I Shall Not Hear The Nightingale - Khushwant Singh

Hi Friends,

My first Khushwant Singh novel was ‘Train to Pakistan’, and it was quite a novel. It was great, close to reality, really vivid in describing the scenes related to the novel; the characters were good and nicely defined. ‘Train to Pakistan’ was a real treat to read. I decided to pick up some more of Khushwant Singh’s novels and I picked up ‘I shall not hear the Nightingale’ and ‘Delhi’ from the library.

‘I shall not hear the Nightingale’ was a disaster. It is certainly one of worst novels that I have ever read. The story is very confusing, there is no plot at all in the novel, the author is very confused as to what idea he wants to convey through the novel.

Like some movies that are character driven and have no specific story, so can be novels. They might not have a story in particular but something special to say by the events that happen in the life of characters and how their life develops or deteriorates. Such novels are basically emotional sort of stories that tell about human emotions and that sort of soft values.

This novel, though I tried to look at it from different angles, not gave me a single hint, what on earth the writer wanted to say. Because of my first KS read (Train to Pakistan), I tried to find something that could have been good about it, but I wasn’t able to find one thing on the basis of which I could recommend this novel.

Characters

First thing, there a lot of characters in the story but there is no central one. This is the beginning of confusion in the reader’s mind. You will not be able to understand until the end (and even after it) whose story is told.

Buta Singh, is a senior magistrate in Punjab who works for British Government (the novel is based in British India i.e. India before Independence). He is a loyal servant of the British and is proud to be so. Sabhrai is wife of Buta Singh who is a very religious lady and is constantly busy telling the beads of her rosary and saying her prayers.

Sher Singh is son of Buta Singh. Sher is a local student leader and a nationalist. He gives speeches in student community but his father constantly reminds him that he must observe his limits. Buta Singh has no problem with nationalist thinking of Sher until he crosses the boundary line and does something to harm the British.

Champak is ‘sexually demanding’ wife of Sher Singh. The intimate scenes of Sher and Champak are described vividly. (Seems to me KS has got a gift of describing sexual scenes vividly, while I thought only Sidney Sheldon ‘overdid’ that.)

Beena is daughter of Buta Singh.

Madan is a good friend of Sher Singh, son of another magistrate Wazir Chand, a famous cricketer, a known philanderer, a good looking and physically well built person. Madan at first goes after Beena but than he seduces the horny Champak. Rest you can imagine.

John Taylor is Deputy Commissioner of District and Joyce Taylor is his wife. John is a British Indian Civil cervices officer and a completely wasted character.

Dyer is the faithful dog of Sher Singh. Shunno is a maid servant in Buta’s house and Mundoo is 13 year old boy servant.

Story

Now this is the difficult part. Even the worst novels that I had read before had some or the other story in them. It was just that the concept had not been handled nicely or the endings have been messed up after good start to story. This one novel had no story at all.

So, let me tell you what I figured out. The story starts with Sher, Madan and some others target practicing in a jungle. At that time I thought it might be a novel on some freedom fighters or some fictional account of a small part of the little bit of armed freedom struggle that India had by socialists and communists.

As I read on, the encounters of Buta and Sher appeared and it was pretty clear that the ideologies of son and father are way apart. At that time, it occurred to me that it might be a novel on the differenced between opinions of the youth and the old regarding the British Raj in India because most of the Indian officers were very loyal to British and wanted them to go on in India but youth wanted them out. I was quite impressed with the concept that time.

Then came vividly described sexual encounters of Champak and Sher. After that, followed the ill intentions of Madan regarding his friend Sher’s sister Beena. At that time I started to get confused. But I kept on reading as some authors do tend to get sexually vivid.

After some chapters, John Taylor sends for Sher and Sher thinks Taylor has found out that he has joined a band of terrorists and has illicit weapons in his house. Taylor keeps on playing with Sher. Beena, Madan and his sister Sita go to Shimla after the college exams of Beena and Sita end. Champak joins them soon. There Madan starts to look for openings to some how screw Beena but Champak gives him invitation and he drops Beena and screws Champak. After some time Beena gets ill and Sabhrai joins them and then they return to Punjab.

