#Ismat Chugtai

[beguines]

The manner of Shaukat's entry into the Andheri commune explains some of its attraction for her. She was raised in a Muslim family she describes as "mildly progressive" and not overly religious, who lived in the feudal princely state of Hyderabad – the political epicentre of the Telangana uprising, led by the Communist Party. Shaukat's is a tale of a political and romantic awakening. She first met Kaifi at a Progressive Writers' Association (PWA) gathering, and admired his nerve at reciting "a powerful poem against the monarchy and injustice in the Nizam's city". When Kaifi recited his radical poem 'Aurat' or 'Woman' which begins "Arise, my love, for now you must march with me / Flames of war are ablaze in our world today", Shaukat tells us, "I fixed my gaze on Kaifi, convinced that he had written this poem for me, and I alone had the right to march with him".

[. . .]

Shaukat loved both the comrades' departures from familial conventions, but also the ways in which they replicated older familial conventions. Razia Sajjad Zaheer was "as affectionate as Ammajan would have been," lending Shaukat her own wedding clothes and gold bangles. Other comrades stood in for the ritual roles performed by parents, for the wedding ceremony was not, as one might expect, a secular affair, but a nikkah, during which the comrades had to do some clever manoeuvring to disguise the fact that the bride was Sunni and the bridegroom Shia. Shaukat herself fluctuated between playing the conventional shy bride, and forgetting to do so, thrilling to the presence of guests such as Ismat Chugtai, the fiery writer.

Of course, many weddings in the commune took secular and even radical forms. P.C. Joshi and Kalpana Dutt were married on the open terrace of the commune, with music being provided by Benoy Roy and the Party's Cultural Squad. Tea and biscuits were served, and the bride's red sari sent by the groom's family was later cut up into red flags. The marriage of Chari's sister-in-law Leila and P. Sundarayya (a central committee member who was a major figure in the Telangana uprising) simply took the form of the couple telling Joshi that they would live together as husband and wife. The very difficulty of forging unusual alliances, and of sustaining them in trying circumstances, can entrench the power of marriage. But for some comrades, such as Chari, living in the commune enabled a departure from "a life lived as individual islands of I's, husband and wife etc. There is a lot of humdrum tedium and a lot of waste. I am all for life in a commune. There is privacy when you feel the need for it. Otherwise you are right in the stream of life and working for a better life."

Ania Loomba, Revolutionary Desires: Women, Communism, and Feminism in India

[uneviemorose]

Back to regular programing ( enjoying fujoshi)

Current cw : Interview With The Vampire , Fellow Travellers , Banana Fish , Industry, Doctor Who, Daily Dose of Sunshine, X Files

Anime I aim to complete : Bunguo Stray Dogs, Monster, Psycho Pass

Books : by Romila Thapar, by Ismat Chugtai, Orientalism by Edward Said , Japanese murder mystery 😟, Mornings In Jenin, Aangan, The Right to Sex, The Great Partition, Trick Mirror, The CIA as Organized Violence

( also some mangas : I want to finish My Lesbian Experience with loneliness, Skip and Loafer, Solanin, Goodnight Punpun and Pink)

lol I'm going crazy this was just for fun

[vision4perception]

Indian Jews live a very secretive life: Esther David on writing a book on Indian Jews' recipes 'Bene Appetit' - Times of India

Indian Jews live a very secretive life: Esther David on writing a book on Indian Jews’ recipes ‘Bene Appetit’ – Times of India

India is a land of diverse cultures and religions, and one such diminishing community is that of the Indian Jews with less than five thousand Jewish people in the country. In her latest book ‘Bene Appetit’, author-art critic-columnist-artist Esther David captures and gives the readers a unique glimpse of the Bene Israel Jewish community of India and their largely unknown cuisine. Esther David won…

[thevividgreenmoss]

Ismat Chugtai, Chhoti Apa

[bollywoodirect]

Release This Day- #Fire (06 September 1996) is an Indian-Canadian romantic drama film written and directed by Deepa Mehta, and starring Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das. It is the first installment of Mehta's Elements trilogy; it is succeeded by Earth (1998) and Water (2005).

