Lihaaf is located in the world of a feudal household and revolves around the issues of sexuality, gratification and explores the contours of the master servant relationship Dedicated helpline for COVID - iCALL, TISS. She has been given no space to explore her identity or sexuality. The little girl could not bear the sight of Rabbu massaging or ‘rubbing at all hours’, this also made other maids mutter in disapproval. Click or tap on any chapter to read its Summary & Analysis. The descriptive words used for Begum Jaan are: “Her complexion was marble white without a speck of ruddiness.” A stark contrast can be seen in the description of her masseuse, Rabbu: “She was as dark as Begum Jaan was fair, as purple as the other one was white.” We know that in our country, beauty standards decide the desirability of a woman. Though unique to each one of us, our wellbeing is affected by some overarching aspects such as our physical and mental health, our self-image, and our relationships. The distance in addressing it but not saying it out loud is visible. Checkout English Summary's free educational tools and dictionaries. Lihaf is an Urdu short story that made Ismat Chughtai popular for its controversies. The story was charged with obscenity and she was summoned to Lahore to defend it. Ageing and Sexuality,  I Issue – March 1, 2021 Lihaaf : A complex web of human emotions Lihaaf is set in pre-partition India and told from the perspective of an unnamed narrator who is the niece of the protagonist, Begum Jaan. (That is he was not interested in women but in young men). While the entire country led by Mahatma Gandhi was participating in the Quit India Movement in 1942, Chughtai’s short story Lihaaf, published in the Urdu literary journal Adab-i-Latif, narrated in the voice of a young girl, got a controversial reception as it portrayed the same-sex relationship of a newlywed Begum with her female servant. With Tannishtha Chatterjee, Sonal Sehgal, Virendra Saxena, Rahat Kazmi. Today, when we talk about female bodies or anything related to our sexuality, we often find solace in the English language. Begum has no choice but to get married off and "installed" in Nawab's house. After marriage Begum was ‘tucked away in the house with his possessions and promptly forgot her’. chughtai lihaaf in urdu addition to gain access to this day, this can be your referred book. This caused the controversies. A period drama, the film is based on Ismat Chugtai's most celebrated story "Lihaaf" (published 1942). Lihaf is an Urdu short story that made Ismat Chughtai popular for its controversies. Themes– Same-sex desire, homoeroticism, suppression of the woman’s sexual desires in marriage, pedophilia Perhaps her most widely read and critiqued story, Lihaafcreated a massive controversy upon its publication. The Quilt and Other Stories. However, not all of us seek companionship within a heterosexual and monogamous framework. Soon Rabbu returned. Because it was branded as a feminist work (feminism – not attacking men but the social structures. We often don’t know the name of body parts in languages other English. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain Summary, Raag Darbari Part 1 Summary by Shrilal Shukla, Jane Eyre Short Summary by Charlotte Bronte, Summary of Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy, Where Shall We Go This Summer Summary by Anita Desai, Symbolism in Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, Americanah Summary by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Or would we say, since we want to call her agential that she’s a hero and villain of her own … The story refers to a time when women’s bodies were traded in the name of marriage and treated as possessions. Lihaaf ("The Quilt") is a Urdu short story written by Ismat Chughtai. "Lihaaf" ("The Quilt") is a 1942 Urdu short story written by Ismat Chughtai. Few of her works have been the subject of as much discussion as the aforementioned short-story Lihaaf. When other girls were engaged in ‘girly’ games, the narrator was engaged in fighting with her brothers and her brother’s friends (with the opposite sex). Being a student of Gender and Intersectional studies, I was proud that Ismat Chughtai’s writing had the power to break barriers of patriarchy and bring to light the untouched subject of female desire and sexuality. The little girl’s final statement is “Good God! That night the little girl was made to sleep in the arms of Begum, who started rubbing the body of the little girl which made her feel jittery (nervous). This is another theme that is seminal not just to this story, but to most of Chughtai's works. Also, giving voice in the story to a young girl, who did not know much about what was going on around her and with the homosexual Nawab and Begum, is quite representational of an India, a place where homosexuality was till now ‘veiled’. January 2021 When Rabbu went to meet her son, Begum ‘was out of her element’ that she refused to eat and sleep. In the forefront she works within patriarchal norms and adheres to the standards