Lajja. 20th Anniversary Edition

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

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Bengali

Taslima Nasrin practiced as a government doctor for a few years and then started her literary career by publishing poetry and later started writing a syndicated newspaper column in Bangladesh, as well as novels and essays. She was the recipient of the Ananda Puraskar, Calcutta, in 1992 and the Natosabha Puruskar, Dhaka, in 1993.