Introduction

Ljwant by Rajinder Singh Bedi explores the plight of abducted women during the violence and upheaval of the Subcontinents partition in 1947. It focuses on the condition of abducted women, violence, rehabilitation, its aftermaths and societys psyche during partition, the various forms of resistance in the text, and questioning resistance itself. What instantly can catch one's attention is that this story is a feminist work written by a male writer.

Lajwanti by Rajendra Singh Bedi potrays the gender aspect of the partition. After two years of Partition when the government of India and Pakistan decided to heal some wounds by tracing abducted women on both sides and returning them to their homes. They did not realize that the problem was whether their families back home would accept them now. A wife- beater Sunderlal in Lajwanti becomes a social activist. Similarly Jamila Hashmis short story Exile. The narrator of the story a maid is an orphan because of Partition. She was abducted. Her abductor after killing her parents brought her to his house. Pushing her into the courtyard he proclaimed Look Ma I have brought you a Bahu. She is tall and good looking of the girls who fell into our hands tonight. She was the prettiest. She will be you slave. There were no songs and dance, no celebration to welcome her. Day in and out she desperately longs to see

her relatives and friends whom she left behind. She sat outside the door of the house everyday with hopes and starred longingly down the lane. This was the irony of partition days, the narrator of Exile wanted to be with her family and friends whom she has left behind and Lajwanti though returned was still facing identity crisis among her own near and dear ones and in her own country How a world which was so familiar had suddenly become a world of strangers.