Two travellers on a train. One starts telling the other about an event that happened in 1919 in Amritsar, about the son of a prostitute who stood up to the British, sacrificing his life in the process. But that isn't the worst part of the story. As the listener, enraptured, hears the storyteller reveal the rest of Thaila Kunjar's story, he can't help but question whether the storyteller was just a simple 'onlooker'. One of the most impressive storytellers to come out of the Independence era, Manto truly portrays his prowess in 'A Tale of the Year 1919'. Poignant yet powerful, this is not just a story about martyrdom and bravery but also about prostitutes and their children and their status in the country.

"If you killed a bad man, what you would have killed was not his badness, but the man himself." As Mumtaz prepares to leave for Pakistan—a concept that in itself seems strange—Juggal can't shake away the feeling of guilt. His closest friend, his confidante was leaving because of what he said and the strange thing was, Juggal wasn't sure whether his guilt had to do with the fact that Mumtaz was leaving or the fact that he'd meant what he said: "I would kill you." Partition will forever be that one event that created and destroyed so much in its wake for India and Pakistan. Lands, homes, lives, and relationships suffered, turning neighbours into strangers, friends into foes. Even as Mumtaz bids a reluctant farewell to Bombay, he can't stop thinking of Sahae, the pimp with a heart of gold, a man who lived a life of contradictions until his very last breath. Manto's genius lies in telling stories whose characters forever remain a suspect to conventional morality. With...

A collection of classic, yet shockingly contemporary, short stories set in the vibrant world of mid-century Bombay, from one of India's greatest writers.Arriving in 1930s Bombay, Saadat Hasan Manto discovered a city like no other. A metropolis for all, and an exhilarating hub of license and liberty, bursting with both creative energy and helpless despondency. A journalist, screenwriter, and editor, Manto is best known as a master of the short story, and Bombay was his lifelong muse. Vividly bringing to life the city's seedy underbelly--the prostitutes, pimps, and gangsters that filled its streets--as well as the aspiring writers and actors who arrived looking for fame, here are all of Manto's Bombay-based stories, together in English for the very first time. By turns humorous and fantastical, Manto's tales are the provocative and unflinching lives of those forgotten by humanity.

A conversation, a litany, a prayer—one of these three will usually bail you out of a tricky situation. But there are times when all the three combined don't hold enough power to keep the inevitable at bay. Even as the woman offers all that she can, deep down she knows that what's done is done. Her cries will disappear into a void just like everything else. She doesn't know what else to do. What else can she do? Manto's genius lies in presenting the most complex characters and their circumstances in the simplest manner, and nowhere is this more evident than in By the Roadside. While the story was written more than half a decade ago, this powerful take on women in our country is still as relevant today.

The gentle dhobi who transforms into a killer, a prostitute who is more child than woman, the cocky, young coachman who falls in love at first sight, a father convinced that his son will die before his first birthday. Saadat Hasan Manto's stories are vivid, dangerous and troubling and they slice into the everyday world to reveal its sombre, dark heart. These stories were written from the mid 30s on, many under the shadow of Partition. No Indian writer since has quite managed to capture the underbelly of Indian life with as much sympathy and colour. In a new translation that for the first time captures the richness of Manto's prose and its combination of high emotion and taut narrative, this is a classic collection from the master of the Indian short story.