Ismat's stories narrated at Dubai's Urdu Daastangoi show

Celebrated Indian Urdu writer Ismat Chughtai's short stories, narrated by Indian storytellers, enthralled a packed audience at an event held here to celebrate the revival of the 16th century art form of Daastangoi.
Daastangoi (storytelling) is presented in the form of a theatre of language and oratory. The art form was revived in 2005 and has been performed in India, Pakistan, the US and other parts of the world.
At the helm is a Daastango (storyteller) who verbally recreates the Daastan (story).
Chughtai's two short stories, Mughal Baccha and Gharwaali , narrated by Delhi-based author and filmmaker Sunil Mehra and Lucknow-based lawyer and human rights activist Askari Naqvi took the centre-stage at the Urdu Daastangoi show held here this week as part of a process of revival of Urdu Daastangoi.

"Her vivid language and powerful narration of the era she lived in make these stories worthy of performances," Mehra told PTI.
He said Chughtai's stories perfectly fitted into the Daastangoi format.

Naqvi, who is also a noted exponent of Sozkhani, a lyric recounting the tragedy of Karbala, said people of all generations and age groups get immersed in their performances.
"We are all narrators as well as consumers of stories and all that it takes to make people engrossed is a story that can touch their hearts," he said.
The narrators' spellbinding storytelling art captivated an audience comprising of Indian and Pakistani Urdu lovers.

Born in Badayun in Uttar Pradesh, Chughtai is known for her indomitable spirit and fierce feminist ideology.
She was one of the Muslim writers who stayed in India after the subcontinent was partitioned and died in Mumbai at the age of 76.
Along with Rashid Jahan, Wajeda Tabassum and Qurratulain Hyder, Ismat's work stands for the birth of a revolutionary feminist politics and aesthetics in twentieth century Urdu literature.