Terhi Lakeer Drawn by Ismat Chughtai's Fearless Pen

This paper attempts to study Terhi Lakeer by Ismat Chughtai.This is a very famous social, sentimental, social,and intense Urdu local story of a young lady. Ismat Chughtai (1911-1991) was a fearless and trailblazing stalwart of Urdufiction, unequivocally one of the four pillars of modern Urdu short story, the others being Manto, Krishan Chander andRajinder Singh Bedi. She was a little above eighty at the time of her death, having led a largely uninhibited life, could besafely termed a rebel since her birth, made unconventional choices whether in terms of life or career and made it herexplicit agenda to expose the hypocrisies peppering the lives of the contemporary middle class Indian society, Muslimhouseholds in particular because she lived in one and saw the chinks ever so closely from that vantage point.Chughtai later wrote Tedhi Lakeer which was a quasi-autobiographical work. The novel met with success almostimmediately. In the novel, she recounts the difficult circumstances that the Muslim community, and especially women,found themselves in with the waning of the British Raj in the backdrop. In the backdrop of India’s colonial past and socialand political revolution, lies the story of a middle-class Muslim girl. She is in the process of exploring desire and sexuality.The novel was controversial as it touched upon a topic as delicate as sexuality, talking about that which was considered ataboo back in the days. The novel won Ismat Chughtai a lot of fame as well as notoriety and it quickly became one of themost important works of Urdu Literature. Ismat Chughtai, hereby, became the queen of Urdu literature with her novelsand short stories. She later wrote many more novels like Masooma, Saudai, Dil Ki Duniya, and Ajeeb Aadmi. Many ofher novels revolved around sensitive themes of sexual exploration and femininity. Chughtai was one of the pillars in Urduliterature and through her writing she constantly shed light on issues like female desires and sexuality, conflicts of themiddle class and their aspirations. One of her most enduring works remain the short story, Lihaaf (The Quilt). Publishedin 1942, the story sparked controversy and was criticised for its homoerotic theme. However, Lihaaf is one among a largebody of her work. Chughtai has enriched the canon of Urdu literaure with her other works as well.