Scan barcode
pankajmehra's reviews
468 reviews
Manto; Mera Dushman by Upendranath Ashk
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
In the preface build-up to his essay, Ashk takes great pains to explain that he had a love-hate relation with Manto like most contemporary writers and people who associated with Manto.
However, reading this detailed account I have concluded that in writing about Manto, Ashk has revealed more about his own shortcomings - low self-esteem resulting from family upbringing and no love for his father, petty minded rivalry and perceiving insults even where none might have cropped up, the nagging need to "get even" and "show Manto down" etc. Readers might explain all this away as Ashk portraying events as they occurred and showed what kind of person Manto was. I agree that everyone is a composite of all their personality traits, so kinks must emerge in even an ironclad portrayal.
Instead of a 1 or 2* rating, I have rated this as 4-Star only because of Krishan Chander's most eloquent and moving short eulogy included by Ashk together with a a few select, popular stories by Manto.
However, reading this detailed account I have concluded that in writing about Manto, Ashk has revealed more about his own shortcomings - low self-esteem resulting from family upbringing and no love for his father, petty minded rivalry and perceiving insults even where none might have cropped up, the nagging need to "get even" and "show Manto down" etc. Readers might explain all this away as Ashk portraying events as they occurred and showed what kind of person Manto was. I agree that everyone is a composite of all their personality traits, so kinks must emerge in even an ironclad portrayal.
Instead of a 1 or 2* rating, I have rated this as 4-Star only because of Krishan Chander's most eloquent and moving short eulogy included by Ashk together with a a few select, popular stories by Manto.