ENOUGH IS ENOUGH MR DASMUNSHI !

By asking Mrs. Taslima Nasrin to apologise the Muslims with folded hands for something she had written long back, it seems as if you are equating the entire Muslim Community with the fanatics. It is the fanatics who have attacked Ms. Nasrin and not the Muslim community as a whole . The disapproval of a large number of Muslims to the dastardly attack on Ms. Nasrin at Hyderabad and Kolkata bears testimony to this. Do you then want Ms. Nasrin to apologise to the fanatics with folded hands Mr. Dasmunshi ? In case she accepts your advice and does the same, can you assure on behalf of the fanatics that there will be no damage caused to her by them in the future ?
Mr Dasmunshi, while commenting about distinguished personalities like Mrs. Nasrin, please do not forget that it is your Government which had accorded her the status of a Guest. Did not you know what she had written in her Book at the time of accepting her as a distinguished guest, particularly when there was a lot of hue and cry over the Book including ban and subsequent lift of the ban ?
Mr Dasmunshi, The entire world saw how Ms. Nasrin was attacked at Hyderabad by the Law Makers of a State which is governed by your party. Have you got the guts to ask them why they took Law into their hands by attacking a distinguished lady, that to the guest of the country ? Do you want Ms. Nasrin to bow down before the people who plotted to endanger her life and liberty ?
Something which hurt the sentiments of the Muslims immeasurably was demolition of Babri Masjid which took place while your party was in power at the centre. Senior activists of your party are still being prosecuted for the worst ever carnage took place in Delhi, in which God only knows how many Sikhs lost their lives ,again while your party was in power. In spite of all these, do not you feel ashamed to take side with the Law breakers and hooligans instead of firmly asserting secularism and Rule of Law ? Can you also ask that great Artist to apologise who has hurt the feelings of a large number of Indians many a times through sad portrayal of their Goddesses in his paintings ?
Mr Dasmunshi, you are no ordinary man. You are an Hon’ble Minister of the Government of the Largest Secular Democratic Republic of the World. You are also the representative of the people of the land of Tagore whose “Where the mind is without fear, and the head is held high,…where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls… Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit; Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever widening thought and action – Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake” still resounds through the length and breadth of India. Have you to be reminded of the glorious tradition of India of honouring and protecting women and guests for which eminent women of the world like Sister Nivedita, Shri Maa & Mother Teresa preferred to settle down in India ?
Mr Dashmunshi, unity in diversity is the hallmark of Indian culture. We may differ in many issues, but we do not have any right to impose our thought violently on others as it happened in case of Ms. Taslima Nasrin. It is hightime when you should say sorry to Ms. Nasrin on behalf of the people of India for the inhuman and barbaraic treatment caused to her in the land of Buddha, Gandhi and Kotnis. Ms. Nasrin is a Citizen of the world. A lot of countries must be eager enough to have her in their Land. Should our great country lag behind others in providing a little nest to this tiny bird of humanity, who is tired of flying from country to country ?

WE HANG OUR HEADS IN SHAME TASLIMA !

It is unthinkable that the Largest democracy of the world finds it so difficult to protect its distinguished guest from the hands of few hooligans ! The votaries who always advocate freedom of thought and freedom of expression have suddenly taken sides with the butchers of freedom ! The entire world saw the barbarity and cruelty with which she was attacked in the city of Hyderabad which is famous for its hospitality and culture. Instead of taking stern action against the people who have degraded India's dignity in the world community by attacking an innocent and distinguished lady like Ms. Taslima Nasrin, a sheepish administration took recourse to callous indifference. Another State Government thought it proper to bundle her out of its territories in the darkness of the night to appease few hooligans with remarks which were not only indecent, but also thoroughly unbecoming as representatives of people in a Democratic setup. The administration of the largest democracy of the world also thought it proper to confine her in the capital city instead of providing security to her at her residence, like scores of officials, guests and dignitaries. The commonman is totally confused with the hypocratic approach of the Administration - if it allows itself to be threatened by few hooligans for which a distinguished guest of the country has to live like a prisoner, how can it meet the threats of organised terrorists ? Are not the VIPs and VVIPs roaming with different types of security guards at the cost of the public exchequer ? Shall the commonman will also be asked to be confine himself to his house in view of security threats ? Instead of booking the trouble mongers how long you can hide innocent people from their onslaught ?

