Chess Player is more than a person who moves pieces across a board. In literature, a chess player often symbolises patience, strategy, obsession, intelligence, and the fascinating complexities of human psychology. This idea is explored brilliantly in a humorous essay by Ali Abbas Husaini, published in the celebrated 1953 Satire and Humour Special Issue of … Read more
Mirza Farhatullah Baig stands as one of the most transformative figures in the history of Urdu satire and humour. At a time when early Urdu humour was largely confined to crude jokes, cheap mockery, and superficial laughter, Mirza Farhatullah Baig reshaped the very idea of what humour could and should be. His contribution was not … Read more
Akbar Allahabadi stands as one of the most intellectually playful yet profoundly serious figures in Urdu literature. His personality and poetry resist simple classification, which is precisely why humorous sketch writing about him demands exceptional balance. When satire and biography merge successfully, the result is not ridicule but revelation—and this is exactly what Yusuf Nazim … Read more
Satire in Autobiography is one of the most challenging yet powerful literary forms, as it demands not only narrative skill but also the courage to laugh at one’s own flaws while exposing social hypocrisy. In Urdu literature, very few writers have dared to place themselves under such a ruthless lens. Among them, Shaukat Thanvi stands … Read more
