Ice Candy Man is a novel written by American – Pakistani Novelist, Bapsi Sidhwa. This is a first novel in which Pakistani Woman Novelist telling about a condition of Lahore people after the partition of India and Pakistan.
You may have read many novel which tells about the condition of Indian people after partition but no one tells about the condition of Pakistan. So Bapsi Sidhwa is going to tell us what Pakistani people faces after partition.
Ice Candy Man By Bapsi Sidhwa
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Summary of Ice Candy Man By Bapsi Sidhwa
The story of the novel starts with Iqbal complaining to God. The main character of the story is Lenny, a physically handicapped young Parsi girl who lives in Lahore. She is an introvert girl who likes to stay at home. The story now introduces a new character, Ayah, an eighteen-year-old very beautiful Hindu girl who takes care of Lenny.
Since Lenny is an introvert person, she is good at observing people and notices the little things of people. She noticed how everyone in her town is crazy about her Ayah. Lenny has a doctor, Colonel Bharucha, who did a surgery on her leg and asked her to rest for a month. After a month the Colonel allowed Lenny to move from her wheel chair
Now a new character comes in the story, Ice Candy Man, who sells ice candy in summer. Since people don’t buy ice candy in winter, he changed his business and started selling birds on the streets of Lahore. Ice Candy Man is a very talkative person who can talk for hours on any topic.
Now there is a new character in the story, Imam Din, a tall and robust old man of sixty years, who works as a cook in Lenny’s house. He loves playing with children in his free time. One day Imam Din takes Lenny to his village Peer Pindo.
Peer Pindo is a village where people of all castes live peacefully. Panchayat is going on in the village and they are talking about Hindu-Muslim riots. In the Panchayat, the villagers were talking about the British, how they fooled us all and how terrible riots are happening in Bihar and Bengal.
This was the time when people were rioting for partition. And partition has not happened yet. Peer Pindo’s Chaudhary assures everyone that there will be no riots in his village. We will live the same way as we used to live before, no matter what happens. Lenny was watching everything, later Imam brings him to his house.
On the other hand, Aaya’s lovers are increasing day by day. Two crazy lovers, Chinaman and Pathan, have started roaming around Lenny’s house to talk to Aaya. Summer has come in Lahore and the ice candy wala has started selling ice candies again in Lahore.
These days, partition of India was confirmed, Muslim people wanted a separate country named Pakistan. Imam Din is worried about his village and he wants to go back to see the condition of his village.
Peer Pindo is surrounded by military trucks that come to take the Muslims to a safe place. But the innocent farmers of Peer Pindo don’t know what is happening. They don’t know why the military truck has come to their village. It was very difficult for the poor farmers to leave their land, village and home.
A new character comes, Mr. Roger, the Inspector General of Police of Lahore. One day, people find his dead body in the gutter which makes the people of Lahore panic. Lenny notices that everything has changed and after a few days riots started in Lahore and everyone was trying to hide themselves.
The Muslims and Sikhs who lived together peacefully are now eager to kill each other. Hindus and Sikhs were leaving Lahore and going to Amritsar. They left their homes, shops and land behind in Lahore. No one knows where they are going and what will happen tomorrow.
One morning there is an announcement on All India Radio that India has been partitioned. Lenny was a Parsi girl and so far no one had harmed the Parsis but they were worried about their future. One day, an angry Muslim came to Lenny’s house, they asked if there were any Hindu servants living in their house.
They were actually asking about Ayah. Imaan Din said no and tells them that Ayah has gone back to her home. Later, Ice Candy Man comes out of that crowd and asks Lenny about Ayah.
Lenny is an innocent girl, she thinks Ice Candy Man likes Ayah so she ends up telling him about Ayah. An angry Muslim throws Ayah out of the house and Lenny is shocked to see this. She never thought that if she tells Ice Candy Man about Ayah they will do such a horrible thing to her.
That day Lenny finds out that Ice Candy Man’s own mother was a prostitute and he himself was a pimp.
On the other side, Sikhs of Peer Pindo village attack Muslims. Imam Deem family was also in danger but now nothing can be done as the killings of Muslims have started in Peer Pindo. They raped all the Muslim girls.
The story now focuses on Lenny who is very sad because the Muslims have caught her Aaya. She cannot believe that the Ice Candy Man who liked Aaya has betrayed Aaya. Ever since the Ice Candy Man has seen the corpses of Muslims, he has changed. Aaya is no longer a love for him as she has become a Hindu for him.
The story also teaches us how fighting and riots affect the psychology of a child. Lenny is blaming herself for whatever is happening to her. She hurts her tongue with toothpaste in the washroom because with this tongue she tells them about her Aaya.
One day Lenny’s cousin told him that he saw Ayah in the car and she was wearing the actress’ dress. After a few days Lenny himself saw Ayah in the car and he told everyone in his family about Ayah. After this Lenny’s family started looking for Ayah. One day Lenny goes to his godmother, a woman who gives religious education to children.
There Lenny sees a groom and that groom is none other than Ice Candy Man who is wearing white clothes. Ice Candy Man greets everyone by reciting Urdu Nazm. Ice Candy Man has married Ayah, Godmother scolds him a lot because he is not taking care of Ayah.
Godmother tells him that you are not worthy of Ayah then why did you marry her. Ice Candy Man replies that I am a human and only dogs are loyal. He says that if you want loyalty then marry her to a dog.
Godmother shouts at the ice candy man and abuses him. Lenny was also there seeing everything, Godmother decides that she will go to Heera Mandi to meet Aaya. Lenny insists to go with Godmother to meet Aaya. After this, Godmother and Lenny go to Heera Mandi. They are taken to a room which smells of flowers. Ice candy man takes Aaya out, Lenny sees pain and helplessness in Aaya’s eyes. She looked like someone has taken her soul out of her body.
Aaya became a living corpse. Aaya pleaded Godmother to take her out of Heera Mandi as she cannot stay there. Aaya told Godmother that her relatives live in Amritsar and she wants to go there. Godmother consoles Aaya that she will soon take her out of Heera Mandi. After this, Lenny and Godmother return from there. After returning, Lenny’s cousin asks her about the brothel. Lenny is grown up now and she knows what a brothel is. On the other hand, Godmother goes to the government administration and tells them about prostitution in Heera Mandi and a girl named Ayah is trapped there.
After a few days, the police raid Heera Mandi and rescue Ayah from there. They send Ayah to the recovered women camp in Lahore. Ice Candy Man did not stop following Ayah and followed her to the women camp. There were Sikh guards who beat Ice Candy Man brutally.
Ice Candy Man used to come to the camp daily with flowers in his hands and started singing. He hoped that Ayah would come to meet him. After a few days, Lenny finds out that Ayah has been sent to her relative’s house in Amritsar. One more thing, Ice Candy Man followed Ayah to India and went to Amritsar.
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