16th October 2021 Guldasta E Urdu presented
” Anandi” a Short Story by Ghulam Abbas.
Gyaan Adab under its initiative Guldasta-e-urdu presented Anandi – a short story by writer Ghulam Abbas. The author is a Pakistani short story writer who shot to fame for his story Anandai which was later made into a Hindi film titled ‘Mandi’. The film was directed by noted director Shyam Benegal.
The programmed began with an introduction to the author, his work and his life by Naseema Merchant. Ghulam Abbas is popularly know his works Jazeera-e-Sukhanwaran, Intikhab Ghulam Abbas which was compiled Assif Farukhi and Gondni wala Takiya.
The programme was structured in sucha way that different members of our Gyaan Adab community presented their review of the Anandi by Ghulam Abbas. We first had Sanjay Saxena who has actively hosted and participated in Gyaan Adab’s Hindi Diwas events. An interesting insight he provided to the discussion was how red light districts always cropped up in the center of a city which often is the busiest part. This is particularly interesting as Anandi is the story of a colony of sex workers who were made to relocate.
Next, we had Zehnaz and Neerja Apte present their reviews of the story. Neerja evocatively conveyed how often the stigma and blame associated with sex work is directed to the woman (or the sex worker). Very rarely are their clientele questioned for their choices and the establishments that they are patrons to, or frequently visit.
Finally, in our open discussion segment we had Mohini and Satish Khot emphasized how the role and importance of women is often diminished in societies that are male dominated. This segment also led to other thought provoking discussions before bringing the event to a close.
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