The same people who advocate for respecting the religious sentiments of the citizens in their advice to Ms. Nasrin, speak in a totally different voice to another group of citizens who protest against improper depictions of their deities by a famous artist who only picks up members and deities of a particular community for nude and objectionable portrayal ! When such advocates have drawn no line of demarcation between freedom and anarchy for this great artist, it is ridiculous to lay down such parameters for a distinguished citizen of the World ! If it is sauce for gander, it must also be sauce for geese !

We have a glorious tradition of hospitality and culture in which women are held in high esteem for which eminent women like Bhagni Nivedita, Shri Maa, Mother Teresa etc., coming from different parts of the world chose to settle in our country. Are we moving in the correct direction in case of Ms. Taslima Nasrin? Are we really behaving with her like our guest in accordance with our culture and tradition ? I appeal to the conscience of our countrymen and their representatives in various governments for soul searching and provide due honour, dignity and security to such a distinguished guest of our country who has already become a world citizen

...TO ALL THE WOMEN WHO WANT TO FULFIL THEIR DREAMS ! : ILEANA CITARISTI

The International Women's Day was celebrated by ORIENTAL ACADEMY OF ARTS AND LETTERS on March 8, 2007 in the auspices of Bhubaneswar Book fair. Books written by eminent Women Writers, Dancers, Performers, Artists and Activists of India and abroad had been displayed in the Pavilion of the Academy for the occasion. Biographies and Autobiographies of eminent Women like Hope against Hope(Nadezhda Mandelstam), Living History-Memoirs(Hillary Rodham Clinton), My Girlhood, Dwikhondito, All that Darkness(Taslima Nasrin), Selective Memories (Sobha De), The Diaries of Virginia Woolf, Paula(Isabel Allende), All Said and Done, The Prime of Life, Force of Circumstance, Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter(Simone de Beavoir), Earthly Paradise,My Mother's House(Colette), Curriculum Vitae(Muriel Spark), Daddy, We Hardly knew you(Germaine Greer), Kafka's Milena(Jana Cerna), Dancing in the Family(Sukanya Rehman), I know why The Caged Bird Sings, All God's Children Need Travelling Shoes, Gather Together in my Name, The heart of a Woman, Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry like Christmas (Maya Angelou), The Journals of Sylvia Plath, Life With Picasso(Francoise Gilot & Carlton Lake) etc. included in the collection.

The eminent Classical Dancer Ms Ileana Citaristi graced the pavilion on the occasion of International Womens' Day, and showed lot of interest in the collections and activities of the Academy. While expressing her solidarity with the Academy, she wished all Women of the World to get their dreams fulfilled on that eventful day.

