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Khol Do / کھول دو
Short story
Paperback
Published January 1, 1952
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
August 25, 2021
Unabashed writing, and a painfully striking read.
As Ambika Tandon correctly points in her article for ‘Feminism in India’, “The concluding scene…. is particularly evocative of the trauma of victims whose perpetrators were men within their own communities as often as those of others.”
If there’s someone capable of bringing us face to face with the gory realities of the partition, it is Manto.
As Ambika Tandon correctly points in her article for ‘Feminism in India’, “The concluding scene…. is particularly evocative of the trauma of victims whose perpetrators were men within their own communities as often as those of others.”
If there’s someone capable of bringing us face to face with the gory realities of the partition, it is Manto.
April 10, 2021
A banal yet chilling story. It leaves you feeling a bit unnerved.
May 21, 2020
The ending literally shook me. Manto Saheb knows how to pen down a perfect shocking end.
August 24, 2024
Todo lo que pasa en esta historia es peor de lo que parece al principio.
November 30, 2014
A very short & sad story. ایک ایسی لرکی کی کہانی جو دشمنون سے تو بچ گءی پر اپنون سے نا بچسکی
June 13, 2020
Dark and realistic, Manto is one of the those writer where after you read his book, you lose your words and all you have is a feeling.
and awe for his ability to portray society's bitter truth in subtle messages.
and awe for his ability to portray society's bitter truth in subtle messages.
January 19, 2018
This story shows that partition not only destroy relationship between different religions,but same religion person turns their back on them, that is what happens in manto story
September 24, 2018
Makes you want to sit back and reflect in silence.
July 31, 2020
One of the most famous and controversial stories of Manto. It is one of the masterpieces depicting the effects of violence during partition of India on the people of the land.
Manto does not see the perpetrators as Hindu or Muslim, Hindustanis or Pakistanis, he just sees and depicts them as human beings with all their wilderness and barbarity. Like most of Manto's stories, this one too knocks the veil off the uneasy truths of society.
This story gives me chill sweats after reading it.
Manto does not see the perpetrators as Hindu or Muslim, Hindustanis or Pakistanis, he just sees and depicts them as human beings with all their wilderness and barbarity. Like most of Manto's stories, this one too knocks the veil off the uneasy truths of society.
This story gives me chill sweats after reading it.
December 12, 2018
So subtle in words yet so intense
A story with a bone chilling end
It makes one wonder: Did our ancestors fight for independence to see such freedom?
A story with a bone chilling end
It makes one wonder: Did our ancestors fight for independence to see such freedom?
September 28, 2020
overexposure to the subversive shadow limited the bone rattling effects of this ultra short story to a faint subtle discomfort. but still extremely real and powerful.
June 30, 2023
Khol Do byکھول دو سعادت حسن منٹو, Saadat Hasan Manto- story- “Khol Do” is one of the most famous and controversial stories by writer Saadat Hasan Manto (1912-1955). It is one of the masterpieces depicting the effects of violence during the partition of India on the people of the land. But unlike many others, Manto does not see the perpetrators as Hindu or Muslim, Hindustanis or Pakistanis, he just sees and depicts them as human beings with all their wilderness and barbarity. Open It is a compressed narrative whose major theme is to highlight how the trauma of sexual violence affects the psyche of the victim. The story is about the agony of Sirajuddin, a father who has been separated from his daughter Sakina while he was coming to Pakistan as a refugee. In the refugee camp, a group of young men from his community assure him to bring his daughter back safely. They find his daughter and comfort her. However, when the father confronts them about his daughter’s whereabouts, they ask him to be patient and wait for some more time. He is a very caring and thoughtful husband and father. His love for his daughter is shown in the line “The two of them had begun to run. Sakina’s dupatta had slipped to the ground and he had stopped to pick it up and she had said, “Father, leave it”.” Here, it is shown that despite the chaos taking place, Sirajuddin still went out of his way to pick up the dupatta of his daughter. Furthermore, this line “All his time was spent running from camp to camp looking for her. At night, he would pray for the success of the young men who were looking for his daughter.” reveals that he refused to give up on his daughter even when many days went by without any news about her. He searched for her even by himself and he asked God to help the men in finding her as well. The ending of the story also reveals how the