Taslima_Nasreen

TASLIMA NASRIN Taslima Nasrin (born 25 August, 1962, in Mymensingh, Bangladesh) is a Bengali Bangladeshi ex-doctor turned author who has been living in exile since 1994. From a modest literary profile in the late 1980s, she rose to global fame by the end of the twentieth century owing to her radical feminist views and her criticism of Islam in particular and of religion in general. Since fleeing Bangladesh in 1994 she has lived in many countries, and currently lives in Sweden after expulsion from India in 2008 where she was denounced by the Muslim clergy and received death threats from Islamic fundamentalists. She works to build support for secular humanism, freedom of thought, equality for women, and human rights by publishing, lecturing, and campaigning. Early career She was born Taslima Nasreen to Rajab Ali and Idul Ara in the town of Mymensingh in 1962. Her father was a physician, and his daughter followed in his footsteps. Her mother was a devout Muslim. After high school in 1976 (SSC) and pre-university course (HSC) in 1978, she studied medicine at the Mymensingh Medical College and graduated in 1984 with an MBBS degree in college, she showed a propensity toward poetry by writing as well as editing a poetry journal. After graduation, she practiced gynecology in a family planning clinic in Mymensingh, "where she routinely examined young girls who had been raped," and heard women in the delivery room cry out in despair if their baby was a girl. She was reassigned in 1990 to work in Dhaka. Born as a Muslim she became an atheist over time. In course of writing she took a feminist approach. Marriages In 1982 she fell in love with poet Rudra Mohammad Shahidullah and fled home to marry him; they divorced in 1986. Later she married journalist and editor Nayeemul Islam Khan. In 1991 she married Minar Mahmood, editor of the weekly Bichinta, they divorced in 1992. Literary career until Lajja Early in her literary career, she wrote mainly poetry, and published half a dozen collections of poetry between 1986 and 1993, often with female oppression as a theme, and often containing very graphic language. 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, or Shame, in which a Hindu family is persecuted by Muslims. This publication changed her life and career dramatically. Following the publication of Lajja, Nasrin suffered a number of physical and other attacks. In October 1993, an Islamic fundamentalist group called the Council of Islamic Soldiers offered a bounty for her death. In May 1994 she was interviewed by the Kolkata edition of The Statesman, which quoted her as calling for a revision of the Quran; she claims she only called for revision of the Sharia, the Islamic religious law. In August 1994 she was brought up on "charges of making inflammatory statements," and faced death threats from Islamic fundamentalists. A hundred thousand demonstrators called her "an apostate appointed by imperial forces to vilify Islam"; a "militant faction threatened to loose thousands of poisonous snakes in the capital unless she was executed." After spending two months in hiding, at the end of 1994 she escaped to Sweden. One of the results of her exile was that she did not get to practice medicine anymore; she became a full-time writer and activist. Life in exile After fleeing from Bangladesh in 1994, Nasrin spent the next ten years in exile in the West. She returned to the east and relocated to Kolkata, India, in 2004, where she lived until 2007. After renewed unrest broke out, and spending several months in hiding, Nasrin left for the West again in 2008. 1994-2004, exile in the West Leaving Bangladesh towards the end of 1994, Nasrin lived in exile in Western Europe and North America for ten years. Her Bangladeshi passport had been revoked; she was granted citizenship by the Swedish government. She had to wait for six years (1994-1999) to even get a visa to visit India, and never got a Bangladeshi passport to return to the country when her mother, and later her father, were on their deathbeds. In March 2000, she visited Mumbai to promote a translation of her novel Shodh (translated by Marathi author Ashok Shahane, the book was called Phitam Phat). Secular groups seized upon the occasion to celebrate freedom of expression, while "Muslim fundamentalist groups, who had threatened to burn her alive." 