Toba Tek Singh II: A post-Manto dream

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On the 14 of May, 2014, a most terrible storm in the Arabian Sea caught dozens of fishermen unaware.

Many drowned, as their boats were torn asunder by the sheer magnitude of the waves, the powerful winds and mad rain.

But, there were survivors too.

The winds had carried them to a small island which none of them had noticed before. Now they were on this island, bruised and in shock.

When the storm subsided, the clouds gave way to the sun. The break of light revealed that five men had survived. But there were no boats, at least none intact.

The five men sit on the sandy beach of the island. They are bruised and their clothes are torn.

Man 1 (A teenager): I have never seen a storm like that. I am Rajan. A fisherman from a village near Mumbai, are all of you fishermen too?

Man 2 (Young person in his 20s): You are an Indian?

Rajan: Are you from the same village?

Man 2: No, I am from a fishing village some 50 miles out of Karachi.

Rajan: Pakistani fisherman? Name?

Man 2: Shabeer.

Rajan points at a middle-aged man sitting beside him: This is Joti. We are from the same village. Fisherman also. Indian.

Shabeer surveys the group: Are you all Indian?

Man 3 (in his early 40s): No. I am Khalid. From Makran. I work as a clerk in the city of Gwadar. I was on a launch with a couple of engineers. I am Pakistani. They were Chinese. But now gone



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