Let another name for Religion be Humanism..... Review on Lajja - Taslima Nasreen

"Let another name for Religion be Humanism" are the words I found in the novel just before the contents of the book and the book, according to me is dedicated to this thought only. What made me read this book is the fact that the fatwa has been raised against the writer by the Bangladeshi extremists, for writing this book, as for as I know. So it raised a little curiosity in me and finally I took this book, and here I am writing the review of the book now :)

After reading the book, I think it really needs a whole lot of guts and braveness to write against the people of your religion and the people of your country, and I do think that every word of this book is against and you really feel bad while reading the book. So its not a happy reading at all

The story is of the time when Babri masjid was demolished in India by our so called communal forces, no need to mention by whom, on 6th December 1992. The story is a work of fiction and is made up of thirteen days just after the demolition of the masjid. Although I do thought of leaving the book half read, in between as the story is not that gripping, but considering the fact that the writer has written it in only 7 seven days, she deserves a lot of appreciation and credit for the work. One also comes to know of all the incidents that has happened in Bangladesh after independence in 1947.

The story is of a struggle of a Hindu family living in Bangladesh during those days. There are four main characters belonging to same family, Duttas,

Sudhamoy, the father

Kironmoyee, the mother

Suranajan, the son and

Maya, the daughter

All through the pages of the book, there is a mention of all the incidents that has happened during those days. like the killing of Hindus, the ruining and destroying of mandirs, the abduction and rapes of hindu womens etc.. the list goes on. There were more than 200 mandirs were destroyed and more than 1000 Hindus were looted and rendered homeless. All most all the relatives and friends of the family leaves the country and moves on to live in India but, The family hates the idea of leaving their own country in any circumstances, Sudhamoy, the father, is a man of high ideals and dont want to leave the country of his origin. He had fought for his country during all movements like Language movement and independence struggle in the hope that when Pakistanis would be out of his country Hindus will be able to have a happy and prosporus life there. However, the scene comes out to be different. The son also had the same ideology as his father, he treats everyone as a human being, rather than a hindu or muslim. But now its break their hearts to see that Hindus in their country are treated wrongly at the hands of muslims for the wrong doings of some Hindus that too in another country, India!!. One day a group of Muslim rioters ruins their house too and take away their daughter Maya too, before there eyes. Suranjan tries his best to locate his sister but all in vain and then there is hell lot of emotions and cryings. and after that what happens to Maya?, does she returns back or not? do the family change there minds about leaving there country? is for you to find out.

Few lines that I like are:

"The person who lives on his own soil is the happiest."

"Life is like a river, did you know that? Does the river stop flowing at any point? Decisions also change once in a while. They do not stay unchanged all the time."

In the end I would say that The people of any religion should think a lot before going against a minority community in there country, bcoz somewhere in some other country your own community may be a minority and they may face a lot for your wrong doing, although we all know that all this is done by these communal parties not for religion but for there vote bank.

Not a happy reading but a good one...

See you all soon..

PYAR HUMEIN PHIR MILAAEGA...........