Second Letter to Uncle Sam

tahmed32:26
...but the above piece comes across whiny (he seems to be really in thrall of uncle here) to me. And what`s with this weird part where he expresses admiration for the black guy`s muscles?....

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Beebay tahmed, feeling little jealous?
Someone loves your Uncle more than you do. Now what is it more that you expect from the one in original Urdu. The translation is ok...it conveys the essence, and that`s fine.

And yeah what is this with the black guys muscles? Is it the black, or guy, or muscle which suddenly got your ears perking.

It is not your urdu/english comrehension skill that is the issue here. You are a simple, honourable, staight-thinking right-brained person and are able to solve complex problems merely by rising early and going to bed at sundown.

For Blasphemer & HP: The ``modern`` ``enlightened`` and the ``progressive`` Neanderthals.

Let me entitle it : Manto & the Mullahs: the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

The following is a composite of what I could translate & abridge from PanchwaaN Muqadma, by Jagdesh Wadhwaan, recall some of the stuff from Manto himself, and some gleanings fro Afzal Mirza.

One thing good about Manto was that he wrote a commentary on the legal proceedings against him in every book that contained those stories. In those statements Manto would also spells out his reason for writing on those subjects as well as the details of the court proceedings and the treatment meted out to him.


It is interesting that sessions judge Durrani a bearded man who heard his appeal in case of Thanda Gosht set him free although Manto was expecting a strict action from him. The soft spoken judge was none other than the father of well known physicist and writer Dr Saeed Akhtar Durrani of Cambridge University who did a lot of research on Iqbal’s date of birth.


Similarly the additional district magistrate of Karachi Mehdi Siddiqui, a bearded Jamaati_Islami member, who heard his case on Ooper Neeche aur Darmayan let him go after paltry fine of twenty five rupees. In the latter case Manto described proceedings in these words,’ I had faced many cases in Lahore and I knew how to behave in district courts. I stood respectfully before the magistrate. He looked towards me and asked ‘What do you want?.” His amiability surprised me .I told him, ’Sir I am Saadat Hasan Manto. Today you have summoned me under section 292 for writing an obscene story. ’He looked at me intently and then said, ’Please sit down’. I thought I don’t know whom he has asked to sit down because it never happened in the courts of Lahore. So I kept standing. When the magistrate saw that I did not sit down he said it again, ’Manto Sahib please sit down”. I sat down on the bench next to his desk..”

The magistrate told him politely that since he had not read his story so he would read it tonight and announce the judgment the next day.



Interestingly the magistrate who now lives in America also wrote an article on the same subject. Here is his version how he announced the sentence, “Next day while holding my court I wrote a short sentence. Manto had come with his colleague (Nasir Anwar) to listen the verdict. I asked him, ‘Manto Sahib how is your financial position.?’ He said,’ very bad’ I asked him, ’What is the date today?’.Somebody said ‘25th’.I said, ’Manto sahib you are fined twenty five rupees.’ At first Manto did not understand it.( manto was hard of hearing). He asked his colleague whether I was asking the date or announcing the verdict’. But his colleague was smarter than him and immediately rushed to deposit the fine.

After some time they came back and told me that they had come to invite me for a chat in the evening. I regarded Manto as the biggest story writer after Munshi Prem Chand. and I was also keen to meet him so in the evening I went straight to Zelin Coffee House from my office…..We had long chat . He asked, ’You don’t drink?’ I said, ’No…” He said, ’Are you a Mullah…’.No a Musalman.’He started laughing. What I inferred from that evening’s meeting with Manto was that his each word was soaked in sincerity and he was clearheaded and in his talk he did not try to intimidate me with his superior knowledge or something like that. He had no hesitation in calling spade a spade. The standard of good or bad that he had created for him self was rigid. In my life first time I met a great artist who was a realist and free from hypocrisy and I shall remember it for the rest of my life….” (Zavia ) Manto through out the meeting was trying to find out from Siddiqui as to why did he sentence him to a fine thereby confirming the accusation of the prosecution. Siddiqui promised him that he would give the reasons in writing some day.



