In Her Own Words: Letters & Interviews

Ismat first rebelled at age five when she threatened to “run away from home and become a Christian” if her mother didn’t let her go to school. She survived childhood “by writing about my failures and feelings of hopelessness”. She “fell in love many times” just “not with my husband”. She “sought refuge in film heaven” to make money. And she was sure that “those who are incapable of writing themselves become critics”. This carefully curated no-holds-barred collection includes letters written by Ismat to her family separated by Partition; notes to her daughters and her “darling grandson”; correspondence with editors of Urdu journals in India and Pakistan; and even a never-posted reprimand to film actress Saira Bano. At the same time the eight in-person conversations are marked by sparkling spontaneity revealing Chughtai’s personal literary and political preoccupations. There is no relationship no ideology—be it feminism socialism or nationalism—that Ismat Chughtai didn’t embrace with her quintessential irreverence and wit. Here in this one-of-its-kind volume Chughtai is truly outspoken unapologetic telling it like it is in her own words…