Lajja

by Taslima Nasrin

The Duttas - Sudhamoy, Kironmoyee, and their two children, Suranjan and Maya - have lived in Bangladesh all their lives. Despite being part of the country's small Hindu community, that is terrorized at every opportunity by Muslim fundamentalists, they refuse to leave their country, as most of their friends and relatives have done. Sudhamoy, an atheist, 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 Masjid at Ayodhya in India is demolished by a mob of Hindu fundamentalists. The world condemns the incident but its fallout is felt most acutely in Bangladesh, where Muslim mobs begin to seek out and attack the Hindus... The nightmare inevitably arrives at the Duttas' doorstep - and their world begins to fall apart.

Genres: Fiction, Bangladesh, Historical Fiction, India, Banned Books, Feminism, Politics

328 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Taslima Nasrin (Bengali: তসলিমা নাসরিন) is an award-winning Bangladeshi writer, physician, secular humanist and human rights activist, known for her powerful writings on women oppression and unflinching criticism of religion, despite forced exile and multiple fatwas calling for her death. Early in her literary career, she wrote mainly poetry, and published half a dozen collections of poetry between 1982 and 1993, often with female oppression as a theme. She started publishing prose in the early 1990s, and produced three collections of essays and four novels before the publication of her 1993 novel Lajja (Bengali: লজ্জা Lôjja), or Shame. Because of her thoughts and ideas she has been banned, blacklisted and banished from Bengal, both from Bangladesh and West Bengal part of India. Since fleeing Bangladesh in 1994, she has lived in many countries, and lives in United States as of July 2016. Nasrin has written 40 books in Bengali, which includes poetry, essays, novels and autobiography series. Her works have been translated in thirty different languages. Some of her books are banned in Bangladesh.'

Reviews

[Sidharth Vardhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

“A state with a national religion can easily become a religious state.”

This book has been given by Bangladesh government the highest honor that any government can ever give to any book – a ban. The book follows the story of one Sudhamay and his children Suranjan and Maya. The father and son have both been involved in nationalistic movements of Bangladesh and believe in their country. Sudhamay can’t stand the idea of leaving the country while his friends and relatives have – he even asks those who are about to leave whether they don’t feel ashamed of leaving their country in peril - and hence the title 'Shame'. All his life, he has compromised on his religious identity for sake of national identity.

The novel follows the disillusionment of this father and son about their country. What was born as a secular state has a Department of Religion which has a heavy budget almost all of which goes to promotion of Islam. A very nominal sum is allotted for minority religions – in fact four times that sum goes only to rehabilitation of those who chose to converted to Islam. Hindus in the country have declined from 22 % around 1951 to 8.5% in 2011 - the others, left, got killed or got converted. The schools have special Islamic classes which makes minority kids feel alienated. There is discrimination in job allocation with almost no Hindus ever making to upper steps of hierarchical ladder. Hindus don't get licences to start business except when it is in a partnership with a Muslim. There are several other ways in which the Hindus are discriminated, and both were aware of them, but if you are emotionally invested in some belief you hold on to it against much contrary evidence. To be fair, such discrimination is present in some degree in most of Indian subcontinent countries.

The book is set in the back-drop of riots that followed demolition of Babri Masjid. Nasrin is not afraid to call spades by their names – questioning both destroyers of Mosque (BJP, Hindu Vishav Parishad, RSS etc ) and indifference of ruling Congress. She often gives the death toll of riots in India. And that goes for Bangladeshi spades too - again questioning the communal party who was causing riots and secular ruling party which had maintained silence.

Obviously it was Hindus in India and not Bangladesh who were guilty of destroying mosque, but it has always been a tendency of weak minds to carry out their anger not on those who they are angry at, but on those on whom they can afford to be angry at. There are countless examples - instead of questioning powerful business-people and politicians for not raising wages and jobs, people would rather blame minorities, immigrants and reservation quotas; instead of being angry at police for not providing protection, people will rather blame the women who got raped for being out in the middle of night etc. And so, Bangladeshi Hindus had to suffer - destruction of temples, riots, murders, rapes, forced conversations, black-mail about leaving the country etc.

Suranjan doesn’t think that the word ‘riot’ describes what was happening in Bangladesh. The word ‘riot’ assumes a case of two sides fighting in each-other as in India where Muslims had replied to Hindu violence in kind, but in Bangladesh, Hindus had done nothing in reply and so it wasn’t riots, it was mass-murder.

Nasrin's characters realize that powerful will always oppress the weak – the men will oppress the women, the majority religion people will oppress the minorities, the rich will oppress the poor and so on.

The book sometimes reads like fictionalized non-fiction with arguments and information being the key subject of book and story only getting the second seat. Almost half the book goes to listing every incidence of riot that ever occurred in Bangladesh – naming city and number of people killed, women raped and temples destroyed there. She also lists at least some incidences of India. These longs lists although effective initially in giving the sheer volume of violence, soon gets a bit boring and even skim-able.

Another problem is that this incidences are being mentally listed by characters in their mind and orally recited to each-other, as if they have crammed all this information like news channels reporters do. But that is the problem, the information is not even being broadcast-ed on television – they just seems to know about incidences occurring in distant cities by intuition. It is a minor thing but it keeps occurring again and again. Similarly Surnajan seems to remember sayings of Jinnah and Kalam (okay) as well as the constitution along with the many amendments that have gone in it (not okay). It would have made more sense if the omniscient narrator herself had shared the information and arguments directly instead of giving her characters hard-disk memories.

Regarding disputed land, I've always believed like Suranjan that all religious places should be destroyed and houses for poor, orphanages, hospitals, schools etc- in short something actually useful should be built in their place, and if you have enough land for that already, sell the land and use the money for charitable purposes but am against destruction of worshipping place of one religion for building that of other.

Although I also had an Uncle who had another attractive, practical and secular idea as to what should be done to disputed land and if you were to extend the idea a little, it will solve all religious problems at once - his idea was to build a pub in that place, and both Hindus and Muslims would drink in the pub in complete communal harmony. I would rather make Alcohalism the sole religion for the whole world ... no, I'm not joking, just look at the benifits - conversions will be so far more intresting; every once a year we can line-up and kill all those teetotaller infidels, they are hardly living anyway; and for one month every year, people will drink nothing but drink alcohal. We shall baptise at age of five - by feeding the kid half a glass of Jack Martin, it will still be better than all the funny things religious people keep doing to their children. And if you consider it blasphemous, just look at evidence - Christ turned water into wine and gaveth it to people - I mean what does that tell you? Holy Grail wouldn't have been half as interesting if Jesus had drunk water from it - and what kind of rest you think God was having on seventh day? He obviously didnt go to church. Almost all Sufi poets talk about wine; and what do you think that 'somras' that Hindu dieties loved drinking so much was? Why, friends, it was just your every day Blenders Pride brewed with a lot of sugar at initial stages to give it a sweet taste. And Greeks and Romans actually had Gods of wine - Dionysus and Bacchus; who can easily serve for those into idol worship. Admit it, it is that one God that every religion worship - and being a deeply pious soul myself, it kills me to see how so many people miss the obvious truth. There are other benifits too, including the fact that making confessions are so far easier if you are drunk - and chances are if you are frequently drunk, you will have something real to confess about; wine comes in many brands and chances are you will like one brand or other and so it is far more attractive religion and above all, all religions offer their Utopias (otherwise called 'heavens' or 'paradise') only after death - I mean it's a life time of wait; and even that with a lot of stipulations as to what you can or can not do meanwhile; and they will give you a hell of time if you fail to fulfil them. Alcoholism is only religion that provides services of instant Utopia for price of a few bucks and a bit of hangover. And so, if you are wise enough to adhere my summons, then it is high time we replace priests with bartenders.

