Taslima keen to settle down in India

Taslima Nasreen, the controversial Bangladeshi writer who is in exile and lives in Sweden now wants to settle in Kolkata, which she described as her "second home".

It was in the mid '90s that Nasreen left her motherland after her novel Lajja (Shame) depicted the torture and persecution of Hindu minorities in Bangladesh following the demolition of Babri mosque in Ayodhya in India. Moulvis issued a 'fatwa' setting a price on her head. Taslima Nasreen had to flee her country.

Taslima Nasreen's visit to Kolkata was kept under wraps for security considerations and a West Bengal government official said that initially she wanted to stay in a rented house in the city. But considering the threats to her life, the Bengal government allowed her to check in at a city hotel that is being guarded by armed security men round the clock.

"This is what I dislike," said Nasreen, "the hotel never gives one the feel of staying within a society."

Apparently her desire to settle in Kolkata arises from her urge to write. Talking to the media she explained recently that staying abroad is "nice".

But for a writer the characters, the society and the surroundings have to be familiar and must correspond to one's language of communication. "Since I can not return to Bangladesh in the near future, I thought Kolkata could be the best alternative for me settle temporarily and continue with my writing," she said.

"There are so many similarities between the two countries. The two countries used to be one till partition separated us," she added.

Nasreen, who has acquired Swedish citizenship, disclosed that she wanted to get back to her country first. She had appealed to the newly elected Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia in November last year for permission to enter Bangladesh.

"But my appeal was turned down,"she said. Even Sheikh Hasina of the Awami League allegedly did not respond to her appeal. However, Nasreen was allowed a brief visit to Dhaka to see her ailing mother in 1998 during Sheikh Hasina's rule.

Dejected, the writer has now turned to India for help. In her world of imagination, Nasreen visualises a home in Kolkata where she will be a "free bird."

"No security guards, no vigilance. I want to go out freely to the market, to the next door neighbour and mix with people who are the ingredients for my writings."

But even if the Indian government grants her a residence permit, Nasreen's imagined freedom could just be a distant dream.

The Indian and for that matter the West Bengal Government would be hard put to concede to her demands of a "free life".

"The threats on her are still there and why should we take a chance?" said a state government official.

There are other problems, too. The Indian authorities would have to take into consideration the diplomatic fallout of sheltering someone who is "unwanted" in Bangladesh. Therefore, her chance of finding a "second home" still hangs in the balance though the local government ministers do not foresee any problem in accommodating her.

It may be recalled that her controversial novel Lajja (Shame) became a 'political tool' as fundamentalists forces in India acquired pirated copies of the book and reprinted it in thousands, distributing it among the people.

It added fuel to fire back home as fundamentalists took to the streets of Dhaka, pledging to hang her in public. The author feels "fundamentalists in every country are the same".

The plight of women in both India and Bangladesh is precarious. "It's a social crisis" that pains her most.

But she is not daunted by the threats. A strong feminist, it is not only her pen that goes beyond the conventional. Even her dress code could be an eyesore to many. In the hotel she is often seen sporting T-shirts and trousers.

Yet another of her novels Amar Meyebela (My Girlhood) also enraged the conservatives as she went on to depict the 'exploitation' she had to face as a little girl.

The second part of this novel is almost ready for print. And her exile since the mid -nineties will possibly form the content of a third part as she talked about her plans to write the 'story of an exiled girl.'

One will have to wait to see how much more dust these books raise.