THE DOG OF TITHWAL

PART 1

a. When the sound of firing rang through the hills, the birds gave a start and took flight,
their hearing hurt, as though a hand had struck some discordant note.

b. For some time now, the two sides had been entrenched in their positions on the front.
Over the course of the day, the sound of firing could be heard some ten or twelve times
from either side but no human cry ever ac companies its explosive sound.

c. Corporal Harnam Singh obviously belongs to the Indian side.

d. It is Banta Singh on the Indian side who finds the dog.

e. The name given to the dog by the Pakistani soldiers is Sapad Sunsun.

PART 2

a. The fratricidal war between Pakistan and India was raging relentlessly on the heights and
slopes of the hills. After a while, the soldiers of both sides grew tired as no decisive result
had presented itself. At last, everyone, covered in blankets, lay asleep ready at any minute
to rise, fight and die. However, Corporal Harnam Singh was on patrol. When the hour in
his watch struck two, he awoke Ganda Singh and installed him in his station. He wanted
very much to sleep, but on closing his eyes, found sleep was as far from him as the stars
of the night sky. Lying on his back, he sang softly about star-spangled shoes that were
scattered all over the sky and twinkling softly. But sleep did not come and he woke
others. Then Banta Singh the youngest among them, sang a popular Punjabi romantic
song and everyone enjoyed it.

b. The fratricidal war between Pakistan and India was raging relentlessly on the heights and
slopes of the hills. Over the course of a day, the sound of firing could be heard, some ten
or twelve times from the other side. However, no human cry accompanied its report. The
weather was extremely agreeable. The air was filled with the heady scent of wild flowers.
When the sound of firing sang through the hills, the birds started and took flight. Their
 power of hearing was hurt, as if a hand had struck some discordant note. Both fronts were
in very secure places. The bullets would come singing at full speed, collide against the
rock face and be extinguished. The war raged day and night. Sometime in the night, the
soldiers of both sides had tea or coffee. Then, everyone, covered in blankets, lay asleep.
However, all were ready to rise, fight and die at any minute. Similar is the routine of
soldiers everywhere.

c. After long sleepless hours, Corporal Haram Singh again lay down. Suddenly the barking
of a dog rang out. Banta Singh, another recruit, rose and walked towards the sound. He
returned, accompanied by a stray dog, wagging its tail. Now Banta Singh, whom
Corporal Harnam Singh had installed in his station on patrol, before he went to sleep,
smiled. He said humorously that he had questioned the dog and that the dog answered
that his name was Chapad jhunjhun! Everyone laughed. Corporal Harnam caressed the
dog calling it endearingly Chapad jhunjhun. During breakfast, each soldier fed it with
biscuits. Sometime later the stray dog was on the Pakistani side. Now Bashir saw a rope
around the dog's neck and another soldier removed it. It was looped through a piece of
cardboard on which was written 'Chapad jhunjhun.' It suggested he was an Indian dog.
Before straying to the Indian side it had been with the Pakistanis. Now that he was back,
Captain Himmat Khan, gave him the name "Sapad Sunsun”.

d. The stray dog was christened ‘Chapad Jhunjhun' by the Indian soldiers and "Sapad
Sunsun' by the Pakistanis shuttles between both sides like a fugitive. When he arrives at
the Indian camp, the Indian soldiers feed him lavishly with biscuits. But the real identity
of the dog is a matter of uncertainty to them. Even their cry 'Long live, India!' frightens
him. They put a rope around his neck with cardboard on which is written 'Chapad
Jhunjhun'. Some time later the dog finds himself on the Pakistani side and in the clash of
civilizations he becomes a point of fighting. The Pakistanis give him a new name, 'Sapad
Sunsun’. They too put a rope around his neck with cardboard on which is inscribed
‘Sapad Sunsun’. Then he is entrusted with the task of delivering a letter to the enemy.
Soon he is caught between the shots fired at him from both sides and he runs now in one
direction and soon in the opposite direction At long last a bullet fired by Corporal
Harman Singh hits him. The poor creature collapses in a heap. His end is a paradigm of
the futility of all wars.
e. A dog is known for its proverbial loyalty to its master. But no dog can serve two masters
faithfully at the same time. This is the dilemma the dog of Tithwal finds himself in in
Saadat Hasan Manto's story. Set against the backdrop of the fratricidal conflict between
India and Pakistan in the wake of the partition of the British Indian empire in 1947, the
story has a stray dog as its central character. With his split identities, he shuttles between
the twin military camps of Pakistan and India. We first find him wandering to the Indian
side. There he is lavishly fed by the Indian recruits and is given an Indian name. But soon
he finds himself on the other side when he gets an apparently Pakistani name. The
Pakistanis entrust him with the task of carrying a letter to the enemy camp. There he finds
himself torn between his loyalty to the two masters. His shuttling between opposite
directions in the face of the firings from both sides is a paradigm of his ambivalent state.