More on Manto

Manto: An Author of Tales for Children by Josh Shahryar, his journey from trying to understand the women in the balcony of the song Deewana Aadmi Ko Banati frpom Kali Topi Lal Rumal to his discovery of Manto and how he finally understood about the women on the balcony:
"I knew the truth.

The women on the balcony were taking money to have sex with men. It was of course wrong to do it – but they were victims of the society I was growing up in.

I didn’t know what sex meant. I did know it had to do something with the mullahs being alone with the boys who went to read Quran with them at night. And whatever it was, it was too shameful. Too shameful to ever be mentioned by anyone – except for when my dad had to tell me why he couldn’t send me to the mosque to study like the other kids: “You won’t understand!”

And it’s true that I didn’t know. Couldn’t know. Not until I read Manto."

Another by Ali Sethi linked in 3quarksdaily with a comment by Ruchira on Manto's move to Pakistan:

"I don't know that in 1947 any Hindu or Muslim crossing over to the other side could be termed entirely opportunistic. Perhaps there was some of that but for most, the reigning sentiments must have been fear, uncertainty and a sense of betrayal. .....Manto was a complicated man, a man of a very sharp sense of his own literary worth. He was also brilliant. He did face discrimination as a Muslim at the Bombay film studio where he was employed at the time. His relatives including his wife were scared of the newly changed circumstances. So who knows what else other than opportunism motivated him to move to Pakistan. That he was supremely unhappy afterwards is undeniable and Manto himself made no secret of that sorrow."

Who knows what little things contributed. In the cineplot write up on Noor Jehan, Arunkumar Deshmukh comments on the the role of Baburao Patel ib the departure of Shaukat Hussain and Noor Jehan to Pakistan.