KARACHI: Sa’adat Hasan Manto, who was born on 11th May, 1912 (in Paproudi Village, Ludhiana District of the Eastern Punjab, in a Muslim family) and died on 18th Jan 1955, produced the kind of bold chef-d’œuvres that many believe was meant for the people of next century.
Manto dared to write about the taboos to expose the darker side of the society setting the benchmark for progressive writing in Urdu.
_________________________________________________________________________________
He belonged to a Kashmiri trading family that had settled in Amritsar in the early 19th century and took up legal profession.
His father, Khawaja Ghulam Hasan, was a session judge of a local court.
Following Partition, Manto opted to live in the Walled City of Lahore and was never well-off.
Manto wrote 250 short stories, a novel, five collections of radio plays, three collections of essays and two collections of personal sketches.
Some of his works are, Atishpare, Manto Ke Afsane, Dhuan, Afsane Aur Drame, Laazat-e-Sang, Thanda Gosht, Khol Daau, Baghair Ijazat, Burque, Ratti, Masha and Tolah.
Many of his writings focus on the Partition of India (which he incidentally opposed).
___________________________________________________________________________________
His writings plunged him into trouble a number of times.
In India and later in Pakistan he was charged with obscenity half a dozen times: “I am no sensationalist. Why would I want to undress a society that is already naked?
“Yes, it is true I make no attempt to cover it but that’s not my job… my job is to write with a white chalk, so that I can draw attention to the darkness of the board.”
His piece Toba Tek Singh is a symbolic story of a loony. The scene was set in Lahore asylum from where a number of Hindu patients were to be sent to India in return many Muslim loonies were to be transferred to Pakistan.
________________________________________________________________________________
Overall he penned 22 collections of short stories, a novel, five series of radio plays, three collections of essays and two collections of personal sketches. In recognition of his works Govt. of Pakistan bestowed upon him Nishan-e-Imtiaz.
Between 1951 and 1952 Manto was twice admitted for treatment to the anti-alcoholic ward of the Punjab Mental Hospital.
Eccentric Manto wrote his own epitaph (that was never used): “Here lies Saadat Hasan Manto and with him are buried all the secrets of the art of story writing. Under mounds of earth, he is still wondering which of the two was a greater storyteller: God or he!”
________________________________________________________________________________
Newspakistan.tv
