Beghar Ko Awara Yahaan Kehte Has Has... A story of Saadat Hasan Manto
The song ‘ye hai Bombay meri jaan’ was composed for the movie C.I.D (1956). It depicted how Bombay was. Mumbai still continues to be so. However, for Saadat Hasan Manto the lyrics resonate with his last days in Bombay. It is said that Bombay was the first love of Manto. During his dying days in Lahore in 1955, Manto’s only regret was his decision to left Bombay after Partition. Manto’s last drunken days in Lahore were haunted by the questions: Would Bombay remain the same it was before Partition? Would it have changed? Had it already changed?
The song ‘ye hai Bombay meri jaan’ was composed for the movie C.I.D (1956). It depicted how Bombay was. Mumbai still continues to be so. However, for Saadat Hasan Manto the lyrics resonate with his last days in Bombay. It is said that Bombay was the first love of Manto. During his dying days in Lahore in 1955, Manto’s only regret was his decision to left Bombay after Partition. Manto’s last drunken days in Lahore were haunted by the questions: Would Bombay remain the same it was before Partition? Would it have changed? Had it already changed?
And there is no counter-rational for such self-questions that haunted Manto. Like all the Muslims, Saadat Hasan Manto got a new identity in partitioned India- an identity of Pakistani Muslim, an identity of the outlander. Manto would have not left Bombay if the harsh and bitter words were not delivered by his beloved friend Shyam Chadha- the tall and handsome icon of Hindi Cinema.
After Partition, Shyam and Manto visited a newly-arrived Sikh refugee family, who had arrived from Rawalpindi. On hearing the tragic story of the Sikh refugee family, Shyam’s heart was touched. Shyam was deeply moved. When both left, Manto said, “I am a Muslim. Don’t you want to kill me?” To this, Shyam replied, “Not now, but when I was listening to them, and they were talking about the atrocities committed by the Muslims, I could have killed you.”
Like the chapter in Manto’s book "Stars From Another Sky" that records the close relation between Shyam and Manto, the short-story "A Tale of 1947," which is one of the short-stories on Partition that Saadat Hasan Manto wrote, is closely identified with the above event. In "A Tale Of 1947", fictional character Mumtaz is departing for Karachi. Upon departure for the newly formed Pakistan, Mumtaz narrates the story of a FAITHFUL pimp named Sehai to his three Hindu friends- the narrator in short story, Brij Mohan and Jugal: as Jugal has delivered harsh words to Mumtaz on hearing the killings of his own relatives by Muslims.
At the end, Jugal, closely identified with Shyam says, “I wish I was Sehai.”
I wish instead of “Kahin Building, Kahin Traame, Kahin Motor, Kahin Mill
Milta Hai Yahan Sab Kuchh, Ek Milta Nahin Dil (2)
Insaan Ka Nahin Kahin Naam-o-Nishaan…,” Saadat Hasan Manto would have seen the Bombay through the same humanity-detachment lens- through which he recorded the Partition in his short-stories.
Milta Hai Yahan Sab Kuchh, Ek Milta Nahin Dil (2)
Insaan Ka Nahin Kahin Naam-o-Nishaan…,” Saadat Hasan Manto would have seen the Bombay through the same humanity-detachment lens- through which he recorded the Partition in his short-stories.
“Ae Dil Hai Aasaan Jeena Yahan, Suno Mister, Suno Bandhu...Yeh Hai Bombay Meri Jaan.”