A WOMAN'S VOICE MUST BE HEARD : SHOBHA DE

Mrs. Shobha De, who inaugurated the Bhubaneswar Book Fair in march, 2007, had also inaugurated the ORIENTAL ACADEMY pavilion which displayed books on Women's writing in India. The original and translated works Aof Indian Women Authors in English and different Indian Languages of the Library had been selected for display on the opening day of the Book Fair. The distinguished Author, editor and Socialite Mrs. Shobha De took keen interest in the selections and went through the catalogues and collections of the Library with great interest. She enquired about the activities of the Academy and expressed her pleasure on the stress given by the Academy to Feminism and Women's Studies. She charmed the bibliophiles and visitors to the Book Fair with her eloquence and grace . She exchanged her views with the office bearers of the Academy on various translation works of prominent Women Authors, and was very happy to learn about the efforts of the Academy to publish the Life and Works of Sappho, the great Lyric Poet poet of 7th century B.C. . The works of authors included Sarojini Naidu, Toru Dutt, Rokeya Hossain, Kamala Markandeya, Nayantara Sehgal, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Dina Mehta, Santha Rama Rao, Attia Hussein, Kamala Das, Anita Desai, Eunice de Souza, Suniti Namjoshi, Bharati Mukherjee, Gauri Deshpande, Arundhati Roy, Shobha De, Monika Verma, Kiran Desai, Jhumpa Lahiri, Taslima Nasrin, Nargis Dalal, Gita Mehta, Rukmini Bhaya Nayar, Meena Alexander, Anna Sujata Mathai, Bapsi Sidhwa, Shashi Despande, Kamalini Sengupta, Namita Gokhale, Maheswata Ray, Sujata Bhatt, Urvashi Butalia, Chitra Bannerji Divakaruni, Radhika Jha, Jai Nimbakar, Manjula Padmanabhan, Abha Dawesar, Anita Agnihotri, Indira Goswami, Swarnakumari Devi, Binodoni Dasi, Rasasundari Dasi, Pandita Ramabai Saraswati, Lila majumdar, Ashapurna Devi, Kabita Sinha, Nabanita Deb Sen, Pratibha Basu, Bani Basu, Jaya Mitra, K. K. Dyson, Padma Sachdev, Mahadevi Verma, Mrinal Pande, Ruth Vanita, C. S. Lakshmi, Qurratulin Hyder, Kuntala Kumari Sabat, Basanta Kumari Patnaik, Binapani Mohanty, Pratibha Ray, Jashodhara Mishra, Ajeet Caur, Amrita Pritam, Manjit Tiwana, Ismat Chugtai, Krishna Sobti, Wajida Tabassum and many more. Mrs. Shobha de was so impressed and moved with the activities of the Academy that she congratulated the office bearers and wrote - "A Woman's voice must be heard." All her Books, which were displayed in the pavilion becamAe the centre of attraction, particularly with the young mass. It was followed with the theme "Feminism and gender Studies". Seminal works on Feminism and gender Studies like A Vindication of the Rights of Women, The Feminine Mystique, The Second Sex, The Female Eunuch, Sexual Politics, Fire with Fire, Revolutions from Within, Woman - An Intimate Geography,Sexual Parsonae, Rape- The Ultimate Violation, Lesbian Lifestyles, Sakhiyani-Lesbian Desire in Ancient and Modern India, Feminism & Sexuality, Broken Silence : Voices of Japanese Feminism, French Feminism, Women as Subjects, Feminism and Pornography, Feminism and Film, Films and Feminism, etc were of great interest to the scholars as well as the general public.

I WILL NEVER BE SILENCED : TASLIMA NASRIN

Ms. Taslima Nasrin had graced the pavillon of ORIENTAL ACADEMY OF ARTS AND LETTERS during the Bhubaneswar Book fair in March, 2007. The books of the Academy had been displayed in the pavillon each day on a different theme. The theme of the pavillon on 4th March was Biography and Autobiography in which the Biography and Autobiography of eminent people belonging to different walks of life had been prominently displayed. Some rare works like Memoirs of Edward Gibbon(1891), the Soul of Spain by Havelock Ellis(1909-reprint 1929), My Life in the Russian Theatre by Vladimir Nemirovitch Dantchenko(1937), My Life in Art by Constantin Stanislavsky(1924) had been displayed with that of many ancient and modern personalities including Hope against Hope by Nadezhda Mandelstam and all works of Taslima Nasrin. Ms. Nasrin spent quite sometime amidst the books and her admirers present in the pavillon and deeply appreciated the activities of the Academy in respect of promoting women's literature. She appreciated the huge collection of books on Feminism and Gender Studies in its Library. She left the Academy Premises with her message "I will never be silenced", which left a deep impression on the bibliophiles and general visitors to the Book Fair.