Aakhri Aadmi – آخری آدمی

‘Akri Admi’ is a short story collection of Intizar Hussain containing his 11 stories. If one wants to choose a book among his story collections then I would suggest him to buy this one. Though I haven’t read all of his books but this collection contains some of his best which I prefer calling his magnum opus. Unlike his other collections of stories, characters in these stories are unique. Their uniqueness can be observed in many ways. Specially from their mental conditions. Unlike his typical characters who are decent and simple without any sense of life and discussing only trivials and bussy in their daily chores, these characters are mentally grown, suffering from existential crises, fighting for identity and facing problems of being and nothingness. But this simply doesn’t mean these stories are highly didactic philosophical stories, not in the least. The tone is usual of fairytale’s, the language is of Dastan’s as before with rhyming and repeating phrases and the method is of magic and realism. But the themes are much more stronger and deep. Specially in ‘Akri Admi’, ‘Kaya Kalp, ‘Zard Kutha’, ‘Addiyon Ka Daanch’ and ‘Shahadath’ the characters are very strong and haunting which surely leaves a mark on every reader’s heart.
I can’t say more because I’m not a critic but I will just want to add that these stories are must read for every story lover.