[Sawsan · Rating 3 out of 5]

رواية أثارت الكثير من الجدل والأزمات للكاتبة البنجلاديشية تسليمة نسرين
كتبتها بعد قيام الهندوس بهدم مسجد بابري في ولاية اوتار براديش الهندية عام 1992
وعلى أثر هذا الحدث تعرض الهندوس في بنجلاديش للاضطهاد والعنف والاعتداءات
تحكي الكاتبة عن 13 يوم في حياة أسرة هندوسية خلال هذه الفترة
اضطهاد طائفة من البشر بسبب حدث في بلد آخر لمجرد أن من قام به من نفس الطائفة
يدمر الهندوس المتعصبين المسجد في الهند فيُعاني الهندوس المسالمين في بنجلاديش
الكاتبة لم تهاجم الإسلام لكنها هاجمت الطائفية والعنف والظلم
أدانت اللاانسانية والخلل والتطرف الذي يحكم أفعال البشر في مختلف الطوائف
وعرضت نماذج مختلفة للفكر والمُعتقد والتصرفات بين الشخصيات

في المقدمة كتب المترجم عصام زكريا عن شبه القارة الهندية بعد استقلال الهند
وعن الصراعات السياسية والأحوال الاقتصادية في بنجلاديش

[Divya Darshani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lajja is a sharp response of Taslima Nasrin to anti-Hindu riots that erupted in Bangladesh, soon after the demolition of Babri Masjid in India.The demolition of Babri Masjid in India in 1992 causes ripples even across the border in Bangladesh. The Muslim fundamentalists, hurt by the demolition, decide to avenge by punishing the blameless Hindus of Bangladesh. Burning Hindu homes, vandalizing temples, looting businesses and shops run by Hindus, and 'raping' their women and girls becomes their method of taking revenge.

I do not believe in religions but still, to adjust in Indian society, I have to call myself a Hindu for the sake of others. But despite being a Hindu, I have NEVER criticized Islam. Islam gave the message of equality in society by rejected caste system and untouchability. By the way I do respect both the religions but at the same time I believe most in humanity. Why might we need religions? Is it because we need religion to be good? If we really need religion then why don't we name humanity as another name of religion? Everytime when Hindu-Muslim or those who spread violence stay away from the grip of violence and blameless people become victims of this violence.

LAJJA DOES NOT SPEAK OF RELIGION, IT SPEAKS ABOUT HUMANITY.....

Like me everyone who believes in humanity and is against religions should definitely read Lajja. I know it would be boring in most parts for some of you but you should keep aside those parts and must focus on the main theme.
🙂🙂

[Elsa Rajan Pradhananga · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1971, East Pakistan was liberated from West Pakistan at the cost of millions of lives and Bangladesh was founded based on the principles of nationalism, secularism, democracy and socialism. But when power returned to fundamentalists the democracy had become too weak to arrest the spread of communalism and in 1988, Islam was declared the national religion of Bangladesh. Fearing religious persecution, genocide and communalism, Bangladeshi Hindus fled to India in hoards and those that chose to stay back, gave up the practice of wearing religious symbols like shankha bangles, sindoor and dhuti that could give them away.

In December 1992 the 16th century Babari Masjid in far away Ayodhya, India was demolished by Hindu fundamentalists in the presence of officers of CRPF, PAC and UP police force and politicians of the BJP, RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal. This led to riots that spread across various Indian cities like Mumbai, Surat, Ahmedabad, Kanpur, Delhi and Bhopal and reverberations were felt in Bangladesh where Hindus bore the brunt. Taslima Nasrin’s Lajja is the story of a Bangladeshi Hindu family of four and how their lives changed across 13 days since the riot broke out in their city.

Suranjan shared the optimism of his father Dr. Sudhamoy but his mother Kiranmoy had given up long ago when the rest of her family moved to India and her husband’s idealism and patriotism wouldn’t let him leave his homeland. Nilanjana – the daughter of the family was practical but emotionally bound to her family. Immediately following the demolition of the Babari Masjid, religious fanaticism exploded out of control in Bangladsesh. Hundreds of temples and monasteries were razed to the ground, homes and businesses looted and incinerated, women raped and several people killed. These have been tastelessly listed out by random characters in the novel or enumerated as bullet points throughout the book. the story appear to have drowned in the factual data presentation but for a novel that the author probably tried to keep as real as possible, it would be unfair to comment that the story line seemed week. Lajja is indeed a documentation of collective defeat and portrays the incomprehensiveness of religious extremism, mob mentality and heinous crimes men are capable of inflicting on each other.

It is said that peace is the basic tenet of all religion. Yet it is in the name of religion that there has been so much disturbance, bloodshed and persecution. Flying the flag of religion has always proved the easiest way to crush human beings and the spirit of humanity to nothingness.

[Jerry Jose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Babri Masjid demolition, under whatever justifications, is undoubtedly the single greatest failure of our democracy and secularism. While it spiked communal unrest in India, immediate butterfly effect was visible somewhere else, someplace that shares the same secular values, at Bangladesh.

Author claims to have written this novel over a week of religious unrest, which escalated into demolition of century old temples and violence against minority Hindus, in retaliation to what happenings in India. Lajja tells the story of a Hindu family, torn between their love towards lush green motherland they and their ancestors fought Independence for, and the choice of escape to India for the safety of their lives. Protagonist himself isn’t a practicing Hindu, in-fact he is shown as someone who identifies himself more in the company of his muslim friends. But the circumstances, silent State comply on violence, second status in his own country on grounds of an ideology he doesn’t necessarily upheld, gradually contaminate his rational thoughts with anger, frustration and eventual hatred towards Muslims, which he almost succumbs to.

Nasreen uses the characters as reader’s surrogates for understanding the minority population decline and migration to India, from partition to liberation of Bangladesh in 1971. But secularism in the new found nation was a grey line, or it became one over time, with the declaration of Islam as state religion and rapid Islamisization of institutions. Through the thoughts and words of the hero, she subtly addressees the politics of language, how the streets and institutions were renamed, and how the ones that retained their old Hindu names were reduced to acronyms.Those who left the country to escape prosecution found their properties acquired by State under the pretext of ‘Enemy Property Act’. It is easy to understand this book getting banned, for her active criticisms against Awami League, BJP, RSS and other communal political coalitions on their vote mongering hate politics, is very visible.

Lajja wasn’t an easy read; facts presided fiction in most pages. And the scariest part is, the relevance this book still holds, even after a decade of the pogrom, in a world we proudly call modern.

[Deepa Ranganathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Highly exhaustive in terms of its analysis of factual inputs. Was hoping for more story-telling than facts thrown at my face (however important they may be). A read for those who prefer non-fiction-alized read of historical narratives. Sadly, I'm not one of them.

[Arupratan · Rating 2 out of 5]

দেশের মাহাত্ম্যের কথা জানিনা, ধর্মের মাহাত্ম্যের কথা জানিনা। কিন্তু দেশ এবং ধর্মের নামে মানুষের উপর মানুষের অত্যাচারকে, অপমানকে, খুব ভালো করেই উপলব্ধি করতে পারি।

দেশ আর ধর্ম বায়বীয় বিষয়, কিন্তু মানুষ তৈরি হয় রক্ত-মাংস-হাড়-স্নায়ু-চেতনা দিয়ে। দেশকে শুয়োরের বাচ্চা বলে গালি দিলে দেশ ভেউ ভেউ করে কাঁদতে বসে না (উপন্যাসের একটি চরিত্র নিজের দেশকে এই গালিটি দিয়েছেন)। কিন্তু ঘরবাড়ি পুড়িয়ে দিলে মানুষের কেমন লাগে? নিজেদের পবিত্র উপাসনাস্থল ভেঙে দিলে মানুষের কেমন লাগে? জাত তুলে গালি দিলে মানুষের কেমন লাগে? নিজের মা-বোনের গণধর্ষণ হলে মানুষের কেমন লাগে?

উপমহাদেশের মানুষের দুর্ভাগ্য, রাজনীতি আর ক্ষমতা নিয়ে ব্যবসা করা কতিপয় হারামজাদার হাতবাক্স সেই ইংরেজ আমল থেকে সাধারণ মানুষকে দোহন করে আসছে— দেশ এবং ধর্মের সেন্টিমেন্টকে ব্যবহার কোরে। "দেশভক্তি" টপিক নিয়ে নানান কিসিমের নাটক চলছে ভারতে। ভালোই বুঝি বাংলাদেশেও চলছে। একই গুয়ের গন্ধ ডানদিক থেকে শোঁকা আর বাঁ দিক থেকে শোঁকা। গু তো গু-ই।

মসজিদ ভাঙে এই দেশে, মাজা ভাঙে বাংলাদেশের হিন্দুদের। সেই মসজিদভাঙা পার্টির লোক এখন প্রধানমন্ত্রী হয়েছেন। তিনি আজকে একুশ কোটি মুসলিম জনসংখ্যার দেশের নির্বাচিত সর্বোচ্চ জনপ্রতিনিধি। কিন্তু একদা প্রকাশ্য জনসভায় মুসলিম সম্প্রদায়ের উদ্দেশ্যে টিটকিরি মেরেছিলেন : "হাম পাঁচ, হামারা পচ্চিশ" (মুসলমানরা চারটে শাদি করে, তাই "আমরা পাঁচজন", আর মুসলমানরা অনেক বাচ্চা পয়দা করে তাই "আমাদের সন্তান পঁচিশটা")।

বাবরি মসজিদ ধ্বংস হওয়ার পরে বাংলাদেশের সংখ্যালঘু হিন্দু জনগোষ্ঠীর উপরে সংঘটিত অত্যাচারের ঘটনা নিয়ে উপন্যাস লিখতে গিয়ে অসীম সাহসের পরিচয় দিয়েছেন তসলিমা নাসরিন। সাম্প্রতিক ভারতে কোনো হিন্দু নারী-সাহিত্যিক মুসলমানদের দুঃখ কষ্ট দুর্ভাবনাকে নিয়ে উপন্যাস লেখার সাহস দেখিয়েছেন কি?

