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The Taliban and I
About the Book
AN EXTRAORDINARY FIRST-PERSON ACCOUNT OF AN INDIAN BRIDE’S ENCOUNTER WITH THE TALIBAN
In September 2013, the body of a woman was found in the Paktika province of Afghanistan, riddled with twenty bullets. She was identified as Sushmita Bandyopadhyay from Kolkata. The story in the area was that she was killed by Taliban militants, although the organisation formally denied being involved. Subsequently, the police arrested two men suspected of killing her, both of them members of the Haqqani militant network. The murder marked the tragic and violent end of a story that began in the second half of the 1980s in the city of Kolkata, when she met, fell in love with, and finally married, in 1988, a man named Jaanbaz Khan. Jaanbaz was an itinerant door-to-door salesman from Afghanistan, one of many from that country who, have over the twentieth century, been known as Kabuliwallahs in India. Sushmita and Jaanbaz married in secret and escaped to Afghanistan. And this was where her encounters with the horrors described in this book began.
About the Author
Sushmita Bandyopadhyay married Afghan businessman Jaanbaz Khan in Calcutta in 1988 and moved to Afghanistan soon afterwards. The Taliban tried to subject her to the oppressive rules they had set for Afghan women, but she rebelled. In 1995 she risked her life to escape their clutches and return to Calcutta. She wrote the bestselling Kabuliwalar Bangali Bou (A Kabuliwala’s Bengali Wife) in 1997 and Mullah Omar, Taliban O Ami (Mullah Omar, the Taliban and I) in 2000. In 2013 she returned to Afghanistan, where she was killed, presumably by the Taliban.
About the Translator
Arunava Sinha translates classic, modern, and contemporary Bengali fiction and non-fiction from Bangladesh and India into English. He also translates fiction from English into Bengali. Over seventy of his translations have been published so far in India, the UK, and the USA. He has won India’s top translation prize, the Crossword Award for translated books, twice. He teaches at Ashoka University, where he is also the co-director of the Ashoka Centre for Translation and is the Books Editor at Scroll.in.
AN EXTRAORDINARY FIRST-PERSON ACCOUNT OF AN INDIAN BRIDE’S ENCOUNTER WITH THE TALIBAN
In September 2013, the body of a woman was found in the Paktika province of Afghanistan, riddled with twenty bullets. She was identified as Sushmita Bandyopadhyay from Kolkata. The story in the area was that she was killed by Taliban militants, although the organisation formally denied being involved. Subsequently, the police arrested two men suspected of killing her, both of them members of the Haqqani militant network. The murder marked the tragic and violent end of a story that began in the second half of the 1980s in the city of Kolkata, when she met, fell in love with, and finally married, in 1988, a man named Jaanbaz Khan. Jaanbaz was an itinerant door-to-door salesman from Afghanistan, one of many from that country who, have over the twentieth century, been known as Kabuliwallahs in India. Sushmita and Jaanbaz married in secret and escaped to Afghanistan. And this was where her encounters with the horrors described in this book began.
About the Author
Sushmita Bandyopadhyay married Afghan businessman Jaanbaz Khan in Calcutta in 1988 and moved to Afghanistan soon afterwards. The Taliban tried to subject her to the oppressive rules they had set for Afghan women, but she rebelled. In 1995 she risked her life to escape their clutches and return to Calcutta. She wrote the bestselling Kabuliwalar Bangali Bou (A Kabuliwala’s Bengali Wife) in 1997 and Mullah Omar, Taliban O Ami (Mullah Omar, the Taliban and I) in 2000. In 2013 she returned to Afghanistan, where she was killed, presumably by the Taliban.
About the Translator
Arunava Sinha translates classic, modern, and contemporary Bengali fiction and non-fiction from Bangladesh and India into English. He also translates fiction from English into Bengali. Over seventy of his translations have been published so far in India, the UK, and the USA. He has won India’s top translation prize, the Crossword Award for translated books, twice. He teaches at Ashoka University, where he is also the co-director of the Ashoka Centre for Translation and is the Books Editor at Scroll.in.
130 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 16, 2023
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About the author
Sushmita Bandhopadhyay
2 books15 followersSusmita Bandopadhyay AKA Sayeda Kamala was a writer and activist from India. Her works include the memoir Kabuliwalar Bangali Bou (A Kabuliwala's Bengali Wife; 1997) based on her experience of marrying an Afghan and her time in Afghanistan during Taliban rule. The story was used as the basis for the Bollywood film Escape from Taliban.
At the age of 49, she was killed by suspected Taliban militants during the evening of 4 September or in the early morning hours of 5 September 2013, outside her home in Paktika Province, Afghanistan
At the age of 49, she was killed by suspected Taliban militants during the evening of 4 September or in the early morning hours of 5 September 2013, outside her home in Paktika Province, Afghanistan
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 19, 2024
"The Taliban and I" is a captivating story by Arunava Sinha, detailing Sushmita Bandyopadhyay's experience with the Taliban in late 1980s Afghanistan. Bandyopadhyay's marriage to Afghan merchant Jaanbaz Khan in Calcutta in 1988 led to her being sent to the war-torn country. In September 2013, she was violently killed by Taliban insurgents. Sinha's translation captures the intensity of her story, providing a touching glimpse into her struggles and triumphs. The book serves as a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the resilience of those who reject Taliban rule.
February 18, 2024
Insightful, though the writing wasn't great.
February 27, 2024
I found the book very confusing. It was probably this edition but I couldn't understand the temporal counting of events.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews