Lajja,
the most controversial and best work by exile Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasrin is being translated by Anchita Ghatak
has hit the market earlier this year on its 20th anniversary
edition.
A savage indictment of religious extremism
and man’s inhumanity to man, Lajja was banned in Bangladesh, but became a
bestseller in the rest of the world. The Duttas—Sudhamoy and Kironmoyee, and
their children, Suranjan and Maya—have lived in Bangladesh all their lives.
Despite being members of a small, vulnerable Hindu community, they refuse to
leave their country, unlike most of their friends and relatives. Sudhamoy
believes with a naive mix of optimism and idealism that his motherland will not
let him down. And then, on 6 December 1992, the Babri Masjidis demolished. The
world condemns the incident, but its immediate fallout is felt most acutely in
Bangladesh, where Muslim mobs begin to seek out and attack Hindus. The nightmare
inevitably arrives at the Duttas’ doorstep, and their world begins to fall
apart.