যদিও এভাবে তুলনা করা উচিত নয়। সাহস কোনো তুল্যমূল্য বিচার করার বস্তু নয়। তাছাড়া ভারতবর্ষ বোধহয় আরও অনেক জটিল দেশ। এই দেশে অন্য ধর্মের মানুষের হস্তক্ষেপের প্রয়োজন হয় না। উঁচু জাতির হিন্দুরাই নিচু জাতির হিন্দুদের বাঁশ দ্যায় নিয়মিত। সেই নিচু জাতির হিন্দুরা আবার তাদের চেয়ে যারা আরেকটু নিচু, তাদের দ্যায়। এইভাবে ক্রমশ নিম্নতর পর্যায়ে দেওয়াদেয়ি চলতে থাকে। জারা হাটকে, জারা বাঁচকে, ইয়ে হ্যায় ইন্ডিয়া মেরি জান!

কিন্তু আলোচ্য এই উপন্যাসটা গুছিয়ে লিখতে পারেননি তসলিমা। একটা জরুরি বিষয় নিয়ে লিখতে গিয়ে বড্ডো বেশি মোটাদাগের অভিব্যক্তি দেখিয়ে ফেলেছেন। চরিত্রগুলো খাপছাড়া, লক্ষ্যহীন। কাহিনিটা এলোমেলো। সম্ভবত উপন্যাসটা লেখার সময় তিনি নিজেই খুব "হাইপার" হয়ে ছিলেন। পারিপার্শ্বিক উত্তপ্ত ঘটনা চাক্ষুষ করলে যেকোনো সংবেদনশীল মানুষই হাইপার হয়ে যাবেন, এটা ঠিক কথা।

কিন্তু সাহিত্যিকরা তো সাধারণ মানুষ নন। উপন্যাস লেখার সময় তারা এরকম ল্যাজেগোবরে হয়ে গেলে উপন্যাসের উদ্দেশ্য সিদ্ধ হয়না। একটা ভীষণ গুরুত্বপূর্ণ বিষয় নিয়ে একটা নিম্নমানের উপন্যাস লিখেছেন তসলিমা নাসরিন। তবু তাঁর সাহসের কথা চিন্তা করে তাঁকে ধন্যবাদ জানাই।

[Vidhi Chheda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Taslima Nasrin, narrates a agonizing description of a country immersed in religious and political conflict. The pain suffered within your country but still loving it.

When you read it, Sudhamoy's optimism about Bangladesh is infuriating. You want to shake him up and say look at the reality and stop being so ideal. But at the same time you still understand his love for the country for which Hindus and Muslims together fought for independence. Even after what happened to him, he continues to love his country.

What makes me extremely sad is that at the end of the book, they have to sneak out of their own houses like thieve, dejected and without any hope.

[Aditya Kelekar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thirsting for my motherland's love

In the winter of 1994, shortly after Lajja was released, I remember participating in a Quiz contest and being asked to name the author of Lajja. I had answered correctly: Taslima Nasreen. It was two years then since the Babri Masjid had been demolished, but I hadn't known of any connection between the demolition and the book. In fact, it is only now on reading Lajja, a good twenty years since the book was launched, that I found out how the demolition of Babri Masjid had wrecked the lives of thousands of residents of Bangladesh.

Lajja (meaning 'shame') is a novel set in Bangladesh and revolves around the life of a Hindu family, the Duttas. Sudhamoy and his wife, Kiranmoyee, have raised their children, Suranjan and Maya, to think of all religions as equal. But it's an unequal country. Once firmly swearing to the tenets of secularism, policy makers in Bangladesh have over the course of years become increasingly supportive of Muslim fundamentalists. State money has been channeled to build mosques and madrasas preaching Islam have mushroomed.

At every bend, Sudhamoy and his family suffer humiliation as a result of anti-minority policies crafted by the lawmakers, but Sudhamoy never once thinks about leaving his land. He loves his country and his countrymen too much for that. Droves of Sudhamoy's relatives leave for India for good to escape persecution by Muslim thugs, but Sudhamoy, who is trained in medicine, is content to earn a modest sum working as a doctor in his own country. Indeed, the wellspring of love for one's motherland is deep and unremitting.

When the story starts, it is the winter of 1992 and the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya, a place in Northern India, has been demolished in India by fanatic Hindus, with no connection to the Hindus of Bangladesh. Yet, the fact that Hindus destroyed the Masjid is reason enough for Muslim fundamentalists in Bangaldesh to inflict a spate of atrocities against the minority Hindu population. Even as homes of Hindu families go up in flames, temples are demolished and hundreds of Hindus are murdered, Sudhamoy holds steadfast to the hope that normalcy will return and sense will prevail.

The story is told as events unfold the way they are seen through the eyes of Suranjan, Sudhamoy's son. Father and son share the same nationalistic spirit, but Suranjan, who lacks discipline and focus, has turned into a loafer. When news of the atrocities committed on Hindus flood in and Suranjan has a first-hand experience of how Hindus are regarded as second-class citizens, his faith in his fellow men is swept away.

But Suranjan doesn't have our sympathies yet. When his father suffers a serious stroke, he does little to provide relief by way of words or constructive action. On the contrary, his sister Maya is engrossed in nursing their father back to health. As a reader you resign yourself to the thought that Suranjan is cut out to be a lame actor on this stage while Sudhamoy and his wife play their part of caring parents accepting their son's shortcomings.

And then the real trouble comes home, thrash everything around with brute force. Dutta's daughter, Maya, is abducted by rioters when they barge in to demolish their house. It is heart-breaking.

All through the first part of the story, you have seen Suranjan visiting friends, squandering his time. It's only now that you see him rise up to the occasion, and do what his role in the family demands. Hysteric, he spends days and nights combing through the town hoping to find his sister. Your heart goes out to him. Suranjan can no longer look at any Muslim without suspicion. The violence around continues unabated... but you just want Maya to come home. You want to cling to that hope that, no matter what the family has gone through, Maya will return and "everything will be all right."

The cover of the book has a lady pulling her dress across a part of her face. The expression is of dread, and one dare say, of hope. She is with other ladies and all of them appear to face a similar fate. I thought maybe the lady is Maya, held captive at some place, and thinking of a possible escape route. Maya was in my subconscious throughout while reading the book and she continues to be in my mind.

Lajja is a honest book and tells a heart-wrenching story of a family beaten up, but unwilling to give up. It's also a story of a nation that has betrayed its people. And of religions whose only purpose seems to be to divide people. That the book was banned in large parts of our subcontinent goes to prove that we have thrown introspection out of the window. That we have no lajja.

[Kristi · Rating 1 out of 5]

The true shame is found in the fact that this vitally important topic is lost in the pedantic, repetitive recitation of the horrors inflicted upon the Hindu Bangladeshi by Muslims – pages and pages and pages of the stuff. After a while, the brain glazes over and refuses to absorb any more. It’s so sad that the message is lost, and so unnecessary. I read the book cover to cover, hoping that there would be some redeeming factor, but what little story there was appeared to be merely an excuse to loosely link pages and pages of wrongs. Poorly executed, detrimental to the cause even though the cause is valid. What a shame.

[Shreya Vaid · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I was fourteen years old when I first picked up a battered second-hand copy of Lajja (Shame) by Taslima Nasrin in a bookstore. And then I heard a voice of a friend, saying that I should not read such "controversial" books. Back home, I asked my mother what was Lajja, and she said: "It's a great book, but messes up your mind to a certain extent". And after reading Lajja, I think she was right, it does messes up with your mind but in a positive manner.

Few weeks back I visited Baharison's bookseller in Khan Market with Puneet, where again I picked up the copy of Lajja. And decided, it's time to revisit this controversial text that shows how one event across the border can affect many. Event: When Babri Masjid was demolished and after effects being what happened in Bangladesh. From last two days I've been devouring this book, satiating my curiosity as to why Taslima Nasrin, the writer, was shunned, a Fatwa was charted out for her and she was driven out of her homeland.