In Punjab Sher gets arrested for charges to kill village Lambardar (head man) but police finds out nothing.

In this way this useless story progresses and ends.

Why you should not read this novel?!

Primarily, because there is no story, no plot, no idea, nothing. This novel is full of sex. In every chapter you will find something ‘sexy’ or the other. Champak shaving her privates, Champak getting naked in the bathroom and leaving the door unbolted and dying with shyness when Mundoo comes in the bath with hot water and gazes with open mouth at the bosom of Champak.

Champak – the sexually demanding wife of Sher and getting laid every night. Champak – the unfaithful wife, seducing Madan and enjoying herself in Shimla.

As you read on this ‘sexy’ novel gets very frustrating, I mean its okay to describe a character by one sex scene, the reader gets an idea that this one lady is very horny but why get into the deepest detail and that too over and over and over again. An experienced reader might read on because when there is a strong story, the intimate scenes help the plot and build a character, you want to read on but why in haven’s name will one read a novel that has got no story and no idea and two vivid intimate scenes every chapter. And that too when you are in no mood for such bullsh** and the novel is getting boring and boring.

I am very disappointed with this novel, especially after reading ‘Train to Pakistan’. Please avoid this novel at all costs. This is a complete wastage of time, if you have bought it – a complete wastage of money, for the publishers a wastage of numerous man hours went in to publish it, for industry a wastage of ink and paper.

Do not read this novel,

Khagesh Gautam

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After getting top recommendations from Prem, Karan and Amazon reviews, I was more than convinced to buy this novel straight away. As this book is out of print, I had to buy a used copy straight out of 1970s print. I personally consider ‘Train to Pakistan’ as one of my favorite writings ever and more the reason I was eager to lap up ‘I shall not hear the nightingale’. I finished this book in one go and now its time for a review! What did I think of it? Read on!

I shall not hear the nightingale

I will not really elaborate on the story here as I normally don’t like to give away storyline of a book. To be brief, the book is set in years 1942 - 1943 during world war and our [Indian] independence struggle. The story revolves around the family of Buta Singh who is a British loyalist and his young rebellious son Sher Singh who along with his close friend Madan Lal have decided to use violence as a means of targeting the British. With the principle cast are Sabhrai, Buta Singh’s wife and Sher Singh’s mother, Beena – Sher Singh’s sister, Champak – Sher Singh’s wife and Sita - Madan Lal’s sister. Mr. and Mrs. Taylor make up the British angle to the book. And yes a loyal dog too.

To be precise, the book narrates a story of inter-leaved relationships, Father Son ambitions, a devout mother, Sher Singh’s ambition as a youth leader and surprisingly good natured British Commissioner. The book is a story of loyalty, bravery, cowardice and ultimately faith. The book is a nice look into the times just before independence – i.e. The mentality of people, the overall political structure in which our independence was heading and the usual corruption in there. Lastly the book is also musing of a perverted mind.

The Hookers

No I don’t mean hookers. I mean what hooks you to the book! There are some superbly narrated sequences in the book. The very beginning of the book has an incredibly chilling description of shooting of a Sarus Crane – its one sequence which really bogs a reader down. The sequences towards the end are also brilliant in their way of execution. The almost un-noticeable reference to the nightingale is dealt with supreme brilliance towards the end – it was simply a piece-de-resistance.

The second strong point of the book is the character of the mother in the book. Slowly but surely she rises to the occasion with her faith in god. I loved the part where author mixed God into the book. Several times the author digresses into explaining the culture aspects of Indian society which make up for a beautiful read – his descriptions of monsoon is beautiful and can be only read to be appreciated completely! Its definitely these parts that make the book interesting.

