7 Manto Short Stories Which Will Shake you to the Bone

There has never been, nor will there ever be another Manto.

Manto wrote in times when people scoffed at artistic freedom and realism. A writer born in a moment of history when romanticism of revolution buried the countless lives lost, Manto showed society a mirror.

This collection talks of the seven Manto short stories you need to read right now, even if you've read them already (there is no rule saying you can’t read a good story twice, or thrice, or more :D).

7. Savere Jo Kal Aankh Meri Khuli

The morning after 14 August 1947

A man, wandering through the streets of a newly created Pakistan realizes the tense nature of a new country and the true consequences of partition.

6. 1919 Ki Ek Baat

Brutal, and true.

1919 Ki Ek Baat highlights the aftermath of the Jallianwalah Bagh, and its impact on a family living near the area. Uncompromising and brutal in its details, Manto stays true to his style and paints a honest picture of the times.

5. License

And memories fade fast.

A tragic story of a lost love and the general apathy in society, License is the tale of a woman who is forced to give up her livelihood for the most trivial reason.

4. Khuda Ki Kasam

Things not forgotten, and not remembered, forever stuck in nothingness.

Khuda Ki Kasam traces the horrors faced by women and children during the mass migration of Hindus and Muslims towards opposite sides during the period of partition in India 1947.

3. Boo

The stench of love

A man who mostly sleeps with white English women happens to have a sexual encounter with an Indian woman. The event is forever etched in his memory.

2. Toba Tek Singh

Count on the insane to bring sanity.

The sane sometimes perform great feats of insanity, and the insane then become paragons of sanity. Toba Tek Singh is a timeless classic set a few years after the parttition of Pakistan and India. Bishan, an Indian lunatic lodged in a mental asylum in Lahore has to be sent back to his home country, India.

1. Khol Do

A terrible, terrible story, only because it is real.

A gut-wrenching story which forces one to question the true barbarity of society, Khol Do is one Manto’s most controversial, and yet most acclaimed stories. It is centered around the story of an old man who is on the train from Amritsar to Lahore. When the train reaches Lahore, he finds his wife dead and his daughter missing.

So these were the top 7 short stories in Hindi written by Manto. Did we miss some? Tell us in the comments…

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