The above lines are from Sudhamoy's soul, an affluent and respectable physician, who is now lying in bed, thinking that what changed his homeland? And should he really move out of Bangladesh and go to India for his family's safety? After the demolition of Babri Masjid by Kar Sevaks, the ripples of communal riots can also be seen in Bangladesh. And this is not the first time Sudhamoy is witnessing something like this. Two years back, he remembers how his son, Suronjon, picked up everyone in the family and took shelter in a Muslim neighborhood when communal riots threatened their life.

Sudhamoy believes that Bangladesh is his country, where he lived his whole life and will die also in it's arm. His forefathers were a part of this land, he himself fought for the liberation of this country, but at what cost? Tortured and almost killed in camps, Sudhamoy returns back as a ghost. But he still doesn't give up on Bangladesh. He still believes that the country one day will accept as he is, as a Hindu living without fear in his homeland.

The same thought system has been instilled in his son Suronjon. But after demolition of Babri Masjid and inhuman killings on the streets of Bangladesh, Suronjon's views are changing rapidly. He feels threatened and alienated. He observes that he is not in his country anymore, where he could roam around freely. Sudhamoy, in the end, gives into Suronjon's demand to move out of Bangladesh, but at what cost? Their discussions and deliberations cause such a delay that Suronjon's sister Maya, the sanest and rational voice in the story, is abducted from their home, right in front of her parents. Maya's mother, Kironmoyee tries to save her, throwing herself at the abductees, but all in vain. While Suronjon was out in streets, fighting his ideals, his sister was being raped and eventually murdered in the same streets where they both once played.

The crumbling of Maya's character can be sensed from the very beginning of Lajja, but it comes so swiftly that it leaves you stunned. You feel the loss of a character that at first, seemed kinda extra, but leaves a heavy impact on your mind. Hardly many of us come across stories of horrors from these communal riots, but when they do come to light, it is hard for us to believe that fellow humans could turn into such animals. That how, religion can convert some people into monsters!

The most striking feature of Lajja is Suronjon's internal struggle of what he believes and what he is witnessing. A man who believed that both the communities can live peacefully together now witnesses only death and destruction. Something, that many of us feel today when we come across such incidents. The only thing that Suronjon can burn in his country is his books, that contributed towards his idealism, an idealism that is now shattered and in ruins.


When you read Lajja, it challenges your thought process. At times you will feel sheer hatred towards the crime committed against a specific sect, and at times you feel pity towards humans who take religion above everything else in this world. After reading Lajja, I am not surprised that Nasrin was shoved out of her own country. In an article in the Scroll, Nasrin clearly states that '''Lajja' reminds Bangladesh that it failed to protect Hindus''. The book undoubtedly is controversial but is also an important part of a history that needs to be revisited again, so that communal riots like these can be avoided.

Read more http://scroll.in/article/679203/lajja...

Lajja is not a book that can be read and kept in your closet, it's a reminder that needs to looked into before it's too late. It's a timeless classic that needs to be read more, to understand the plight of countries fighting over religion, and how we can retain idealism of people who give importance to humanity over religion.

[Dr Amit Srivastava · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in my late teenage. That time it was sounding like a total fiction to me. But by knowing the realities of the Muslim fanatics of Pakistan and Bangladesh later, I guess it was much lesser than reality. This novel tells about the miserable lives of Hindus in Bangladesh. The way ISIS has been treating non-muslim women, the Lajja can be story of non-Muslim women in almost every muslim country. The mindset of Muslim predators is explained in the story line. The helplessness of Hindu women (Kafir in Muslim land) is narrated. One must read it to understand the present and past of Indian subcontinent. Our official history removes such gruesome details for suit their political agenda. But truth must be told. I salute the courage of Taslima for telling the truth in best way.

[Tahani Shihab · Rating 4 out of 5]

.في كل دول العالم تُعاني الأقلية الدينية إضطهاد من الأغلبية، وهذه الرواية تُلقي الضوء على هذه الفئة

[Sethu · Rating 4 out of 5]

A devastating account of the demolition of Babri Masjid in India and its inhumane reverberations in the lives of millions of Hindus in Bangladesh. What begins as a slow paced story spirals into a heartbraking account once the violence hits the protagonist and his family.

The factual data presented throughout the book may dwindle the reader's interest, however, this is justified by the motif to bring into light the intensity of the massacre which was condoned (so says the book) by the bangladesh government despite it claiming to have a secular constitution.

The spread of this fundamentalist-driven mayhem across international boundaries proves that religious fanaticism presides nationalism. Otherwise, why would the Bangla Islamic extremists decide to kill their own hindu brethren for demolition of Babri Masjid in India by Indian Hindus? Of course, not all are extremists, but one is enough to wreak havoc.

Let the edifices of religions crumble, let a blind fire consume all the bricks in temples, mosques gurdwaras and churches, and on those ruins let us grow enchanting Gardens of sweet-smelling flowers and build schools and libraries. Let places of worship be used for the good of people and be turned into hospitals, orphanages, schools and universities. Our new places of worship should be academies of art and culture, centers of creativity and Institutes of scientific research. Let the rice fields with golden grain bathed by the early rays of sun, the open field and rivers and the deep sea be our new places of prayer. Let humanity be the other name for religion.

The book is a laudable work of courage, and it lifts the smoke screen from the pretentious secularism to reveal inequality and fascist fundamentalism. It exposes the shame of a country. Lajja.

[Meaghan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Whatever this book may be as a sociopolitical statement, it makes a remarkably poor novel. I basically skimmed through it after 50 pages or so. All the characters talked like newspapers. The story should have been suspenseful, especially after Maya's abduction, but I couldn't bring myself to care about either the fate of the Dutta family or the Hindu/Muslim problem at large. Frankly, I was bored stiff by this book. Maybe I am just not the right audience.

[Kinjal Parekh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author Taslima Nasrin wrote this book in just seven days. This book is a brutal and honest description of what religious extremism can cause if not controlled. The story is full of true incidents and facts which actually happened in Bangladesh in the form of conversation among the characters.

The violence which raged there legit broke my heart! In fact, that would be an understatement. It made me cry. Especially the last final pages of the book made me questions the existance of religion, humans - women and men to be precise. How can humans be so inhuman towards their own fellow human!? And how brave is Taslima Nasrin who wrote this novel and went on to publish it with a firm stand even after she had received death threats for this work of her's.

I can't even imagine what people might have gone through when they saw their house being looted, set on fire. When they saw their wife and daughters being kidnapped and raped on the name of religious revenge.
How people might have spent restless nights with a hope that their kidnapped daughter would come home some day and that they would not kill her atleast. If only that could happen.

The book was published in 1993 in Bangladesh and sold over 60k copies before it got banned by government for the reasons being that it led to 'violation' and that it was disturbing communal peace.

Quotes -
• It is said that peace is the basic tenet of all religion. Yet it is in the name of religion that there has been so much disturbance, bloodshed and persecution. It is indeed a pity that even at the close of the twentieth century we've had to witness such atrocities because of religion. Flying the flag of religion has always proved the easiest way to crush to nothingness human beings as well as the spirit of humanity.
• Let humanity be the other name for religion.

[Tariq Mahmood · Rating 1 out of 5]

Taslima has tried to focus on the ugly spectre of communalism in Bangladesh after the Baburi masjid demolition in India. The plight of a Hindu family is presented against the backdrop of Islamic fundamentalism with occasional references to real instances of communal violence in Bangladesh. The story itself was pretty ordinary with lame dialogue and a lot of repetition. I struggled to finish the book as the story dragged over the same points over and over again. Secularism is the answer in Indian subcontinent but in an impoverished society where resources are scarce and development opportunities few, how do you promote secularism over opportunism? Taslim I am afraid has not really explored any ways of addressing this issue choosing instead to plainly list the atrocities resulted by the rise of fundamentalism.

All in all, she could have covered the whole topic in less than ten pages instead of writing a whole book. I am pretty disappointed with the result.

[Ankit Saxena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Taslima Nasrin’s Lajja is a deeply provocative and bold novel that explores themes of religious intolerance, communal violence, and the human cost of societal divisions. Set against the backdrop of the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition in India, the novel offers a powerful narrative on the condition of the Hindu minority in Bangladesh, a country where religious persecution and violence between Hindus and Muslims remain ever-present.