of a dutiful  wife, while within the quilt, she acknowledges her sexual desires and does everything in her power to fulfil them and seeks solace in a non-conforming sexual relationship. The language and the words used are related to sexual re-presentation of a woman’s body. Yeah, even many books are offered, this book can steal the reader heart thus much. Publication: published in Adab-i-Latif. Lihaaf is not only one of Ismat Chughtai’s most celebrated works but was also one of the most controversial, for which she was summoned to court on charges of obscenity. Read on: VIDEO PAGE: THE IMPORTANCE OF VULNERABILITY, TARSHI Corner: Hindi Wellbeing and Sexuality, #mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; } Their marriage stands more as an economic contract between their families. “Lihaaf is a text that challenges some of the key tenets of a certain kind of feminism. Ismat Chughtai, ‘Lihaaf’ and Lifting the Veil Off Same-Sex Desire. It … Because it was branded as a feminist work (feminism – not attacking men but the social structures. इस लेख को हिंदी में पढ़ने के लिए यहाँ क्लिक करें।. As older adults we may be made to feel that our desires are superfluous and undignified, and our sexual performance is diminishing or compromised, as is our desirability. ‘Begum’s quilt was swaying like an elephant’, ‘sound of someone smacking her lips as though savoring a tasty pickle’ and ‘the quilt began to assume grotesque shapes’ that the little girls switch on the light in fear. Are we to see her “de-formation” as itself a response to her patriarchal domination by the Nawab and by her immediate hyper-conservative milieu? The film is based on an eminent Urdu novelist Ismat Chughtai’s most celebrated yet most controversial story “Lihaaf”. But this short story is narrated by a little girl from her point of view and there is no obscene language used in the story. Sexual wellbeing includes not only sexual and reproductive health but also expressing and experiencing sexuality safely, positively, and pleasurably. How often theme appears: chapter length: Chapter. Quoted from:- Lihaf (The Quilt) – Ismat ChughtaiTranslated from Urdu by M.Asaduddin. 'Lihaaf': A Story of the Story. [2]Chugtai, Ismat. */. Though heavily scrutinised, her writings ‘lifted the veil’ over the controversial and made the invisible the subject of discussion. I was struck by the theme of the story and decided to follow the development of the film as a mentor. When I first came across ‘Lihaaf’, I was 18 years old. The constant reference to “the elephant” under the “quilt” which doesn’t let the narrator sleep, also serves as a metaphor for the sexual desires and relationships that are either not spoken of or only talked about in terms of metaphors and not addressed directly. Singlehood and Sexuality, I Issue – Feb 1, 2021 The content and theme of this book in fact will touch your heart. In the March 2021 issue of In Plainspeak, we examine the place sexuality occupies in our life as we grow older, how it relates to our self-expression, relationships, and sexual and reproductive health and rights, and how notions of sexual wellbeing in older adulthood may be expanded. Ismat Chughtai’s Lihaaf, indisputably, remains one of her most (in)famous works and the controversy it sparked hung like a perceptible shadow over everything Chughtai wrote after that. Many called it “very bad”. While in “Lihaaf” there is a reference of Begum Jaan being the host of several relatives for fulfilling their winter needs, “who would come for visits and stay on for months while she remained a prisoner in the house.” (Chughtai ) Even the child narrator is left at Begam Jaan’s house who is treated as a mouh boli behen by narrator’s mother. If there is anything we’ve learnt from the feminist interpretation of history, it is to constantly question popular narrative and understand it from another subject’s perspective and to overcome the ambiguity surrounding their … It was too much for conservative India to … Not much has changed since then. Lihaaf Song Download- Listen Lihaaf MP3 song online free. [1]Chughtai, Iṣmat, and M. Asaduddin. At a time when we are witnessing violence (sexual and otherwise) and uncertainty in our world, we probe wellbeing again – how might we care for ourselves, especially while caring for one another, and cultivate practices and spaces which may contribute to a sense of wellbeing? Book: Lihaaf (The Quilt) Author: Ismat Chughtai Language: Urdu Gay Interest: Lesbian Characters "Lihaaf" is a short story written by Ismat Chughtai and first published in 1942 in the Urdu literary journal Adabi Latif. ‘Lihaaf’[2], the controversial short story by Ismat Chugtai was published in the year 1941, way before Independence, in an Urdu Literary Journal titled Adaab-i-Latif. One of her most enduring works remains the short story, Lihaaf (The Quilt) that appeared in Adab-i-Latif, a literary magazine based in Lahore. Lihaaf: The Quilt (2019) ita streaming completo dublado alta qualita, [guarda-film] Lihaaf: The Quilt 2019 film completo streaming sub ita gratis. In our anthology issue in January 2021 we republish In Plainspeakarticles from previous years about what wellbeing means to our contributors. I gasped and plunged into my bed”, as she saw something that she should not have seen. But Chughtai places a lihaaf or a quilt of vagueness and euphemism over her writing as she explores the homoerotic theme in her story. The The Quilt Community Note includes chapter-by-chapter summary and analysis, character list, theme list, historical context, author biography and quizzes written by community members like you. He could be seen with the young, slender-waisted men in the story, while the patriarch in him didn’t let Begum Jaan go out of the house or visit her relatives. At night she found ‘Begum’s quilt shaking vigorously as though an elephant was struggling inside’, ‘slurping sound of a cat licking a plate’ which had the sexual connotation showing the homosexual relationship between them. Her research interests include Gender studies, intersectional studies and media studies. The “flaw” of this story was perhaps not that its theme was sexual but more that the objectivity and vision which gives width to a theme by extracting it from its limited meaning is missing here. That night the peculiar noise started. Some of these works include EM Foster’s Maurice (1971), Manju Kapur’s A Married Woman (2002) , Dr.R Raja Rao’s The Boyfriend(2003) etc. At the time when Lihaaf was written, sexual relationships between people of the same gender were not discussed openly. A potent idea that is propagated in this story is the idea of subjugation of female sexuality and desire. Their existence was accepted but it was something that was ‘veiled’ and so the narratorial voice in the story uses metaphors so as to not address it openly. Even today, if one openly acknowledges their sexuality and doesn’t conform to the set standards to beauty, they are termed “shameless”. ‘Lihaaf’, the controversial short story by Ismat Chugtai was published in the year 1941, way before Independence, in an Urdu Literary Journal titled Adaab-i-Latif. Talking about his involvement in the film Marc Baschet says, “I first heard the story of Lihaaf (The Quilt) when I met Namita in the film bazaar in Goa in November last year. Play Lihaaf album song MP3 by Anuj Chitlangia and download Lihaaf song on Gaana.com. It has taken us too many years to even acknowledge the existence of homosexuality. Begum Jaan in the story can be seen as a sexually-deprived woman who gets no attention from her husband, Nawab Sahab. Image source: World People’s Blog. Once when her mother went to Agra, she was left with her mother’s adopted sister- Begum Jaan’s house. The frail, beautiful Begum wasted away in anguished loneliness.”. Chughtai was inspired to write the story upon hearing of the rumored affair of a begum and her masseuse in Aligarh, the story chronicles the sexual awakening of Begum Jan following her unhappy marriage with a nawab. The film inter weaves the plot of same sex relationship between Begum and her masseuse and the trial that Ismat underwent after being slapped with a case of obscenity on publishing the story. “I am still labeled as the writer of Lihaaf As poetic as it may sound, it created a massive uproar at the time as languages in India are also associated with religion. Although veiled, the references were not missed by the readers. March 2021 Isn’t it high time we talked about the problems of the terminology used to define beauty and the association of it with sexuality if Chughtai tried doing this in 1941? Lihaaf is a landmark portrayal of an insulated life of a neglected wife as seen from a little girl's eyes. She did try to draw his attention but ‘Nawab didn’t budge an inch’. The story is a ‘terrifying’ memory of an unnamed narrator that happened during her childhood. “I am still labelled as the writer of Lihaaf. Grishma Trivedi has a masters in English literature and works at Ahmedabad University. The little girl really fell in love with her ‘fascinated by her looks’. Chughtai fought a legal battle, defending her writing from charges of obscenity and eventually won. Begum Jaan uses her sexuality as a means to empower herself. /* Add your own MailChimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block. SHORT STORY Lihaaf [The Quilt] O Ismat Chughtai Translated from Urdu by M. Asaduddin In the last issue of manushi, while reviewing Deepa Mehta’s Fire, we. Begum was gaining the glow that she lost. The little girl was made to sleep in another bed adjacent to Begum’s. We are told finding ‘The One’ is integral to our well-being; our ‘soulmate’ will intuitively understand as well as fulfill all our emotional, sexual, and material needs and desires. When we are older, our relationships, especially those which are romantic, are often portrayed as devoid of sexual passion and instead, as hingeing on companionship and caregiving, which is fine if that indeed be the case. UNDER THE LIHAAF- The ‘threat’ of queer desire . Setting: 1941 India. Wellbeing and Sexuality – Anthology Issue 2021 In the November of 1946, summoned