this is not that not dawn|Jhoota Sach: Yashpal

A book that should be read...

Reading a book that been sitting on my shelves for a while: ‘this is not that not dawn’ ( “Jhoota Sach”, trans. “false truths” in Hindi). The book is arguably the best book on the partition (of India into India and Pakistan).

Much like the more well-known Tolstoy or Thomas Mann, Yashpal weaves multiple characters and families through time and place. Unlike Tolstoy or Mann, Yashpal was a freedom fighter and activist himself - writing with some experience and investment about how the divisions between Hindus and Muslims grew (and were instigated by the British). Yashpal recognizes both the strengths and flaws of the idealistic politicians that laid the unstable foundations of “sovereign socialist secular democratic republic” which we now know didn't develop the way they had envisioned it would it; and he sharply shows the reader the suffering of ordinary citizens living through the chaos, strife, and violence of Partition.

Yashpal treats the women in this novel (and his other novels) with extraordinary sensitivity, arguing for gender equality and feminine freedom in ways that were ahead of his time - and ahead of our time. Tara, central to the novel, suffers greatly, and yet, is someone I’d look up to as I admire her intelligence, persistence, and noble strength. I understand why this book isn’t better known - obscure subject that the West knows and cares little about and length - but oh, how I wish more folks read Yashpal. He writes beautifully, and what he writes about deserves a wider readership.

Oh, lastly, this book is over -1,100 pages of relatively fine print and CW for assault (both physical and sexual)