At its core, Lajja is a story of the persecution and trauma faced by a Hindu family—one that becomes a symbol of the suffering of the larger Hindu community in a Muslim-majority Bangladesh. One of the central character, a Hindu girl named Maya , is a poignant symbol of the struggles of Hindus in the region. She faces both personal and social persecution after the communal riots, which were sparked by the destruction of the Babri Masjid in India. The Hindu community as shown in the novel, projected the real face of Bangladesh which was then and even now completely against the minority Hindu community and consistently persecuting them all one by one. Hindus who were and are the innocent victims of violence and hate, keep reducing in number by ethnic cleansing, either by forced conversions, brutalities like assaults and rapes and usurping of their possessed properties.

One of the strongest aspects of Lajja is its unapologetic portrayal of the ways in which the Hindu community is targeted and marginalized. The Hindu are shown, for real, as helpless in the face of systematic discrimination and brutal acts of violence such as rape, arson, and forced displacement. The narrative reveals the painful reality of religious minorities being denied basic rights, facing threats and enduring constant fear. It is the Hindu community that bears the brunt of communal violence, enduring not just physical harm but emotional and psychological trauma as well.

Nasrin’s portrayal of this injustice can be seen as a critique of the failures of both the state and the wider society in protecting vulnerable minorities. Nasrin focuses on the absence of humanist decency among fanatics in 'Lajja'. This novel paints a vivid picture of a society where religious intolerance is rampant and where Hindus are rendered powerless and invisible. Through the story of Maya and her family, Nasrin makes a compelling case for the recognition of the suffering and hardships faced by Hindus, mainly their women folks, often silenced by larger political narratives. Some young Muslim fanatics abduct Maya from their house and raped her. Nasrin depicts in here that how women have been sexually harassed, abducted and subjected to many kinds of tortures which even ends with their deaths. Author demonstrates in deep for how the abduction of Hindu girls is so common in Bangladesh and how the Jihadists do not have any kind of fear. Whenever they wished, they can abduct any Hindu women and rape them brutally. It was projected by media that there were riots started in Bangladesh after Babri Masjid's demolition in India. But for facts, as also shown through Suronjon's POV that riots happen when both parties involved attack each other but here Hindus were assaulted on by Islamist fundamentalists. The babri masjid was just a pretext but this ethnic cleansing of Hindus already started way before Bangladesh's liberation in 1971 by Pakistan's Army and that continued by leftover Islamic contactors of Jihad.

To quote as is from book, "Riots are not floods, where you can move people away from the water and danger and get them something to eat and be done with it. Riots are not like a fire where you can put out the flames and be safe. During a riot, human beings put their humanity on hold. During riots, all the toxins in people's minds are released. A riot is not an act of nature nor it is an accident. Riots are a distortion of humanness."

Nasrin didn’t sugarcoat the truth. She pulled no punches in depicting the raw, ugly realities Hindus faced in a Muslim-majority nation. The mob violence, the arson, the sexual assault, the loss of ancestral homes—these were not mere events of a distant past. These were the reality that tore through the lives in waves, leaving each Hindu Bangladeshi Nationalist with nothing but amplifying trauma and fear. Taslima painted a bleak picture of a world in which Hindu community, like Dattas, were forced to flee their homes, live in exile and to endure daily threats to their lives. In this book, Datta family was not merely a bunch of characters, but in addition, a symbol of all the Hindus who have been victimized, crushed under the weight of communal violence and whose voices have been silenced by the powerful forces of hatred.

The worst part was not the physical violence alone, but the humiliation, the degradation that we faced simply because we were Hindus. We were forced to hide who we were. Our temples were desecrated, our homes ransacked, our dignity stripped away in front of our eyes. Even our neighbors, whom we had known for years, turned on us, driven by a deep-rooted, blind hatred. This was the world I woke up to every day—a world where we were hunted down, not because of who we were as individuals, but because of our religion.

At times, Lajja may seem to lean heavily on the idea of Hindu victimhood, but this focus is essential for understanding the larger historical and social context. The novel doesn’t shy away from presenting the deep wounds inflicted on the Hindu community, making it impossible for readers to ignore the reality of their suffering. In a way, Lajja serves as an important reminder that the oppression of any community—whether Hindu or otherwise—has far-reaching consequences that affect not just the present, but the future of society as a whole.

Suranjan , a simple Bengali man who believed in being atheist first over his Hindu identity by his birth and involved in the events he measured to be the effective ones for the revolutionary changes for his own country Bangladesh, began to consider himself a Hindu (because even his friends started to count him one instead of just a native and friend) and he revengefully raped a Muslim prostitute named Shamima to make believe that might this be helpful in coping with his psychological disorder to understand that no one counts him and other Hindus as Bangladeshi citizen but only a Hindu. He made to forgot his very humanistic ideals.

Sudhamoy , who even after facing so much still wanted to live in his birth county, Bangladesh and Haplessly believed that justice might prevail sometime just because he is a Bangladeshi Citizen too. One, who once held his head high, was forced to shrink into the shadows for the fear of his life and his family. He counted himself and equal citizen like Muslims of the country and thus was not ashamed of being a Hindu, nor did he ashamed of his suffering. But in the last page conversation, he felt betrayed by the world that chose to look the other way, though he felt a deep sense of solidarity with those who, like him, have had to endure the unthinkable. His story or say his family's story, is a powerful reflection of the pain Hindus across Bangladesh have felt for decades—caught between the forces of religious extremism and political apathy.

Kironmoyee , when finally screamed with endurance in last, it sounded me like she was saying, 'As a Hindu woman, I have faced rejection, scorn and violence because of my religion. My people have been reduced to mere targets in a political game that we never asked to be part of. As I sit in the small, humble room of our house, recalling the events that have shattered our lives, I feel a deep sense of sorrow and helplessness. It is not just my story, or my family's, but also the story of every Hindu in this land who has suffered at the hands of religious intolerance. I, Kironmoyee Datta, a woman who once lived a peaceful life with my husband and children, now find myself grappling with the reality of a world turned upside down by hate.'

Before the tragedy struck, Dattas lived as a simple, peaceful Hindu family in Bangladesh, trying to live their lives with dignity and love for each other not just in family and community but in complete society as even ones. But one incident which was not even happened in the state, changed everything. The assaults that followed were not just a series of violent acts; but were a message to every Hindu, reminding them of their fragility in this Islamic majority land which was supposed to be their home too. It was as if the very essence of Dattas' existence was under siege, and they like rest of the Hindus were nothing more than helpless bystanders in the face of an overwhelming tide of hatred.
As I reflect on the events of those terrible days, I can’t help but feel the deep pain that came with watching my people—my community—be victimized in the most brutal and dehumanizing ways. The frustration of being voiceless in a society that judges you for who you are is very suffocating. This novel captures the anguish of the Hindu community as we struggle to survive in an atmosphere of rising hostility.

Taslima Nasrin’s writing in Lajja is stark, uncompromising and deeply emotional. Her direct style ensures that the reader must confronted with uncomfortable truths about religious hatred and intolerance against Hindus in Muslim majority Countries. While the novel deals with difficult and painful topics, it also acts as a call for justice and tolerance, advocating for a world where no community has to live in fear simply because of their religion. That, Hindus are not merely some faceless statistics in a political debate, but the real people with lives, with families, with dreams and with unbiased future too. It is a testament to their sufferings.

In conclusion, Lajja is a powerful, heart-wrenching portrayal of the struggles faced by Hindus in Bangladesh. Nasrin’s ability to capture the essence of their pain, their victimhood, and their fight for survival is remarkable. This novel stands as a testament to the enduring spirit of those who faced oppressions and serves as a reminder of the importance of protecting human dignity and freedom, regardless of religion. Author might have written Lajja (Shame) but it felt like my own life and the life of every Hindu who has been targeted, that breathes life into its words.
We are not just victims of the past. We are victims of a present that continues to silence our cries for justice. Lajja is a big call for recognition, a plea for understanding. It is a reminder that the Hindu community, once an integral part of this Akhand Bharat, now struggles to survive under the shadow of hatred in its disintegrated land which gone under political disheavels in the hands of Islamic radical fundamentalists, be it Pakistan or Bangladesh. And as I sit here, I can only hope that through this book, the world will see the truth of our suffering and the need for compassion and justice for all who are oppressed. The wounds will surely never fully heal, but through the telling of our story, we can find the courage to speak out, to fight back and perhaps—one day—yes, one day--to rebuild a world where no one has to live in fear simply because of the faith they were born into. The world that Hindus built for all when no religion or caste or tribe present but only Sanatan sect Hinduism.

