The Quilt

Godot:

You chose a difficult one to translate. But it still came out OK. Like many of Manto`s works, a lot of Ismat`s work is largely forgettable. But this is one of her better ones. And owing to the controversy it generated at the time it does represent kind of a milestone. I wonder if there were any equally daring non-Muslim women writers in the subcontinent at the time. Anyone?

later
-sac

Thanks god finally some one brought a master peice to the global readers. What you think? how could we print, write, publish and discuss such master peices when we don`t even allow ourselves to enjoy reading them.

Whenever I read this story it makes me think that why are we not allowed to talk, read and write about reality?

I remember when I was a child I asked my mom that if the god is so big then why He is invisible. She said because he lives too far. I asked ``but you said he is every where now you are saying he lives too far?`` and she didn`t reply and asked me not to ask such foolish questions. :)

Wow!
This really is a daring piece of work coming from a Pakistani, Muslim woman, and I agree with the replies from both danny-khi and sac. Even though I`m a Literature student, I admit quite shamefully, that I havent read a lot of Pakistani or Urdu literature. I do know that its waaayy better than Western lit, but this is the first time I`ve come across Pakistani literature that talks about something that happens so much all around us but is still considered something that shouldnt be talked about. I dont know if a lot of people know about this but Indus Vision, a Pakistani channel that airs Urdu drama serials had a whole Manto week and showed a lot of his short stories` televised versions. That was something I enjoyed immensely!
And I`m glad you translated this story, because ignorant people like me would think a million times before reading something in Urdu and then ask a million questions about it because most of it would just go over my head! :p I know... my bad!
I`d love some more of this though!

Good attempt at translating what has become a classic Urdu short story. Still, it has already been translated professionally by Tahira Naqvi and published in the UK. You can buy it from amazon here:



http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/8185107106/qid=1059091450/sr=1-6/ref=sr_1_0_6/026-2965449-0232431

The translation by Tahira Naqvi is excellent but still not as effective as the original Urdu.
Good effort, Godot.

Still the story is more famous because of its controversial subject than any literary greatness to be honest...

Awesome story. My first introduction to Ismat Chughtai.

PTV has made really nice dramas out of short stories. Haven`t seen Manto`s I think, but the series of `aik muhabat soa afsanay` and then several separate ones of Ashfaque Ahmed were enjoyable.

Thats true Naqshbandi. Anything controversial definitely becomes popular. Anyway, this piece is really amazing... I had no idea that such themes existed in Urdu literature, other than Manto`s work.

Go .

Very well put together and flowing effort.

I did not understand the footnote. Does that mean that Ismat met this young girl in reality and was describing the story on her behalf?

Please clarify.

Thanks.

Godot,
This is your best effort so far. Congratulations on a wonderfully smooth translation. The ayat-al- Kursi part she was forgetting is:``ya`lamo ma baina`` instead of ``Laleem Mabeen``. Perhaps you need to get YOUR ayat-al Kursi right ;)

RZaidi,
Ismat Chughtai was an Indian, however, her youngest brother, who is a lawyer and hand-writing expert, is a Pakistani, settled in Karachi.

Godot

Nice to see you back, old friend.

It has to be one of your better efforts and I can see, you still pull a heavy oar.

Ciao

Banjara:

It`s interesting since I also thought of those two words and they never rung a bell. But then I was more interested in appreciating the writer`s effort vs. his command on Ayat`ul`Kursi.

Godot:
I enjoyed this translation more than your translation of Godan, maybe because you were working with a more familiar medium this time.
May I suggest that you might turn your attention to some lesser known Urdu writers or the lesser known works of well-known authors, which have not been previously translated.

Danny-khi: Thanks. And as for your quest for God: Seek and you shall find.

Sac, you are a tough grader. I’ll take your “OK” as “pretty good”. Thanks!

RZaidi: I’m glad you liked it. But I won’t go as far as saying that Urdu litt. is better than English. Every culture has produced some excellent literature. I’m just glad that I can bring literature from Urdu, the only language I know other than English, to a wider English-reading audience such as you.

Rozaiba, it’s definitely an awesome story. Glad you liked it.

Naqshbandi: Thanks. But I differ with your thought that this piece is popular because of its controversial theme. I loved this story because of its literary style. It is so well told. It’s certainly high literature.

Tainted: Thank you for liking it.

ZahraJ: Thanks. I don’t know anything about the background of this story. The Chowk Editors added the footnote. Maybe they can answer your question.

Banjaara: Thanks! No, I don’t know my Aytul Kursi. The only suras I remember from my childhood when I was taught to recite them are Fatiha and one of the four Quls (the easy one, of course!)

Feroz: Thanks. You’re right. You and I have gotten to know and understand each other quite well over the years. I hope we meet one day, old friend.

Dost-mittar: Thanks, dost. I didn’t get your “Godan” reference. I think you meant Premchand’s Good-riddance. You are correct. This story was culturally more familiar to me than Premchand’s. You have a good suggestion. For translations I do look for a story and not the author. I’ll see if I can find a good story by a not-so-well-known Urdu author.

Another great deed done by Godot, Kudos.

The quality of work in this piece is definitely and infinitly better than the previous ones.

The story is beautiful. The translation doesnt quite convey the pathos of the original. but then again, which translation does? Its nice to know that you make the effort and im looking forward to reading your earlier chowk submissions (im new to this place).

one thought though: Good literature is good literature. language doesnt matter. urdu lit is no better than english lit and vice versa. or any language for that matter, does not produce better literature than another language. What matters is our own personal experience with the novel, or play, or poem or short story. What matters is how we read literature and how we confront it.

Thanks, Urstruly. Perhaps I`m improving as a writer...

Khatam-shud (like your alias), thanks! You are right about translations not mirroring the original. Because it’s a “cultural change,” it cannot. As a translator, I have observed that the key element in translating is the “spirit” of the story: keeping the universal appeal intact, other cultural settings can be modified to make it a smooth transition from one culture to another. I hope you enjoy my other writings as well. I agree with your thoughts 100%. Good literature is good literature regardless of the language in which it is written.