The undisputed master of the modern Indian short story.’—Salman Rushdie
Originally published in 1955 as Shikari Auratein, Women of Prey is a hugely entertaining and forgotten classic containing raunchy, hilarious short stories and profiles that show a completely different side of Manto.
As he’s enjoying a kulfi in his Victoria coach after a long day at Filmistan, a beautiful burqa-clad woman suddenly hops in next to Manto, ready to go home. What will he do next?
When Ashok stumbles across a film for the first time in his life, he is appalled. What will happen when his wife gets a hold of the contraband?
Will two bitter lovers—about to give it all up—resolve their differences, before they take each other’s lives?
Can Ashok Kumar, heartthrob to millions of women, handle Paro Devi’s affections?
In addition to these stories, this volume also includes ‘Sitara’, Manto’s scandalous profile of the legendary Kathak dancer, famous for her troop of lovers.
Appearing in English translation for the first time ever, this gem of a collection is a gloriously pulpy, sexual, hilarious and tragic romp through Manto’s Bombay, Lahore and Amritsar.
About the Author
Saadat Hasan Manto, a proud Kashmiri, was the most widely read and the most controversial short-story writer in Urdu. He was born on 11 May 1912 at Samrala in Punjab's Ludhiana district to a family of barristers. In a literary, journalistic, radio scripting and film-writing career spread over more than two decades, he produced twenty-two collections of short stories, one novel, five collections of radio plays, three collections of essays, two collections of personal sketches and many scripts for films. He was tried for obscenity half a dozen times, thrice before and thrice after Independence. Some of Manto's greatest work was produced in the last seven years of his life, a time of great financial and emotional hardship for him. He died several months short of his forty-third birthday, in January 1955, in Lahore.
Saba Mahmood Bashir is a poet, author and translator. She is the author of Memory Past (2006), I Swallowed the Moon: The Poetry of Gulzar (2013) and Gulzar’s Aandhi (2019).
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