The film is loosely based on Ismat Chughtai's 1942 story, Lihaaf (The Quilt). It was one of the first mainstream Bollywood films to explicitly show homosexual relations. After its 1998 release in India, certain groups staged several protests, setting off a flurry of public dialogue around issues such as homosexuality and freedom of speech.

Like बॉलीवुड डायरेक्ट Bollywoodirect

[slicedblackolives]

saw your post about finally enjoying work by indian authors when you found writers who weren't pushing hindutva agenda on you-- don't be shy, drop some recs!

arundhati roy (love of my life mwah), mimi mondal, ismat chugtai, meenakshi kandasamy and mahasweta devi :)

[onequoteperday]

Ismat Chugtai convinced her father to let her go to school and get an education, instead of making her learn how to cook: ‘Women cook food Ismat. When you go to your in-laws what will you feed them?’ he asked gently after the crisis was explained to him. ‘If my husband is poor, then we will make khichdi and eat it and if he is rich, we will hire a cook,’ I answered. My father realized his daughter was a terror and that there wasn’t a thing he could do about it.

Ismat Chughtai (from The Quilt)

[wintrbear]

My father realised his daughter was a terror and that there wasn't a thing he could do about it.

- Ismat Chugtai

[guywhosoldtheworld]

Manto Zinda Hai (Manto is Alive)

“And it is also possible, that Saadat Hasan dies, but Manto remains alive” these words of Saadat Hasan Manto have proved to be true over the years. 2020 will mark the 65th death anniversary of one of the most controversial writers of his era. He was born on 11 May 1912 in a middle-class Muslim family based out of Ludhiana. Manto started his career by translating short stories written in English, French, and Russian to Urdu.

Manto's stories were based on untouched subjects and his apt analysis of human behaviour, which changed the course of Urdu literature. His stories showcased the moral decay of the society and took off the masks of prejudice, hypocrisy, dishonesty and falsehood. He was sued for obscenity several times. His stories and their characters are even relevant today.

The dark world of outcasts of our society held an important place in these stories. Saadat Hasan Manto  took his readers on a voyage into the world of pimps, prostitutes, Waifs and debauchees. He shared the sorrow of this abandoned section of the society and with his extraordinary skills was able to universalise these subjects.

Manto moved to Pakistan from Bombay after the partition, which transformed him as a writer. Most of his darkest stories were written in Pakistan, where he faced a lot of criticism and legal troubles. He wrote about the violence that he witnessed at the time of partition and explained the consequences of violence on humanity, human beings, and their minds and conscience.

His storytelling was so expressive that the language and the form didn’t hold any relevance. Some of the stories forced readers to create a savage image in their mind and left them disturbed. In the story ‘Khol Do’, Sakeena was sexually assaulted numerous times, that she unties her Shalwar when her father is asked by the doctor to open the windows. Sakeena from ‘Khol Do’, can be related to many rape victims and the horror that they witness in today's times.

Communal Violence was also covered extensively in the light of partition by Manto. This threat is still prevalent over our society in the form of rifts between various sects which have affected the inter-religious peace across the nation. The story ‘Siyah Hshiay’ was written after partition, but it reflects the current scenario of our society.

Manto was vocal about social justice and advocated the equal treatment of women in our society. Ismat Chugtai quoted,” Manto picked out pearls from the jilted squalor and refuse of life.” He has been referred to as the 'undisputed father of the modern Indian short story' by Salman Rushdie.

Today, even after over six decades of his death, his work seems so modern and admissible. The characters are largely relatable with the people we come across daily. His genius lies in the fact that with each passing day his work seems more and more relevant.

