Of course, the stories of Manto and Chugtai were a no-no in genteel houses, so I read them very recently. The translations are fluid and impeccable.
Some, like Rashid Jahan’s “Behind The Veil” (“Parde Ke Peeche”) and Manto’s “Kali Shalwar” are very popular. These are Russell’s personal selection and some of them, especially Chughtai’s sketch of her brother Azim Beg Chughtai in “Hellbound” (“Dozakhi”) are very unusual and intriguing. Today many are unaware that Premchand started writing in Urdu, switching to Hindi later because it was commercially more viable. It’s interesting that he has included Premchand’s “A Wife’s Complaint”, written in Urdu as “Shikva Shikayat”. The book starts with seven short stories, with the translator explaining the evolution of short stories in Urdu literature.
It talks to an audience which, though interested in the writings of the era that began in the 19th century and ended in the 20th century with the beginning of the Progressive Writers Movement, does not understand all the cultural and literary nuances. Molteno describes how Russell helped her discover Urdu and found in her the “ideal audience” – the kind of person who would be interested in Urdu literature but could do it only through translations. The book under review, A Thousand Yearnings – named after a verse by Mir – is an edited version of Hidden in the Lute. I found the titles of the two editions very poetic, with Hidden in the Lute being after a verse by Ghalib. The first, The Pursuit of Urdu Literature: A Select History, was published in 1993, followed by Hidden In The Lute: An Anthology Of Two Centuries Of Urdu Literature, in 1995. Russell, along with Marion Molteno, his student and friend, arranged his extensive notes, that were published as two separate books. He has written many books on Ghalib and Urdu literature and, as the cover blurb by Shamsur Rehman Faruqi says, “ is easily the best Urdu scholar in the west.” Ralph Russell, who headed the Urdu department at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London for thirty years, is one such teacher. Of course there are gaps, but then teachers can’t do all the work, and once pointed in the right direction, we have to do our homework too. An Urdu syllabusĮven though I have grown up hearing many of these stories and verses I found A Thousand Yearnings to be an entire course curriculum on Urdu poetry and prose. For this, we need reader-friendly books written for just such an audience. So while we hear Ghulam Ali, Jagjit Singh and Mehdi Hasan often, we may not really understand the symbolism that is such an integral part of their songs. Many masterly academic papers remained in the realms of academia and did not percolate down to non-academic readers. However, not many reader friendly books have been written on Urdu poetry and prose. Saadat Hasan Manto and Ismat Chughtai have also been transliterated in Devnagari or translated into English and become very popular. Now of course it’s all available on the net on various blogs and websites. A generation of Urdu poetry lovers grew up on those. Many books of Urdu poetry were written in Roman and Devnagari with the meanings of the tough words given in footnotes, and some books even giving English translations. Although many (at least in India) are not conversant with the Urdu script, thanks to ghazals and Hindi film songs most understand and appreciate Urdu poetry written in Roman or Devnagari. Of late there has been a renewed interest in Urdu thanks to the internet. “My love, I cannot tell the tale of all the things I want from you.Ī hundred longings fill my soul, a thousand yearnings throng my heart.” - Mir Taqi Mir Yak jaan, sad tamanna – yak dil hazaar khvaahish” “Kya kahiye kya rakhein hain hum tujhse, yaar khvaahish
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