2004-2007, life in Kolkata In 2004, she was granted a renewable temporary residential permit by India and moved to Kolkata in the state of West Bengal, which shares a common heritage and language with Bangladesh; in an interview in 2007, after she had been forced to flee, she called Kolkata her home. The government of India extended her visa to stay in the country on a periodic basis, though it refused to grant her Indian citizenship. While living in Kolkata, Nasrin regularly contributed to Indian newspapers and magazines, including Anandabazar Patrika and Desh, and, for some time, wrote a weekly column in the Bengali version of The Statesman (Kolkata edition). Again her anti-Islam comments met with opposition from religious fundamentalists: in 2006, Syed Noorur Rehaman Barkati, the imam of Kolkata's Tipu Sultan Mosque, admitted offering money to anyone who "blackened [that is, publicly humiliated] Ms Nasreen's face."  Even abroad she caused controversy: in 2005, she tried to read an anti-war poem titled "America" to a large Bengali crowd at the North American Bengali Conference at Madison Square Garden in New York City, and was booed off the stage.  Back in India, the "All India Personal Board" offered 500,000 rupees for her beheading in March 2007. The group's president, Tauqir Raza Khan, said the only way the bounty would be lifted was if Nasrin "apologizes, burns her books and leaves." Expulsion from Kolkata On August 9, 2007, Nasrin was in Hyderabad to present the Telugu translation of one of her novels, Shodh, when she was attacked by a mob of violent intruders, led by legislators from the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, a Muslim political party. A week later, on August 17, Muslim leaders in Kolkata revived an old fatwa against her, urging her to leave the country and offering an unlimited amount of money to anybody who would kill her. On November 21, Kolkata witnessed a violent protest against Nasrin by neo-Jihadis. A protest organized by the militant Islamist "All India Minority Forum" caused chaos in the city and forced the army's deployment to restore order. After the riots, Nasrin was forced to move from Kolkata, her "adopted city," to Jaipur and to New Delhi the following day. House arrest in New Delhi The government of India kept Nasrin in an undisclosed location in New Delhi, effectively under house arrest, for more than seven months. In January 2008, she was selected for the Simone de Beauvoir award in recognition of her writing on women's rights, but declined to go to Paris to receive the award, fearing that she would not be allowed to re-enter India. She explained that "I don't want to leave India at this stage and would rather fight for my freedom here," but she had to be hospitalized for three days with several complaints. The house arrest quickly acquired an international dimension: in a letter to London-based human rights organization, Amnesty International, India’s former foreign secretary Muchkund Dubey urged the organization to pressure the Indian government so Nasrin could safely return to Kolkata. From New Delhi, Nasrin commented: "I'm writing a lot, but not about Islam, It's not my subject now. This is about politics. In the last three months I have been put under severe pressure to leave [West] Bengal by the police." In an email interview from the undisclosed safe house, Nasrin talked about the stress caused by "this unendurable loneliness, this uncertainty and this deathly silence." She canceled the publication of the sixth part of her autobiography Nei Kichu Nei ("No Entity"), and—under pressure—deleted some passages from Dwikhondito, the controversial book that was the boost for the riots in Kolkata. She was forced to leave India on March 19, 2008. Literary works Nasrin started writing poetry when she was thirteen. While still at college in Mymensingh, she published and edited a literary magazine, SeNjuti ("Light in the dark"), from 1978 to 1983. She published her first collection of poems in 1986. Her second collection, Nirbashito Bahire Ontore ("Banished within and without", 1989) was a big success. She succeeded in attracting a wider readership when she started writing columns in late 1980s, and then novels, for which she has won significant acclaim. In the early 1990s, she began writing novels. In all, she has written more than thirty books of poetry, essays, novels, short stories, and memoirs, and her books have been translated into 20 different languages. Her own experience of sexual abuse during adolescence and her work as a gynecologist influenced her a great deal in writing about the treatment of women in Islam. Her writing is characterized by two connected elements: her struggle with the Islam of her native culture, and her feminist philosophy. She cites Virginia Woolf and Simone de Beauvoir as influences, and, when pushed to think of one closer to home, Begum Rokeya, who lived during the time of undivided Bengal. Her later poetry