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Agay Samandar hai / آگے سمندر ہے

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تقسیم کے بعد کے حالات پر لکھا گیا ایک ناول۔

268 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

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About the author

Intizar Husain

80 books112 followers
Intizar Husain (1925–2016) was a journalist, short-story writer, and novelist, widely considered one of the most significant fiction writers in Urdu. Born in Dibai, Bulandshahr, in British-administered India, he migrated to Pakistan in 1947 and lived in Lahore. Besides Basti, he was the author of two other novels, Naya Gar (The New House), which paints a picture of Pakistan during the ten-year dictatorship of the Islamic fundamentalist General Zia-ul-Haq, and Agay Sumandar Hai (Beyond Is the Sea), which juxtaposes the spiraling urban violence of contemporary Karachi with a vision of the lost Islamic realm of al-Andalus. Collections of Husain’s celebrated short stories have appeared in English under the titles Leaves, The Seventh Door, A Chronicle of the Peacocks, and An Unwritten Epic.

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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
Profile Image for Kopal.
24 reviews
March 28, 2024
Excited to read more by Intizar Husain. I could sense a difference between his writing and other partition writers that I have read so far. Rakshana Jalil's translation is stunning, I was never lost for cultural context.
Profile Image for Tarun.
115 reviews61 followers
September 18, 2020
یہ سب سے نیا، اور سب سے بڑا اور نایاب شہر
یہاں آ کے رکتے ہیں سارے جہاں کے جہاز
یہاں ہفت اقلیم کے ایلچی آ کے گزرانتے ہیں نیاز
درآمد برآمد کے لاریب چشموں سے شاداب شہر
یہ گلہائے شبّو کی مہکوں سے، محفل کی شمعوں سے، شب تاب شہر
یہ اک بسترِ خواب شہر
!دیبا و سنجاب شہر
Profile Image for M Shahid Yousaf.
12 reviews21 followers
May 23, 2018
شروع سے لے کر آخر تک اس ناول نے مجھے اپنے سحر میں لیے رکھا ہے، جواد(مصنف) ایک ایسا شخص ہے جو ہجرت کر کے پاکستان آتا ہے اور وہاں مجو بھائی اْسکی مدد کرتے ہیں، سارے ناول میں جواد کو ماضی کی یادیں ستاتی رہتی ہیں، یادوں کی ایسی تان بان ہے کے ایک یاد دوسری یاد میں مکس ہو جاتی ہے اور پھر ایک یاد سے دوسری یاد اور پھر دوسری سے تیسری یوں یادوں کی ایک لڑی شروع ہو جاتی ہے جو ایک گلی سے نکل دوسری گلی، اس نگر سے ہوتی ہوئی اْس نگر ، کریہ کریہ گھومتی قرطبہ پہنچتی ہے، واہان سے غرناطہ، واہاں سے اشبیلہ، واہاں سے بغداد اور چل سو چل۔۔۔ مانسرور چھیل،میتھرا نگری اور پھر کتنے ہی کردار ، ابن حبیب، عبدللہ، گنیش، مہاراج گورو شمبھو، نریندر۔۔۔۔پھوپھی امان، بڑی بھابی، چھوٹی ماں، خیرل بھائی، شنکر، چھوٹے میاں۔۔۔۔بشو بھائی، باجی اختری، توصیف، مرزا صاھب، رفیق صاھب، اقن میاں، اچھی بی۔۔۔اور عشرت اور میمونہ بھی۔۔۔ غرض جواد ماضی میں رہنے والا ایسا آدمی ہوتا ہے جو بظاہر اپنے نجی ماضی کی یادیں پورے جہاں کی یادوں سے خلط ملط کر بیٹھتا ہے، ایک سفر کرتا ہے وہ بھی ادھورا اور پھر وہ سفر آخر تک ناگ بن کر ڈھستا رہتا ہے، کراچی جس شہر میں وہ آباد ہے وہ دن بدن اجڑتا جا رہا ہے، لاشیں گر رہی ہیں ، گولیاں چل رہی ہیں، بینک لوٹے جا رہے ہیں، اور موت رقص کر رہی ہے اور ہاں لیکن مشاعرے ہیں کے رکنے کا نام نہیں لیتے اور مجو بھائی ہیں کے محفل سے باز نہیں آتے،،،،،،، ایک گولی جواد کی نطر ہوتی ہے تو ایک بم مجو بھائی کے نام!!! اوم تت ست!!
Profile Image for Tariq Mahmood.
Author 2 books1,064 followers
April 1, 2013
A story about a young man who has just made the trip of his life, giving up his birthplace in India for a dream country, called Pakistan. Starting from scratch in the newly established city of Karachi, which before Partition was relatively unknown, but after the Partition is suddenly boosted by huge number of emotional and spirited Muslims ready to lead from the front. The only issue is that the past still hounds each and everyone of the new patriotic imported Pakistanis which pulls them back, forcing them to question their migration decision. The question becomes even more pronounced with the rapid demise of law and order in Karachi. The author has done a wonderful job in painting a picture of the new culture of Karachi through rich characters from Lucknow, Mirath, Delhi. I loved the interactions between the progenitor and his best friend as they both strive to make sense of the chaos and melee called Karachi. The author is probably the best Urdu novel writer in Urdu at the moment in the world.
Profile Image for فیصل مجید.
189 reviews9 followers
September 13, 2022
" آگے سمندر ہے از انتظار حسین" بیان کرتا ہے ان مسلم مہاجرین کی داستان جو تقسیم ہند کے بعد کراچی میں مقیم ہیں لیکن ابھی بھی انکا کچھ خاندان ہندوستان میں رہائش پذیر ہیں۔ ناول کا زمانہ 80s اور 90s میں ہونے والی بدامنی کا زمانہ ہے جو کراچی کے مکینوں نے عمومی طور پر اور مہاجرین نے خصوصی طور پر برداشت کیا ہے۔ اور اسی سانحات کو انتظار حسین نے رقم کیا ہے۔ اس درمیانے درجے کے مسلم مہاجرین کی سماجی زندگی اور خواب جن کی تعبیر کے انتظار/ بربادی کو بیان کیا گیا ہے۔ ایک کردار کا خواب خلافت عثمانیہ بلکہ سلطنت سلیمانؑ کی بحالی کا ہے جس کے لئے 313 مومین کی تلاش ہے۔
انتظار حسین نے مہاجرین کے تنوع و تضادات کو نہ صرف دیکھا ہے بلکہ سمجھا بھی ہے۔ انھوں نے اتنے تلخ اور بدتر دور کی عکاسی کی اور اس دوران بھی مزاح کے عناصر کو بیان کرنے سے غافل نہیں رہے۔
یہ ناول تارڑ کے راکھ سے بہتر مجھے لگا۔ اور مشرف عالم ذوقی کی یاد بھی آتی رہی (جہاں سلطنت سلیمانؑ کی بحالی کے خواب کا ذکر ہے)
انتظار حسین کے زبان پر عبور پر کچھ کہنا سورج کو چراغ دکھانے کے مترادف ہے لیکن جدید اردو قارئین کو سیکھنے کو بہت کچھ ہے اگر شوق و ذوق زندہ ہے ___ !!!

