One would be hard-pressed to find a reader who, after reading Saadat Hasan Manto’s short story, Toba Tek Singh, could shake off the feeling of unease and helplessness tightly pressed between his prose. Unsurprisingly, like almost every writer who hopes that his work remains relevant forever, Manto often said that Saadat Hasan would, naturally, die, but Manto must live on through his short stories.

Manto with his wife, Safia, Zakia (Safia’s sister), and daughter Nighat in Bombay in 1947. PICS COURTESY/ THE PITY OF PARTITION, published by Harper collins