The Pity of Partition by Jalal Ayesha

Author:Jalal, Ayesha
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2013-03-21T16:00:00+00:00

18 Shyam. Courtesy Sahira Kazimi

The two friends had a rapturous reunion when Shyam visited Lahore briefly after partition for the release of his film. It was the same Shyam, full of smiles and laughter, but now he was a superstar. They both ran and embraced each other. There was such commotion and so much to talk about that they both struggled to have a coherent conversation. The crowds of people who showed up to greet him overwhelmed Shyam. He had spent a lot of time in Lahore, had romanced there, and grew up in Rawalpindi. Lahore, Amritsar, and Rawalpindi were where they had always been, but those days had gone; those nights Shyam had spent there had gone forever, buried anonymously by “the grave diggers of politics.” Feeling overly emotional and also a little irritated, Manto left Shyam amidst the throngs of fans after agreeing to meet him at Faletti’s Hotel. When Shyam finally came to the hotel and gave an impassioned speech that was enthusiastically received, Manto found it difficult to relate to him. He was especially put off when Shyam asked him to accompany him and others heading to Lahore’s red-light district. Manto went home and had several odd dreams, including one in which he told the milkman, “You’ve completely changed, you bastard, you are a Hindu!” Upon waking up, Manto felt as if had uttered a terrible slur, but he realized that it had not come out of his mouth and was just an effect of the political turmoil of the day. He was glad he had sworn at the milkman in his dream for giving him milk mixed with one quarter of water. Manto felt relieved to think that though Shyam was a Hindu, he was not a Hindu mixed with water!90

While Manto was a Muslim, his humanity was also not diluted with water, whatever the color or type of cap he chose to wear. Defying the arbitrary frontiers of 1947, he continued to engage with literary personalities in India, commenting on their work and inviting comments on his own. Most of his admirers and supporters in India stuck by him while he was being prosecuted in Pakistan on charges of obscenity. Occasionally the correspondence was disrupted when one or more letters failed to reach its destination. Of those that did arrive, it is worth mentioning one from Amrita Pritam, then in her midthirties, requesting Manto’s comments on her novel Pinjar (Skeleton). The novel tells of a beautiful young Hindu woman whom a Muslim abducts during the disturbances of 1947 to avenge an old land dispute between their families. Given the nature of the story, Manto in all probability commented favorably on a promising novel that paralleled much of what he had to say about the nature of and motivations behind partition violence, especially against women. Thanking Manto for his letter, Pritam wrote: “It is wonderful that a writer of your merit takes an interest in my work.”91 Manto may well have replied that there was no reason why he should not take an interest in her work.

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