The Strippers

Don’t get ideas again. What I mean here is what strips away the magic of the book. For one, until the half way mark the story is pretty much ordinary and beyond a point bores you. You cannot help but notice Khushwanth Singh leap into his customary pervert descriptions. I would have loved if only one character of the book was a sex starved character, however most of the women characters in this book are sex starved – be it Sher Singh’s wife Champak, Shannu the maid servant or Beena his sister; providing ample opportunity for Khushwanth Singh to digress into nether worlds.

The Simla sequences and the sequences of Madan Lal are straight out of a Hindi movie and seem utterly disjointed with the proceedings; and so is the Shannu and her inner parts drama. It seemed as if the author hadn’t really made up his mind where to progress the story and how. I had almost given up hope on this book but luckily Khushwanth Singh turns around the book and makes the rest of the books a superb read.

The Downers

However given its contrasting nature of the book, several aspects were either badly researched or the author intently put them in the book. May be Khushwanth Singh was targeting this book towards western audiences in his time who knows, but I couldn’t help noticing characters speaking of temperature in Fahrenheit scales in summer (we used / use Celsius scale). The distances in the book are talked of in ‘Miles’ rather than ‘Kilometers’ which was / is used in our generation. It is difficult to imagine that the author didn’t know these things – rather it looked more like an attempt to make this book acceptable to westerners.

The worst part of the book probably for me was it was not a sincere attempt at writing. Seeing the author digress into inane sexual tensions make me feel that the author didn’t really have much material to give to readers – however he manages to weave them well. It would have been more satisfying if the author had explored relationships rather than co-relating them to sexual vagaries. At the end of the book, I felt it was a good book, but not a sincere book.

Overall

Overall this is a good book to read, but definitely not Khushwanth Singh’s best by any standards. His best still remains ‘Train to Pakistan’ because of the sincerity and the honesty of the book. The book begins superbly, degrades hopelessly only to recover back superbly at the end. How I wish the author had simply chopped off the senseless sexual muck and just concentrated on explaining the intricacies of relationships, or maybe explored the British couple in the book.

At the best, it’s a good book and nothing more. Don’t die for it – read it when and if you have time!

Happy reading!

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Relationships. Thin strings of thoughts and rules binding individuals. Sometimes coming on a platter as a gift, and sometimes tied to the hands like handcuffs. In any form, their knots are constantly re-arranged with time, love and trust. Sometimes bitter experiences gnaw into them to test the strength of these knots and at other times, hatred, betrayal and destiny break them. It is around this entangle and trap of relationships that this tale called “I Shall Not Hear the Nightingale” is woven. Read below to find out more.

.::The Plot::.

Placed in 1942, the book tells a story of a small, close-knit Sikh family living in Amritsar. Buta Singh, the head of the family, is a magistrate who works for the British, and after years of loyal service to the British Raj is expecting to be honoured with a title in the King’s Birthday Honours List. His son, Sher Singh, however has different plans. He has joined a band of terrorists and comrades and in order to acquire the leadership has hatched a plan to disrupt arms supplies traffic on road and rail through bombing, and all this rebellion is undetected by any member of the family. Hell breaks loose when a ghastly murder of the village headman is reported and Sher Singh is arrested. All this sends an earthquake through the foundations of Buta Singh’s house [for his dreams are shattered] and what follows is a tale of conflicting loyalties and unexpected redemption which is to be read to be felt. Does Buta Singh get the title he craved for? Does Sher Singh get hanged? If he doesn’t who comes to the rescue? Who’s the real culprit? Read the book to find out.

.::My Review::.

Storytelling:

I Shall Not Hear the Nightingale’s strength is its story-telling.The basic plot (as above) is known to the reader even before he reads the first page and knows exactly where the book will steer to, but a few pages into it, and one is completely shocked at the sequence of events and the masterful execution of the plot. The book starts off with a chilling account of Sher Singh and his gang ruthlessly killing a Sarus crane. Deftly and niftily canned, it amazes with its sheer authenticity (the death scene of the bird and the mannerisms of the partner bird will have you speechless) and instantly makes the reader dive into this sea of words.

Quite instantly, however, a change in tide is noticed when we are taken into Buta Singh’s household. Even the most miniscule of character gets introduced and slowly we are transferred into another world which revolves just around Buta Singh’s family and friends. The narrative is quite fluffy and light (quite surprising, considering it’s a Khushwant Singh book) and makes for one fantastic read. Tension, unexpectedly builds up with Sher Singh’s arrest though it isn’t very overpowering, for the author instils hope, God, religion and optimism into the whole sequence. In fact tension soon fades away and the reader waits for a happy climax, when suddenly an unexpected incident comes with a loud slap, and keeps the reader hooked till the climax.

For once, I loved the way the English officers have been portrayed. Authoritarian, yet human; Disciplined, yet emotional; for once they aren’t the villains of this book, and that in itself gives this book a niche. Objectivity is the keyword. Neither are their actions politically biased, nor are they diplomatic. Projecting them as somebody equally human as an Indian, the author beautifully captures their psyche.

Relationships, which form the crux of the book are again depicted very life-like. Be it the mother-son relationship or husband-to-wife or Comissioner-to-magistrate or friend-to-friend or for that matter father-son, there isn’t a speck of artificiality or loud emotions that you’ll have difficulty to gulp. Objectively presented, with each bond going through its share of trials, so much reminiscent of real life, makes the book likeable.

Sex and voyeurism, thankfully, gets relegated to the background in this book, and though there are ample suggestive sentences and words, they flow with the narrative and at times is enjoyable (of particular mention is the incident where the house’s maid servant, Shanno seeks the cure of a Peer baba [and in the process mates with him] when during her morning session she finds something red sticky stuff oozing from her privates, when the actual cause is her peer servant who mixes red ink and glue in her morning jug to punish her for ill-treating him)

The author also hasn’t sermonised much as well, with occasional musings on the Indian culture and religion, the Indian monsoons or the privacy in the relationships in India, which again gel with the story-telling and are again quite enjoyable pieces to ponder upon, providing a classic touch to the main story.

A trivial flaw in the book is its climax. For such a wonderfully cohesive plot, a more justifiable climax was the need of the hour. Though emotional morons (like me) will have their tear ducts moist in the final pages, I would have loved to see a more conclusive climax. The last page is quite mediocre in that sense and abrupt as well.

Characterisation:

Another plus point of this book. The author has so beautifully captured every sphere of life by handpicking characters from practically every age-group that the reader will always have atleast one character to identify it. And even praiseworthy is the way they have been fleshed out. Be it the insecurity of adolescence (Sher Singh’s sister-Beena), the brute ness of the youth (Sher Singh), the unconquerable lust of a woman (Sher Singh’s wife-Champak), the mannerisms of a Casanova (Sher Singh’s friend-Madan), the diplomacy of the public servant (Buta Singh and Wazir Chand), the spirituality and dignity of an old lady (Sher Singh’s mother-Sabhrai), the compassion of an Englishwoman (Mrs Taylor), the loyalty of a pet-dog (Dyer) or the ignorance of the illiterate (Shanno-the maid servant), every character is so wholesomely etched and brought into life, that the book looks more like a slice of one’s own life.

Language:

Just like the light narrative, the language also never becomes loud, and is suggestive, smooth and in some places even soothing. Lots of verses, translated into English, from the Guru Granth Sahib find their way into the text, and when added with many more Indian syllables, add to the rusticity and the native feel of the novel. Wonderful!

.::On an ending note::.

As I said before, I Shall Not Hear The Nightingale is a slice of life. Characters here aren’t one-dimensional. Add to the life-like factor, a fabulously executed plot, a refreshingly witty narrative which will keep you engrossed all through and will tug at you towards the final pages plus a wonderful message it embodies:

“Love is the oxygen for any relationship—blood or otherwise.Take this mask away, and you’ll see the relationship suffocate.”

A must read for those on a lookout for an emotional read. Highly Recommended.

….Hope you liked the review…..do comment if time permits….and please peek at the comments for some extra notes…