Hindi idioms

Some of Manto's short stories are set in Mumbai around 1947- and are among the best I have read. His partition stories are haunting. Thing is, as far as I know, his sketches/short stories are all over the place in Urdu/Hindi. It is only in English translations- and Hindi novels- that I have found a decent sized collection in one place.

Manto- in Urdu (where I am sadly losing touch with the written word) or Hindi is near unbeatable. If you feel like it, read through his short stories; the Mumbai location will emerge therein from time to time.

Another great writer connected with the movie industry in Bombay before he migrated.

Can download 'Manto Ke Mashoor Afsaney' here (and maybe some others?)
http://freee-library.blogspot.in/200...o-punjabi.html


Wiki lists some other online resources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saadat_...on_.28Books.29

Also of interest, from an idle google

http://caravanbpl.sulekha.com/blog/p...s-of-manto.htm
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/years-lat...06-40-103.html

also,

Thanks, I've been meaning to read his stories for quite a while (Only read Toba Tek Singh so far).
I'll try to read his stories which are based in Mumbai.

@capt_mahajan what a coincidence! My teacher recommended me Manto yesterday. His stories are indeed amazing and I highly recommend them to anyone interested a little bit in Indian and Pakistani history.

Since I am reading a lot of books about communalism and the partition in 1947, here are some other interesting books related to the topic:
Ice Candy Man - by Bapsi Sidhwa
Train to Pakistan - by Khushwant Singh

Captain, the site you gave with the collection of Manto stories doesn't seem to function unfortunately.
On the other hand I found this link which provides quite a bit of stories:
http://pakistanica.com/writers/manto/

On partition, a good book,(in English) The other side of silence, Urvashi Butalia
http://www.amazon.com/The-Other-Side.../dp/0822324946

Remember dororai, this is a thread about Hindi and books in Hindi. So books by IWEs (Indian Writers in English) like Khushwant Singh and PWEs (Pakistani Writers in English) like Bapsi Sidhwa are strictly OT (off-topic). You can post those on the Who's reading what ... thread.

And BTW (by the way), the ultimate novel about the migrant experience in Bombay is of course Rohinton Mistry's A Fine Balance but that again is in English.

@shreder
I just checked on www.flipkart.com: Saadat Hasan Manto ki Kahaniyan is available in Hindi (i.e. Devanagari transcription).

Can anyone please tel me what's the meaning of this idiom:

पेट में चूहे दौड़ने लगना

pet mein coohe daudne lagna

It means some one is desperately hungry. (The mice is running in my stomach literal translation)

Thanks. Using this thread is even quicker than opening the dictionary!

aarosh, you beat me to it! for once i knew the meaning of an idiom here!

What are you reading now? This couldn't possibly be Sahajanand.

Prem Chand ?

yeah, it's Premchand's Seva Sadan.

I have a phrase from the story "jhooti kahaani" by Manto, that needs clarification.

مگر بچ نکلتے ہیں کہ ان کے نام دس نمبر کے بستہ الف میں درج ہیں نہ بستہ ب میں

magar bach nikalte hain ki unke naam das nambar ke basta alif mein darj hai na, basta be mein.

what is the meaning of "das nambar ke basta alif" and "basta be" in this sentence?

Basta is Bag or a bunch of record. Alef (Alif) is the first and Be is 2nd letter in Urdu Alphabet, The word alphabet comes from These First Two Letters (Aleph + Be) Which are equivalent to Alpha & Beta of Greek

So the answer seems something like this, that they comeout unscathed, because their names are in the A list rather than B. It has something to do with number 10 also. In Hindi/Urdu a 10 Numbari means a known criminal.