Stereotypes In'shahr Ke Loug?

expecting a child, her husband finds out that she is an indian spy he dismisses her- she does not confess to him that she is already married to a native of India because she loves him deeply. Parbati decided to finally return to Pakistan after bearing the utter scorn and opprobrium of society. She is rejected by society, by her love. Unfortunately she is stuck at the border and eventually killed. Farkhanda tries to show people that intolerance of society and stereotyping of nationalities ( Parbati was exiled for being an indian) leads to a womans despair and sorrow. Had society and her husband been kind and open to the love she had to offer, things could have ended differently. It is significant to note the message sent across: Parbati broke …show more content…
Her story “shahr ke loug” has major and minor characters, each significant to the plot. () When a girl Bano leaves her village to go to the city in the purse of her fathers dream to become a teacher, she is faced with difficulties due to the stark contrast in the urban and rural life. However, Bano remains calm and swiftly moves with fast flow of the urban life. Bano gains and controls her consciousness, she remains observant, adjusting to the new life, analyzing the differences. This sudden change in the setting has a significant impact on the psychological state of bano, as it would on any person. Bano soon faces the dilemma of either returning to the village or staying in the city. She chooses the latter. Just like Parbati, following her dreams came with a price. Not until the end of the story we know that her mother calls to tell her that her engagement has been broken off. The reason is untold. But the stigma attached to the city life as being artificial and morally decayed suggests that there is a possibility that her fiancé thought her character too had been infected with moral decay. Again, the contempt of society and stereotyping has led to the unhappiness of many. What farkhanda Lodhi suggests here is that change at any point in time is inevitable, and since one cannot do anything to prevent it, like Bano we must constantly improve ourselves to …show more content…
Ijaz, was known to cover her flirtatious character with a veil to appear modest. She felt the need to conform to the demands of the society yet does not look for moral refinement. Staying in bad company, there is little hope for salvation. Bano never shied away from denouncing the hypocrisy of the city life she observed in her school. Farkhanda Lodhi’s story is a narration on our responsibility as a citizen, as a human. Not in the sense that one should judge a character as weak or righteous, but our responsibility to condemn hypocrisy for social welfare. A great extent of hypocrisy is often observed in politics when there is a display of injustice or simply, exploitation of power, it is important to detect and condemn hypocrisy so it can be stopped before it worsens. Plato, in his dialogue “republic”, states that “The heaviest penalty for declining to rule is to be ruled by someone inferior to yourself.” () The first person one must save, and have full governance over is oneself. If we do not decide our actions, make autonomous decisions, we unconsciously invite others to “give us” our identity, and hence, when we allow those who are corrupt to govern us, there is plenty of room for exploitation. Therefore just like the characters in Farkhanda’s stories, it is our duty as women to give ourselves an identity and a degree of