Sher Singh killed a skull. He wanted to be a terrorist. But there was baptism in his blood. He felt the crane. If one crane dies, the other dies of wrong. The instigator of him is Madan. Madan feels that if there is baptism in blood, that blood must be shed. Sher Singh and Madan were training to shoot the English. This short novel by Khushwant Singh is about the Sikh community who created a military brotherhood to fight against the British. The Sikhs were defeated by the British in six successive battles. However, after being defeated, the Sikhs were conscripted into the British Army for their valor and honour. The Sikhs believed that ‘God is the truth’.
The story is ultimately about love, kindness, and peace despite terrorism, revolt, and militancy. This is represented by the symbol of the angry crane losing its mate. Even as Sher Singh fills hand grenades and rifles, he thinks of the wounded bird. So the story is ultimately about the ineffectiveness of terrorism and violence and the message of peace.
Sher Singh was the son of a high magistrate and the leader of a gang of terrorists. He had revealed both identities for so long, but now he had a choice to make. The concern was what to choose, security or terrorism.
Sher Singh’s house was a haven of comfort and security. His mother and her sister represented feelings of comfort and security. But Sher Singh was politically at odds with his father Buta Singh. They differ in their opinions of him regarding the British. Buta Singh is basically a supporter of the British. He believes in mutual aid between British and Sikhs. On the other hand, Sher Singh thinks that there are many Gandhis and Nehrus who should be followed, not the British. Buta Singh cannot change his loyalties at his age. But he is realizing that the nationalists need support. In fact, his loyalty to the British was taken as subservience. He was being double-faced.
The story is basically about the tension between the British and the Sikhs which the author has brought to light through a vivid graphic of conversations, revolutionary speeches, meetings and so on. It turns out that there are two parties, the anti-British and the pro-British. The older generation of Sikhs are pro-British. The younger generation is trying to take down the British. There were Hindus like Madan who were instigators of terrorism. Young leadership hopefuls danced to Madan’s songs and packed hand grenades.
Along with the general background of politics, the story very simply traces the private lives of Sher Singh, Beena, Champak and Madan. Sher Singh being a failure in the marriage relationship he tries to please his wife by aspiring for a high position in politics, becoming a political leader, hero and terrorist. Bina, her sister, is passionately in love with the tall, handsome and charming Madan, from whom she gets a stink. Madan, a married man who pretends to be very concerned about the country, is in a passionate illicit relationship with his friend Champak’s wife and incites his friend Sher Singh to become a hero and terrorist.
Terrorist attacks are planned, some bridges are blown up, few roads are blocked, few brilliant speeches are made, and finally a murder is committed. Sher Singh is arrested and jailed. There, the darling of the family is tortured, beaten and mocked by the Anglo Indians. The would-be hero does some nonsense and ends up in prison.
Sher Singh’s mother, a deeply dignified lady in spirit and soul, fasts to near death praying for her son’s release. John Taylor, British ICS and his wife, both a little different kind of British, sympathetic to Indians, representatives of British solidarity revere Sher Singh’s mother and free her son. Thus, ultimately, history shows that terrorism, violence and heroism are only children’s fantasies. What really solves is the beauty of the spirit, the spirit of love and prayer, the belief that ‘God is the Truth’. Kushwant Singh’s short novel under the cloak of politics, murder, terrorism, revolution and heroism teaches the ineffectiveness of it all and the triumph of peace and God.