Click to play videoKolkata: Twenty four-year old Neha Mittal, a student in Kolkata, is cherishing her new-found passion – reading Taslima Nasreen.
Neha admits she wasn't familiar with the author's works until recently. And it was the recent riots, which sparked off her interest in the controversial author in exile.
"I have bought two books – The French Lover and The Homecoming to know what she has written in these books,” says Neha.
It's been barely a week since Kolkata showed its ugly face in the form of violent demands from a section of people to banish Taslima from Bengal, and already her works are finding new takers.
It was a book called Dwikhandito that was banned by the Bengal government four years ago. The book, and was later waived on Calcutta High Court order. But it's not just this book that is making waves but the author's other books are flying off the shelves faster than earlier.
Publishers and booksellers obviously don't mind the sudden jump in sales. Some even confessed having registered a three-fold sales increase in some of Taslima's most popular titles over the past week.
"Her books have always been popular but after the recent publicity there has been a spurt in the sales. Her Lajja is selling very well,” says CEO, Starmark Booksellers, Gautam Jatia.
The standard criticism against those who take strong views on Taslima is that most of them have not read her books and rely on hearsay to form opinions. That's a stain that Kolkata, it seems, is eager to remove.
(With inputs from Priyanka Chatterjee)
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