Toba Tek Singh

Toba Tek Singh (Punjabi(Shahmukhi)/Urdu: ٹوبہ ٹیک سنگھ‎) is a city and tehsil of Toba Tek Singh District in the Pakistani province of Punjab.

History

In the memory of a Sikh saint is enlivened by a city. Before Tek Singh came and lodged here, it was a deserted place by the pond (Toba in the local language). He made it a point to service thirsty passers-by from this pond. Years later, his act of charity founded the city, which is now named after him, Toba Tek Singh.

British Raj

Toba Tek Singh was developed by the British toward the end of the 18th Century when a canal system was built. People from all over the Punjab (currently Indian and Pakistani Punjab) moved there as farmlands were allotted to them. Most of the people who migrated there belonged to Lahore, Jalandhar,hoshiar pur districts. The Imperial Gazetteer of India described the tehsil of Toba Tek Singh as follows:

Tahsil of the new Lyallpur District, Punjab, lying between 30°50' and 31°23' N. and 72° 20' and 72°54' E., with an area of 865 square miles (2,240 km2). The population in 1906 was 148,984. It contains 342 villages, including Toba Tek Singh (population,1,874), the headquarters, and GOJRA (2,589), an important grain market on the Wazirabad -Khanewal branch of the North-Western Railway. The land revenue and cesses in 1905-6 amounted to 4.7 lakhs. The tahsil consists of a level plain, wholly irrigated by the Chenab Canal. The soil, which is very fertile in the east of the tahsil, becomes sandy towards the west. The boundaries of the tahsil were somewhat modified at the time of the formation of the new District of Lyallpur"

Toba Tek Singh (short story)

"Toba Tek Singh" (Urdu: ٹوبہ ٹیک سنگھ‎ ALA-LC: Ṭobah Țek Siṉgh IPA: [ʈoːbəh ʈeːk sɪŋɡʱ]) is a short story written by Saadat Hasan Manto and published in 1955. It follows inmates in a Lahore asylum, some of whom are to be transferred to India following the independence of Pakistan in 1947. The story is a "powerful satire" on the relationship between India and Pakistan. A film based on a play adaptation was made in 2005 by Afia Nathaniel.

Plot summary

The story is set two or three years after the 1947 independence, when the governments of India and Pakistan decided to exchange some Muslim, Sikh and Hindu lunatics, and revolves around Bishan Singh, a Sikh inmate of an asylum in Lahore, who is from the town of Toba Tek Singh. As part of the exchange, Bishan Singh is sent under police escort to India, but upon being told that his hometown Toba Tek Singh is in Pakistan, he refuses to go. The story ends with Bishan lying down between barbed wire: "There, behind barbed wire, was Hindustan. Here, behind the same kind of barbed wire, was Pakistan. In between, on that piece of ground that had no name, lay Toba Tek Singh."

Toba Tek Singh (disambiguation)

Toba Tek Singh is a city in Punjab Province of Pakistan.

Toba Tek Singh may also refer to:

Toba Tek Singh District

Toba Tek Singh District (Urdu: ضلع ٹوبہ ٹیک سنگھ‎) is a district in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is located between 30°33' to 31°2' Degree north latitudes and 72°08' to 72°48' Degree longitudes. It became a separate district in 1982.

Etymology

The city and district is named after a Sikh religious figure Tek Singh. Legend has it that Mr. Singh a kind hearted man served water and provided shelter to the worn out and thirsty travellers passing by a small pond ("TOBA" in Punjabi) which eventually was called Toba Tek Singh, and the surrounding settlement acquired the same name. There is also a park here named after the Sardar Tek Singh.

British Raj

Toba Tek Singh was developed by the British toward the end of the 19th Century when a canal system was built. People from all over the Punjab (currently Indian and Pakistani Punjab) moved there as farmlands were allotted to them. Most of the people who migrated there belonged to Lahore, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur districts. The Imperial Gazetteer of India described the tehsil of Toba Tek Singh as follows: