Taslima comes out with 'Lajja' sequel 'Shameless'

Controversial author Taslima Nasreen's sequel to her banned work "Lajja" will be published in English next month, more than 10 years after it was written.

In fact, "Shameless" has never been published in its original Bengali, or any other language, until very recently, when a Hindi translation was brought out. It talks about communal tensions in India and the deep scars they leave on individual lives.

According to publishers HarperCollins India, the book is an "explosive sequel" to "Lajja" and an "uncompromising, heart-breaking look at ordinary people's lives in our troubled times".

Nasreen wrote the sequel during the time she lived in Kolkata before she had to leave the city forever. The book has been translated from Bengali by Arunava Sinha.

"Lajja" dealt with the alleged persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh after the demolition of the Babri Masjid. At the end of the novel, Suranjan Datta and his family relocated to Kolkata, hoping to find a safe haven.

"Shameless" takes forward the story of Suranjan and his family - his mother Kiranmoyee and his sister Maya - as they struggle to eke out a living in Kolkata, poor, rootless, and the victims of a violence so brutal that it has scarred them forever.

Their inner turmoil is reflected in their relationships. Kiranmoyee lost her husband Sudhamoy, who committed suicide after they moved to Kolkata and were swindled out of all their money.

Suranjan and Maya have both broken off their marriages (to Hindu Bengalis). Suranjan then starts seeing Zulekha, the survivor of a gang rape, while Maya is dating the upwardly mobile Sibohan (whose name she first thought was the Hindu Shovan).

Into their lives comes the real-life Nasreen, living in exile in Kolkata under police protection herself. She tries to understand these people as they try to adapt to their new world, and as she tries to adapt to hers.