A Life in Words: Memoirs. It was about repressed sexual desires and the exploitation of another’s body to fulfil oneself. While metaphors are common, they are difficult to develop and carry a lot of meaning. Discuss the use of lihaaf as metaphor in Ismat Chughatai's story. /* Add your own MailChimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block. For example: Love is nota fruit; however, the meaning of the comparison is easily understood. In the March 2021 issue of In Plainspeak, we examine the place sexuality occupies in our life as we grow older, how it relates to our self-expression, relationships, and sexual and reproductive health and rights, and how notions of sexual wellbeing in older adulthood may be expanded. When I first came across ‘Lihaaf’, I was 18 years old. metaphor Bedeutung, Definition metaphor: 1. an expression, often found in literature, that describes a person or object by referring to…. Penguin Books, 2013. word or phrase for one thing that is used to refer to another thing in order to show or suggest that they are similar 2 It has taken us too many years to even acknowledge the existence of homosexuality. The story not only brought Chughtai plenty of media attention, its alleged ‘obscene’ content also got a legal case filed against her although she was later exonerated by the Lahore High Court. The comparison in a metaphor is always non-literal, which makes it weirdly illogical. The story brought me so much notoriety that I got sick of life. Begum Jaan is the wife of an esteemed Nawab who is renowned for his infallible character, partially due to his lack of dealings with prostitutes as was common in those times amongst the nobility. Lihaaf, of course, is the first story which springs to mind when we think of Ismat Chughtai. Today, when we talk about female bodies or anything related to our sexuality, we often find solace in the English language. He could be seen with the young, slender-waisted men in the story, while the patriarch in him didn’t let Begum Jaan go out of the house or visit her relatives. Lihaaf not only re-presented the unspoken but also brought to light the Add your answer and earn points. ‘Lihaaf’[2], the controversial short story by Ismat Chugtai was published in the year 1941, way before Independence, in an Urdu Literary Journal titled Adaab-i-Latif. Faced with a pandemic in 2020, we were reminded to reimagine wellbeing as more than the absence of disease and rather as a mosaic, its many differently coloured tiles together constituting an intricate and interconnected whole. Metaphors are useful techniques to discuss in essays where you analyse texts. This was because she dared to raise the veil of hypocrisies in Indian society. Lihaaf turned into a watershed moment of her life. As older adults we may be made to feel that our desires are superfluous and undignified, and our sexual performance is diminishing or compromised, as is our desirability. In the forefront she works within patriarchal norms and adheres to the standards of a dutiful  wife, while within the quilt, she acknowledges her sexual desires and does everything in her power to fulfil them and seeks solace in a non-conforming sexual relationship. Add your answer and earn points. 1 See answer vaisona9468 is waiting for your help. What befalls the tree in winter and rainy season? 03)Students ask questions to the teachers. Metaphorically, the 'lihaaf' conceals and puts a cover on the reality. Other times, a metaphor might explain a phenomenon. However, sexuality may be as intrinsic to our relationship with ourselves and the world as we grow older, and with the confidence that comes with life experience and self-awareness, may be even more authentically expressed and enjoyed. And yet, its meaning is (usually) abundantly clear. Her relationship with Rabbu and Nawab Saab’s relationship with the young men;the bodies and their desires bridge the gap left by the heteronormative marriage. She subverts the patriarchal norms that she has to adhere to by recognising her sexuality and her sexual desires. Search Results. इस लेख को हिंदी में पढ़ने के लिए यहाँ क्लिक करें।. Their existence was accepted but it was something that was ‘veiled’ and so the narratorial voice in the story uses metaphors so as to not address it openly. */. Lihaaf deals with a lonely wife exploring her sexuality, finding solace in the company of the one around her, and a baffled young mind. Lihaaf, meaning the quilt, is a metaphor of concealment and secrecy that often a woman’s sexuality, desires and existence is subjected to, and is also a trope for the narrative. When we are older, our relationships, especially those which are romantic, are often portrayed as devoid of sexual passion and instead, as hingeing on companionship and caregiving, which is fine if that indeed be the case. However, not all of us seek companionship within a heterosexual and monogamous framework. - 19443906 The frail, beautiful Begum wasted away in anguished loneliness.”. The distance in addressing it but not saying it out loud is visible. Lihaaf is set in pre-partition India and told from the perspective of an unnamed narrator who is the niece of the protagonist, Begum Jaan. Read on: VIDEO PAGE: THE IMPORTANCE OF VULNERABILITY, TARSHI Corner: Hindi Wellbeing and Sexuality, #mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; } Okay, so that’s the definition of metaphor… Ageing and Sexuality,  I Issue – March 1, 2021 05)Handiwork is practised in the afternoons Begum Jaan in the story can be seen as a sexually-deprived woman who gets no attention from her husband, Nawab Sahab. We may not consider love or commitment a prerequisite to engaging in sexual activity; we may simply be ‘single and not looking to mingle’; we may express and experience intimacy outside of romantic and/or sexual relationships. Chughtai’s short story helped bring female homosexuality out of the closet, so to speak, and in doing so, she quickly became one of the forerunners of the erstwhile latent Indian feminist movement. “Having married Begum Jaan he tucked her away in the house with his other possessions and promptly forgot her. 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