also evidences a connection to place, to Bangladesh and India. Columns and essays In 1989 Nasrin began to contribute to the weekly political magazine Khaborer Kagoj, edited by her second husband, Nayeemul Islam Khan, and published from Dhaka. Her feminist views and anti-religion remarks articles succeeded in drawing broad attention, and she shocked the religious and conservative society of Bangladesh by her radical comments and suggestions. Later she collected these columns in a volume titled Nirbachita Column, which in 1992 won her, her first Ananda Purashkar award, a prestigious award for Bengali writers. During her life in Kolkata, she contributed a weekly essay to the Bengali version of The Statesman. Novels In 1992 Nasrin produced two novellas which failed to draw attention. Her breakthrough novel Lajja (Shame) was published in 1993, and attracted wide attention because of its controversial subject matter. In six months' time, it sold 50,000 copies in Bangladesh before being banned. In 1993, the government of Bangladesh banned Lajja, which contained the graphic description of a rape of a Hindu woman by a Muslim man. Initially written as a thin documentary, Lajja grew into a full-length novel as the author later revised it substantially. Her other famous novel is ''French Lover''. Reviews of some books by Taslima Nasreen LAJJA: ’We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another’’, said Jonathan Swift, the famous author, and after reading this book called Lajja, I cannot  agree with him any better. Lajja literally means Shame and true to its title, I believe, that every right thinking human being, after reading this book would be ashamed of the religious fanatism that exists today in different parts of the world. One of my friends from once said ’’We belong to a country where religion is politicized, politics is criminalized and crimes are nationalised’’. This is indeed a shame and the book under review talks about all this and even more.. Taslima Nasreen, the author of this book, is a physician, born in Bangladesh to orthodox parents. In 1980s she came to limelight as a poet, columnist, and strong feminist. When Taslima got this book published, she earned the wrath of Islamic fundamentalists and clergy. Her book was banned in her country and a Fatwa (religious ostracization) was issued against her. Further, she had to seek political asylum in France to save her life. Taslima was extremely bold, she remained untramelled by all these and kept writing on similar lines. It is not just because she is intrepid; it is her uncanny knack of story telling and an extremely limpid writing style that make her extremely popular among the erudite circle.  Her book Lajja is set in the backdrop of the Babri masjid demolition saga, back in the year 1992, which caused a strong religious, political and social impact, and resulted in riots in sensitive areas throughout the subcontinent. The stage is set in Bangladesh and the tale revolves around an extremely patriotic Hindu family. Suranjan, a prodigal middle aged man with little or no accomplishment in his life to boast about, is a son of a doctor (Sudhamoy) with strong national values. Sudhamoy supported his clan during the national movement and worked for the cause of the nation and in turn, his own country men for whom he stood for, rewarded him by mutilating his genitals! Despite all this, he strongly believed that Bangladesh was his home and refused to move to Kolkata (India).  Suranjan despite being deprived of opportunities due to his religious background, very much like his father, loves his motherland. Sudhamoy’s wife Kiranmoyee is depicted as a very kind and a loveable character who stands by her husband and her family during the testing times.  Their daughter Maya, a vivacious lady is distraught with compatriots’ attitude towards them and her family’s idealism to remain in their country even during the hour of peril. The story speaks about the atrocities and cruelties inflicted on Hindus in general and Sudhamoy’s family in particular during the riots. The story is gripping and the climax is extremely poingnant.  Taslima in her tale, buttresses her fiction with facts. Her attempt in this book is not to malign any religion, it is an earnest entreat to the human race to embrace humanity and shun fanatism. I recommend this book with great pleasure. I wish the extremists who kill men in the name religion, get a chance to read this book. Lajja is easily one of the finest I have ever read  THE FENCH LOVER: The prognosis was inevitable. Coming after Lajja, the controversial novel that had brought its Bengali author under so much censure, Taslima Nasrin's, second novel French lover was bound to draw attention; albeit undue, by a wide margin. Or did the author who is no more welcome in her own land, really believe that for a novel to be read and read widely, means giving it a 'reputation''  Much as the pundits may have drawn censure on Lajja, there is no denying the fact that it became a bestseller. If French lover comes even within calling distance of that status, the bait would have been won. However the hype it has drawn to date, is, uncalled for.  