Lajja - Taslima Nasreen

Bengali novel “Lajja” written by Taslima Nasrin of Bangladesh. Meaning if the word ‘Lajja’ is ‘shame’. Nearly 50, 000 copies of the novel sold out by six months just after its  publication in 1993. Bangladesh Government imposed ban on this book as because the novel is strongly opposed the Islamic Fundamentalism. The novel is dedicated to the people of Indian subcontinent. Nasrin compelled to escaped her native land by the Islamic group for this novel.

“Lajja” is based on anti-Hindu riots in Bangladesh that erupted soon after the demolition of Babri Masjid in India on 6th December 1992.

Summary:- Demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodha of Uttar Pradesh(India) backwashed to Bangladesh, is a neighboring country  of India. Erupts communal fire and the main character Dutta family faces and feels the heat of  its. Nasrin subtly described feelings of each member on their own way.

Sudhamoy, head of the family, feels that Bangladesh, his motherland shall never let them down and his wife strongly supporting her husband. Their son, Suranjan believes he is a Bengali first and Hindu later on means nationalism is greater than communalism, but gradually disappointed. He has always faith faith in with the ideology of patriotism, but he finds himself adopting communal reaction that contradicts his metaphysics. Nilanjana, sister of Suranjan imprecates her brother’s apathy and craves to take their family to a muslim friend’s house for safety.

“Lajja” has been translated into all most all major Indian languages including English, French, German, Spanish, Swedish, Dutch, Arabic, Persian, Italian, Norwegian, Icelandic etc.

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Whatever this book might be as a sociopolitical articulation, it makes a surprisingly poor novel. I fundamentally skimmed through it after 50 pages or something like that. Every one of the characters talked like daily papers. The story ought to have been sensational, particularly after Maya's snatching, yet I couldn't force myself to think about either the destiny of the Dutta family or the Hindu/Muslim issue on the loose. Honestly, I was exhausted hardened by this book. Possibly I am quite recently not the correct group of onlookers.

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I read this book before a couple of days.Taslima has attempted to concentrate on the terrible phantom of communalism in Bangladesh after the Baburi masjid destruction in India. The predicament of a Hindu family is displayed against the background of Islamic fundamentalism with periodic references to genuine examples of common brutality in Bangladesh. The story itself was really normal with faltering exchange and a great deal of redundancy. I attempted to complete the book as the story dragged over similar focuses again and again. Secularism is the reply in Indian subcontinent yet in a devastated society where assets are rare and advancement openings few, how would you advance secularism over advantage? Taslim I am apprehensive has not by any stretch of the imagination investigated any methods for tending to this issue picking rather to doubtlessly list the abominations came about by the ascent of fundamentalism.

With everything taken into account, she could have shrouded the entire point in under ten pages as opposed to composing an entire book. I am entirely frustrated with the outcome.

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Hello friends,

I read a very nice book in last month "Lajja written by Taslima Nasreen". This book is very popular in the world and one of the most wonderful books I've ever read, you can't put it down when you start reading. This book topic is very nice and very important for our life and our society. This book language is not very hard so I suggest for reading this book.

I fond of reading books and I read books after sleeping. This book is every this is nice but its latter format is not good and editing is also bad at a some points. This cover page completely show about the book. This book have not more picture in inside but story is very interesting.

This book story is understandable but at some point is not clear to understandable and some paragraph is understand by me because use hard word some time. This book story is not clear in the end of story but many points is very nice and follow in our life.

Thanks.

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I was happy for the Preface in the release I read as it clarified the writer was venting her outrage, dissatisfaction and misery with regards to the Muslim responses in her nation to an occasion that happened in India.

The book pivoted around authentic raw numbers and a tale around a Hindu family that is seeing their nation give them significantly more motivations to clear out. The book seriously required a decent alter to make the story stream. Still a book brimming with intrigue and astonishment how religion can be utilized by anybody needing retaliation. The book was overall just an avcerage read.An average

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Lajja - Taslima Nasreen Hy I bought the book with much anticipation as it was highly controversial and the author Taslima Nasrin was forced to go into hiding after the publication of the book. The book is based on the plight of Hindu minorities in Bangladesh.

There is not much in terms of the story but too much of factual data and inputs. It seems more like a non-fiction book with all the statistics and data given in the book. The pace of the story is slow. You are moved by the atrocities heaped on the minorities and still their reluctance to leave the country which they have considered as their motherland all this time. I really didn't enjoy the book because of the slow pace of the story which is almost sluggish.

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I bought the book with much anticipation as it was highly controversial and the author Taslima Nasrin was forced to go into hiding after the publication of the book. The book is based on the plight of Hindu minorities in Bangladesh.

There is not much in terms of the story but too much of factual data and inputs. It seems more like a non-fiction book with all the statistics and data given in the book.

The pace of the story is slow. You are moved by the atrocities heaped on the minorities and still their reluctance to leave the country which they have considered as their motherland all this time. I really didn't enjoy the book because of the slow pace of the story which is almost sluggish.

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Penned by Taslima Nasrin against the backdrop of Babri Masjid demolition, she portrayed a Hindu family being persecuted by Muslims. O yes, a book which led to the author’s exile from Bangladesh and a fatwa in her name, was the most controversial book in 1993. Originally Lojja(Shame) in Bengali was translated in English by Tutul Gupta.

Nasrin has very boldly named the politicians responsible for the  mosque demolition and the resultant clashes of the two communities(Hindus and Muslims) accompanied with bloodshed and scarred humanity.

The entire novel looks like a collection of news reports which gives details of deaths, loss of property and number of girls raped. In the light of the recent brutal gang rape in Delhi followed by more non stop rape cases, one might very well relate to Lajja. The rape cases currently are more or less like Lajja minus the communal riots.

Lajja has nothing much to offer to the readers apart from the facts. It contributes nothing in terms of literary substance or gravity. While turning the pages, one is ought to feel depressed but may not be sensitized with the events in the book.

Why should anybody shell out so much from their pockets to read a desolate and depressed collection of facts with every potential to turn you off midway through the book? Want to read? Might as well wanna borrow it from me!

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Really dis is a real blow to Extremists dat is why those b@stards are trying to kill her.i love you my dear sister I hope you wuld be safe from those extremists.you may write more and more to reveal the Real attitudes of extremists as to why they  Freedom of Thinking is eliminated.Usually moslem extremists dont want to educate women they are sure that they wil nt be able to fear them and they wil revolt against the Extremists Rules and Regulations if they are eduvated I am sure now those b@tards no more able to impose satanic rules  on Humanity

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Lajja is a very true account of life as it is for Hindus in Bangladesh. The author has peppered her account with countless factual pieces of evidence.

This no flight of fancy - its sadly the reality for millions of Hindus in Bangladesh and Pakistan. There are newspaper reports, court reports and much more.

The reasons mullas hated it and banned it in pro-muslim countries is because it exposes their hypocrisy of islam being a religion of peace. It exposes the hypocrisy of muslims asking for special rights in non-muslim countries, yet denying the same rights to non-mumslims in muslim majority countries.

News reports coming through even now confirm her story. The way she has been treated by mulsims in India also confirms her basic write up that women in Islamic countries suffer through cultural, social and religious neglect. Women in islam are kept behind veils so as to hide their tears. I have read her other books - very real and very true to life.

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After reading Taslima Nasrin’s Girlhood I thought the book Lajja must be a continuation to it, explaining the struggles of a younger girl.  This must have bought her the ‘fatwa’.   The preface immediately clarified my preoccupations and I am all set to turn pages.  ‘I detest fundamentalism and communalism’   ‘It is disgraceful that the Hindus in my country were hunted by the Muslims after the destruction of the Babri Masjid…..Lajja is a document of our collective defeat’.

The book is the story of a Hindu family lived in Bangladesh, in the backdrop of Babri Masjid demolition.    Sudhamoy do not believe in any religion as he was a communist.   Sudhamoy have Kiron Moneyee, the suffering housewife, Maya, the practical young daughter & educated but unemployed Suranjan in the family.   When Babri Masjid was destroyed in India, the Hindus in Bangladesh faced the fear of attack from fanatic fundamentalists and many were considering an exodus to India.   Sudhamoy and Suranjan thought otherwise, if one is not safe at home, he is not safe in anywhere in the world.   Maya on the other hand take shelter in a Muslim family.   How the Sudhamoy family cope with the growing situation?   How the circumstances forced them to change their perceptions is the book all about.

The ending sentence of the book states, ‘…that was the way it would have to be because the strong mountain that he had built within himself was crumbling day by day.’  This is a true example of the losing number, confidence and safety for the minority in Bangladesh.   The author gives a lot of statistics in the book to prove that number of minority in the country has been systematically reduced.   At the same time, tells that this is a universal behaviour.   ‘The Powerful rule the powerless.’   The author however walks a little extra hour because she felt that unlike the minorities or oppressed in other places, the minorities in Bangladesh never tried to rebel the oppression.   The author find that, ‘When two opposing groups clash, only then we can call it a riot…..What is happening in this country is nothing short of communal terrorism’.

Taslima Nasrin throws light to the history of Bangladesh and tells us that the ruling party and the opposition both are equally responsible for converting a secular state to a state based on religion, as they don’t like to risk vote banks drawn on communal lines.        The communists, who were suppose to fight for secularism keep mum on the spreading violence.  When Suranjan says, ‘…This country is making me communal.   I am not to be blamed’, we can see that the author lost her hope on communists.  ‘Perphaps the illiterate masses needed to cling on to the comfort and security that religion provides’.  But the educated lot?  The question remains.  At the same time, she suspects that there is some hidden agenda which the fundamentalists and communalists of two countries shares.

The author failed a bit as a storyteller.   Once the characters are established and the stage is set, the story doesn’t move an inch where the statistics of temples destroyed and the history of Bangladesh occupy most pages.  Though they were supplementing the knowledge base, the same doesn’t support the story.   The inevitable twist in the tale was delayed unnecessarily to the later part of the book and there had not much drama in the first half.    The character of Suranjan doesn’t invite our sympathy on the first place, nor the stubborn father Sudhamoy.

The feminist in Taslima Nasrin made sure that the leading male characters in the story are irresponsible and selfish, projecting the two female characters as good souls.  ‘He made hardly any contribution to the family and yet he expected a lot from them’.  The damage control ordered by the doctor later was not affective where this irresponsibility assigned on the male characters took away the chance to create sympathy for them.   There is one place the author goes to the extent of saying that, ‘It is the daughter who always looks after her parents in their old age.  Sons always move out with their wives to live separately; but daughters…they even forsake their husband’s homes to look after their parents.’  Here I could not stop laughing where the daughter in law of one is definitely a daughter in the first place.  If all daughter in laws behave like that, it is equal to say that all daughters don’t care about the parents of their husbands and don’t permit their husbands to go away to his own parents.  I know this is not a general rule, but a different perspective.  ‘Woman after all were like commodities, and therefore stolen just like gold and silver.’  Yes, there is a point in her view as well.

What went wrong with the book?   There had many books on communal riots.   What provoked a fatwa, in this case?  I can see two points.   The book turn to be a one sided story.    The other side doesn’t get a representation and it was natural that they completely turned against it.     The second reason is that the author doesn’t give a viable solution to sort out the situation.  Complaining about the situation giving the facts is fine.  At the same time the writers should take responsibility and suggest possible alternative ways how to surpass it.   Here, the author suggested, an eye for an eye, a head for a head and a rape for rape.   If the administration feared that this suggestion will instigate communal violence, it is natural.

Despite its drawbacks, the author deserve applauds for the courage she took to bring a serious issue to the eye of the world.  Before ‘Lajja’, I had no idea whatsoever about such an existing problem.     I fully endorse the view that ‘Let other name for religion be Humanity.’  Also, when Taslima Nasrin says that ‘Shame most affected those who inflicted torture, not those who were tortured!’, I cannot agree more!    When we turn our eyebrows looking at the openness the author gives, we can see that the author speaks through Maya, ‘Her father had always advised her to be a straight arrow, and true to herself’.    Lajja, no doubt is an eye opener for many.   It brought shame on all who throw away humanity for the sake of money, religion and power.   The book is a war cry to fight with tooth and nail to defend bloodthirstiness of fundamentalism before the insanity kills humanity.    The book fall short of heights, thanks to the not so gripping story and data listing, the message but was good enough to read the book at least for once.

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Lajja is a book by Taslima Nasrin recording events in Bangladesh after the babri masjid demolition in India. For expressing her views, there was a fatwa taken out against her in Bangladesh. Unfortunately it has been widely publicized in India that this contains details of rape and other sexually explicit issues which is totally wrong. And the version that I have read DOES NOT CONTAIN ANYTHING AGAINST ISLAM!

December 6 1992, Hindu Fundamentalists converge at Ayodhya to bring down theBabri Masjid believed to built on the birthplace of Hindu God Ram.These events gave rise to Hindu-Muslim riots all over the country.

The anger spilled over into the neighbouring countries, Muslims in Bangladesh took out their anger against the minority Hindu community.

I knew Lajja had a lot of historical baggage associated with it and the book holds back no punches. It is a very touching story about a family caught in the widespread riots in bangladesh. I had read about the troubles in bangladesh, but never imagined the widespread reaction to an incident in another country. The chasm between religions seems to be looking out for any reason to widen further. Taslima had toflee her country because fundamentalists in her country could notaccept her voiceing an opinion.

For anyone researching into the events revolving around Babri Masjid, this book is a must read. At the least you come away with the senseless nature of human intolerance and extremism.

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" **Where the mind is without Fear ...

And the head is held high

where knowledge is free

into that heaven of freedom

my Father .. let my country awake** "

This poem of Tagore is taught to children worldwide as a part of their prescribed syllabus. This teaches the children the importance of freedom right from a tender age in the faint hope that they will grow up actually believing this idea.

I would like to bring this to the readers' attention that I am not here writing about how good or bad the book is. I am here to write about the idea of shifting Tasleema to different undisclosed locations in India under house arrest in the name of security till she herself decided to leave the country.

Her harrasment didn't stop at cutting her off from those she wantd to see, in the name of security, but as I read she might have also been denied of proper medical aid going by the complaints coming from her and backed by international PEN, the global writer's organisation.

Information and Broadcasting minister Priyaranjan Dashmunshi, even asked her to bow down and apologize to those she had offended. He had obviously forgotten that India is a secular democracy rather than a theocracy.

The UPA govt and the leftist supporters claim to be the champions of secularism. West Bengal's left front government got her to leave Kolkata where she had been staying and wanted to stay. Forcing Taslima out of the country however was a sad day for Secularism.

Secularism of this variety amounts to a game of competitive fundamentalism. Somehow someone claims to be offended on behalf of his community and issues threats. The government in the name of security bans the book, the movie or maybe the writer.

It is equivalent to handing over fundamentalists a remote control for the country's occurings. They could then press whatever buttons they would like and turn the tide in their favour all the time.

I am glad Tagore isn't alive to see any of this happening to the country he declined the knighthood for. But atleast it would work for the running Govt in its short term goal of keeping its votebanks in place.

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"Let another name for Religion be Humanism" are the words I found in the novel just before the contents of the book and the book, according to me is dedicated to this thought only. What made me read this book is the fact that the fatwa has been raised against the writer by the Bangladeshi extremists, for writing this book, as for as I know. So it raised a little curiosity in me and finally I took this book, and here I am writing the review of the book now :)

After reading the book, I think it really needs a whole lot of guts and braveness to write against the people of your religion and the people of your country, and I do think that every word of this book is against and you really feel bad while reading the book. So its not a happy reading at all

The story is of the time when Babri masjid was demolished in India by our so called communal forces, no need to mention by whom, on 6th December 1992. The story is a work of fiction and is made up of thirteen days just after the demolition of the masjid. Although I do thought of leaving the book half read, in between as the story is not that gripping, but considering the fact that the writer has written it in only 7 seven days, she deserves a lot of appreciation and credit for the work. One also comes to know of all the incidents that has happened in Bangladesh after independence in 1947.

The story is of a struggle of a Hindu family living in Bangladesh during those days. There are four main characters belonging to same family, Duttas,

Sudhamoy, the father

Kironmoyee, the mother

Suranajan, the son and

Maya, the daughter

All through the pages of the book, there is a mention of all the incidents that has happened during those days. like the killing of Hindus, the ruining and destroying of mandirs, the abduction and rapes of hindu womens etc.. the list goes on. There were more than 200 mandirs were destroyed and more than 1000 Hindus were looted and rendered homeless. All most all the relatives and friends of the family leaves the country and moves on to live in India but, The family hates the idea of leaving their own country in any circumstances, Sudhamoy, the father, is a man of high ideals and dont want to leave the country of his origin. He had fought for his country during all movements like Language movement and independence struggle in the hope that when Pakistanis would be out of his country Hindus will be able to have a happy and prosporus life there. However, the scene comes out to be different. The son also had the same ideology as his father, he treats everyone as a human being, rather than a hindu or muslim. But now its break their hearts to see that Hindus in their country are treated wrongly at the hands of muslims for the wrong doings of some Hindus that too in another country, India!!. One day a group of Muslim rioters ruins their house too and take away their daughter Maya too, before there eyes. Suranjan tries his best to locate his sister but all in vain and then there is hell lot of emotions and cryings. and after that what happens to Maya?, does she returns back or not? do the family change there minds about leaving there country? is for you to find out.

Few lines that I like are:

"The person who lives on his own soil is the happiest."

"Life is like a river, did you know that? Does the river stop flowing at any point? Decisions also change once in a while. They do not stay unchanged all the time."

In the end I would say that The people of any religion should think a lot before going against a minority community in there country, bcoz somewhere in some other country your own community may be a minority and they may face a lot for your wrong doing, although we all know that all this is done by these communal parties not for religion but for there vote bank.

Not a happy reading but a good one...

See you all soon..

PYAR HUMEIN PHIR MILAAEGA...........

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I was born to sing these sorrows

to expose the destructive beasts...

I stir up the grief of my people,

I water their subterranean hopes,

for to what purpose my songs,

the natural gift of beauty and words,

if it does not serve my people

to struggle and walk with me?

–Pablo Neruda, I Come From the South

Backdrop

The historical context of the novel Lajja (Shame) by Taslima Nasreen is the demolition on 6th December 1992 of the 16th century Babri Mosque in Ayodhya, U.P., India, and its devastating fallout in Bangladesh where, in reputed vengeance, temples were destroyed and the (minority) Hindus overnight became victims of insensitive and barbaric violence at the hands of Muslim ruffians on prowl.

Characters

The stage is set in Bangladesh and the story revolves around an extremely patriotic Hindu family. Suranjan a profligate middle-aged man with little or no accomplishment in his life to boast about is the son of a doctor (Sudhamoy) with strong national values. Sudhamoy’s past tells the story of his support for his clan during the national movement and of his work for the cause of the nation. In turn people whom he considered his own rewarded him by mutilating his genitals. Despite all this he strongly believes that Bangladesh is his home and refuses to move to Calcutta (India) to seek refuge like lakhs of others. Suranjan also loves his motherland just like his father despite being deprived of equal opportunities due to his religious background. Kiranmoyee, Sudhamoy’s wife is depicted as a loveable character who stands by her husband and son in the times of all adversities killing her own personal desires and wishes in the process. Maya, Sudhamoy’s daughter is flustered with complaints, as her family wants to live in the same country even at times of peril like this one. Taslima in her tale buttresses her fiction with facts. Her attempt in this book is not to malign any religion, it is an earnest beseech to the human race to embrace humanity and shun fanatism. The story is gripping and extremely poignant.

Issues raised

Renaming Lalmohan Poddar road as Abdul Karim Gaznavi Street, Nari Shiksha Mandir as Shere Bangla balika Bidyalaya is just two of the many examples of similar kinds. On the surface the renaming may appear to be mere sorting but when one digs deep into the matter, one realizes that this is an attempt to erase the very existence/feeling of existence of a certain community (usually the minority) from the society.

Rape is infringement of a woman and her body and tries to establish that a woman is subordinate to a man. A woman is looked down upon as a property and not as another human. Thus a man can command over her and can do whatever he so pleases to with this property. Maya’s abduction in the latter part of the story clearly tries to signify a possible gang rape. All those examples of alleged instances of raping women in various parts of the country also help raise the gender disparity issue.

My take on the book

Literary joie de vivre, arty language, analogies are characteristics that are rather absent in the book. Yes, you must not read this book if you are looking out for any of these. But, some books acquire over time a piquant distinction and abiding relevance in human affairs. Lajja is among them, at least in so far as the sub-continent is concerned. It remains influential and remarkable.

Lajja totally changed the life of the author forever. The book was first banned in Bangladesh. A fatwa was announced by the Muslim clerics to kill Taslima Nasreen and an award was announced for the one who would carry out such an activity.