از Faisal Majeed
Profile Image for Saad Din.
125 reviews8 followers
December 21, 2021
Quiet a boring read, a piece of fiction that lay emphasis more on characterization rather then the plot always repels me, this novel by famous and respected writer Intezar Hussain is based on the Mohajir community of Karachi some where in 90's the writer has tried to prove that what ever they are facing in present day Pakistan is due to their decision to migrate from their ancestral home land India to Pakistan, he could have presented the case effectively has he tried to use the events as the instrument of movement instead he focused on certain characters, their monologues their over indulgence with nostalgia and the language which is quiet obsolete now a days .
my reading into Intezar's writing is that he is excellent in non fiction then his fiction pieces.
will go into more of his fiction to further confirmation of my stance on his writing
Profile Image for Mihr Chand.
83 reviews2 followers
March 6, 2019
An exemplary translation of a beautiful book. If only the storyline was more coherent, and easier to follow. I loved the descriptions of erstwhile Lucknow & Delhi that the muhajir community had left behind in India with their move to Karachi. Absolutely beautiful. As a student of History, I particularly appreciated the parallel drawn between Al-Andalus, Córdoba, Sevilla and Granada with the state of Lucknow and Delhi after Partition.
Profile Image for Sameer Khan Brohi.
Author 4 books59 followers
September 28, 2022
I must say this book disappointed me in tons. I was longing to read this book ever since I saw it in the Liberty Books store, back in Pakistan, years back. The cover was so attractive, the Abdullah Shah Gazi’s shrine resting on the bank of Arabian Sea, while orange ball of sun giving its vibes of energy to the city. By now, I read this book, it turned out of my expectation that I held previously, well, my mistake is that I didn’t read the synopsis. I just went for it. Yet polished by vocabulary and hard structure, it made a fuss for me. It was politically incorrect, and for the most part historically as well. Why the hell were the characters retreating into reminiscences of their past in previous cities they lived? While doing nothing to erase rapid breakdown of law and order in Karachi, rather than cursing government and elevating chaos. I found it communal and chauvinist, when showing a beam of independence and freedom, it mushrooms mistrust, prejudice and apathy that author thinks a certain community faced after the event of partition. And at the beginning the prose felt confusing, date palm and stuff, why would author insert this unnecessary thing in the first place? Which doesn’t connect with the story at all. And of course then comes these dialogues;

