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A review by biblioash01
Lifting the Veil: Selected Writings of Ismat Chughtai by Ismat Chughtai
4.0
Lift the veil of a "decent" society
and peek inside,
remove the mask of prejudices,
and you'll get a glimpse of filth.
This filth is reality.
A rotten core coated in shimmering gold
in a hypocrite society.
Chughtai's writing is celebrated as feminist, liberal, bold, courageous, and much more. Her stories reflect the then society. She faced legal charges for writing 'obscene' contents like 'Lihaaf'. In the society where acknowledging the existence of female sexuality is indecent, men went around sexually assaulting little girls and women and got away with it. Her characters are gray i.e. Human.
A few years ago, I had read Lihaaf and didn't think about it much. Writing about homosexuality in 1942 British-India is daring. Chughtai was later thanked by the Begum who inspired this story. The real Begum got the courage to change the course of her life thanks to Chughtai. Re-reading it today, I personally feel the writing is visual with metaphors. But, I couldn't ignore how uncomfortable pedophilia and sexual abuse made me feel and I rarely find people mentioning this aspect of the story. I just wanted fictional Begum to leave the kid alone and continue her quilt-dance. But, Damn!
Anyways, this particular story collection includes both fiction and non-fiction writings. Her friendship with Manto is exciting. Her relationship with her brother is heartbreaking. And she acknowledges them when they're gone. Loss makes her see things she never bothered to notice. Maybe that's the beauty of being human. We live with prejudices and once we know something slipped away from our grip, we grow to find a different light to the same story.
I love the realism Ismat Chughtai offers through her story. I laughed and cried with her words. I got excited, disgusted, frustrated, and angry! For this lovely bumpy ride, 4 Stars!
and peek inside,
remove the mask of prejudices,
and you'll get a glimpse of filth.
This filth is reality.
A rotten core coated in shimmering gold
in a hypocrite society.
Chughtai's writing is celebrated as feminist, liberal, bold, courageous, and much more. Her stories reflect the then society. She faced legal charges for writing 'obscene' contents like 'Lihaaf'. In the society where acknowledging the existence of female sexuality is indecent, men went around sexually assaulting little girls and women and got away with it. Her characters are gray i.e. Human.
A few years ago, I had read Lihaaf and didn't think about it much. Writing about homosexuality in 1942 British-India is daring. Chughtai was later thanked by the Begum who inspired this story. The real Begum got the courage to change the course of her life thanks to Chughtai. Re-reading it today, I personally feel the writing is visual with metaphors. But, I couldn't ignore how uncomfortable pedophilia and sexual abuse made me feel and I rarely find people mentioning this aspect of the story. I just wanted fictional Begum to leave the kid alone and continue her quilt-dance. But, Damn!
Anyways, this particular story collection includes both fiction and non-fiction writings. Her friendship with Manto is exciting. Her relationship with her brother is heartbreaking. And she acknowledges them when they're gone. Loss makes her see things she never bothered to notice. Maybe that's the beauty of being human. We live with prejudices and once we know something slipped away from our grip, we grow to find a different light to the same story.
I love the realism Ismat Chughtai offers through her story. I laughed and cried with her words. I got excited, disgusted, frustrated, and angry! For this lovely bumpy ride, 4 Stars!