[Fadillah · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Ironically, all religions point towards one goal - peace. Yet it is in the name of religion that there has been so much unrest and lack of peace. So much blood that has been shed and so many people have sufferred. It is indeed a pity that even at the close of the twentieth century we’ve had to witness such atrocities, all in the name of religion. Flying the flag of the religion has always proved the easiest way to crush to nothingness human beings, as well as the the spirit of humanity”.
- Lajja, Taslima Nasrin.
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First of all, Kudos to Taslima Nasrin for writing this novel to highlight the injustice that has been done towards Hindus Minority in Bangladesh after the demolition of Babri Mosque in Ayodhya on 6 December 1992. Despite having no connection with the VHP, the BJP and 150,000 volunteers (kar sevaks) aside from having the same religion, they have been enduring religious persecution and genocide. I am not surprised to know that After Lajja was published, many Islamic fundamentalists has threatened her life and she was forced to exile her own country and escaped to Sweden. For those who are not familiar with Babri Mosque History, the dispute has begun since the 19th century. Both Hindus and Muslims claimed that it belonged to them. For Hindus, the mosque previously built on the pre-existing temple land and For Muslims, because it was built in 1528 by general Mir Baqi, on the orders of the Mughal emperor Babur. Despite government intervention and order, none managed to stop what happened to Babri Mosque in 1992. This alone sparked a series of communal violence across Indian subcontinent which brought us to the main characters , The Duttas (Sudhamoy, Kironmoyee, Suranjan and Maya) in Bangladesh.
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The book itself was not an easy read. Taslima held nothing back in her writing. Although it was fictional but all the incidents and statisticsl description is real. In chapter 2 alone, Sudhamoy recalled for about 4 pages of real life events of what his community has endured being a minority in his own country. Rape, murder, land takeover, forced exile, you named it, everything was in the list. The same format is repeated by Suranjan, when he recalled how many Hindu temples has been destroyed in communal violence across Bangladesh. All of this is written in details manner as to educate the readers that this has been going for years and no one bats an eye on it. The resemblance of how post 9/11 treated muslims all over the world is similar to what Babri Mosque Demolition done to Hindu Minority across Indian Subcontinent is uncanny. Dicrimination, Racism and Hate crime is simply part of the baggage one must carry due to which religion they belonged to. Before i forget, I would like to thank the translator, Tutul Gupta for translating this gem from Bengali to English. There’s no awkward transition while reading this, at least not that i know of.
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The plot for the book is simple but impactful, brilliant but heart wrenching. It explored the Dutta’s perspectives which is via Sudhamoy , Kironmonyee, Suranjan and Maya. Sudhamoy voices brought us into his own experience, from Bangladesh Independence from Pakistan, Bengali Identity and his undying love and loyalty to his own country. Despite being pushed to move around due to his religion, he is so adamant in staying and possibly die in Bangladesh. Suranjan, on the other hands, grew up among muslims, has a muslim friends and even muslim lover. He sees no differences among his friends and refused to worship the idols. However, Babri Mosque Demolition changed something in him and the way he looked everyone around him. Alternately, Kironmoyee yearned to be reunited with her family in India but decided to obey her husband and stayed in Bangladesh. Maya, on the other hands, saw the true color of her own best friend, Parul when she decided to hide there when people are rioting and hunting the hindus post the Babri Mosque incident. All voices stood out on their own narrating their experience as a second class citizens in their own country.

[Nanny SA · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sebelum membaca buku ini aku sudah baca beberapa reviewnya, jadi sudah dapat memperkirakan isinya, tapi tetap masih penasaran untuk membacanya. Beruntung dapat pinjaman dari Nurul.

Lajja (dalam bahasa Bangladesh berarti malu) ,novel fiksi yang bersumber dari fakta yang nyata tentang 13 hari kehidupan keluarga Sudhamoy di Bangladesh yang penuh teror dan ketakutan.

Bangladesh adalah Negara pecahan dari Pakistan, tepatnya di Pakistan sebelah timur. Bangladesh berdiri pada th. 1971 mayoritas rakyatnya beragama Islam dan agama Hindu sebagai minoritas. Pada awalnya perbedaan ini tidak menjadi masalah karena mereka sama-sama berjuang untuk kemerdekaan. Tapi ketika thn 1977 UUD Bangladesh diubah dengan mencantumkan Islam sebagai agama resmi, maka keadaan berubah, kedamaian tidak dirasakan lagi.

Adalah mesjid Babri di Ayodya India yang menjadi pangkal mulanya. Mesjid ini didirikan pada abad 16 oleh Mughal I Babur dengan menghancurkan bentuk asalnya yaitu sebuah kuil. Pada tanggal 6 Desember 1992 terjadi pembakaran mesjid Babri ini oleh umat Hindu. Umat Islam di Bangladesh melakukan pembalasan kepada umat Hindu yang ada di Bangladesh. Harta benda mereka dirampas, rumah ibadah Hindu dihancurkan dan perempuan-perempuannya diperkosa. Terjadi kekacauan dan teror yang mengerikan sehingga umat Hindu banyak yang berimigrasi ke India dan Srilangka karena sudah merasa tidak aman di negaranya sendiri

Taslima Nasrin bercerita dengan data yang detail sehingga seperti membaca sebuah berita dari koran dan agak mengerikan membaca kejadian-kejadiannya, sehingga mungkin inilah yang membuat beberapa pembaca muslim tersinggung. Tapi bila dicermati hal ini sebenarnya ditujukan buat pemeluk agama apapun yang fanatik berlebihan sehingga menghalalkan segala cara bahkan melanggar ajaran agamanya sendiri.

Membaca buku ini bagiku memberikan pembelajaran bagaimana agar kita sebagai manusia beragama dapat berempati kepada kaum minoritas. Hal-hal yang dianggap biasa selama ini,- contoh kecil adalah pelajaran agama di sekolah 'negri' (cerita di sini hampir sama dengan pengalamanku duluu) dimana anak yang beragama 'lain' boleh memilih diam di kelas atau ke luar(tapi u mendapat ranking di kelas nilai ini ikut dihitung jadi merugikan anak tsb.)- ternyata menurut Taslima hal demikian amat menyakitkan bagi yang mengalaminya, apakah demikian juga dengan teman ku dulu ?

Kejadian-kejadian seperti yang ditulis Taslima Nasrin dapat terjadi dimanapun dengan agama apapun apabila pemeluknya bersikap fanatik berlebihan sehingga dapat menimbulkan pertumpahan darah dan mengorbankan rasa kemanusiaan

Tak ada salahnya jika aku mengutip kata-kata K.H. Mustafa Bisri : "Setiap semangat beragama harus diikuti oleh semangat memperdalam pengetahuan agama,karena kalau lebih besar semangat daripada pemahaman tentang agama malah akan menimbulkan masalah seperti yang selama ini sering terjadi di sekitar kita."
Wallahu'alam



Terimakasih buat Nurul atas pinjaman bukunya, terimakasih buat Qui atas rekomendasinya :)

[Brian Griffith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely stunning and terrifying. We may think that only poor countries are subject to tsunamis of fear-mongering rumors that can unleash this sort of pogrom, but I we Westerners have plenty of our own gasoline and matches spread around.

[Ankita · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Sanskrit word ‘Lajja’ literally means ‘Shame’. This book is something that makes one think about the basic tenets upon which a nation must be built. The firebrand writer Taslima Nasrin shot to fame with this novel that first came out in Bengali language in 1993 and was banned by the Bangladesh government after a few months of release. Since then Ms. Nasrin has come in the hate-radar of Islamic clergy and fundamentalists. This novel is more of a mirror that shows the society and the government of Bangladesh their real faces that are indescribably ugly. However, despite getting numerous death threats and after years of exile, the author still refuses to apologize or to be silenced. I think Ms. Nasrin can be called a writer in the truest sense because her work is powerful and deep enough to bring a change in thinking, to show a whole nation its ugliness and to make a dent in the rotten perceptions, changing their track to some extent. That is why Lajja is considered an important book.

Through a fictional story, the disastrous effects of the ‘Babri Masjid’ demolition upon Bangladeshi Hindus are shown. Many true-life incidents and census analyses have been provided so that each point made has a factual backing.

The story revolves around one Dutta family that resides in a place called ‘Tikatuli’ in Bangladesh. Dr. Sudhamoy Dutta, the head, I think, represents the ideal fundamentals upon which the country was conceived. A true patriot and honest to the core, Dr. Sudhamoy fervently takes part in all the national movements but is left alone, ill and paralyzed in his later years; his idealism fails him and he gets reduced to a mute spectator to the crumbling principles, increasing hate-crimes and death of secularism in his beloved country after its liberation. This is what Bangladesh has been shown to become after gaining independence- weakened by injustice, stripped of idealism and paralyzed by genocide.

