7 Partition Stories By Saadat Hasan Manto That We Need To Re-read

Partition. One of the most dreadful things that had happened to the Indian subcontinent. Broken by political gambles that fuelled religious fanaticism of the poor third world citizens of this land, the partition saw deaths of millions of innocent people.

As for me, Urdu writer Saadat Hasan Manto’s stories of the partition will always haunt me, in my dreams and when I’m awake, reminding me of the bloodstained history of the country I call home. And maybe you need a little reminder of the cost our forefathers paid for us too. And here are 9 partition stories by Manto, so that you remember.

1. Toba Tek Singh

This story tells the tale of Bishan Singh, a lunatic living in an asylum, whose identity wasn’t sure to even himself, but had to suffer the burden of a new nationality thrust upon him!

 

2. Kali salwar

This is the story of Sultana, a small-town prostitute, who became utterly disillusioned after coming to the big city of Bombay with her pimp. Her business declines badly, and her mood gets channeled through her longing for a ‘kali salwar’.

 

3. The dog of Tetwal

Partition showed the dark side of blind patriotism among people who come out in the most vicious ways. A stray dog found and once adored by some of the soldiers of the Indian army, died a horrible death after they found out that it had taken food from the Pakistani soldiers from across the border too!

 

4. Bu

Manto’s craftsmanship as a writer was not in painting the bigger picture, rather in focusing on the smaller aspects and yet conveying a thought perfectly. Like in this short story, where ‘smell’ (bu) became both the adhesive and the lens through which the notions of marriage is seen through.

 

5. Khol do

If the partition was a horrific affair, then it was twice as much horrific for women. This story tells the blood-curdling tale of Sakina, who was raped so many times that even after being rescued and taken to a hospital, when the doctor asked someone to ‘open the window’, she, like a machine, opened her pants.

 

6. Khuda ki kasam

This short story was a brutal witness to the psychological trauma that women faced during the partition. Manto’s depiction of women and young girls being kidnapped from refugee camps, trains or even their homes and the subsequent horror (read rape, and murder) they went through is sadly, only conveyed the reality of that time!

 

7. Thanda gosht

This story tells how the partition made victims even out of the perpetrators. Eesher Singh, a Sikh who participated in crimes of loot, murder and rape during partition, faced his own horror when he found out that the unconscious girl he raped was actually cold dead!

Our country’s independence came at a heavy cost, let us not forget that.

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