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158 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 31, 2016
अगर आपको मेरी कहानियाँ अश्लील या गन्दी लगती है , तो जिस समाज में आप रह रहे है, वह अश्लील और गन्दा है।मेरी कहानियाँ तो केवल सच दर्शाती हैं।
ईशर सिंह अपनी घनी काली मूँछों में मुस्कुराया, “होने दे आज ज़ुल्म?” और ये कह कर उसने मज़ीद ज़ुल्म ढाने शुरू किए। कुलवंत कौर का बालाई होंट दाँतों तले किचकिचाया। कान की लवों को काटा, उभरे हुए सीने को भंभोड़ा, उभरे हुए कूल्हों पर आवाज़ पैदा करने वाले चाँटे मारे। गालों के मुँह भर भर के बोसे लिये। चूस चूस कर उसका सारा सीना थूकों से लथेड़ दिया।
कुलवंत कौर तेज़ आंच पर चढ़ी हुई हांडी की तरह उबलने लगी। लेकिन ईशर सिंह उन तमाम हीलों के बावजूद ख़ुद में हरारत पैदा न कर सका। जितने गुर और जितने दाव उसे याद थे। सब के सब उसने पिट जाने वाले पहलवान की तरह इस्तेमाल करदिए, पर कोई कारगर न हुआ। कुलवंत कौर ने जिसके बदन के सारे तार तन कर ख़ुदबख़ुद बज रहे थे। ग़ैर ज़रूरी छेड़छाड़ से तंग आकर कहा, “ईशर सय्यां, काफ़ी फेंट चुका है, अब पत्ता फेंक!”
The first story I ever read by Manto was Thanda Gosht (Cold Meat) I hid from my mother because I was reading it on her phone and reading Manto was a big No-No.
Manto is known for his Obscenity. Which in retrospect is just him talking about real people with real problems. Stories from the time of the India-Pakistan partition were obscene. The women of both religions were treated as a tool for revenge. If I start delving into the realities, I would be called names too.
Thanda Gosht is about a man who comes back home after doing his partition-related "work" which is mainly just looting and killing people. But when he reveals that he was with a woman, his wife takes an action that no one anticipated. Only to find out the dark truth behind what actually happened between her husband and the woman. Now, I am not one to give spoilers so I will let you read it. I will tell you this story gave me the chills. No wonder it is still relevant.
Another story in this collection is that of a wife waiting for her husband who has gone fishing in the storm. She knows he may or may not come back. She thinks to herself that maybe the job is not worth the meager income they get from it. But in the neighbor's house, she finds something unexpected and takes a decision without thinking of the repercussions or consulting her husband.
Another story (this one is definitely way ahead of its time and I am not surprised that it got the hate) is about a man falling in love with a girl. It's a sweet love story until the end is revealed which is well, weird but since I have seen such a storyline multiple times I was unaffected. However, it would have been repulsive back in the day.
I can't talk about all the stories in this books cause I might give something away but I would highly recommend you to read Manto (especially in Hindi or Urdu, we know how translations don't usually do justice to the original)
If you are interested in Manto's life you should watch the Bollywood movie, called Manto (2018) based on his life, his love for writing, his love for Bombay, his friendships and his life post partition and how he met his end.
I hope this review gets more people interested in Manto's writing.