[sgtechs-in]

In conversation with Nandita Das

In conversation with Nandita Das

[ad_1]

“1857 ke khandhar mein, Mughaliya sultanat mein; Sab peeche dekh rahe hain, jab aaj ke kaatil lahu se tareekh likh rahe hain…” Nawazuddin Siddiqui, as Saadat Hasan Manto in Nandita Das’s biographical film on the celebrated Indo-Pakistani writer, talks about how we keep blaming everything on the past — the ruins of 1857, the Mughal empire — even as newer killers keep marching on, spilling…

[rkbahuja]

Rajshri Despande is Ismat Chughtai in Nandita Das's Manto

Rajshri Despande is Ismat Chughtai in Nandita Das’s Manto

Nandita Das’s much awaited indie film Manto has signed on the Sexy Durga & Angry Indian Goddesses actor Rajshri Despande to play the legendary author Ismat Chughtai. Ismat Chughtai The shoot of the film starts this week and the casting was confirmed today after a look test of Rajshri in a signature sari, hair and spectacles to get into the garb of the eminent Indian writer. Recently, Nawazuddin…

[whatnextweb]

Lihaaf: The Quilt (2019) Movie Dual Audio [Hindi-Eng] 1080p 720p Torrent Download

Lihaaf: The Quilt (2019) Movie Dual Audio [Hindi-Eng] 1080p 720p Torrent Download

Lihaaf: The Quilt Full Movie, A period drama, the film is based on Ismat Chugtai’s most celebrated story “Lihaaf” (published 1942). The film inter weaves the plot of same sex relationship between Begum and her masseuse and the trial that Ismat underwent after being slapped with a case of obscenity on publishing the story. The film raises themes of homosexuality and freedom of speech that our…

[thevividgreenmoss]

Ismat Chugtai, The Heart Breaks Free

[grangerousnerd]

“Lihaaf”, Ismat Chugtai

[manuscripts-dontburn]

Indian book to movie adaptations you should check out

Besides loving books and history, I am also a great fan of Indian film industry (heck, my main blog is bollymusings ). It is not too often, but from time to time the movies are actually book adaptations. Here is a short list of stories that found their way from book pages to Indian silver screen.

Devdas: A book by the same titles was written at the beginning of the 20th century by very young (and very drunk) Bengali author Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. It has since been adapted to film many times, but the most famous version comes from the year 2002. The film was  was India's entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars in 2003 and was also screened in Cannes. It is larger than life extravaganza that revolves around a simple story of two childhood sweethearts being torn apart by circumstances, and slow descent into alcoholism of the main protagonist. There is more though, including a loving courtesan, fabulous music, undying loyalties and one of the most haunting endings ever. 

Parineeta: From the same author as Devdas, Parineeta is set in the 60s (although the original novel was written in 1914) and operates on similar storyline. However the tone and the characters are quite different. Less heart-wretching, but more poetic, Parineeta was also a heavily awarded movie.

Saawariya: Adapted from the short story of Fyodor Dostoyevsky called The White Nights, Saawariya is a stuff of dreams. Instead of Petersburg and Russia the film is set in an imaginary place that is breath-takingly beautiful. The story is that of a young man who happens to meet a girl one night. At first he is crushed because she admits she is waiting for someone else, but as he gets to know her better, it would seem the rival may be just a figment of her imagination. Or is he?

Omkara: Believe it or not, this is an adaptation of Shakespeare´s Othello. And it is bloody brilliant.

Haider: And this is Bollywood version of Hamlet.

Maqbool: And here you have Macbeth.

2 States: Returning back to India for a bit, one of the most successful authors at present time is Chetan Bhagat. 2 States is partly autobiographical book about his relationship with his future wife. While both were Indians, each came from a different region, and each region has very strong cultural and traditional features, that can get in a way of your love story.

Aisha: light-hearted and fun version of Jane Austen´s Emma.

Ram Leela: this is a take on Romeo and Juliet, if Romeo and Juliet and everybody else also was on meth. Visually stunning, set in half-imagined and half-contemporary reality, it is worth watching, even if hardly flawless.

Lootera: truly beautiful and poetic adaptation of O. Henry´s The Last Leaf.

Dedh Ishqiya: My absolute favourite from the whole list. This witty, funny, bitter, sweet, lesbian with happy ending, mature romance including, Bechdel-test passing gem of a film was inspired by a short story Lihaaf by Ismat Chugtai. Go watch it.

[india-lgbt-news]

The quilt of guilt: The latest adaptation of Ismat Chugtai’s short story Lihaaf, is a one-woman performance that’s still socially relevant today. https://t.co/OmxzXYeTeY