Mushtaq Ahmed Yusufi, the recipient of Hilal-e-Imtiaz and Sitara-e-Imtiaz, the highest literary honors award by the Pakistan Government, is considered by many as the finest Urdu humorist. It is often said that we are living in the ‘Yusuf era’ of Urdu literary humor. He wrote five books, of which Aab-E-Gum is considered his masterpiece.
Haveli is taken from Mushtaq Ahmed Yusufi’s Aab-E-Gum. It is the story of Qibla (extremely short-tempered, well-built, proud to a degree that listening to anyone’s advice or even agreeing with anyone’s opinion is beneath him) and his Haveli that he left behind in Kanpur after partition.
In the words of Intizar Hussain: "Seen in the background of Partition literature, Aab-e-Gum stands aloof from the novels, short stories and reportages written with reference to Partition because of the unique way Yusufi employs in writing about it. How dexterously the tragic and the comic have been intertwined. How imperceptibly the laughter fades in a deep sadness."