 20th century. In Bedi's writings, it underwent a metamorphosis, the way history of the people of this unusual era did, to emerge stronger yet more malleable and democratic.

His Urdu assimilated the rustic, regional flavor, as it was spoken by the characters that breathe through his 72 short stories written over 50 years. Partition had changed the landscape of trust and love for the uprooted people like Bedi, yet love for the Zuban remained a unifying factor among writers like Krishan Chander, Uperdranath Ashk, and Bedi.

'Lajwanti' by Rajinder Singh Bedi is set in the wake of the India-Pakistan Partition-specifically, the abduction of women on either side of the border. During the Partition, tens of thousands of Hindus and Muslims were forced to pack and leave, because suddenly, allegiance to one's country was based on religion. Families who had been living on the "wrong" side of the border for generations had to migrate, at moment's notice, to their "homeland". Amid all this pain, anguish, separation, and large-scale identity crises, displaced people began attacking the "enemies"_ through thefts, violence, and abductions, as was the case with the protagonist Sunder Lal, and his wife Lajwanti to abductors, and abandoning all hope of finding her again, put his heart and soul into the rehabilitation of those women who were abducted and brought back, but not accepted into their own home. Sunder Lal urges the families and husbands of these women to "rehabilitate them into your hearts," through processions and speeches. He is supported in this endeavor by many, but faces opposition too, especially from the orthodox, religious section of society. One day, his brother-in-law sees Lajwanti in a truck full of abducted women to be returned. Sunder Lal brings her home and treats her like a goddess, with utmost reverence. However, under the impression that her fragile heart would break if she were to recount her "traumatic" experiences, he does not allow her to speak about it. The story ends with Lajo bemoaning the fact that she had been rehabilitated, yes; but not accepted.

In conclusion, when there is so much pain, on both sides, the people should have simply started afresh and rebuilt their lives, with their wives, sisters, and mothers, abducted and brought back and rehabilitated or otherwise.

"The author shows the deification of Lajwanti as Sunder Lal's attempts to put her up on an unattainable, not relatable -to-and to distance Lajwanti from himself, in a cruelly duplicitous manner."