Thereafter Manto remained in touch with Siddiqui writing to him letters in connection with some favours for his friends.

With a cruel twist of fate Siddiqui`s first letter arrived on the exact date Manto was being carried to his final resting place.

Siddiquis views on censorship


But several years later after Manto’s death Siddiqui has written a few words in answer to former ’s question. Siddiqui has conceded that from literary point of view he thought that the story was obscene but at that time it was not the proper occasion to go into the details of it. He is of the opinion that “ The law does not want that literature should not fulfill the constructive purpose for which it had been written. The law wants that the purpose should be useful for human being. If the purpose was not useful and it is only to arouse the sexual instincts or the purpose was not to arouse those feelings but the subject or the words are such that immature or sick minds could draw sexual pleasure by reading them then law considers such a writing as obscene and useless. In case of Manto’s story Ooper Neeche aur darmayan the sexual behavior in the three sections of society has been discussed. The author has given its details. In the eyes of law this detail is not of any use to the society. The writers and intellectuals might disagree with me in it but I can not explain the obscenity laws in clearer terms than what I have written earlier.”



I do not know how Manto would have reacted to this statement had he been alive but in many of his articles written in defense of his stories he had touched the points raised by Siddiqui..

Manto`s views on censorship


Manto wrote in his article Writer and Sexual Problems ,”In every age efforts were made to bridge the gap between man and woman. Intellectuals have tried to strengthen or break down the fragile wall separating man and woman. Those who consider it obscenity they should feel sorry for their lack of feelings. Those who consider it as a means to judge the standard of morality they should know that morality is a rust accumulated on the razor of society because it has been used without caution. Those who think that the new literature has created sexual problems are wrong. Because the fact is that the new literature is the product of sexual problems. So in this new literature when they some time see their own reflection they get upset. How much we may sugar- coat the reality its bitterness would not go. Our writings appear bitter to you because so far you have been served with sweets. What has humanity gained out of them? The leaves of Neem are bitter but they do clean the blood.”

I cannot comment on the Urdu writing skills of Manto since I have not read the originals - only translations in English and Punjabi.

Still, his few lines tug and shake the heart. They capture the human tragedy in a peerless and unique way.

Manto was very upset about partition.Thats why he says in Tobha Tek Singh,``paRdi giR giR di ex di vindhiana di moong di daal of the laaltain....hindustan and the pakistan...dur fittay muNh..``
He was hapy to stay in Bombay post partion,till his closest friend`s(Shyam,the famous hero of that time) close relatives arrived from Pakistan and narrated their woes/Some of Shyam`s close relatives had been killed by fanatics in Pakistan.Shyam was totally shaken on this and he told his closest friend(Manto)to leave for Pakistan elst he(Shyam) goes mad over all this and kills him.This was the bare bodied reality of partition and the resultant madness which made Manto think that even what his closest friend says may become a reality.He boarded the next ship to Karachi.How close he was to Shyam,one can read the pen sketch of Shyam which he wrote after hearing his death in an accident while shooting for a movie.Manto was undergoing treatment for Alcoholism in a mental hospital at that time.

#27

``Echoboom is probably familiar with Anti Manto JI literature.``

JI literature = Jamaat Islami literature!

Manto wrote powerful stories but his language skills were not really up to the par. His Urdu was not idiomatic and it was hard for the core group of Urdu daan from UP, Bihar and MP to accept him as a top notch writer. In terms of language skills alone, Rajender Singh Bedi and Kirshan Chander had miles on Manto. For this simple reason Kirshan Chandra and Bedi were readily accepted as top notch Urdu writers but Manto never got this acceptance. In his lifetime, he failed to get recognition from Delhi and Lucknow, and to some extent Hyderabad; three most important centers of Urdu language.

