He, however always used the word ‘batwara’, never He felt that it was the ripping apart of one nation and would lead to greater divisions among the people of the subcontinent. For Manto, Partition remained a mystery but he did not keep himself in a state of denial about it. His stories reflect his repeated attempts to come to terms with this cataclysmic event for millions in North India. As a sensitive writer, he was influenced and traumatized by the political turmoil of 1947 and beyond. He – like other ‘greats’ – died young and lived through the greatest upheaval in the Indian subcontinent, i.e., the Partition. He left us with a stupendous literary output, which continues to remain relevant decades after his death. Perhaps the most well known and also controversial Urdu writer of the twentieth century happens to be Saadat Hasan Manto. Manto created a pure universe on the other side of the horizon in his universe ambiguities twinkle as virtuous The moral principles in this given everyday universe of ours hide underneath our prejudices and our ideological agendas. He perceived glimmers of this humanity both in the oppressed and the oppressor, perceiving a distant flame of human frailties flickering both in the pimp who goes out selling in the streets the body of an exploited woman, and in that woman herself. He saw dimly lit humanity even in the characters that appear to us evil. Reclaiming Humanity: Women in Manto’s Short Stories
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