Mumtaz Mufti was born in Batala, Punjab (now in India). He became a civil servant under British rule and started his career as a schoolteacher. Soon after partition,he migrated to Pakistan with his family. He was awarded the Sitara-e-Imtiaz and Munshi Premchand Awards. Hind Yatra is his much acclaimed travelogue, recounting his trip to India in fascinating detail.
Mumtaz Mufti (Sitara-e-Imtiaz) is a Pakistani short story writer. He started writing Urdu short stories while working as a school teacher before partition. In the beginning he was considered among his contemporaries, a non-conformist writer having liberal views, who appeared influenced by Freud. His transformation from Liberalism to Sufism was due to his inspiration from Qudrat Ullah Shahab (Another well known Pakistani Author). At the same time, he did manage to retain his individual accent and wrote on subjects which were frowned upon by the conservative elements in society.
The two phases of his life are witnessed by his autobiographies, Ali Pur Ka Aeeli and Alakh Nagri. According to forewords mentioned in his later autobiography, Ali Pur Ka Aeeli is an account of a lover who challenged the social taboos of his times, and Alakh Nagri is an account of an acolyte who greatly influenced by the mysticism of Qudrat Ullah Shahab.
Talaash ("Quest") was the last book written by Mumtaz Mufti.
سادہ الفاظ میں گہری بات کہہ دینا ممتاز مفتی کا اسلوب ہے اور یہی ان کی نمایاں خصوصیت بھی ہے، وہ بات کو لفظوں میں پرو کر اس کو نکھارنے سنوارنے کی بجائے دل کے جزبات کاغز پر ایسے رقم کردیتے ہیں کہ وہ سیدھا پڑھنے والے کے دل میں اتر جاتے ہیں۔
گو اس کتاب کا نام ہند یاترا ہے لیکن اگر اسے دلی اور اس کے مضافات کا سفرنامہ کہا جائے تو زیادہ مناسب ہوگا۔ مفتی صاحب نے دلی کا تقابلی جائزہ اپنی جوانی کی دلی، مغلیہ دور کی دلی اور حالیہ پاکستان سے کرتے ہوئے تاریخی حقائق، تحقیقی معلومات، اور انسانی نفسیات کی بہت بہترین اور جامع ترجمانی کی ہے۔
ہومیوپیتھی کتب خریدنے کی خواہش کی تکمیل کی خاطر ممتاز مفتی نے دلی کا رخ کیا کہ وہاں اس صنف کی بہترین کتب میسر ہیں لیکن جس قافلے کے ساتھ انہوں نے سفر کیا وہ مذہبی مقامات کی یاترا کی غرض سے ادھر جارہا تھا، یوں مفتی صاحب نے وہاں موجود اولیاء کرام کے مزاروں کی زیارتوں کا احوال اور ان کی تاریخ سے بھی پڑھنے والوں کے ذہنوں کو منور کیا ہے۔
I guess the best way to enjoy this travelogue, for it is a travelogue even if the author does not class it as such, is to ignore the pseudo spiritual portions of the narrative about all the learned Babas and the special baraka for Pakistan by Allah. I fail to see how the author failed to observe the failure of the special baraka in 1971? Also most of the author's comparisons of Delhi with Rawalpindi/ Islamabad are purely superficial. How can anyone compare coke with whiskey?
What I did really enjoy was the narrator, as I listened to an Audible version of the book, I thought his various accents were spot on.
"Hind Yatra" by Sir Mumtaz Mufti is a fabulous book in which he uses his journey to 'Hind'. He uses the metaphor of 'Delhi' to represent 'India'. In this book, Sir Mufti travels to Delhi and states the true mental conditions of most Indians regarding 'Independence' & 'Pakistanis'. They have very rigid behavior and very weird perspectives regarding Pakistanis. Hindus can't tolerate the right of sovereignty in Pakistan. Because they wanted to make slaves out of Pakistanis. They were as hard for Muslims as they were at the time of Independence. In this book, he developed a keen eye for the psychological analyses of all his characters in a brilliant way. Sir Mufti takes his readers to not only Indian territory but also their hidden animosity toward Muslims, Islam, and Pakistan is also visible in "Hind Yatra". There are a lot of emotional and informational credentials in the book. In this book, the writing style of Sir Mufti is simple and easy to interpret. One can say that it is an interesting travelogue to read. The comparison of pre-partition India with India in the 1980s is excellent. This book is so well written with scattered portions of insight, the best metier about jotting down is that it doesn’t complicate things instead it opens up for everyone, and everyone can fall into it and one can keep reading it page after page. But no one can say that it is the only masterpiece of Sir Mumtaz Mufti. To cap up I can say that his every piece of writing is a masterpiece in itself.
This book is so well written with scattered pieces of wisdom here and there, the best thing about writing is that it doesn’t complicate things instead it opens up for you, and you fall into it and you keep reading it page after page. Makes me read more of Mumtaz Mufti.
ہند یاترا ایک ایسا سفر نامہ ہے کہ جس میں پڑھنے والا ان چیزوں سے مرعوب ہو جاتا ہے جن سے مصنف اس پورے سفر میں مرعوب رہا۔ مصنف نے نہ صرف خود کی سیرت کے اتار چڑھائو بیان کیے ہیں بلکہ پڑھنے والا بھی اپنے منفرد اتار چڑھائو پر بہتر گرفت حاصل کر لیتا ہے۔1981 میں ہند و پاک کی وہی صورت_حال منظر_عام پر آتی ہے جو آج بھی نہ صرف دونوں اطراف کے مسلمانوں بلکہ تمام مذاہب کے پیروکاروں میں نظر آتی ہے۔ انسان کی تبدیلی کے برعکس سوچ رکھنے والی نیچر کو بخوبی انداز سے مصنف نے بیان کیا۔ انتہائی منفرد اور لطف اندوز کرنے والی تصنیف۔ علم اور طنز و مزاح کا خوبصورت امتزاج۔
Very interesting travelogue by the legendary writer Mumtaz Mufit. A comparison of pre-partition India with India in 80s was superb. Lots of emotional and informational stuff.