for the second hearing by the courts of the colonial Indian State on the charges of obscenity for her Urdu short-story Lihaf (‘The Quilt’), the writer Ismat Chughtai reaches Lahore.It had been about four years since Lihaf had been published in the Urdu journal Adab-e-Lateef. INTRODUCTION . The little girl could not stay there any longer. Ismat Chughtai’s short story ‘Lihaaf’ became disputable as soon as it was published due to its homosexual theme. Academia.edu is a platform for academics to share research papers. Directed by Rahat Kazmi. Ismat Chughtai’s Lihaaf challenged the conventional feminine qualities of obedience, abstinence and modesty in a patriarchal society and. We recommend moving this block and the preceding CSS link to the HEAD of your HTML file. It was about repressed sexual desires and the exploitation of another’s body to fulfil oneself. In the February issue of In Plainspeak, we attempt to delve into these aspects of singlehood and how they relate to our socio-economic location, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, and disability status. The story brought me so much notoriety that I got sick of life. Wellbeing may consist in living in alignment with who we truly are and feeling fulfilled, freely expressing our sexuality, or even being able to run 10 kilometres at a go. However, sexuality may be as intrinsic to our relationship with ourselves and the world as we grow older, and with the confidence that comes with life experience and self-awareness, may be even more authentically expressed and enjoyed. Rabbu was replaced by the little girl who offered to ‘rub’ her back. Faced with a pandemic in 2020, we were reminded to reimagine wellbeing as more than the absence of disease and rather as a mosaic, its many differently coloured tiles together constituting an intricate and interconnected whole. Is it time to come out of ‘the quilt’? ‘It was Rabbu who rescued her from the fall’ – by her oil massage. You can locate more and more experience and knowledge how the sparkle is undergone. Being a student of Gender and Intersectional studies, I was proud that Ismat Chughtai’s writing had the … Our engagement with dating is expected to culminate in cisgender-heterosexual marriage, but what if we aren’t looking to live ‘happily ever after’ with another person? A cross-cutting theme across all forthcoming issues in 2020 is how we can expand safe, inclusive sexuality-affirming spaces. Her relationship with Rabbu and Nawab Saab’s relationship with the young men;the bodies and their desires bridge the gap left by the heteronormative marriage. Request … It was about repressed sexual desires and the exploitation of another’s body to fulfil oneself. Read this article to know about Lihaaf The Quilt summary by Ismat Chughtai. Socio-cultural negativity around sexuality and ageing make the physical, psychological, and psychosexual changes that come as we grow older, unnecessarily difficult to deal with. "My students can't get enough of your charts and … Lihaaf not only re-presented the unspoken but also brought to light the taboo subject of female sexuality and the presence of female desires in a heteronormative marriage. Published in 1942, at the Urdu literary journal Adab-i-Latif, it led to much controversy, uproar and an obscenity trial in the Lahore Court. We live in a culture organised around relationships. When I first came across ‘Lihaaf’, I was 18 years old. Send an email to blogeditor@tarshi.net with your idea. Begum Jaan was married to a Nawab of ‘ripe years’ (very old man), because of his virtuous nature – that is he didn’t visit prostitutes. Instead of apologizing, Chughtai chose to contest this charge and although the case dragged on for two years in Lahore, in the end she won the trial. February 2014; Social Change 44(1):67-80; DOI: 10.1177/0049085713514824. It became the proverbial stick to beat me with and whatever I wrote afterwards got crushed under its weight.”  So said Ismat Chughtai in her book ‘A Life in Words: Memoirs’[1]about  how the short story changed her life, and not for good. Ismat Chughtai (21 August 1915 – 24 October 1991) was an Indian Urdu novelist, short story writer, and filmmaker. Golda, who also heard the narration from Namita in Goa was happy to be a consultant to this team. Authors: Anamika Priyadarshini. All these describe the homosexual relationship in Begum that she had developed as her sexual desires were not gratified by her husband. To Begum massage became ‘the basic necessities of life’. The ThemeTracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of Desire, Repression, and Regret appears in each chapter of Brokeback Mountain. She felt that the ‘punishment was much more severe than she deserved’. Begum expressed her pleasure with ‘sensuous breaths’, allowing her to touch all the parts of her body. Singlehood carries stigma – of being lonely, materialistic, selfish, sexually restricted or ‘unlucky in love’. The unknowingness of the whole truth can also be seen in the narratorial voice. 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