My Sahib

I always find it very intigruing, this politics of the independence days. What was it like when Nehru or Gandhi or Patel or some body at position of power, knew finally that the country would be divided? Apparently Mohammad Ali Jinnah had three sisters and a brother, all of them in Bombay and most of them not very well off. What would have happened to them? One sister I know tried to wrest the seat of Pakistan after Jinnah`s demise. What happened to the rest? Were they killed in the riots, were they helped to cross over to Pakistan? If in Pakistan (or in India) what became of them?

My dear fellow chowkies:

This following is Manto`s view since it is out of quotes:

In those days, of which Mohammad Hanif Azad talked about, Qaid-e-Azam’s secretary was a very handsome man. All of his drivers had exemplary physical built. The guards for his mansion were also selected based on physical strength. What could be an explanation for this other than that, psychologically, although Late Jinnah was physically very weak but extremely strong from inside, he did not want to associate himself that was weak and feeble. When a person really likes something, he takes care of it real well. Qaid-e-Azam made sure all his well-built servants dressed very well. His Pathan chowkidar was ordered to dress his ethnic dress. Azad was not a Punjabi, but was at times asked to wear a Punjabi turban. This headgear is quite impressive and one looks very impressive in it. Qaid-e-Azam seemed very pleased by it and used to award Azad whenever he put one on. If one thinks about it, Jinnah being so conscious of his own frail body was his very strength of his strong and powerful life. That was evident in the way he walked, talked, ate, and thought.

I think this sums up what Manto thought of Jinnah. To say he was critical of Jinnah elsewhere is wrong.. I haven`t found any such writing to prove it. Manto obviously wasn`t thrilled with partition.

Attempts by certain individuals to explain away this story are just pathetic.


Great translation... Godot
-Manto

RSaxena

``Dr. Younis Shaikh, a teacher at a medical college in Islamabad and founder and president of Enlightenment, the Pakistani-based International Humanist and Ethical Union member organization, was sentenced to death for blasphemy by a court in Pakistan on August 18. He has one week to appeal this sentence. (See the New York Times International section Aug. 20, 2001).

Dr. Shaikh was arrested on October 4, 2000, by Islamabad police for allegedly saying that the Prophet Mohammed did not become Muslim until the age of 40 (which was when he received his first revelation) and that his parents were non-Muslims (as they died before Islam was proposed by the Prophet). According to the report in the NYT, ``The Movement for the Finality of the Prophet, well known for pursuing blasphemers, filed a criminal complaint and sent a mob to the college and the local police station, threatening to set them on fire.``

Hundreds of people have been convicted of blasphemy in Pakistan, among them moderate Muslims, Christians and members of other religious minorities. The law they are prosecuted under is extremely ill defined. Frequently, people don`t know beforehand that they are committing an offence. While we do not know if Dr. Shaikh will face execution in the short time allowed for his appeal or whether he will languish in jail, we do know that we must mobilize immediately to bring this travesty to the attention of the world community.

YOUR HELP is urgently needed to bring political pressure to bear on Pakistan to stop the death sentence from being carried out. Protests are being planned in London and Oslo.

PLEASE ACT NOW:

1. If you live in the U.S., please contact the U.S. State Department by calling Sec. Colin Powell at (202) 647-4000 or email him at secretary@state.gov.

2. Contact the President of the United States by calling (202) 456-1414 or email him at president@whitehouse.gov.

3. Contact your U.S. Senators and ask them to contact the State Department to bring pressure to bear.

4. Contact Ambassador Dr. Maleeha Lodhi at the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in Washington, D.C. at (202) 939-6200 or email her at parepwashington@erols.com.

If you live outside the U.S., please contact the appropriate government agency to call this matter to their attention or see www.iheu.org for further information.``

Re: Truth....

A shaikh??? Subcontinental muslims general divide themselves into two categories....the descendants of foreign invaders/migrants..... the Shaikhs( Arabs), the Sayyids ( arab/Persians), the khans ( central asians....)and the native converts .....

In provinces like Sindh and Punjab and Bihar where the majority of muslims were native converts- the pre-islamic caste system ( ``baradari system``) is very strong....and their inter-baradari marraige etc etc .... are not that commmon....In addition deferential treatment is often accorded to the descendants of these immigrants...



IN the frontier regions they have a tribal system which ( baluchistan and NWFP) that predates their conversion ...which is more like a community .....but is not as rigid as the caste system....

In Bengal, ( Now Bangladesh) the caste system does not exist ( atleast thats my understanding) - and the external migrants have successfully blended in the Bengali Millieu ( hence you find chaudhries, Mirs, and Khans in Bengal ) ......

In the Central provinces Delhi, UP, and Madhya Pradesh, Hyderabad - the Muslims generally were limited to the urban landscape ....and many were descendants
of the original invaders with a lesser proportion of native intermarriage...( so they adopted the native caste system to create a hierachy amongst themselves .....) ....

IN South Indian Muslims, - are mostly native conversion and preserved local castes with enclaves of Pushtun descendants.....

The West Indian mercantile communities also maintain their communal pre-Islamic baradari system although it is far more egalitarian within the communities....the Bohras..the khojas, the memons, the marwaris...

another chauffeur recalls...



PEOPLE
A ringside view
A conversation with Sayed Shah Abdul Hye, Mohammad Ali Jinnah`s chauffeur.
PARVATHI MENON
in Udipi
http://www.flonnet.com/fl1818/18181290.htm

A question of literature

Muhammad Umar Memon is a widely published scholar and translator of modern Urdu fiction.