fatherly love of Sirajuddin for Sakina overpowered the prevailing fear of dishonour in their society during that time. Even when she seemed to be almost dying and when she pulled down her undergarment and opened her legs, the father did not take notice of these and instead, the happiness he felt knowing that his daughter was above anything else. Sirajuddin is the protagonist in this story as he gathers the empathy of the readers. His character is static in nature as there is no development or transformation in his personality all throughout the story. He remains as the loving father from the beginning until the end of the selection. B. Sakina Sakina is the daughter of Sirajuddin. Her mother died during their travel to Lahore when the rioters took over the train they were in. Sakina and her father were able to run but they eventually got separated from each other. Her father was able to go to the refugee camp in Lahore while Sakina was left in Amritsar. She is described by her father as “...fair, very pretty. No, she doesn’t look like me, but her mother. About seventeen. Big eyes, black hair, a mole on the left cheek.”. Sakina was found by the group of male rescuers on the roadside without her dupatta and she seemed to not feel at ease with the group as provided for in the line “It was obvious that she was ill-at-ease without her dupatta, trying nervously to cover her breasts with her arms.” Sakina was found left for dead in the railway tracks; she was brought to the hospital where she laid on a stretcher half-dead. Here, a figurative revelation of the character of Sakina took place as can be visualized in these striking lines from the story: “The doctor, who had switched on the light, stared at Sirajuddin. “I am her father,” he stammered. The doctor looked at the prostrate body and felt for the pulse. Then he said to the old man, “Open the window.” In 1947, an estimated 14 million abandoned their homes in India when the British began destroying the empire in Southern Asia. At this time, India was partitioned into two independent dominions, Pakistan and India. Houses were burned down and looted. Many were killed, including children, and many women were raped. There were trains carrying refugees between the two nations and many passengers were killed by rioters and mobs en route. These trains were even termed as “Blood trains” for they carried so many dead people. During this time, the soil of India was soaked in blood. The story evidently takes on this background and context as the events told by the narrator perfectly fit the struggles of India during that era. Similarities are striking when it comes to trains, rioters, killings, and rape. 3. THEMATIC ANALYSIS The theme of the story is heavily related to the writer’s milieu. Oftentimes, the experiences of the writer in his or her life may just bring out the themes in the story. The theme is the central idea of the story. A reading of the story reveals the themes of societal issues between India and Pakistan, during the era of their partition, most especially regarding the issues of women getting raped. The last few lines of the story read as: “...The doctor looked at the prostrate body and felt for the pulse. Then he said to the old man, “Open the window.” The young woman on the stretcher moved slightly. Her hands groped for the cord which kept her salwar tied around her waist. With painful slowness, she unfastened it, pulled the garment down and opened her thighs. “She is alive. My daughter is alive,” Sirajuddin shouted with joy. The doctor broke into a cold sweat.” Here, the doctor merely asked the father to open “it”, referring to the window of the room. Instead, Sakina did something that would reveal what she has been going through for the last days since she was rescued by the group of men. Sakina’s opening of her salwar or the cloth wrapped around her waist to protect her womanhood sends a chilling suggestion the readers. Hearing the doctor say “Open it”, she immediately proceeded to open her salwar; her reaction was that of human reflex which suggests that she probably was put through the agony of getting raped many times. The number of times Sakina was raped made her action of opening her salwar automatic. For an action to become automatic, this must be been done many times. The same happened to Sakina. During the partition in India, many women were raped by men who came from the opposite side. However, in this selection, the author did not address that issue as evidenced by the fact that the rapists came from the same place where Sakina was also from. These men raped their own women. Furthermore, the story also sheds light to the agony people experienced when they became separated from their family members. The theme of the story, therefore, revolves around the difficulty faced by people, such as Sirajuddin, whose family members have been killed or went missing. Moreover, the story also touches on the societal issue of women raped during the partition era in India. The point of view