Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Read No Evil...

Caution: Longish, severely MCPish and anti-Feminazzi post

Do we really (like really, really) need Taslima back?

Taslima Nasreen, described as “a physician, a writer, a radical feminist, human rights activist and a secular humanist” by her official website, is craving to come back to Calcutta. The literary circles and activist groups are crying hoarse about her plight. Why? For those new to the newest poster-child for freedom of speech, here’s why…

Excerpts from Wikipedia: (What would we ever be without Wikipedia…)

Taslima Nasreen is a Bengali Bangladeshi ex-physician turned feminist author who describes herself as a secular humanist. From a modest literary profile in the late 1980s, she achieved a meteoric rise to global fame by the end of the twentieth century, for her severe criticism of Islam and of religion in general.”

Autobiographical books of Taslima raised controversy not only because of her criticisms of Islam but also for narratives involving the private lives of people. Taslima candidly described her sexual relationship with a number of named persons. She also touched upon her relationship with her four Bangladeshi husbands. Published in 2003, Ka, her third autobiographical book, was the first to raise such issues.”

Ka, published in Bangladesh, is a self-censored version of Dwikhonditp published in India. Dwikhonditp is said to contain critical comments on the Prophet Muhammad (according to Islamic Sharia law, criticism of Muhammad is haraam and punishable by execution, provided Sharia law is in force). The latter was also banned in India by the Calcutta High Court in the state of West Bengal on 18 November, 2004.”

Now we know why she is in exile for the last 14 years. The poor lady can not enter her own country; leave alone any country with a semblance of religion… She was unceremoniously evicted from Calcutta after fierce protests. Before that, she was assaulted during a book release in Hyderabad. She was then taken to Delhi and kept in “safe custody” fearing attempts on her life. (BTW, there is a prize on her head… In March 2007, the "All India Ittehad Millat Council" of Bareilly U.P offered 500,000 rupees for her beheading.)

All this just for being promiscuous? Or for publishing those escapades? Or, is it just because she is a raving anti-Islamist? Maybe because she criticized The Prophet? What if she wanted more money? Vanity? Fame? Attention?

We shall never know. But what we do know is that she is ‘longing’ to return to Kolkata and is wondering why the government won’t let her. She innocently asks, “Kolkata is where I had set up my home. Can't I be allowed by the West Bengal government to return to my city?” I’ll hazard a guess – The Government and the people of West Bengal don’t F#@%ing want her back. And what makes her think that India will extend her Visa? Or will we see another “Ka” about her attempts to get her Visa extended? Hmmm… Her popularity abroad is also quite evident – “In 2005, her attempt to read an anti-war poem entitled "America" to a large Bengali crowd attending the North American Bengali Conference at Madison Square Garden resulted in her being booed off the stage

What would you do if you were in her place? How will you fight this cruel, cruel world? If you ask me, I would shut the f@#k up! I never, ever kiss and tell all. I would pray to Allah to forgive my sins and publicly apologize for my indiscretions with the pen (and whatever).

Because, my dear lady, we Indians are forgiving. But we are also sensitive people who fear God. You may have had experiences that were unfortunate. But don’t blame them on The Prophet, or The Paramatma, or The Heavenly Father. Because in India, we live by a simple code: Love your Country, honor your Gods, and respect your elders. Honestly, we don’t really care whether you believe in the same God, but we will kick your @$$ back to Bangladesh if you disrespect ours. And going by the love your people have for you, you really don’t want to go back there!


P.S.:
1) This is one post I sincerely pray my wife doesn’t read. She’s a bit left of center I’m more center of right…
2) I know you may say that I’m still being ‘analy Catholic’ (a good friend once remarked so on another issue) and a bigot… Maybe I am :(
3) Freedom of speech and slander are two entirely different things. If you call your dog my name, what stops me from naming a bitch after your mother and leave her out with street dogs and writing about it huh? I’m sorry, that’s not freedom of speech! [I am using this as an example and I do not intend to infringe on that copyright]
4) If you’ve read so far, thanks. Dude, you really have nothing better to do? *LOL*

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

George I am ok with the post per se, WMFG if she want to come back or stay there, I give a damn. For all I care she does not exist, but what I did not like is this:

"Freedom of speech and slander are two entirely different things. If you call your dog my name, what stops me from naming a bitch after your mother and leave her out with street dogs and writing about it huh? I’m sorry, that’s not freedom of speech!"


Exactly it is not freedom of speech!!!! So therefore and that's y, these remarks sound very pointedly at someone, don't think u should put such thing n the net...

Plus those remarks about Penny there calling u those things should not be there on the net, I think at least, if u r upset or beyond... with somebody don't put it so blatantly

At least this is what I feel

TheWalker said...

Thanks Anu. I appreciate your feedback.

I've made the necessary amends.

I used the 'Dog Naming' episode just to get the point of expression out and since it was written by a blogger with so much more clout (and readers) than I. But that's what differentiates freedom of speech from slander. Cross my heart, no offence to anyone...

Chandu said...

I am not too comfortable with the concepts of tolerance and extremism. I think they are always subjective. As in "others should be tolerant when I'm extremist!"
However, I do have an affinity towards quantifying things. And there are some numbers I saw in your post:
3 autobiographies, 4 husbands, 14 years of exile, and a number of sexual encounters in the interim.
This is no feminist we are talking about.
A slutty megalomaniac
maneater sounds more like it!

But then, refraining from personal interpretations and going back to the numbers:
Rs.500,000 is the only reward on Taslima's head?
No. of Muslims in India is more than 120 Million. Let us suppose only 1% of these actually care about the pride of their prophet and even know anything about Sharia. That makes it 1.2 million. Effectively the pride of religion hurt by Taslima is worth less than 42 paisa for each muslim who actually cares.
If that isn't tolerance, then tell me what is?
On the whole, I think you and I are giving this more importance than anyone who should care about it!

hyacinths said...

Pshaw!ONLY Rs.500,000??? tsk! up it to a million and a half and i'll have someone, who know someone do it in a jiffy! ;P
as for her being openly promiscious, why do we care? we have other more "important" things to mull about... like the food crisis, and our not-so-cordial other border friends.

for what my opinion is worth, i say, yes, throw her back to her bloody country. If she's not had the common sense to kiss and not tell, she deserves whats coming to her.

If she was a catholic and spat on my religion, i'd feel the same way as those Islamic fundamentalists.

TheWalker said...

Chandu: Damn Man! Tolerence has a new definition now... You're fast turning out to be a front-runner as my advisor when I become The Godman of Godmen...

Hyacie: Amen, my Catholic child :)