He studied at Harvard (MA) and UCLA (Ph.D.) and has been teaching Islamic studies and Urdu literature since 1970 at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He was recently in town and Mohsin Jaffri of The News asked him a few questions.

___________________________________


have posted the full interview at the speaker`s corner

Godot:

...pls. check out post #322 in the speakers corner if interested...have posted this:


Ismat Chughtai: the truth of the time

From The Annual of Urdu Studies, edited by Prof. Muhammad Umar Memon, a publication of Centre for South Asia, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.

rgds,

t

Re: Zafar, #108

Thank you, Zafar, for reading the story.

You are correct that this story is about hero worship. It is, nevertheless, about an individual that we hear so much about and know so little of. What makes this story so good is that it is narrated by an admirer who is quite objective about his hero. That is why this story won my, and I guess many others`, heart.

Having (finally) read ``My Sahib`` it seems that the story is more about the nature of hero worship (and hero worshipper) than about Jinnah. And perhaps about the inevitably mundane aftermath of dreams.

Re: Farangi, #106

Thank you for the offer, Farangi. However, for now, I want to remain anonymous.

Godot:

Please feel free to consult.I am delighted that you have seen something what I wish a lot of folk should also discover----the treasure that is URDU.

I translated Dog of Titwaal long time ago and it was printed in an American East-Indian english newspaper.I also wrote a short biography of Manto in his own style(that too was printed by the same journal.

If you have fax. I can send you those and also whatever Manto I have in my library.

(Mantorama--is the compleat Manto and is readily available in Pakistan).

Send me your fax or whichever e-mail.

WASSALAAM.

Now that this board is at its tail-end...

Re: veeresh, #61

Dawn Newspaper calims that Dawn was founded by Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah. As Azad would say, only Allah knows better.

Re: Apparition, #66

Thank you so much, Apparition

Re: Asif Naqshbandi, #70

Thank you, Asif. I am glad that you got see a better side of Manto.

Re: Mannyd, #104

Thank you much, Mannyd. So kind of you. You`ll defenitely be seeing more of my translations and other writings at Chowk. Hopefully, no waiting for Godot here.

Re: Everyone

I want to once again thank everyone for reading this translation. Those who commented on it: thank you so much for overlooking my editing skills. You were very kind.

I also want to thank those, for whom Jinnah is not exactly their cup of tea, for refraining from making remarks that could have been blown out of proportions in terms of mudslinging that we see so much of at Chowk. Thanks everyone for keeping this board fairly clean. I respect your respect.

I am very encouraged by you all and, as a result, will be translating more of Urdu work. Until then, au revoir!

PS: My apologies if I forgot to thank anyone by name who commented on this translation. It was an oversight.

Dear Godot,

Thanks for your exquisite translation of Manto`s essay. I was not sure if Azad was a real person or not, but the interacts made it clear he was.

When I was in India, there were many Urdu writers transliterated into Devanagri script, but not Manto. I taught myself arabic script with a little help from my father and `Manto ke Shahad(?) Afsane` was the first book I checked out from the local liabrary. There is nothing difficult about the Arabic script. Afterall millions of children in Pakistan learn it at `Kachhi-Pakki` level. Unfortunately my skills never improved even to that level.

I hope that you will find time for more translations. Until then I will be waiting for Godot.

PS: Pankaj, Thanks for the link to `Toba Tek Singh`.

Dear Godot,

Thanks for your exquisite translation of Manto`s essay. I was not sure if Azad was a real person or not, but the interacts made it clear he was.

When I was in India, there were many Urdu writers transliterated into Devanagri script, but not Manto. I taught myself arabic script with a little help from my father and `Manto ke Shahad(?) Afsane` was the first book I checked out from the local liabrary. There is nothing difficult about the Arabic script. Afterall millions of children in Pakistan learn it at `Kachhi-Pakki` level. Unfortunately my skills never improved even to that level.

I hope that you will find time for more translations. Until then I will be waiting for Godot.

PS: Pankaj, Thanks for the link to `Toba Tek Singh`.

NOTE TO DELUDED YOUNG BRATS

For information of deluded &under the wrong impression of feeling worthwhile just on there ability of `key board skills` you have no idea how much more is needed in life besides `hand eye cordination `that you assume is the ultimate .Besides younger you are the better your REFLEXES are .

So those who criticize my spelling ,its not that you know BETTER english its just that we wrote with pens most of our lives & then dictated to our dictaphones.

Reply #: 101

RSaxena

``On our end the influence of Farsi and to some extent Arabic is far more prominent than that of Hindi. You will always hear an Indian mention Urdu/Hindi interchangeably; a Pakistani won`t say that. ``

Talk about insecurity...and to what ridiculous levels the insecure will take it.

1/1/7th size Pakistan has reason to be wary of haegemonous,overbearing,fanatic,more than 75% of population illiterate about western idea of democracy (they vote caste not singularly)

What excuse does India have to BE SO INSECURE SO AS TO.......

1/ include astrology as Science in Univ.

2/ Sanskritization of common hindustani words like post office ,mulk, etc.

3/Farsi ?arabic is far cry ,not evenURDU ,is either spoken,or taught in 99% of schools.

4/im here only to correct ALL hindoo perspective here.Just b/c you have a guy from Lucknow doesnt make india urdu friendly or even muslim friendly .

You MAY TRY TO BE A CON ARTIST ONLY UPTO THE TIME I SEE YOUR PROPOGANDA.