Lajja

Arts & Culture Culture, Arts, Literature & Linguistics
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I don’t know if I should post it in some other forum. Have a lot of questions to ask as usual,hopefully,people who are more informed than me will be gracious enough to reply.

Firstly, how many countries have banned the book “Lajja” by Taslima Nasreen.There has been a fatwa decreed against her, who issued it?And how many people or countries recognize it.

Secondly,is there any independent verification possible of the figures mentioned in the book. Sometimes it seems the author is exaggerating the figures, whether intentionally or unintentionally I cannot tell.For example, at one point one of the charachter says that “almost 50,000 Hindus in no less than 10,000 families have been finished off completely.” That is supposed to be said on 9th December 1992. Can fifty thousand people actually be ‘finished off’ in just three days??? Suppose it is a mathematical question: how many people will it take to kill 50,000 people in just three days?

And at the rate on which Mandirs are destroyed and shops burnt, people forced to flee to India, there must have been left no traces of Hindus in Bangladesh by now. So, are there any Hindus left? And roughly speaking how many Mandirs are in Bangladesh?
Pardon my ignorance, but where is Bhola, and how big the place is? In less than a week’s time two hundred and sixty Mandirs are supposedly describes as being destroyed in Bhola. forgive my cynisisms, but were there actually two hundred and sixty Mandirs in this place to begin with?

I am not defending anyone, there may have been riots in Bangladesh at that time, but the figure reported in the book somehow seem too exaggerated. Especially when the author keeps saying ‘three million people killed by Pakistan army’, frankly speaking she loses mush of the credibility in my eyes for having exaggerated the number.

Was not planning to post anything, but just finished reading the novel and couldn’t help wondering if the figures quoted in the book were correct.Any Bangladeshi out there?

Guzar Ja Aaqal Say aagay Ke Yeh Nur
Chiragh-e-Rah Hai Manzil Nahi Hai

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LAJJA is a extreme poor literary work it got famous just because of fatwas of some illetrate mullah .and then anti muslim forces used it for muslim bashing other wise lajja is a piece of thrash a school kid can write a better novel than lajja

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nothing new happened in BD. in fact, it was a place where demand for pakistan first came. thousands of hindus were killed in 'direct action day' of surhawarthy and jinnah in 46. recently after khalida won, hindus have been put to sword again for voting for relatively less hostile awami league. i donno literary quality of work and going by past postings kabir is as good judge of literary works as shoib akhtar would be of theory of relativity. however communalism in BD runs deep. hostility with pak in post-71 days for a while put it under carpet. but now it is back.

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[quote]
Originally posted by kabir:
LAJJA is a extreme poor literary work it got famous just because of fatwas of some illetrate mullah .and then anti muslim forces used it for muslim bashing other wise lajja is a piece of thrash a school kid can write a better novel than lajja
[/quote]

Agreed.I mean from a literary point of view the book was very unimpressive. I was much disappointed. The author was obviously confused, perhaps she tried to combine fact and fiction but failed. Most of the times I felt I was reading some newspaper,and a very exaggeratin one at that. The book is so boring in itself. Imagine, at one place she actually names about 36 mandirs by name in one paragraph, just to tell that they were all destroyed. I was bored to death, and this was not the only time.

The question still remains, the number of the people killed and places destroyed, can it be verified?

The idea was noble that no one should be persecuted because of his/her religion or ethnicity. I would rate the book C-. And trust me I am a fair judge of literary works.

Guzar Ja Aaqal Say aagay Ke Yeh Nur
Chiragh-e-Rah Hai Manzil Nahi Hai

5

nothing new happened in BD. in fact, it was a place where demand for pakistan first came. thousands of hindus were killed in 'direct action day' of surhawarthy and jinnah in 46. recently after khalida won, hindus have been put to sword again for voting for relatively less hostile awami league. i donno literary quality of work and going by past postings kabir is as good judge of literary works as shoib akhtar would be of theory of relativity. however communalism in BD runs deep. hostility with pak in post-71 days for a while put it under carpet. but now it is back.

ZZ....

No body will disagree that given the chance all the minoreties in Pakistan & Bangladesh & also in India would like to be in a Majority than minority.Specially with Democracy there is no advantage in being any number unless you are able to elect by concentrating in one constituenty .Even 45 % is useless if 55% vote enblock against you based on your ethnicity.

I was in transit at Dacca air port for on going to far east 1 year ago ....One gentelman looking like a Bangladeshi with no difference between hindu muslim in his white airport officer unifirm ,befriended me .He thaught i was a Hindu bengali b/c i could talk in bengali .He was talking about his dissatisfaction ,how the staff didnt give respect or what i thaught "lift" ...i hope you understand what i mean.Being "Diff" does make you lonely ,somtimes even truly paranoid ...

Now if you ask me i can tell ,for him correctly he would give anything to have the same job in Netaji Subhash International Air port ,Calcutta only 90 miles (a stones throw) from Dacca Zia Air port .He had everything job, nice clothes but no majority status.He didnt even mention about any riots or mandir being burnt or physical discomfort of any sort .Calcutta to him was the heaven compared to Dacca ,So Close that i feel sorry for him that every day he must be tortured to smell, see the lights of calcutta yet cant be part of it .

I think Jinnah Liaqat & NEhru was right to discourage total transfer of population b/c the Partition was not on basis of Religion only but ONLY where muslims were 80 % or overwhelmingly more than others that it became Pakistan.Certainly Hyderabad ,BIhar U.P. ,M.P. etc muslims in some pockets are & were 65 % but they were not meant to go to Pakistan as by the Nehru Liaqat 1958 pact which sealed any migration .It probably did for muslims of india to go to Pakistan but migration from Bangladesh due to porous border & relative amiable govt of mostly ppl. from East Bengal (joyti basu ,satyajit ray ,Amartya Sem,Bharti Mukherjee...)still some hindus could come from bangladesh if there was there need of them in over populated calcutta & west Bengal by itself.

barque(bijli) yoon akadti hai apne karname pe ke
jaise phir naya hum aashiyaan bana nahi sakte