His son Suranjan Dutta represents the educated and optimistic Hindu youth. At 33, he remains unemployed because of hatred and unfriendly laws against Hindus and thus unmarried as well. He is somewhat of an idealist too and loves his country ardently. However, just like most Hindu youths, he gets nothing but discrimination and antipathy. Finally, his spirit of secularism dies out leading to depression. The way he takes his revenge on a street-worker Shamima, is heart rendering.
Kironmoyee Dutta, Suranjan’s mother is a silent, religious, sacrificing, but unhappy woman who broods in the background throughout the novel, though she puts up in any and every situation stoically with her family, esp. her husband. She represents the under-privileged Bangladeshi Hindu masses that love their country but desire to leave for a ‘safe’ place like Calcutta. After a point, her tears dry out and she submits to her husband and her fate.

Twenty-one years old Maya, the youngest child of Duttas’, is a beautiful and educated young woman and represents the dignity of Hindu women that gets brutalized and lost in the sacrilege and torture inflicted upon the Hindus by their own Muslim brethren.

The family keeps holding on to its idealism, loyalty, and patriotism even when they face poverty and destruction by Muslims enraged over the Babri demotion. However, when the old bonds get strained by bias and intolerance, their hopes hit a hard ground and start cracking up. Apprehensively, Duttas arrive upon a decision they could not even think of earlier.

It is surprising that the book has been written by a Muslim as the author rips apart the hypocrisy of the Bangladeshi government, hell-bent upon Islamizing the entire country and their apathetic and barbaric behavior towards the very same Hindus who once stood by their side in various movements against the oppressors. She openly accuses the religious fundamentalists and even the common Muslim citizens of a prejudiced behavior. There are no purple passages because the purpose of the book is altogether different. Interestingly, Ms. Nasrin completed this book in seven days.

Lajja is not only revealing because of the facts and figures given but it makes one think about the disastrous effects of power going in the hands of fundamentalists. It shows how intolerance, fanaticism and bigotry eat-up secularism and peace in such a nation.

[Selva · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a story per se, it is about the riots that happen in Bangladesh as an aftermath of the Babri Masjid demolition and how a Hindu family pays a heavy price because its men happen to be too idealistic. But actually it is a thinly disguised factual account of all the gruesome violence that took place in Bangladesh: The ruthlessness, uglyness and the scale of it. By the way of story, Taslima Nasrin puts up an ideological debate about how secularism is an essential tenet of democracy and how a minority community - Hindus in Bangladesh - is undermined in every way possible when a particular religion - Islam - is christened the national religion and how that essentially changes the thinking of the people. As a novel, it was a bit of a slog reading through because she was making the same points again and again and you get what she is trying to say pretty much in the intial 50 pages of the book itself. Also you can guess how the story is going to shape up. The story worked in parts for me. You might be knowing that this book was banned in Bangladesh. Exhaustive in its detail, one must really appreciate the author's boldness. one extra star for that.

[mai ahmd · Rating 3 out of 5]

...لا أدري ماذا أقول عن هذه الرواية ولكنها حقيقة سببت لي إكتئابا إن الواقع الذي حكت عنه تسليمة لهو واقع مأساوي يشعرك كم نحن على شفير هاوية من التعصب والعنصرية البغيضة وغياب أسمى قيم الحياة الإنسانية
نعم إنها العودة إلى حياة الغاب ، ما قالته تسليمة لا يستطيع أحد نكرانه مانراه من أحداث عنف دموية بين الطوائف المتعددة وبين أصحاب الديانات المختلفة لهو واقع وإن حاولنا إخفاءه أو التعامي عنه
أعجبتني شجاعة تسليمة على الرغم من أن الرواية ليست ذات قيمة أدبية كبيرة
بل إنها حشدت الكثير من الأحداث السياسية كأخبار أو سرد وقائع إلى جانب الإلتفاف حول الفكرة المرة تلو الأخرى والحوار الداخلي الذي بدا لي ضعيفا أحيانا
قيمة الرواية الحقيقية في الضغط على الجرح على أمل وقف إسالة الدماء
لكن هل هذا العالم يحتمل الحقيقة !!

[Lina AL Ojaili · Rating 2 out of 5]

تركز الرواية على مسألة الانسانية قبل أن يكون الشخص مسلما أو هندوسيا أو مسيحيا أو بوذي
والكاتبة هنا لاتهاجم الأسلام كدين ولكنها تهاجم ممارسات المتعصبين من الهندوس والمسلمين

[Simran · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are ready to face devastation, read it. It has broken my heart 💔 to an extent, that to my surprise, I could see no tears in my eyes where I was expecting to cry. It completely shattered me.
.
This book reminded me of the time when me and my family fled to Guwahati from Manipur due to the terror and trauma there. I was stupefied when the Dattas closed all their windows and home and thought it would keep them safe, but they were left unfortunate.
With the synopsis I was already so sure that it would end up breaking me apart, also because I am a Bengali myself and also because we too fled from a state to state, I could relate to it a lot. I could feel the pain the Hindu Bengalis had faced from 1952-1972. The brutal behavior. Killing, rape of Hindu women, charred homes, breaking down of the temples, peeing on the idols, looting, plundering and what not. I felt so dejected about the vagabonds there. After every interval, people moved from one place to the other, some fled to different villages and states, some to India. The Hindu Bengalis who has fought for the liberation of Bangladesh during 1971, were now ill-treated. They were seen as some aliens with no voices.
Suronjon once said to his father Sudhamoy that India is a place of riots, where even the minorities could raise their voices, unlike Bangladesh. This particular line gave me shiver.
.
All in all, I have loved how a muslim author took bravery to write such things in proper details and description. It's indeed a brave book.
And absolutely a must read. 🙌

[Endah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mulai kini biarlah rumah ibadah menjadi akademi seni, sekolah seni rupa, balai diskusi sains. Biarlah tempat-tempat pemujaan menjadi sawah ladang bermandi cahaya matahari, sungai biru yang mengalir, dan samudra liar yang tak pernah diam. Biarlah agama berganti nama menjadi kemanusiaan" (hal 254)

Ketika membaca fatwa Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI) beberapa waktu lalu yang mengharamkan pluralisme dalam hubungannya menyikapi kelompok aliran Islam Ahmadiyah , saya tertegun. Apakah para ulama negara itu lupa bahwa negeri ini berdiri di atas keberagaman? Bahwa kemerdekaan bangsa besar ini diperjuangkan oleh seluruh rakyat dari Sabang sampai Merauke yang terdiri dari bermacam suku, ras, bahasa, dan agama yang berbeda? Dan bahwa itu artinya Indonesia bukan hanya milik satu golongan atau satu agama saja, meski itu agama mayoritas rakyat di sini. Sungguh memprihatinkan jika hari ini masih ada orang-orang yang menolak pluralisme.

Negeri dengan persoalan yang mirip dengan kita adalah India. Pada awal berdirinya, negara India itu meliputi juga Pakistan dan Banglades. Namun, karena persoalan agama (Hindu dan Islam) yang terus-menerus meminta korban jiwa, maka lalu kelompok Islam memisahkan diri menjadi Pakistan yang sekarang.

Pada tahun 1966, wilayah Pakistan Timur menuntut kemerdekaan dan negara sendiri, terpisah dari Pakistan yang Islam. Orang-orang Bengali Timur ini hendak mendirikan sebuah negara yang lebih sekular. Perjuangan mereka akhirnya terwujud pada tahun 1971 dengan lahirnya Banglades. Untuk beberapa waktu, rakyat di negeri itu, hidup rukun dalam perbedaan (Hindu dan Islam).

Kedamaian itu hanya berlangsung 7 tahun saja. Pada 1978, UUD Banglades yang mencantumkan sekulerisme sebagai salah satu prinsip utamanya diubah dengan menjadikan Islam sebagai agama resmi negara. Sejak itu, kedamaian tak ada lagi di sana, terutama bagi masyarakat Hindu sebagai kelompok minoritas.

Seperti sering kita saksikan, agama menjadi lem perekat yang kuat bagi para pemeluknya di mana-mana. Sebuah peristiwa yang dinilai sebagai pelecehan agama di suatu tempat bisa menyulut sentimen pemeluknya di tempat lain. Contohnya, pada 1990, ketika terjadi penghancuran Masjid Babri di India oleh para penganut Hindu, berbuntut kerusuhan komunal di Banglades. Orang-orang Hindu di sana mengalami penyiksaan dari saudara sebangsa mereka yang muslim.

