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Despite controversy and criticism, Ismat Chugtai emerged as a strong feminist voice in 20th century Urdu literature.
Ismat Chughtai
Ismat Chugtai was born in Uttar Pradesh in 1915, and grew up mostly in Jodhpur, the ninth of ten children. Whilst still in her teens, Ismat was mentored and taught by her older brother, who was already an established writer. Ismat was the first Indian Muslim woman to earn both a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) and a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.).
Her first short story, Lihaaf, was about a frustrated housewife who finds sexual gratification and emotional support from a female house servant. The publication of the story inspired a storm of protest – Ismat was condemned, and finally, charged with obscenity. During the court case, which lasted nearly two years, Ismat refused to apologise, and finally won the case.
The rest of her writings, exploring topics such as female sexuality and middle-class gentility with a strong feminist ideology, made her one of the most controversial and successful writers of her time. She became an icon of women’s empowerment and education, and remained much respected until her death in 1991.
Why we find her inspiring:
– She contested the conservative, stifling and bigoted views of her time, writing about taboo topics in a time when women were not encouraged to have a voice at all, let alone on controversial topics.
– She spoke her mind freely and didn’t back down in the face of strong controversy and criticism.
– She brought women’s issues to the limelight and highlighted women’s struggles against the oppressive institutions that tried to control them.
– She explored and respected religions other than her own. Even her death was controversial because her last wishes were to be cremated, despite Islam’s dictates.
*Photo credit: Penguin Books.
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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