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[I] In the world of Ismat Chughtai #AtoZ | Book Review |

I was introduced to Ismat Chughtai via her books when I was exploring Indian literature scene. Alongwith Satyajit Ray, Khushwant Singh, Sadat Hasan Manto; I found this jewel of a writer who was considered a rebel of her times.

Title: Lifting the Veil

Author:  Ismat Chughtai

Genre: Urdu Literature

Publication: Penguin books

Ismat Chughtai (1911-1991) was a prolific woman writers of her time who chose Urdu as her gift of gab. There is a openess and frankness in her writing which offended the conservatives of her time who sought to persecute for it. She used to see herself as part of a very liberal Muslim family where Quran was read alongside of Gita.

Synopsis:

Lifting the Veil is a collection of short stories, edited and translated from Urdu, and deals with very women centric issues along with the local traditions of those times. The stories seem radical as they explore female sexuality, mock the socio-economic times and sneer at the tyrannical fascists of the middle class society.

A central theme mocked by Ismat Chughtai is that of a girl’s destiny to be married off and bear children for her husband; failing which her life is over. She wrote several stories where she made fun of this notion in her literalists style. She also was disdainful of societal hypocrisy involving marital rape, male ego and class barriers.

But her most controversial story (which landed her into legal troubles) is Lihaaf or the Quilt which explores the taboo topic of homosexual urges in women. The story revolves around Begum Jan who is suitably married off to a rich man who promptly tucks her away in one corner of his house and forgets about her. He is more interested in sating his urges with “slim waisted” students on whom he showered his patronage.

“The elephant inside the quilt heaved up and then sat down. I was mute. The elephant started to sway again. I was scared stiff.” From Lihaaf by Ismat Chughtai

The narrator is a young girl who has a very innocent mind and observes everything around her very diligently. She is almost molested by Begum Jan one day, unknown to her when the former asks her to massage her shoulders. Happy to please her, the young girl begins the massage and doesn’t know what to make of the Begum’s deep breathing which soon turns into moans of pleasure.

Begum Jan finds solace in her hand maid Rabbu who is quite a robust and coarse female. The contrast between Begum Jan’s gentility is highlighted with Rabbu’s rustic charms.  The story takes a dangerous turn when one night the young girl sees the Quilt (in which Begum Jan is enshrouded) began to gain shape as an elephant and then starts to heave. The confused child cannot fathom why a quilt might behave in this way and is certain it’s going to eat Begum Jan. As she calls out a warning to the Begum, she hears Rabbu’s voice shushing her and realises that she too is within the confines of the quilt.

This story openly discusses homoeroticism and came under the conservationist scanner, dragging Ismat Chughtai to the court. But it is one of the most radical stories of its times and to date remains so.

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In Gharwali, Chughtai questions the sanctity of the institution of marriage and the false sense of security it brings. Lajjo is an orphaned street urchin who soon learns to use her body to please men. She sees no harm in giving and receiving love by way of sex. But her lush ways garners the ire of the genteel fraction who urge the ever so religious and a bachelor, Mirza ji and persuade him to hire her as his maid.

Reluctant at first, he agrees and brings her home. Lajjo is super thrilled for there is no woman in his house to rule over her. Soon she starts seeing it as her personal domain and will do anything to please Mirzaji who seeks the company of prostitutes. Lajjo is bewildered by this and wonders why does he waste his money on them when he could have her for free? Soon Mirza falls under her spell and all is well in Lajjo’s world.

Trouble brews when Mirza begins to feel possessive towards her and cannot stand her illicit liaisons with “others” in the community. To end her uninhibited favours, he marries her in an act of respectability.

But this turns Lajjo’s world upside down for she has no clue nor love to act as a genteel woman. She misses her freedom and soon chafes at the marital bonds by cheating on Mirza. His ire knows no ends and he divorces her in a fit of rage and throws her out of the house. Lajjo breathes a sigh of relief and goes back to being the mistress of the house by being his maid and all is well again.

Lasting Impression on me:

I have chosen the two most powerful stories out of this collection to showcase here. There are others with equally compelling narration and chosen topic to tease our minds. Her wit and humour in bringing out the perversions of the middle class is quite charming to my mind. I love her style of stating the obvious and doing away with the cloak and dagger works. She brings out the mentality of the middle class in every story and berates it from her point of view. Chughtai’s use of rich metaphors is another reason why her writing endeared itself to me. I am mesmerised by her racy narratives that don’t hold back any punches.

