Acclaimed Urdu writer Saadat Hasan Manto’s residence in Lahore still bears the name of Laxmi Mansion
as even after partition, no efforts were made to change the name.
The house, Number 31, Laxmi Mansion also holds a special significance for former Union Minister Mani Shankar Iyar as he was born there.
Manto’s magnum opus ‘Toba Tek Singh’, on partition, was also written in this house.
Manto’s daughters have come to India for his birth centenary celebrations. Eldest daughter Nighat Patel told UNI that after partition, when she was just one-year-old, her father had shifted to this house along with his family.
Her younger sisters Nusrat Jalal and Nuzhat Arshad were also born in the same mansion.
Laxmi Mansion, a link between the families of Manto and Aiyar,still continues to unite them. Mr Aiyar has invited Manto’s daughters to his home. He was also hosted by the authors family during his Pakistan visit in 2010.
Ms Patel said no effort was ever made to change the mansion’s name. However, despite having the status of a heritage building,due to increasing commercialisation in the locality, this 100-year-old building was facing threats of demolition to make way for a shopping mall.
She said they have requested the government to preserve the building as a memorial for Manto.
Manto’s daughters have come here on an invitation of the
Aalami Urdu Trust to participate in a seminar held on September 7on the occasion of the birth centenary of Manto.
Ms Patel said that more than half of the mansion has beencommercialised.
Manto came to Pakistan in 1948 and settled there. Prior to partition, the building was the residence of Girdhari Lal jewellers family.
She denied reports that some ant-social elements had ripped away Manto’s nameplate from Laxmi mansion. The nameplate bearing his name in English and Urdu and his profession, short story writer, still remains on the wall.
Mr Iyar, recollecting his ties with Laxmi mansion, said way back in 1978, when he was in the Indian Foreign Service (IFS), he was sent to Karachi to open a consulate in Pakistan’s commercial capital.
On expressing a desire to visit the place of his birth,Khurshid Mohammed Kasuri, who later became Pakistan Foreign
Minister, took him there. On his next visit in 2007 as Union Minister for Panchayat Raj, he was given a copy of his birth certificate.