Manto’s bitterness against the communists or progressives was also caused by his non acceptance as top class writers by the progressive movement. The progressive writers union was dominated by the communists at that time and was also owned by Urdu writers from Delhi, Lucknow and Hyderabad. Manto for a long time tried to work with the progressive writers union and the communists but failing the litmus test of language skills left them to badmouth them later in his life.
Allama Iqbal’s language skills were also not considered adequate by the old Udru School. Iqbal tried to compensate that by using Arabic and Persian words. His recognition came only after he became prominent in Lahore political circles and “Saara Jehan sa Achha Hindustan hamara” became popular.

The Punjabi poet who was accepted by the Lucknow/Delhi group was Faiz Ahmed Faiz. That too after Pakistan and he became the most prominent member of the Progressive Writers Union. Most of the Progressive Writers Union members never left India as they did not believe in TNT.

For the last several years the short story writing has declined in Urdu and other Pakistani languages. The Urdu writers from Lahore have been promoting Manto to bring that genre back into Urdu literature. You would not hear a word about Manto from Karachi, the new center of Urdu language in the subcontinent.
The other factor in Manto’s sudden acclaim is that all prominent Urdu Short Story writers were from India. From Munshi Prem Chand to Krishan Chandra to Bedi to many others. They were certainly a notch above Manto in their talent and craftsmanship.

Now it has fallen on Manto’s shoulders to prop the champions of Urdu language and Pakistan from Lahore. Manto is now conveniently a Muslim, a Pakistani, an anti secularist, anti progressive and fits all the requirements of the Mullah Brigade and the pseudo Pakistani Nationalists.

Even echoboom is taking pride in Manto stories. The same group of people just a few years ago was pronouncing Manto a Fahish (vulgar) writer and Fahashi ka alambardar. (Flag bearer of vulgarity!) Echoboom is probably familiar with Anti Manto JI literature. Soon we may see Qazi Hossain Ahmed honoring Manto and reading “Khool doo kazi ki Shalwar” out loud!

something definitely lost in the translation above. I shudder in fear when saying this in the company of so many Manto-lovers, but the above piece comes across whiny (he seems to be really in thrall of uncle here) to me. And what`s with this weird part where he expresses admiration for the black guy`s muscles?!! Nothing uplifting or even particularly funny here. Gimme a break. If the emperor was wearing any clothes to begin with, they got taken off in the translation by Khalid Hasan.

Why not post the original in urdu so perhaps one can fairly see what Manto had to say??

echoboom

Yeah, but he world have hated you for your own ideology just as much as he saw through the lickspittle stupidity of the commies he knew...

22

..Manto would have hated a religious...

But he didn`t whereas the commies left no stone unturned to berate religion. Infact it was to be very ``enlightened`` and ``modern`` to do this and assured one employment wherever angraiz ruled the roost. These wage earners & welfare bums could not move a finger without grants & susidiaries.

Lokraj: tusi Lok Lehar lai likhde si? My father was a teacher`s union activist....specifically the left left wing...both or many groups (now) were left wing but there was one left left left wing:-)..they used to send Lok Lehar to our home daily and free of charge...it was the first newspaper I read regularly for years in my school day.

echoboom

Excuse me sir, but just reading the article you pasted below, I cant help but observing, that by all accounts, Manto would have hated a religious ideologue toilet-messer like yourself. So why are you orgasming because he said some bad things about doctrinaire commies?

Manto`s dislike of Communists and Progressives: Quite a feat in those days when the Reds had monopolised literature, like today even after the collapse of communism & russia they have become the inquisition and applaud whatever suits their heinous Rushdick-agenda.

Crawling in the academia and rife in the civil service ( wherever taxpayers` money is, there is their bread and butter), these Multi-Rationals ( just coined it; use it freely) spare no effort to collude, contrive, and coerce to establish that unless perversion & taboo is the theme, no literature can emerge.

These self-congratulatory do-gooders have taken upon the onerous but minimum-wage & welfare-worth task of fitting every square peg in a round-round hole.

The squares insist upon being squares and they don`t like to be rounded-up.

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Manto on Communism & progressives: This after Faiz Ahmed Faiz et al were the principle defence witnesses for him.

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Manto abhorred all ideologies, religious or political. His ``Student Union Camp``, ``Sharabi``, ``Do or Die--Mein Langot Ka Pakka Rahoonga``, ``contemptuous references to dervishes and leftists (whisky to Aise Gale Se Utar Kar Pet Me Inquilab Zindabad Likhti Gay`) `assiduously created an absolute disbelief in any ideology of power of salvation`.

The great writer often crossed swords with high priests of progressive Urdu literature. In Jaib-e-Kafan, he writes : `I felt sorry for the activists of the progressive movement who unnecessarily meddled in politics. These charlatans were using the prescription proposed by Kremlin and were busy preparing a mixture of literature and politics. Nobody bothered about the temperament or the pulse of the patient for whom the mixture was prepared. The result for everyone to see. We are brooding over the stagnation in our litterature`.

In Gunah Ki Baityan, Gunah Ke Bap, he again takes up the communists : `I greatly detested the so-called communists. I could not appreciate people who talked about the `sickle and the hammer` while sitting in comfortable arm-chairs. In this connection, comrade Sajjad Zaheer who sipped his milk in a silver cup, always remained a clown in my eyes. The true psychology of working labourers is manifested in their sweet. May be, the people who used this sweat to earn wealth, and used it as ink to write detailed manifestoes, are sincere people. However, you will pardon me, if I consider them to be impostors``.

Faiz Ahmed Faiz, once while absolving his `Thanda Ghosht` of the charge of obscenity, said the story did not fulfill ``those higher objectives of literature because in this (story) there is no satisfactory solution to the basic problems of life.`` Bhisham Sahani says, ``If the progressives found fault with Manto, it was on this score. During the forties, when the progressive movement in literature had over-zealous adherents, the main emphasis on literature was not on character realisation but on protest...The progressives therefore expected that a sensitive artist like Manto, who was writing about the lives of the prostitutes, would also show the nature of exploitation to which the prostitute was being subjected. It would not have been idealistic or romantic on the part of Manto to show a character in the throes of a struggle to free herself from the shackles of this slavery...they were also critical of his total lack of interest in the cruel subjection of the poor to exploitation.``

Manto rebutted the charge. He said, ``I do not consider myself to be either a preacher or a teacher of morals...We diagnose diseases but don`t run a clinic`. Elsewhere he remarks : `I don`t whip up the emotions and ideas of people. How can I undress culture and civilisation when they already have no clothes on. I also don`t try to dress them up since it is not my job but that of drapers`.

On partition, Manto took no sides and wrote with detachment and passion about the brutalities committed by Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs in the name of religion and nationalism. He also did not make any attempt to establish parity between the monstrosities committed by all. `Mozel` is his only story that describes the cultural visibility of his characters, otherwise he steers clear of all stereotypes.

Political Views :

Manto lived in momentous times and was aware of the great changes taking place. He was very alive and sensitive to political currents. KN Daruwala observes, ``unless they referred to either the freedom struggle on the subcontinent, or the stupidity of the partition, they never made an appearance in his fiction``............
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For Manto, partition was an overwhelming tragedy. If his first set of partition stories are derisive tales of a degenerate society, his second set (1951-55) of stories are both `parables of lost reason and demonic parodies of the conventional history of the national movement`. To Manto, 1947 is not a celebrative, an epiphanic event. Partition was `not an unfortunate rupture in historical time but a continuation of it`.

In his famous story `Toba Tek Singh`, the mad person is none other than Manto. The lunatic asylum around which the entire story revolves, alludes to the abode of millions of sensible and dignified people, who were unable to understand the basic logic of the partition. In the same story he asks, `Moulvi Saab, what is this Pakistan`` After deep contemplation, he replied, ``It is a place in India where blades are manufactured``. In the `Dog of Tetwal`, Manto `mocks at the follish gullibility and mindlessness of people vis-a-vis discourses of power and authority`. There is constant tension: would those who killed the dog die as patriots or would they die the death of cruel fools for their country, religion or cause.

