Or some of it were the fragment of Josh Malihahbadi’sand Qudratullah Shahab’s imagination.
Yadon Ki Barat (Josh Malihabadi)
17 Ishqs I am more talking about his 17 Ishqs that later converted into 18 ishqs cause he added one more in the later edition of the book. Some of them sounded really one sided. It sounded like that at times, Josh could not differentiate between the respect from her female admirers and a real Ishq.
I understand, and he implied also that he was a very dil phaink ashiq but in spite of being great poet and thinker, he never understood the difference between real Ishq and a flirt (that also sometime one sided) …. Maoulana Moddoodi
One thing that really bothered me in the book was his openness that entered the vulgarity domain very often. And yes, he was very open about himself but he brought other people’s name in it
…like at one point he talked about visiting a ‘Kothaa’ to see Mujraa of a tawa’ef and amongst some, he had Modoodi with him. He conveniently said that I don’t remember if the person was 'The Modoodi '(founder of Jamat Islami) or his brother. That implication was not at all in good taste, to bring someone’s name as part of a controversial enviornmenet without being sure about it
ShahabNama
In my opinion, it is a much greater biography than Yaadon Ki Baraat, but there is one place where I think that his memoirs were questionable
Daak Bangla
I am talking about his daak banglaa chapter (maybe the name was different) where he came across that supernatural creature. If a very heavy bed (that was raised to the roof by that creature) falls on your toe, your toe will crush to nothingness, though all happened to him was that he lost the senses in that toe for good.
I remember reading an article by his daughter where she also kind of shushed that chapter as somewhat of a gray area where she was not sure about it.
Who's daughter?