Taslima has taken on all these monsters single-handedly. She has pierced into their primitive egos and their monstrous ignorance, as she tears to pieces their age-old immoralities and habitual hypocrisies. There might have been several other Taslimas in the making, conscientious and capable, perhaps but who remained suppressed because of the intimidating example of her travails as a woman, as a writer, as a nonconformist, as an independent thinker. She certainly opened the doors and windows for others to breathe the fresh air of freedom of thought and expression and venture forth to get rid of the choking murk of merciless and enslaving superstitions. All in all, a great book!!

Wrap up

Should we expect Dhaka to arrest and punish the goons and gangsters terrorizing the Hindus? “The creator is always indulgent to its creatures.” As in Bangladesh, so in India. Do we expect the BJP-led National Demolition Alliance to arrest and punish the Hindu anti-socials guilty of rape, rapine, arson, assassination that they commit with impunity against the Christians and Muslims? Certainly, not. Because they have been brainwashed and convinced that their crimes constitute "cultural nationalism" and real secularism, that these make them robust and patriotic. These bloody and tribal savageries have made them more and pure Hindus.

It is quintessential for each one of us to protest against and show resistance to inhuman injustice and feral blood lust. The Bangladesh government, denied all the atrocities happening there, and called evidence and reports detailing these alleged crimes against humanity as exaggerated and fabricated. This portrays the routine and reflexive response of the complicit administrations of countries in the subcontinent. It is nothing new to us Indians. There is a sense of deja vu in the verbal pall of inanity that the states ineffectively but aggressively seek to spread over their crimes. This is the triteness Indians regularly hear in clemency of the Saffronite criminals belonging to the Hindu fundamentalist parties.

Lajja is an exposition of true and real life hatred that runs in veins and arteries of the fanatics and the story according to me, would not have been any different had it been staged in a country like ours or for that matter even in Pakistan.

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LAJJA is a novel which is written by a banladeshi female author Ms.Tasleema Nasreen which basically talks about the religious extremism and fanaticism and man's inhumanity to man.

The novel exposes the mindless bloodthirstiness of fundamentalism and also captures brilliantly the insanity of violence in modern times.

The novel is translated from the bengali by Tutul Gupta.

It uncovers the sad story of a hindu family residing in bangladesh all its life.

There is an outbreak of communal riots due to the demolishment of the Babri mosque in India.

Despite being the part of the hindu minor community , that is terrorized at every opportunity by Muslim fundamentalists . they refust to leave their country unlike most of their friends and relatives.

The demolishment of babri mosque in India causes te nightmare in Bangladesh and inevitably arrives at the Dutta's ( the hindu family in discussion ) doorstep and their world begins to fall apart.

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Religion…

Sounds like just a common word like the other millions in the English dictionary but have you ever considered what its realities and effects are in people’s lives? A literal meaning of that word would be “A personal or institutionalised system grounded in such belief and worship” but how often does the theoretical term actually come into practise? What is ultimately practised is the interpretation that some appointed or self-appointed leaders of a religion teach and preach to the people, the layman.

Taking the term Religion at its basic level, it’s just a set of teachings that teaches people how to lead a good life. I personally do not agree that the purpose of religion is to divide people up into groups of isolated followers that cannot live in harmony together. No religion claims to teach intolerance or even instructs its believers to segregate a certain religious group or even take the fundamental rights of an individual solely based on their religious choices. If such an act happens, and I’ve witnessed it myself, I condemn it.

The Background of a Tragic Tale

Now, keeping the above said in mind, remember the Babri Masjid incident on December 6th, 1992, followed by the numerous riots that took place in the Indian Subcontinent. In a nutshell, the spark burst into fatal flames when a political party in India,BJP to be specific, backed the demolition of a 16th century mosque in Ayodhya, claiming that an Islamic place of worship cannot be built at the birth place of Lord Rama which is a holy hub of Hindus.

What inevitably followed was a rampant epidemic of merciless death and damage in which the vulnerable youth indulged in, blinded by the loyalty towards their respective religions and by the instinct to protect their belief. Muslims retaliated to the demolition of their mosque, Hindus retaliated to the Muslims’ retaliation and the cycle of death continued to crush the innocent lives of thousands of individuals in the gruesome process.

