RUSWA, Mirza Hadi

Umrao Jan Ada

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What pleasure can you possibly expect to find in the story of someone so unfortunate as me? The account of one so unlucky, so aimless, someone who lost her home and brought disgrave on her family; someone cursed by her nearest kin and damned in both this world and the next?

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Men and women do love each other, but in love there is often an element of self-interest. Selfless love, like that of Lila and Majnu, Shirin and Farhad, only exists in tales. People say that love cannot be one sided. I have seen even this with my own eyes, but I think we must regard it as a kind of aberration. And why should it be necessary for men and women to be crazy?

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That is matter of faith, not belief. Intelligent people have put sins into two category: the first are those sins which only affect oneself; the second are those which affect other people. In my humble opinion, the first can be termed “minor sins,’ and the seond (though not everyone would agree with me) are “major sins.” The sins that have an adverse effect on others can be forgiven only by those who are affected by them.

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