Published Paper Details:

Bapsi Sidhwa recipient of many prestigious national and international awards is a woman author of great renown in the Asia. Through her novel Ice Candy Man she tries to portray the life with her artistic neutrality during the period of partition of Indian in 1947. Bapsi Sidhwa through her female protagonist Lenny Sethi, disabled four years girl attempts to change the impression of disability in society describing the adventurous four years journey of the protagonist in the present novel showing her concern on pitiable condition of women in the days of the partition along as well as socio-political issues too. When we go back to have a look on the disabled characters portrayed in the works of Indian English or Hindi writers , it reflects the negative portrayal of characters with zero contribution in making society integrated. But in Ice Candy Man the novelist projects the observation and speculation of a disabled girl who belongs to Parsee community in Lahore and does not make any discrimination among people on the basis of caste, creed, religion, community etc. Above all she keeps the religion of humanism on top. Lenny Sethi is Parsee (minority community) but lives with her Ayah Shanta, Hindu Girls and Imamdin, her cook (Muslin) happily. She shows there was communal harmony before the Partition days but communal riots make the people change. Now love and trust disappeared leaving the place to hatred jealousy and vnegeance which give birth to a new society replete with atrocities on the women, abductions, mutilations, and rapes on innocent women and girls which brings disaster in lives of Indian. Even in such horrible situation Lenny Sethi is seen seeking the way to get out of Hira Mandi of Pakistan. While Lenny Sethi herself is confined to place and depend on other for her needs, she still thinks about people and successfully attempts to save the life of Shanta with the help of her godmother. Her neutral outlook and vision towards life make us realize disability is not to be segregated from society but should be assimilated to. Disability is not disqualification it is just show the lack of work capacity of a particular organ. This way disability should be treated.