The Individual and Society

4

Kallu

Ismat Chughtai

Ismat Chughtai (1915–91) was a born rebel. She led an unconventional life, went in for higher education, took up a job, lived alone, married a man of her choice and was cremated, as she had desired, instead of being buried.

After Rasheed Jahan, she was the first Muslim woman to write novels and short stories in Urdu. Rasheed Jahan was Chughtai’s mentor. In 1932, Rasheed Jahan, along with Sajjad Zaheer, Ahmad Ali and Mahmuduzzafar published a collection of short stories, Angaray (Embers) that set off a storm of protest in the local press. The maulvis issued fatwahs and the book was banned by the United Provinces government. In the wake of the agitation against Angaray, Sajjad Zaheer took up residence in London in March ...