Masooma: A tale of sexploitation

Masooma by Ismat Chughtai (Translator: Tahira Naqvi)

Women Unlimited. Pages: 143. Price: Rs. 250/-

Those were the days when women were not expected to even think, let alone speak or write, on social-political issues. A privileged few could, at the most, indulge in inane versification or perfunctory reading within the four walls of their homes. This was especially true of Indian Muslim women who remained veiled, walled and voiceless. But Ismat Chughtai broke that mould in a manner that shocked the conservatives and stirred up the slumbering, shackled feminine populace like never before. Of course, her Lihaaf scandalized the traditional litterateurs as much as the extant patriarchal hierarchy. In the process she created a new literary template that tore apart the layers of societal hypocrisy; raising issues that were, later on, fashionably labeled as feminist.

Masooma is a novel that delineates its protagonist Nilofar’s brutalization in a male dominated society. Born in an aristocratic family, her childhood was a protected one. But, one day, her father and brothers migrated to Pakistan leaving her and her siblings, along with her mother, behind with no income to sustain them, forcing them to leave for Bombay to seek acting career for Nilofar in the cinema. But good looks alone were not enough. They fell into the trap of pimps and seths; and the nubile and naïve Nilofar metamorphosed into a high class call girl – skittish, foulmouthed and amoral. The narrative is gripping, taking one on an emotional rollercoaster along with the protagonist who goes through soul-sapping vicissitudes. The translation is so good that you would think that you were reading the original. Of course, readers would miss some of the flavors of Urdu language, including the highly wrought greetings and graphic gaalis. Fortunately, the sensibility remains intact.