Mottled Dawn By Saadat Hasan Manto

Mottled Dawn By Saadat Hasan Manto

      … In between, on a bit of earth, which had no name, lay Toba Tek Singh.

Though Manto has been compared with Gogol, I’ve found his work to be quite unique even more powerful than the works of Gogol that I've read. Mottled Dawn is a collection of fifty sketches and stories of partition of India. Rather than dwelling on the political nuances, Manto’s ironic, brazen and sometimes outright vile tales speak of the horror of human actions caused by conformity, hopelessness , guilt and revenge. His vivid descriptions of atrocities that took place during India-Pakistan secession and its impact on every man is sure to evoke strong emotions to this work- hatred, love or plain disgust.

In this sense, Manto is a romantic. Often, in his works one finds an appeal to logic- to rationality. But sprinting through the burning train coaches haunted by religion and politics, holding the sword of nationalism for nations that do not exist, becoming sub-human and engaging in unimaginable depravity- these are the shoes that the reader is forced to walk in. Through the words that he uses and the events that he depicts as 'obvious', Manto is able to create a Kafkaesque world that is sans secrets. Everything is revealed. The villain is no longer a hidden para-normal concept- it is you.

The essence of the book can be understood through these lines: “Look this is hardly fair. You sold me impure petrol at black-market price and not even one shop could be put to the torch”. Manto’s mottled dawn is not a compilation of what transpired in particular nations. It is the story of human beings faced with randomness, freedom and personal conscience after years of oppression. Are they evolved enough to use these judiciously?

This work is recommended for all those who want to understand human psyche in context of war and revolutions. Reader should expect the stories to be vile, surreal and sometimes even meaningless.