Manto was completely confounded, not as much by the geographical divide as by the cultural chasm created by it. This is reflected in his `Zahmate-Mihre-Darakhshan`. He ironically asks : Will Pakistani literature be different, and if so, how? Will literature be partitioned also? What I could never resolve was the question : What country did we now belong to, India or Pakistan...``

Pakistan :

Saadat Hasan could not reconcile with the reality of Pakistan. In `Khol Do` he depicts how the Pakistani society, from the moment of its inception, had turned brutal despite the theological ideals held forth in its defense. `Zaroorat Hai` shows Manto`s feelings on discrimination of being an outsider. He summed up his predicament : ``You know me as a short story writer and the courts know me an obscene writer. The government sometimes calls me a communist, and sometimes a great literary figure of the country. Sometimes the doors of livelihood are closed on me and sometimes they are opened for me. Sometimes I am declared a persona non grata and considered an outsider, sometimes, when the powers-that-be are pleased, I am told that I can be an `insider`. I am still troubled, as I have often been in the past, over the questions like : Who am I? What is my status? What is my role in this country which is regarded as the largest Islamic state?``

The Indian national movement too found an echo in his stories--`It happened in 1919 (second story on Jallianwala Bagh massacre), `Naya Kanoon` and `Swaraj Ke Liye`.

`Uncle Same`:

In his last years, Manto increasingly becomes political. He wrote a series of facetious letters (nine) to uncle Sam when US was about to sign a military agreement with Pakistan. Manto was not satisfied with American influences on the society and polity of Pakistan. He strikes a note of satire : ``....our mullah is the best counter to Russian communism....I think the only purpose of military aid is to arm these mullahs`. He thanks the mullahs who kept the alcohol available, despite prohibition, due to their weakness for it. In his own ways Manto evolves a critique of US imperialism. He argues that Americans intended to dump all the discarded arms and ammunitions from second world war on the two countries. Manto says he had also heard that the US had made a hydrogen bomb so that there could be lasting peace in the world. Yet he wondered, ``how many countries will need to be removed from the face of the earth for this lasting peace to be established``. His niece had asked him to draw a map of the world for her. He had told her that he would draw the map after consulting with his uncle to ``find out the names of the countries that were going to survive`` (fifth letter).

Manto also drew himself into the vortex of Indo-Pak conflict and at times behaved as a Pak chauvinist. In August 1954 he wrote another facetious letter Dibacha, this time to Nehru, which turned into the preface of a book of short stories called Beghair Unwaan Ke (Untitled). Manto was deeply disturbed over the piracy of his works in India and that Nehru, fellow Kashmiri was doing nothing to stop it. Manto writes : ``....you can find right away how many publishers in Delhi, Lucknow, and Jalandhar have pirated my books. Several lawsuits have already been filled against me on charges of obscenity. But look at the injustice of things, that in Delhi, right under your nose, a publisher brings out the collection of my stories and calls it The obscene stories of Manto. I wrote the book Ganje Farishte. An Indian publisher has published it as Behind the curtains....Now tell me, what should I do ?``

Manto`s second grievance was India had stopped the river waters. Using metaphors of `nahr` and `munt`, he complains : ``I was surprised to learn that you want to stop the rivers from flowing through our land. Panditji, you are only a Nehru. I regret that I am just a measuring stone weighing one and a half seer. If I were a rock of thirty or forty thousand maunds, I would have thrown myself into the river, so that you would have to spend some time consulting with your engineers on how to pull out``. Manto also depicted this in `Yazid`.

On Radcliffe award, he complains: `The country was partitioned. Radcliffe employed Patel to do the dirty work. You have illegally occupied Junagarh, which a Kashmiri could do only under the influence of a Maratha. I mean Patel (God forgive him)...It was the time when Radcliffe had turned India into two slices of a single loaf of bread. It is regrettable that they have not been toasted yet. You are toasting it from that side and we, from this. But the flames in our braziers are coming from outside``.