My rating:

A super-duper 5 ***** rating for this Queen of Indian fiction writer whose bold and radical writing make for quite an honest read. I would urge you to check out her writings to read about the archaic middle class and its subversions that this writer managed to throw off in a brilliant literary manner.

P.S: 

I am on a no-book-buying pact as I am pretty much broke; not to mention that I am running out of space as well!! But incase anyone wants to trade their books or send me gifts, please do check out my Wishlist on Amazon & Want to read on Goodreads.


You can check out my review of the Fantasy Fiction “The Children of Blood & Bone”, if you are a fan of this genre.

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Loved this review and would like to have an honest review of your book by me; please drop me a mail on shalzmojo@gmail.com with :

  1. A sample section of the book (about 25 pages)
  2. Your social media handles

Please note that I would require a physical copy of the book for the review and will take 100% advance of the fee.

For the uninitiated, AtoZ challenge is a blogging challenge wherein one has to write on every alphabet from A to Z and post on all days of April, except Sundays. Usually its better to devise a theme as it makes it easy to write the posts. Plus readers have a reason to stay hooked too.

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26 thoughts on “[I] In the world of Ismat Chughtai #AtoZ | Book Review |

  1. Have you watched Motley’s play ‘Ismat Aapa k Naam’. If not then you should. In the play Naseruddin Shah plays the part of Mirja ji. Amazing. Both Ismat Chugtai and Sadat Hasan Manto have written stories way beyond their era. Lihaaf is one of my favourites as well.

    1. Oh yes I have watched all threes stories enacted by the Shah family – two times over and would recommend it a must watch to peeps! He is a brilliant chameleon and the way he dons the characters in this unique story telling; I was enraptured to say the least!

    1. Yup I just love her story telling. Recently e-watched Naseerudin Shah and his family present three of her stories on stage- stunning performances by each. you have to hear them to believe it. the play is called Ismat Apa ke naam. Try catch it next time it comes to Delhi.

    1. These are two stories from a short story collection – have shared an amazon link here of the same Archana

  2. I have heard about Ismat Chugtai and her revolutionary feminist stories, but havent read her. Your review of Lihaaf and Gharwali has piqued my interest. I am certainly going to check out this collection of stories. Thanks for the recommendation, Shalini!

  3. I haven’t read the book but I have read the story, Lihaaf and umm…didn’t like it. It was going well until the woman, Begum Jaan, started using the child for her pleasure. Not justifiable. I suddenly found that place/environment so unsafe/unhealthy for the child, and wondered what if the man, instead of Begum, of the house did that. What would have been the readers’ thought then. Even the writing — maybe because the translation was not good enough.

    Not sure why exactly, but I disliked the story.

  4. Urdu literature would be interesting to read I’m sure. Each story here sounds so interesting. I’ve been adding all your suggestions to my TBR. You’re spoiling me, woman! 😀

  5. Wow! I realise there is a lot of authors and books unexplored my me in this world. When I do get around to buying this one, I am convinced I will(only timeline to be determined) I shall get it from this page.

    Thanks for sharing Shalz.

    1. Oh I feel your woe of not having enough time to read; I am in the same boat though this month I intend to make up for all the lost time. Wish you luck with it too Namy! 🙂

    1. Oh I love short stories Anupriya as they let me get an idea about the writers style whenever I am contemplating picking her novella and also because they make for an easy read 😉

  6. […] It is a book that will take you exploring female sexuality in a way that was unimaginable in the early 1900 when the author began writing these stories. In fact she created quite a scandal with her writings and underwent courted legal troubles over it. The reader is given quite a prolific peek into the local customs and traditions of the Indian society, centering over women and their social status. There is quite a frank exploration of the female sexuality while at the same time sneering at the tyrannical fascists of the middle class section of the society. One gets to travel to the opulent lifestyle as practiced in the rich households of Lucknow to the antics of street urchins in the filth packed by-lanes, common to any Indian city. Delving into the mindset of young women – rich or poor; one sees the similar threads of wistful yearning for holy matrimony. A tongue in cheek humor is liberally sprinkled throughout every story, making them a very enjoyable read. You can catch the complete review on Shalini’s blog here. […]

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