Peristiwa inilah yang diangkat menjadi cerita fiksi novel Lajja oleh Taslima Nasrin, seorang feminis muslim asal Banglades. Kata "lajja" dalam bahasa Bengali berarti "malu". Barangkali, Taslima Nasrin hendak menyampaikan betapa malunya ia sebagai seorang muslim menyaksikan pembantaian kemanusiaan yang dilakukan kelompok mayoritas Islam terhadap minoritas Hindu di negaranya.

Ia memotret dan merekam tragedi itu ke dalam novelnya dengan tokoh utama Sudhamoy dan Suranjan, anak beranak dari sebuah keluarga Hindu nasionalis yang berulangkali harus mengalami perlakuan diskriminasi di tanah airnya sendiri. Sudhamoy, seorang dokter yang turut berjuang memerdekakan Banglades dari Pakistan, tak pernah menyangka bahwa nasibnya akan menjadi seburuk itu di negeri tercintanya. Saat teman-teman, tetangga, dan kerabatnya berobondong-bondong meninggalkan Banglades menuju India untuk menyelamatkan diri, Sudhamoy sekeluarga tetap bertahan dengan sebongkah keyakinan bahwa biar bagaimanapun yang terbaik adalah tetap tinggal di tanah airnya sendiri, kalau perlu sampai ajal menjemput. Meski harta bendanya telah habis dirampas dan mereka harus tinggal di rumah kontrakan. Ketidakadilan yang acapkali diterimanya tak lalu mengubahnya dari seorang humanis menjadi seorang komunalis yang membenci dan memusuhi kelompok lain. Iapun mendidik kedua anaknya, Suranjan dan Maya, menjadi humanis seperti dirinya. Namun, sampai kapankah ia mampu bertahan hidup dalam penganiayaan dan teror ketakutan sepanjang hari? Sampai kapankah idealisme itu mampu tetap dipertahankannya sebagai prinsip hidup?

Sebenarnya tak perlu jauh-jauh untuk dapat melihat aksi penganiayaan satu agama oleh agama lain. Di Republik kita pun hal seperti itu kerap terjadi berulangkali. Misalnya saja yang baru-baru ini berlangsung, yaitu penutupan sejumlah gereja (bangunan yang dipakai sebagai gereja) oleh sebuah kelompok fundamentalis Islam. Atau juga perburuan para anggota Ahmadiyah oleh kelompok yang sama. Dengan kepongahan mereka menjadi hakim, mengadili keyakinan orang lain tak jarang dengan memakai cara-cara kekerasan. Wajah Islam yang damai sebagai rahmatan lil alamin pun tercoreng. Dan nurani kita terluka.

Lajja telah diterjemahkan ke dalam 22 bahasa. Di Banglades sendiri, novel ini dilarang beredar lima bulan setelah penerbitannya (1993). Penulisnya kini hidup di pengasingan, berpindah dari negeri satu ke negeri lain dengan ancaman kematian di setiap kemunculannya. Namun, ia tak lantas tinggal diam menyaksikan berbagai ketidakadilan dan kesewenang-wenangan yang dilakukan atas nama agama. Ia tak pernah jera dan terus menyuarakan penolakannya terhadap fundamentalisme dan komunalisme dengan menulis. Seperti diyakininya, "My pen is my weapon

[Sarika Patkotwar · Rating 4 out of 5]

*NOTE: We (The Readdicts) received a copy of Lajja by Taslima Nasrin from Random House India in exchange for an honest review. We thank the publishing house for the book!

I had been looking forward to reading author Taslima Nasrin's Lajja since a very long time, and once I read it, I realised why it is banned in Bangladesh, but appreciated all over the world. Communal riots is a term residents of South Asia know very well, and fear as well. The negativity of human nature is at its peak at such times. It is the worst as the author rightly says in the book:

"During a riot, human beings put their humanity on hold. During riots, all the toxins in people's minds are released. A riot is not an act of nature nor is it an accident. Riots are a distortion of humanism."

Lajja tells us the story of a Hindu family living in Bangladesh and the effects of the destruction of the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya in 1992 on this family and the country as well. Being part of the minority community, the Dattas are forced to burn down their own ideologies and seek for peace elsewhere as their own country fails to promise to protect its citizens. With all the straightforward facts that Lajja brings to light, it is but obvious that the book is controversial. But it is positive controversy, as it is what it is. The endless stating of facts as part of dialogues made the book hard hitting yes, but tiresome in some places.

Coming to the characters, the Datta family comprises of Sudhamoy, his wife Kironmoyee, their son Suronjon and their daughter Maya. Sudhamoy's character was extremely well developed and meticulously portrayed and if only there were more people like him in the world, we would be in a better place. Kironmoyee was mostly in the background, but she had an important role to play. As for Suronjon, his character showed immense development from the start till the end, which was disgusting at times, and thoroughly admirable otherwise. Maya... Maya was a special character and the hero of the book.

Lajja is a narration in third person where the author alternates, for the larger part of the book, between the points of views of Sudhamoy and Suronjon. There is not much to be said on the writing as the version I read is a translation, but it can easily be figured out that author Taslima Nasrin's writing is absolutely impeccable and flawless. Lajja speaks of the degradation of humanity and the feeling of hopelessness given to citizens by the body that is supposed to take care of them and that they should be able to rely on endlessly. This is one of the most powerful, violent and raw books ever written, and it is clearly a stamp on the bitter and highly repelling marriage of religion and politics, which is noting but an embarrassment and a shame.

[Nurul · Rating 3 out of 5]

dapet dari acara book swap GRI di WBD

Suranjan ingin menjadi seekor kucing. Karena kucing memiliki identitas bersama. Kucing garong di pasar, kucing yang singgah dan tidur di teras, semuanya barangkali punya hak yang sama akan tulang ikan yang terserak di tempat sampah. Hanya manusia yang punya ras dan kelompok.

Masjid Babri di Ayodhya, India. Didirikan oleh Mughal pertama, Babur, pada abad ke 16. Tempat ini sendiri dianggap sebagai tempat lahirnya Rama bagi umat Hindu. Sang Mughal dianggap telah menghancurkan kuil aslinya dan membangun masjid di atasnya. Masjid ini dihancurkan tahun 1992 yang menimbulkan kerusuhan tak hanya di India, tetapi juga di Bangladesh. Balas membalas........

Shame...shame...shame... Bagi pemerintah yang seharusnya melindungi warganegaranya. Bagi umat yang mengaku diri mereka Muslim yang dengan niatan balas dendam atas hancurnya sebuah masjid di negara lain, menghancurkan kuil-kuil hindu, menjarah toko-toko milik orang Hindu, menjarah rumah, menculik gadis-gadis, dan memerkosanya. Juga bagi umat yang minoritas yang ternyata tak punya kekuatan untuk melakukan perubahan. Seperti Suranjan yang tak punya pekerjaan, masih juga meminta uang dari ibu, bahkan adiknya. Suranjan, mengaku seorang aktivis, anak dari dr. Sudhamoy yang mantan aktivis penggerak kemerdekaan Bangladesh, tak berada di tempat saat sang Ayah terkena stroke, tak juga ada saat adiknya Maya diculik penjarah.

Buku yang membangkitkan mixed feeling bagi saya. Nama depan saya adalah nama Muslim, sementara nama tengah saya diambil dari nama Sanskrit. Haruskah nama menjadi penentu saya termasuk golongan apa? Punya hak-kah orang lain untuk mendakwa saya masuk golongan tertentu?

[Ravneet Kaur · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lajja by Taslima Nasreen is a story of a Hindu family- Sudhamoy, Kironmoyee and their children- Suranjan and Maya. They live in Bangladesh which is ridden with religious and political conflict.But their lives take a turn for the worse when Hindus in India demolish Babri Masjid at Ayodhya. With already burgeoning Muslim fundamentalism, this incident added fuel to the fire. The event which happened in India had repercussions in Bangladesh.

The story depicts their life over a series of thirteen days- how each family member feels and reacts to different situations. The narrative is very powerful. The language is simple yet impactful. Several themes pertaining to religion, secularism, patriotism are explored throughout the narrative which makes you think what is right and what is wrong. It left me emotionally drained.

The characters are wonderfully written. Sudhanmoy is patriotic and idealistic. His idealism gets very irritating when he fails to see the reality. Suranjan comes across as careless and detached. But his thinking undergoes a lot of significant change.

Throughout the story, there are a lot of facts which recount the horrific incidents of lootings and killings in Bangladesh. That threw me off a little. Other than that, the book is worth reading.

I highly recommend this book.