The Tale of Tears

In the midst of the downfall of humanity and the rise of religious segregation, is set the story of Lajja penned by a Bangladeshi citizen Taslima Nasreen. Often, the whole event of the riots in 1992 is mistaken to be specific to India, forgetting the same and maybe more terrifying situation in Bangladesh too, where Hindus are a minority. Lajja is the story of a Hindu family living in Bangladesh, whose lives are drastically affected by this dispute between two religions. This family of four, intellectual thinkers and openly patriotic individuals, not only have to question and condemn their ideals and thinking, but also distort what they believe in because some people in another country took “courage” and demolished a lifeless building…

The People

Sudhamoy Dutta: As an atheist Hindu, he had seen many disputes and riots in his lifetime. From the Partition of 1947, to the relatively recent Independence of Bangladesh in the 70s, he had lived and participated through every kind of struggle that his country had to endure. His fundamental ideology in life was, “ Why should I leave my homeland and go somewhere else? If I live it will be on this soil and if I die it will be in the very same place” Sudhamoy Dutta’s ideas were courageous and blatantly patriotic. His belief was that a he was Bengali first and a Hindu later. Unfortunately, the system in which he lived did not allow such ideals to flourish and repeatedly he was reminded of his minority status in society, whether in the matters of career or personal life. His fight for survival, literally, put him on stake many times. His decisions and choices are what lead his family into an unfair trial, which forms the crux of the plot.

Suranjan Dutta: The son in the family and the young blood of the nation, Suranjan had ideals similar to his father’s but only stronger ten-fold. For him, his country, the way he’d always seen it, was what it was. Religion was the last thing he considered during his daily endeavours and he believed himself to be no different from any of his Muslim friends and acquaintances. He refused to even acknowledge the fact that he had less of access to his fundamental rights just because his religion was not in majority in the country. How his ideas come crashing down like pack of cards and put his family into danger is the high point of the narrative.

Nilanjana Dutta aka Maya: Sudhamoy’s daughter and Suranjan’s sister, she was an independent young girl who chose to go with the system rather than defy it. As the sole breadwinner of the house, she was concerned about her family’s safety and disappointed with her brother for being unable to protect her family in a time when her family’s religion had become their biggest enemy. With hopes and dreams for a better life ahead, she preferred to follow the path of safety, than a fight for righteousness.

Kironmoyee Dutta: The homemaker, the mother, the glue in the family of incoherent pieces of strong individuals. She lives for her family and for that only. Her wishes and dreams are only for the betterment of her family.

The System

Lajja shows Bangladesh as a disputed society that has layers to its fundamental values and governance. Tolerance may be a factor considered in the crust of the constitutional bureaucracy, but at the basic grass-fruit level, the crude nitty-gritty of religion always bars the practice of equality for all human beings. No matter how much the system claims to be secular and just, the minorities inevitably face a brutal distinction in the name of religion, race, cast, sex and social status.

The Author and the Controversy

A courageous and honest effort by a lady author has to be acknowledged and applauded. Taslima Nasreen not only presents the dreadful realities hidden under the false claims of equalitarian societies, but also depicts the inevitable psychological devastation that individuals endure in trying circumstances of widespread terror. Nasreen’s account of a family in trouble sheers the heart with a painful guilt of understanding and recognising the relatively insignificant ways in which discrimination takes place on a daily basis. Using factual figures of instances of death and destruction in Bangladesh, Nasreen is able to highlight the unknown events that often go unnoticed among the politically and socially more “important” happenings.

Continued in the Comments section. Please excuse the length.

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Lajja, by Tasleema Nasreen qualifies as one of the worst written books I ever read. You always have to think twice when you finish a book in 7 days. Had the fatwa against Taslima Nasreen not issued, this book wouldn't have made it to the bookstands.

Religion, communalism and rape fill these pages. The story is a bit weak but the pages are full of reports regarding looting and rapes during those fateful days after the collapse of Babri Masjid. If you collect any such news, this book is for you. Not recommended for a romantic weekend. If your life sucks anyway, you might read this as well.

The author's style is subtle. Thank God, the book is small. I was wondering when it would finally finish. I picked up this book in a second-hand shop. With all the hoopla around it, I thought this was going to be the reading of a life-time. How was I to guess that this would indeed, be the reading of my life.

