LAJJA (Shame), a novel which I just finished reading

I just finished reading Lajja (Shame), the controversial novel by Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin, is a savage indictment of religious extremism and man’s inhumanity to man. It is based on the upsurge of communalism in Bangladesh that is making it exceedingly difficult for the minorities to continue to reside there.

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 450-year-old 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.... Unremittingly dark and menacing, the novel exposes the mindless bloodthirstiness of fundamentalism and brilliantly captures the insanity of violence in our time.

Not in that scale, such kind of communal riots take place sometimes in our country also. In my understanding, only few people break away the communal harmony for the sake of their own or for some political benefits. They don't think about the communal devastation that might be created across the world which begins from a small cottage. There are so many ways to solve the problem, if any, but communal problem still haunts us. When will it end? Is is increasing or decresing?

I am Hindu by birth but secular. I stand up for religious freedom in the world and secularism in their behavior. And I do not think it suggests that either of Hindus or Muslims are bad in any way.

"If we allow fundamentalists to go unopposed, no society will be safe," - Taslima Nasrin

Bidding farewell to Sudeep G

Time has come to bid farewell to one of my friends - Sudeep Ghimire, who is leaving to pursue his further studies in Portugal. I met him over 6 years ago when I joined Pulchowk Engineering Campus. Since then, we were together -- 4 years in College and 2years in D2HawkeyeServices Pvt. Ltd. He was helpful and had good sense of humor that we all enjoyed.

He has got a prestigious Erasmus Mundus Scholarship to study Masters degree in Computer Science in Europe.

I wish him all the very best.

Good bye. And GodSpeed you, Sudeep..