Opening on a direly racist note at the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, as newly wed Nilanjana is given the rough ride due all third world citizens entering the hallowed portals of the west, French lover smacks of an extended racism all along. Only this time round, it is author Taslima Nasrin who capitalizes on the sexuality of racism, exposing all its gory details through the practices and perceptions of her heroine.  Nilanjana, the young Bengali woman from Kolkata has a reason for moving to Paris. She did not want to waste time waiting for a suitable match in her hometown. So Kishanlal the rich restaurateur from Paris is the one whom she weds. Once in Paris, living with Kishanlal who is in any case a better businessman than husband, Nilanjana sees herself encaged in a gilded cage, friendless and unfulfilled.  Instead of spending daylight hours exploring the streets of Paris, she is left to housekeep and fulfill the role of wife; until, she makes friends with the telephone directory. Eventually she learns to let herself out of the door and then begins the journey of discovery. In a rather 'couldn't care less' state of mind she weaves a dizzy pattern of life, in the belief that this was how she could keep boredom and depression at bay.  The real game begins when she meets Benoir Dupont, the blue-eyed Frenchman who sweeps her off her feet...the lust notwithstanding. Here is a side to life she would never know with her husband. In between, Nilanjana also has a lesbian relationship with a Frenchwoman; but this might as well be read as the author's intent to shock in greater measure.  Taslima Nasrin obviously believes in delineating the entire gamut! Between the shenanigans, Nilanjana manages to unravel, at a personal, human level, the streets, the cafes and art galleries of Paris. That she manages all this in spite of being totally alien to the culture and language is the highwater mark in a work of fiction that could enthrall just about anybody out for a dose of soft porn.  Yet apart from all this, it would be unfair to underrate the author as a non developer of character. Yes, Nilanjana does develop, for in between painting the town red and discovering her own sexuality, Nilanjana realizes that Benoir's love is merely a more refined version of Kishanlal's sexual demands.  The result is a mature introspection; whereby Nilanjana discovers that her own need for Benoir has ended as well. The novel ends at this point leaving the reader wondering if this was all that the author of Lajja could manage. Or has Taslima decided to hit the beaten path instead of looking for the path not taken'  In spite of all the hype about the world having become a global village, the western reader is still hooked on to the oriental mystique. Give it the golden aura of a Bengali landscape - red saris, gold jewellery, the bindia on the forehead - and you have them all in tow. Nasrin capitalizes on the western fancy by combining the oriental mystique with the brazen sexuality of a skin 'not quite white'.  There after, it becomes easy to seduce readers who thrive on exploring the unknown armed with their own perspectives of what it is that makes for a sizzling sexual relationship. There is a definite feel all along the reading that Taslima's heroine Nilanjana was conceived as a marketing gimmick. Unaesthetic, but quite the right recipe for a populist following, even though the oriental mystique has been drained by writers from across the world.  