Essay: Manto, Partition, and the Present by Gurman Kaur

In this essay, Gurman Kaur explores Manto’s writings and how her engagement with literature and history helps her understand the socio-political reality better.

In my first months being Delhi I started reading Manto. I bought a collection of his short stories from a heritage book store in Khan Market, where I spotted a blogger I admired.  When I was stuck within the four walls of my room at home, seeing my college days as they dwindled by, he made me romanticize Delhi. I didn’t approach him to give a compliment on his blog as I was too shy to make a stranger feel special. But his presence made me ask the bookkeeper for Manto’s short story collection. 

While I was scanning through the titles of books at the shop, my friend went on her first date with a man she met on a dating app. In my first minuscule solo travel, I saw the heights of my ignorance and the weakness of my curiosity for having read only a few titles. There was so much I was yet to read. So much that I didn’t know and would never know.