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Ah now this one, it has created so much controversy and got the writer nearly killed and had the clerics up in arms against one an all. Wow now that’s some heady combination for a young writer attempting to write something out of her own honest observations and share the truth (well maybe slightly concocted) with her readers. One wonders why more often then not any piece of literature that attempts to touch the sensitive issue of religion evokes such outrage. Is it because all of us including the so called educated people are getting more and more intolerant about our religious leanings or is there a deeper mental malaise that we all seem to suffer from? This book comes across as a powerful one as it attempts to charter into that so called forbidden territory which the so called votaries of religion consider their own personal fiefdom and it tries to weave this central theme in the form of fiction. Wow I love this, one after the other fiction works, which borrows from the times and ambience they are set in, making each of them quasi- fiction if I may dare to use that word.

The book in question is Lajja, literal meaning shame by the Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen. It talks about the indignities heaped on a Hindu family of four, right from the time of Bangladesh’s liberation. The book brilliantly essays the lives of the minority community in the repressed and restricted environment of the Bangladeshi life. It talks about a Bengali Hindu family who kept hanging on their Sonar Bangla pride despite of things turning worse with each passing day as communal tension gripped the entire country. The book is set during the post Babri Masjid demolition times and how this one act of bravado by the BJP led kar sewaks made life miserable for so many of their Hindu brethrens living across the border in a predominantly Muslim country. Well that is gist, theme and story of the book, I am not going to talk any further about the story rather let’s talk about the ideas and settings of the novel per se.

Taslima depicts brilliantly the agony and pain of being a woman when hatred spreads or the virus of communalism rears its ugly visage. It’s the women who suffer the most and who more often then not are victims to gruesome acts of cruelty in the name of religion and God. She is assaulted not only physically but also emotionally and her very motherhood becomes a target for the mob. They would molest her and in the name of being the self-proclaimed votaries of religion they would force themselves upon her so that the next generation is born to their religion. The story of the Hindu girl in this novel talks about this same hatred, lajja or shame. One can draw a parallel between the girl of Taslima’s novel to that of the main protagonist, again a girl in Sadat Hasan Manto’s “Kali Sarwar”, the latter being set during partition times when communal frenzy was at its peak.

The gruesome depiction of communal hatred in both Manto and Taslima’s book through the medium of the exploitation of the women is indeed telling and painful. Every time the girl is molested she is per force converted to the religion that the perpetrators of the crime belong to, who feel they have fulfilled their moral responsibility by doing so. In the end the poor girl is just reduced to a bundle of flesh. The story is numbing and makes one abhorrent of what had happened then and now in the name of the pious religions we all swear allegiance to.

The question, which comes up then, is why are the so-called votaries of religion so disturbed by the bitter truth brought forth by a litterateur? Lajja could have been answered by another book countering it if they found the truths being espoused by the book so disturbing, but the fanatics who have no love for the written other then their religious tomes, declared Nasreen as a Kafir. Recent history is witness that when religious fanatics feel their authority challenged their impotence finds expression in a fatwa. Manto's Thanda Gosht, Gorky's Mother and Acharya Chatursen's islam ki vish vriksha received the same fate as Nasreen's writings. Can't voice be answered by a voice, and not a steam? Are we moving towards medieval times by issuing a death sentence, a fatwa? These are powerful questions on which each one of us should ponder and decide where are we heading in the name of religious intolerance, why is it that we need a Babri Masjid to happen or a Godhra or a Bombay riot every time in the name of religion.

The book is a powerful vehicle of the blatant truth and Taslima needs to be commended for the sheer grit and courage that she has shown against tremendous personal and emotional costs. The state has remained silent to all the atrocities and she has been forced to flee Bangladesh lest some fanatic killed her. One is reminded at once of the famous lines from Tagore, Jodi tor dak shune keu na ashe, tobe ekla cholo re (If no one comes to your support, plough a lonely furrow. With those words I end my review and I would recommend this book to one and all.

Questions

In the name of religion are we becoming butchers and barbarians in a different sense of the term, why do we need a Godhra or a Bombay riot or a Bhagalpur to realize how intolerant we have become?

Why is it that more often then not Islam, literal meaning peace is associated with such acts of intolerance? I have personally read the Quran, hadits and number of other Islamic scriptures, all they talk about is peace and brotherhood then where is this fanaticism getting force?

What could be the one solution for the ills of communalism and why do people who dare to speak against religion have to flee and take exile in other places?

P.S. Watch out for my next review on one of the best partition era writer Sadat Hasan Manto’s Toba Tek Singh

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