KA: Noted Bangladesh writer, Taslima Nasreen, who hit international headlines in early nineties for her book “Lajja” (shame), has sparked off yet another controversy with another book “Ka”. Just released in Dhaka, the 415-page autobiography of the Bangladesh writer is third in the series telling the story of her life. Reports from Dhaka say, it has been selling like hot cakes. “Ka” details her intimate relationship with several famed writers of Bangladesh and also refers to the tense ties between Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia and the Leader of the Opposition Sheikh Hasina. The “tell all” autobiography has been dubbed as “vulgar” in Bangladesh’s political and literary circles and Taslima is accused of character assassination. It may be banned before long as two of her earlier works — “Amar Meye Bela” (My Girlhood) and “Uttal Hawa” (The untamed Wind) was proscribed having been denounced as “obscene”. Taslima rose to prominence following publication of her first novel “Lajja”, the theme of which was intolerance, injustice and inequality. The book was immediately banned and a “fatwa” was issued calling for her execution. She had to flee her country as Islamic radicals threatened to kill her. She now lives in exile in the United States. Before moving to the US, she was given shelter by Sweden, Germany and France. She still faces the charge of blaspheming Islam in Bangladesh. In between she had visited Kolkata several times. Taslima has been brutally frank in her works and says: “Nothing comes from my imagination. What happened, I wrote. I just wanted to be honest with my life”. She narrates how she came to question Islam and writes about the indignities inflicted on the household servants. She depicts herself as a lonely and frustrated little Muslim girl, compelled to live a severely restricted life. Whatever may be Taslima’s traumatic experience, some incidents have left an indelible impression on her psyche. Once a gynecologist in Dacca’s Government Hospital, the type of women patients who came to her made her to fight Islamic fundamentalism. When Taslima flew to Dhaka from New York five years back with her 60-year-old mother, suffering from colon cancer, she thought the hostility against her must have been a closed chapter and the unsavory past forgotten. It was her mother’s desire that she should die in Bangladesh and, as a devoted daughter, Taslima thought she must fulfill her last wish. Despite being repeatedly dissuaded by the Bangladesh Government not to attempt to come back, she was helpless. On one side, the imminent demise of her mother was haunting her and, on the other, the attitude of the government. She was desperate because she loved her mother very much. The specialists in New York had told her that her mother, Eid-ul-Ara Begum, had only a few more months left to live. When she landed in Dacca she had least expected that she would be greeted by banners and placards saying “Hang Taslima Nasreen to death”. Worse still was the revival of an arrest warrant against her. She could sneak out of Bangladesh with the help of friends and well-wishers; the government too wanted her to leave. Since then Taslima has been living in exile. She says: “I have no country of my own. It is like bus stop here. All the countries are like bus stops. I am waiting to go back to my homeland but I may not get a bus that will take me there”. Though living in self-imposed exile, this “daughter of freedom”, as Mulk Raj Anand had described her, is determined to continue her crusade against injustice, religious bigotry and violation of human rights and may emerge one day as a great reformer in Bangladesh. Like all reformists, Taslima is also being persecuted by his own country.  Autobiography Her memoirs are renowned for their candidness, which has led to a number of them being banned in Bangladesh and India. Amar Meyebela (My Girlhood, 2002), the first volume of her memoir, was banned by the Bangladeshi government in 1999 for "reckless comments" against Islam and the prophet Mohammad. Utal Hawa (Wild Wind), the second part of her memoir, was banned by the Bangladesh government in 2002. Ka (Speak up), the third part of her memoir, was banned by the Bangladeshi High Court in 2003. Under pressure from Indian Muslim activists, the book, which was published in West Bengal as Dwikhandita, was banned there also; some 3,000 copies were seized immediately. The decision to ban the book was criticized by "a host of authors" in West Bengal, but the ban wasn't lifted until 2005. Sei Sob Ondhokar (Those Dark Days), the fourth part of her memoir, was banned by the Bangladesh government in 2004. She received her second Ananda Purashkar award in 2000, for her memoir Amar Meyebela (My Girlhood, published in English in 2002). Nasrin's life and works in adaptation Nasrin's life is the subject of a number of plays and songs, in the east and the west. The Swedish singer Magoria sang "Goddess in you, Taslima,"[ and the French band Zebda composed "Don't worry, Taslima" as an homage. Her work has been adapted for TV and even turned into music. Jhumur was a 2006 TV serial based on a story written especially for the show. Bengali singers like Fakir Alamgir, Samina Nabi, Rakhi Sen sang her songs. Steve Lacy, the jazz soprano saxophonist, met Nasrin in 1996 and collaborated with her on an adaptation of her poetry to music. The result, a "controversial" and "compelling" work called The Cry, was performed in Europe and North America. Initially, Nasrin was to recite during the performance, but these recitations were dropped after the 1996 Berlin world premiere because of security concerns. Writers and intellectuals for and against Nasrin Nasrin has been criticized by writers and intellectuals in both Bangladesh and West Bengal for targeted scandalization. Because of "obnoxious, false and ludicrous" comments in Ka, "written with the 'intention to injure the reputation of the plaintiff'", Syed Shamsul Haq, Bangladeshi poet and novelist, filed a defamation suit against Nasrin in 2003. In the book, she mentions that Haq confessed to her that he had had a relationship with his sister-in-law. A West Bengali poet, Hasmat Jalal, did the same; his suit led to the High Court banning the book, which was published in India as Dwikhondito. Nearly 4 million dollars were claimed in defamation lawsuits against Nasrin by fellow writers in Bangladesh and West Bengal after the publication of Ka/Dwikhandita. Writer Sunil Ganguli, with 24 other intellectuals pressured the West Bengal government to ban Nasrin's book in 2003. There was hate campaign against Taslima even among the writers, because she wrote about her intimate life story divulging her affairs with some men. And because some men happened to be known, so Taslima had to answer why she wrote about known people without their permission and some commented that she did it to earn fame. Taslima defended herself against all the allegations. She wrote why she dared not to hide her sexual relations, she said that she wrote her life's story, not others'. Yet Nasrin enjoyed support of Bengali writers and intellectuals like Annada Shankar Ray, Sibnarayan Ray and Amlan Dutta. Recently she was supported and defended by personalities such as author Mahasweta Devi, theater director Bibhas chakrabarty, poet Joy Goswami, artist Prakash karmakar, Paritosh Sen. In India, noted writers Arundhati Roy, Girish Karnad, and many others defended her when she was under house arrest in Delhi in 2007, and co-signed a statement calling on the Indian government to grant her permanent residency in India or, should she ask for it, citizenship.  Charitable activities Nasrin created the Edulwara scholarship in her mother's name to give scholarship (50,000-100,000 taka) to twenty female students of 7th to 10th grade from economically poor families in Mymensingh, Bangladesh. She started an organisation called Dharmamukta Manab-bai mancha ("Humanist organisation free from religion") in Kolkata. The organization’s aim was to enlighten and spread secular education, and to fight for women's rights and a uniform and equal civil code. Awards Taslima has received a number of international awards in recognition of her uncompromising demand for freedom of expression. Awards and Honors given to her include the following: ▪ Ananda literary Award, India, 1992 ▪ Natyasava Award, Bangladesh, 1992 ▪ Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thoughts from the European Parliament, 1994 ▪ Human Rights Award from the Government of France, 1994 ▪ Edict of Nantes Prize from France, 1994 ▪ Kurt Tucholsky Prize, Swedish PEN, Sweden, 1994 ▪ Hellman-Hammett Grant from Human Rights Watch, USA, 1994 ▪ Humanist Award from Human-Etisk Forbund, Norway, 1994 ▪ Feminist of the Year from Feminist Majority Foundation, USA, 1994 ▪ Honorary Doctorate from Ghent University, Belgium, 1995 ▪ Scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service, Germany, 1995 ▪ Monismanien Prize from Uppsala University, Sweden, 1995 ▪ Distinguished Humanist Award from International Humanist and Ethical Union, Great Britain, 1996 ▪ Humanist Laureate from International Academy for Humanism, USA, 1996 ▪ Erwin Fischer Award, International League of non-religious and atheists (IBKA), Germany, 2002 ▪ Freethought Heroine Award, Freedom From Religion Foundation, USA, 2002 ▪ Fellowship at Carr Centre for Human Rights Policy, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, USA, 2003 ▪ UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for the promotion of tolerance and non-violence, 2004 ▪ Honorary Doctorate from American University of Paris, 2005 ▪ Grand Prix International Condorcet-Aron, 2005 ▪ Sharatchandra literary award, West Bengal, India, 2006 ▪ Honorary citizenship of Paris, France, 2008 ▪ Simone de Beauvoir Prize, 2008 ▪ Fellowship at New York University, USA, 2009 ▪ Woodrow Wilson Fellowship ,USA, 2009 ▪ Feminist Press award, USA, 2009 Poetry ▪ Shikore Bipul Khudha (Hunger in the