allows the readers to get to know the characters more especially if not much is told about them. It could be first, second, or third-person viewpoint. The selection takes on a third-person omniscient point of view. It can be seen that from the beginning until the end of the story, there is an all-knowing narrator who knows the different sides of the character and the different situations they find themselves in. The narrator is not limited to the point of view of only one or two characters. This viewpoint technique allows the writer to effectively give life to every character of the story. It allows the writer to help readers take note of certain information that the characters themselves, might not know about each other. In the story, the narrator mostly takes on the character of Sirajuddin, telling the story from his point of view. From time to time, the narrator takes over another point of view such as that of the group of male rescuers. The author, however, mostly focuses mainly on the thoughts and experiences of Sirajuddin as we can see from the lines, “Many days had gone by and Sirajuddin had still not had any news of his daughter. All his time was spent running from camp to camp looking for her. At night, he would pray for the success of the young men who were looking for his daughter. Their words would ring in his ears, “If your daughter is alive, we will find her.” With the choice of the author to use a third-person omniscient point of view, readers are able to see what the characters are doing when they are not interacting with each other. The lines of the story show that the viewpoint is that of a third-person omniscient. The style of the story refers to how the story is being told as well as the literary devices incorporated to make the story effective to the readers. Again, it is important to analyze the style in order to have a deeper understanding of the entire story. The selection uses a narrative style that incorporates literary techniques to highlight the issues of the story. In this story, the literary technique In Medias Res was partly used. This is a classic story based on the partition of India.
March 4, 2021
The ending had me shaken
September 29, 2021
It's amazingly painful how simple mundane words can have harrowingly contrasting effect on people. While some words can bring back people to life, for others they are but a painful reminder of the horrors they've had to face that end up becoming as common as eating 'dal-chawal'.
June 13, 2021
haunting.
December 16, 2020
Neither I have words nor the calibre to review the work of writter like Manto. He was a man so ahead of its time, who choose to show the naked reality of his times. This story is heart wrenching and sadly was the reality of so many women who were raped and killed during the Indo-Pak partition not just by the men of the opposite religion but by the men of their own communities.
Also why women have to take the burden of all the so called pride in countries like ours, take any communal violence from the past or present, it would be inevitably paired with violence against women in the name of hurting the pride of the other community.
Manto was a man of unmatched caliber and understood this in the times when many other failed to. The last few lines after the father finally find his daughter in the hospital are so heartaching. Just read this and embrace the silence.
Also why women have to take the burden of all the so called pride in countries like ours, take any communal violence from the past or present, it would be inevitably paired with violence against women in the name of hurting the pride of the other community.
Manto was a man of unmatched caliber and understood this in the times when many other failed to. The last few lines after the father finally find his daughter in the hospital are so heartaching. Just read this and embrace the silence.
May 6, 2019
I'm 99% sure that the original version in the vernacular language is much much better than the English translation. One of my teachers told me the story and it honestly moved me to tears. But the translation just did not have the same impact.
Read
April 15, 2015gfgf
November 25, 2017
A short, brutal and very brave story told by Manto.
December 5, 2017
awesome book....
February 15, 2018
Not many hefty tomes can achieve what this dark, gut-wrenching story does in a few pages.
August 24, 2018
horrifyingly tragic
August 28, 2018
A dark story I read back when I was a teenager reflecting on events right after the Indo-Pak split. Like most of Manto's stories, this one too knocks the veil off the uneasy truths of society.
September 15, 2019
Must read short story. It is unbelievable what women have to go through when men make war. 😰
April 7, 2020
taubah, nightmarish
May 20, 2020
I remember discussing with a friend—when I read it—if the story itself is horrific or I just felt so because my first tongue is Hindi.
January 16, 2024
A 3 page short story that, mind you, I did NOT read in Urdu. I read the English translation.