‘It is no laughing matter. I am only saying what is correct. Don’t go by all the upstarts who go about calling themselves Karachiwalas. The true Karachiwala is one who has lived in a shanty.’

‘Then the old Karachiwalas can’t be real Karachiwalas.’

‘Yaar Jawad, this is a terrible habit! You stop me just as I am making my point. I am talking about the present lot of inhabitants. They stay in Karachi for four days and, on the fifth day, pretend to become real Karachiwalas.’

‘But, Majju Bhai, surely there must be some fault in Karachi too. One can’t stay in Lahore for four days and become a true-blue Lahoriya. And the city that was once Delhi … there, people who came from outside lived for generation after generation, yet the Delhiwalas did not accept them as true Delhiwalas. You are tracing a man’s roots in a city; whereas a city too must have its own roots.’

‘You’ve gone mad! Does a city beside a sea ever have roots? It always floats on the water.’

Point A, The true Karachiwala is one who has lived in a shanty.
Point B, They stay in Karachi for four days and, on the fifth day, pretend to become real Karachiwalas–I mean who? What does this mean? This sounds so absurd. How come a character who is migrated in here and is not been even five years of his belonging to the city say this?
Point C, Does a city beside a sea ever have roots? Does it say this? Oh god, are you for real? According to the author, the real history of Karachi is started after partition. Before that Karachi had literally no roots at all. What about Mai Kolachi, Ram Bagh, what about when Karachi was made the capital of Sindh in the 1840s in the time of Charles James Napier? And Before Partition Karachi was a Hindu-majority city and a Sindhi-speaking city as Arif Hasan says in his LSE article. What about all this history? Damn this novel is so chauvinistic. And how can author narrow down diversity in all time metropolitan city of Karachi? Which is so diverse in real and always has been. The author has one point view, is politically incorrect and of course slow storyteller.
Profile Image for Nallasivan V..
Author 2 books44 followers
June 24, 2018
If you have read Manto, you know the absurdity and the tragedy of India-Pakistan Partition. But rarely do we come across works that talk about the lives of people who moved to Pakistan from India ('Muhajirs') - people who were uprooted overnight from places like Meerut, Lucknow and Delhi.

In Intizar Husain's novel, a community of mushaira (poems) loving middle-class community of Muhajirs come to terms with their new life in Karachi. As Karachi slowly descends into religious terror and mayhem, our protagonists mull over the history they left behind in India. It is difficult to categorize their longing as nostalgia. It is more of a melancholic feeling of having left behind something that you cannot return to. A feeling of being stuck in a limbo - of not having moved on from the place they left and not having arrived at the place they have reached.

With these people's tales, Husain mixes the history of all the people who have faced exodus - Muslims leaving Andalusia, the Prophet migrating to Mecca and a beautifully rendered phase of Yadavas leaving Mathura for Dwarka from Mahabharatha. As the introduction of the book notes, Husain unwraps wound after wound that has left unnoticed after the partition and subsequent migration of Muhajirs.
Profile Image for Muneeza.
303 reviews7 followers
November 16, 2021
انتظار حسین نے یہ ناول کراچی کے مہاجروں کی دلی اور د��اغی کیفیت پر لکھا ہے۔ اپنا شہر، گھر بار، خاندان چھوڑ کر بلکل نۓ سرے سے شروع کرنا کتنا دردناک ہوتا ہے، مصنف نے جواد کے کردار کے زریعے بیان کیا ہے۔ جواد عرف منن پاکستان میں اپنی قسمت آزمانے آتا ہے اور وہاں چلبلے مجو بھائی کی گرفت میں آجاتا ہے۔

مجو بھائی بہت ملنسار ہوتے ہیں اور ان کی واقفیت ہر ذات اور علاقے کے مہاجروں سے ہوتی ہے۔ وہ جواد کا تعارف ہر طرح کی شخصیت سے کرواتے ہیں۔ جواد اپنی نئی زندگی میں ایسا مصروف ہوتا ہے کہ اپنے ہندوستان کے رشتےداروں کو بھول جاتا ہے اور اس کو بہت سالوں بعد ان سے ملنے کا خیال آتا ہے۔ اور یوں وہ اپنے آبائی گھر واپس جا کر یادوں کے انبار کے نیچے دب جاتا ہے۔ دوسری طرف کراچی کے حالات دن بدن بگڑ رہے ہوتے ہیں جس کی وجہ سے جواد اور زیادہ متاثر ہوتا ہے۔

پورے ناول میں جواد اپنے آپ سے جنگ لڑ رہا ہوتا ہے اور ڈراؤنی اصلیت سے بھاگنے کے لیے ماضی کا سہارا لیتا ہے۔ اس کتاب میں بٹوارے کے کڑوے سچ اور آزادی کی قیمت پر تبصرہ کیا ہے۔ لیکن اس میں سنجیدگی کے ساتھ ساتھ مزاحیہ پہلو بھی شامل ہیں۔
3 reviews1 follower
October 3, 2020
Set in post partition capital of Pakistan, Karachi is suffering from a crisis of identity. Due to mass migrations from all over the subcontinent tensions between ethnicities, riots and protests for political, social and ethnic issues are at their peak.
The protagonist Jawad, a refugee from Meerut has settled in Jinnahs Pakistan with high hopes which are shattered as he soon gets to live in a shanty. He is pulled from his poverty by Majju Bhai, a free spirit with Just go with the Flow as his mantra into sophisticated circles of life.
The story revolves around themes of post partition Pakistan and India, effect of partition on families unjustly demarcated just like the countries, the purpose of Partition, Remnants of childhood, Islamic mythology, Rise and fall of Muslims and a religious perspective on Muslim downfall in the subcontinent.
Profile Image for MadZiddi.
125 reviews49 followers
November 27, 2020
اس ناول کا وقوع نوے کی دہائی میں فسادات شدہ کراچی ہے اور کہانی یوپی کے مہاجرخاندان کے گرد گھومتی ہے اور اس کا اچھوتاچ بیانیااس کا موازنہ اسپین میں مسلمانوں کے زوال سے کرتی ہے ۔میرے جیسے لوگ جنہوں نے زندگی کا ایک اہم واقعہ حضرت اس زمانے کے کراچی میں گزارا ناول نوبل کے دہشت اور سے ریلیٹ کرے گے۔ کراچی کے باہر کے لوگ جنکو یہ اچھنبہ تھا کہ ایسے خونی ماحول میں بھی کراچی والوں کی زندگی کیسے جوں کی تو ں چلتی رہتی تھی وہ یہ ناول ضرور پڑھیں۔ کرفیو لگتا رہتا تھا ،گولیوں کی بوچھا ڑ ہوتی رہتی تھی اور اسی میں کباب پراٹھے کی محفلیں اور مشاعرے زور وشور سے جاری رہتے تھے ۔
اور جو لوگ انتظار صاحب کے ناسٹلجیا کے پڑھنے کے شوقین ہیں وہ مایوس نہیں ہوں گے ۔کیونکہ زیادہ تر کہانی میں ہیرو پہلے اپنے چھوڑے ہوے یوپی کے شہر اور لوگوں میں یاد کرتا ہے اور پھر واپس اپنے شہر کو وزٹ کرتا ہے اور اسے اپنی یادوں سے بدلا ہوا پاتا ہے ۔
Profile Image for Rahim.
36 reviews1 follower
December 7, 2025
The book started off really strong, slumped a little towards the end but picks up again and delivers a strong ending. It is a reflection on how the people who left their homes to find a new home and then they see their new home getting destroyed by their own people.
Profile Image for Shruti Sharma.
191 reviews24 followers
July 19, 2018
This was my third book regarding partition stories and it has ignited my love for more. My next pick is also by Intizar Husain (Day & Dastan) which is published by Niyogi Books.
Profile Image for Anibal.
9 reviews
September 26, 2020
This might have been an even better read but for the slightly wooden feel of the translation.
Profile Image for Ranjan Kaul.
Author 3 books1 follower
April 1, 2016
Most competently translated by Rakhshanda Jalil from the original Urdu, the novel by late Intezar Husain is a tragic story of disillusionment and disappointment and how the "bright expectation" of a new land of the Pure, namely Pakistan, has been terribly belied and that it has become a country of guns and senseless violence. The novel is many things, about longing and loss and nostalgia about the author's home in Uttar Pradesh (India) before migration; and about decaying cities and ageing. There is no structured plot per se to the book, yet it holds one's attention owing to its layered and nuanced writing. The author uses two interesting literary devices -one, the two names by which the protagonist, Jawad, is referred to (called Munnan in his pre-migration days) is used to display a conflict of identities. Two, a bullet that lodges in Jawad's head "triggers" related stories and parables from mythology and folklore and this is where the quintessential Husain comes into his own. Does his love for his childhood friend, Maimuna, also represent his longing for yearning for the time spent in pre-partitioned India? The author does not give clear answers. This is a novel that makes you sit up and think -- and that is saying a lot.
Profile Image for Muhammad Umer Kamran.
9 reviews7 followers
July 13, 2020
یہ تین سو تئیس صفحات اُن ہجرت زرہ خاندانوں کا نوحہ ہیں جن کی معاشرتی زندگی اُنیس سو سینتالیس کی تقسیم کا معاوضہ ثابت ہوئی ۔ لوگوں کے انفرادی اور معاشرے کے اجتماعی تشخص کا اس قدر سفاکی سے مسخ ہونا از خود ایک ایسا حادثہ ہے جو انسانی نفسیات پر حاوی ہونے کے لیے کافی ہے ۔ اِنہی نفسیاتی المیوں کے گرد گھومتی یہ کہانی کراچی سے شروع ہوتی ہے اور وقت کے دھارے میں اُلٹے رخ بہتی ہوئی میرٹھ، لکھنو اور دہلی کی گلیوں سے گزرتی ہوئی اشبیلیہ، غرناطہ اور اندلس کے بازاروں میں جا پہنچتی ہے اور ایک گول چکر کاٹ کر دوبارہ کراچی قیام کرتی ہے ۔ کہانی کا مرکزی کردار جواد ایک ایسے شخص کی نمائندگی کرتا ہے جو اپنے ماضی سے ربط بنانے کی کشمکش میں اپنے حال سے بے رابطہ ہو جاتا ہے ۔ شروع سے آخر تک کہ یہ ہر اس شخص کی کہانی ہے جو اپنی مٹی سے وفا نہ کر سکا اور اِس کی پاداش میں تا عمر مٹی کا قرض دار رہا .
Profile Image for Jonathan yates.
243 reviews5 followers
March 17, 2021
I found the translation I read to be almost unreadable, there are a lot of parts of this book that need a fair amount of cultural translation and this book just left me very confused, I could feel that I was missing something, there where all these jokes and allusions to things that just made no sense because I lacked context, I'm going to try another book by the writer, but I would stay away from this translation/translator unless you have a clear understanding of Pakistani culture (in which case the jokes are probably awesome)
Profile Image for Shubham Gupta.
68 reviews6 followers
August 27, 2020
The story of the muhajirs, the Partition, and loss. I found it hard to follow the story in several places, but the writing kept me hooked. A delicately written, expertly translated book.
Profile Image for Aqeel Ahmad.
13 reviews
April 22, 2017
Well as the book begins with a protagonist having a dislocated centre and talks about different ideologies after partition of the subcontinent.The book draws analogies from 1000 years back to previous 700 years creating a maze of predestination and predictable future through different patterns.If you are cut from a base you will find solace in this amazing book.
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