Roots), 1986 ▪ Nirbashito Bahire Ontore (Banished Without and Within), 1989 ▪ Amar Kichu Jay Ashe Ne (I Couldn’t Care Less), 1990 ▪ Atole Ontorin (Captive In the Abyss), 1991 ▪ Balikar Gollachut (Game of the Girls), 1992 ▪ Behula Eka Bhashiyechilo Bhela (Behula Floated the Raft Alone), 1993 ▪ Ay Kosto Jhepe, Jibon Debo Mepe (Pain Come Roaring Down, I’ll Measure Out My Life for You), 1994 ▪ Nirbashito Narir Kobita (Poems From Exile), 1996 ▪ Jolpodyo (Waterlilies), 2000 ▪ Khali Khali Lage (Feeling Empty), 2004 ▪ Kicchukhan Thako (Stay For A While), 2005 ▪ Bhalobaso' Cchai baso (It's your love! or a heap of trash!), 2007 ▪ Bondini (Prisoner), 2008 Essay collections ▪ Nirbachito Kolam (Selected Columns), 1990 ▪ Noshto meyer noshto goddo (Fallen prose of a fallen girl), 1992 ▪ ChoTo choTo dukkho kotha (Tale of trivial sorrows), 1994 ▪ Narir Kono Desh Nei (Women have no country), 2007 Novels ▪ Oporpokkho (The Opponent) 1992. ▪ Shodh, 1992. . Trans. in English as Getting Even. ▪ Nimontron (Invitation), 1993. ▪ Phera (Return), 1993. ▪ Lajja, 1993. . Trans. in English as Shame. ▪ Bhromor Koio Gia (Tell Him The Secret), 1994. ▪ Forashi Premik (French Lover), 2002. ▪ Shorom (Shame Again), 2009. Short Stories ▪ Dukkhoboty meye (Sad girls) 1994 ▪ Minu 2007 Autobiography ▪ Amar Meyebela (My Girlhood), 1999 Utal Hawa (Wild Wind), 2002 ▪ Ka (Speak Up), 2003; published in West Bengal as Dwikhondito (Split-up in Two), 2003 ▪ Sei Sob Andhokar (Those Dark Days), 2004 ▪ Ami Bhalo Nei, Tumi Bhalo Theko Priyo Desh ("I am not okay, but you stay well my beloved homeland"), 2006. Current situation Nasrin is currently working as a research scholar at New York University, but frequently talks about her desire to return to her country. Since, as she claims, "her soul lived in India," she also pledged her body to that country, by awarding it for posthumous medical use to Gana Darpan, a Kolkata-based NGO, in 2005. In June 2009 she sent a petition to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh for return to Bangladesh. The Times Of India, 2nd March 2010 Taslima's article sparks violence in Karnataka, 2 killed SHIMOGA/BANGALORE/HASSAN: Two persons died and eight others were injured in Shimoga district of Karnataka on Monday following violent protests over the publication of an article by Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen on the burqa in a vernacular daily. While one of the victims died in police firing, the other died during the clashes.  The police opened fire after protesters, who were taking out a procession, burnt 12 two-wheelers, two tractors, two autos and pelted stones at buses and buildings. The deceased were identified as Mustafa and Ataulla.  According to home minister P V Acharya, there was trouble in Hassan too, with protesters burning two-wheelers, shops and raining stones on buses and buildings. But the situation there was more under control. About two dozen persons were arrested in connection with the incidents.  Curfew has been clamped until Tuesday morning in both districts. The police force was meagre in Shimoga with most of the personnel being deployed in other parts of the state on account of Holi. The intelligence wing is also said to have erred in assessing the situation when the protesters began attacking shops and went on a burning spree.  One of the victims of the violence in Shimoga, Karanataka, died after the police opened fire in the air to prevent loss of property during the protests over an article by Taslima Nasreen.  In fact, the district administration had appeal to community leaders not to go ahead with their procession plans, in vain. In Hassan, minority committee members gathered in large numbers and forced the closure of shops belonging to members of their community. Hassan additional SP Yellappa told TOI that a section of protesters turned violent after submitting a memorandum to the deputy commissioner.  But IGP (southern range) Jeevenkumar V Gaonkar said the situation was limping back to normal, but they would continue intensive patrolling across the town for the next couple of days. KSRP men and additional forces from other districts have been pressed into action.  Meanwhile, the Mysore police tightened security by erecting pickets at many spots. Police commissioner Sunil Agarwal said, "So far, no incident has been reported in the city, but we don’t want to take chances."  Karnataka home minister P V Acharya said the government has taken all possible steps to check violence from spreading in the state. "We have ensured an elaborate bandobust in all 30 districts of the state and prohibitory orders have been clamped in several sensitive districts," he said.