Kashmir:

Many of Manto`s Indian readers may be shocked by his chauvinistic stand on Kashmir. Manto expresses his disappointment over the fact that Kashmir was a part of India. He says : ``...I have only been up to Banihal. I have seen places like Kud, Bataut and Kashtwar. I have seen their poverty alongwith their beauty. If you have removed this poverty, then keep Kashmir to yourself. But I am sure you cannot do it, despite being a Kashmiri because you have no time.`` One may well ask whether Pakistan had banished poverty.

Manto also refers to corruption under Bakshi: ``The Bakshis and the rest of them deserve to be sacked right away. Cheats of the first order ! You have no reason to bestow such honours on them.`` Is this because it suits you? But why at all...? I know you are a politician, which I am not. But that does not mean I do not understand anything...Panditji, this is the season of baggugoshas. What injustice that you have given Bakshi all the rights over them, and he does not send me even a few as a gift! Well, let the gift go to hell, baggugoshas too...No, on second thoughts, let them be``.

Manto is also overwhelmed by his nostalgia for Kashmir, the land of his forefathers. He recalls how in the past the older people from his side often met those from the side of Kashmiri Pandits. Now `one Kashmiri does run into another in by-lanes, or at cross roads`. Manto also pronounces judgements on Kashmiris : `To be a Kashmiri is to be handsome...Kashmiris have never accepted defeat in any field...Who can outshine us in poetry?``. He also refers to how Kashmiri surnames, whether Nehru or Manto are only nicknames. Manto recalls with nostalgia, “Whenever my late father--who was obviously, a Kashmiri--ran into a hato, he would bring him home, seat him in the lobby, and treat him to some Kashmiri salty tea and Kulchas. Then he would tell him proudly, ``I`m also a Koshar``. Panditji, you are a Koshar too``. Manto also feels for the Kashmiri cuisine : `Between us Pandit brothers, do this--call me back to India. First I will help myself to shaljam shabdegh (turnip and meat preparation cooked overnight in a wok) at your place, and then take over the responsibility for Kashmir affairs...Every morning you will have to treat me to salty tea along with a Kulcha. Shaljam Shabdegh, in any case, will have to be there every week``. In this letter, Manto also refers to an anecdote pertaining to the poet, Ghani Kashmiri, where one line of the couplet reads : ``The smell of Kebab is wafting from your clothes``. Elsewhere he says : ``....We can think of new ways of cooking roganjosh, pulao and korma``.

Kashmir overweighs on Manto`s mind. In `A Question of Honour`, he says he comes from Amritsar and was a Kashmiri. `The Dog of Tetwal` and `Aakhri Salute` stories are set in the beautiful Kishanganga Valley. His two prostitute characters, Zeenat in `Babu Gopi Nath` and Shanti in the story `Shanti` are Kashmiris. When he first sees Zeenat at Babu Gopi Nath`s place, he describes her as follows : ``Her face was round and her complexion was fair. On entering the room, I at once realised that she was the Kashmiri Kabutari whom Sando had mentioned in the office``


excerpt from:
Social and Political World-View of Saadat Hasan Manto
By R.K. Shivpuri

Re: # 13
I am not aware of Manto`s works in devnagri on net.Raj Kamal Prakashan Pvt. Ltd,1-B Netaji Subhash Marg New Delhi 110002 has published his complete works in Devnagri in 5 volumes.

Saadat Hasan Manto`s FIRST letter to Pandit Javahar Laal Nehru

Indians would not be amused

Thanks Echo.
I have read all these stories many times,but they are timelessIt is very painful to read Khol Do.I read it for the first time during my medical college days and remained disturbed for many days.Hattak and Mozail are again disturbing stories.

Kaurasach:
This site has it in roman as well as devnagri. No Manto I could find, but lot of poetry. I am not sure if Devnagi is working or not.

Something IS there after all.

http://www.urdunet.com