I would suggest doing a quick google search about this author because all his stories are a reflection of the surroundings he was living in. Knowing his background will help you lay a groundwork and context of all his stories that you might read.
Do not come after me for saying this, but pre-partition Pakistan was.... a SCARY PLACE. It still is on many levels but back then? Oh god.
Specially the torcher Muslim Women went through was horrendous.
I'll have you known that Manto was HEAVILY CRITICIZED (and banned from Pakistan) for his writings back then because they were too adult-rated and too .... nudity centred.
To check this I read two and three stories of his and man do i wanna unalive the ppl for shutting up his voices.
Did you know Manto wrote --graphic details---about the ra** of muslim prostitutes and women. And it was barely fictional. He wrote what he saw.
And THATS what people were calling 'too mature' and 'disgusting'.
Manto was a writer WAY AHEAD of his time. A man of liberated speech and thinking that terrorist organisations wanted to shut down. He wanted the world to know what was happening to women behind close doors.
ABOUT THIS STORY--->
Well, the story is set in a refugee camp in Pak area. Its about a daughter-dad who are moving away from their home town because of bombing and terror attacks. What follows the story is horrendous and gut-wrenching.
And after completing the story I terafully realised why its called 'Khol Do.'
Khol do is a Hindi word which literally translates to-- 'Open It.'
🟥TRIGGERS-
Sexual Assault.
Kidnapping.
Graphic Death.
On page loss of loved ones.
I would suggest doing a quick google search about this author because all his stories are a reflection of the surroundings he was living in. Knowing his background will help you lay a groundwork and context of all his stories that you might read.
Do not come after me for saying this, but pre-partition Pakistan was.... a SCARY PLACE. It still is on many levels but back then? Oh god.
Specially the torcher Muslim Women went through was horrendous.
I'll have you known that Manto was HEAVILY CRITICIZED (and banned from Pakistan) for his writings back then because they were too adult-rated and too .... nudity centred.
To check this I read two and three stories of his and man do i wanna unalive the ppl for shutting up his voices.
Did you know Manto wrote --graphic details---about the ra** of muslim prostitutes and women. And it was barely fictional. He wrote what he saw.
And THATS what people were calling 'too mature' and 'disgusting'.
Manto was a writer WAY AHEAD of his time. A man of liberated speech and thinking that terrorist organisations wanted to shut down. He wanted the world to know what was happening to women behind close doors.
ABOUT THIS STORY--->
Well, the story is set in a refugee camp in Pak area. Its about a daughter-dad who are moving away from their home town because of bombing and terror attacks. What follows the story is horrendous and gut-wrenching.
And after completing the story I terafully realised why its called 'Khol Do.'
Khol do is a Hindi word which literally translates to-- 'Open It.'
🟥TRIGGERS-
Sexual Assault.
Kidnapping.
Graphic Death.
On page loss of loved ones.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 14, 2023
Manto has meticulously narrated a snippet of partition situation in 3 pages and how? You would feel Sirajuddin’s plea of help and insurmountable feeling of helplessness when he is desperately trying to look for his lost seventeen year old daughter, Sakina while he is wife is lying dead in-front of him. Partition narratives can be excruciatingly painful and traumatic to read, let alone experience. And undoubtedly Manto has done a fabulous job at portraying the horrors of partition, especially for young girls and women who are seen as bodies to be pried upon.
I wouldn’t reveal much of course but it is a must read short story if you would like to know a glimpse about partition and its aftermath.
I wouldn’t reveal much of course but it is a must read short story if you would like to know a glimpse about partition and its aftermath.
March 13, 2024
Amongst all of Manto’s narratives on Partition, this story stands out for its heart-rending description and disquieting ending, its elliptical conciseness and its lasting elicitation. The story opens with the elderly Sirajuddin returning to consciousness in a refugee camp in Lahore and slowly realising that his daughter, Sakina, is no longer with him ….. This grisly tale has been described as paralleling fictionally the nadirs of human decadence that are usually witnessed during war.
Most recommended.
Most recommended.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews