Saadat Hasan Manto was born on 11 May, 1912 in Ludhiana. Bangalore International Centre and Bangalore Literature Festival marked the author and playwright’s birth month through a BIC Streams session with the Mary Richardson Professor of History at Tufts University, Ayesha Jalal and writer, columnist and translator of Manto’s non-fiction work, Aakar Patel.

Drawing parallels to the times of partition characterised by turmoil and tragedy in which Manto - who has been described as a distressingly prophetic and daring writer - lived and wrote, this episode of BIC Talks speaks to the nuances of making sense of a maddening situation. Ayesha and Aakar in this free flowing exchange talk about politics, governance, literature, the will of the people and their sense of self being distilled in stories that have been told over ages.