Baajoo Kee Gulley (The Side Lane)

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...sadly...Manto still needs to be reintroduced to newer readers...in Pakistan as elsewhere...one minor observation...the last phrase is missing from his tombstone...as his daughter revealed last month...having been deliberately omitted...

...digression...

...any visitor to lahore can visit his home in lahore in a quaint litlle town-home complex behind the busy regal chowk and see the plaque put up by his daughters to mark the home...and if you knock on the door i am sure she would let you in to see his portrait and offer refreshments...

...t

One of the advantages of having been brought up in a pre Cable-TV age was that of being an avid reader having books as constant companions. It was only in college that I started taking a deeper interest not only in writers from the sub-continent but those from the third world. By that I mean those who did not write in English but were available only in translation. True many a nuance is missed when a story is translated but the essence remains. Manto was a revelation and immediately became a favourite. There is certain rawness about his characters, coming as they are from the fringes of society driven by complex moral impulses. But we are grateful to Manto for introducing us to them and for letting us look at another aspect of life that we would otherwise ignore.

On a lighter note Manto was proud of his association with Bombay Talkies, here is a link to what he has to say about one of the leading stars of his times

http://www.urdustudies.com/pdf/20_Manto_AshokKumar.pdf

And an interesting write up on another great writer Ismat Chughtai

http://www.urdustudies.com/pdf/21_Manto_IsmatChughtai.pdf

Subroto

I didnt know Hamzad you were a Saadat Hasan Mantos Fan

I did not know Manto died so young before 40 yrs.of age

I faintly remember in my younger days reading Mantos account of Bollywood behind the scene honest appraisal of life & lies of actresses & others.Nimmi,Nargis,Madhubala,Meena Kumari ,Nasim Bano(saira Banos mom ),etc .

There have been similar account of Bengali movie industry much later and i mention this to re inforce urdu & bengali literature being very similar in richness .

Mr Hamzad Afaqui:

Thank you for writing on my favorite Urdu Short Story writer. He was quite a man! I saw him in person in 1955 when he read his `Malbay Ka Dher` at Lahore College of Engineering and Technology; at that time I was a student there.

As a practical man, he was most irresponsible. He drank all his money in whiskey and alcohol. In his last days of life, he wrote short stories at a neck- break speed and sold them for a few annas a piece. He was very creative and an invaluable assett to Urdu literature.

Nice one, mate.

Now I know you must be F_K;)

UM