Kolkata is my home, Delhi isn't: Taslima

NOT HAPPY: Taslima says that her present state is nearly like a life of solitary confinement.

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Keywords: Kolkata, Delhi

New Delhi: Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen's visa has been extended, but the author is far from happy. She spoke to CNN-IBN National Affairs Editor, Diptosh Majumdar about her present state that is nearly a life of solitary confinement. She said that literature cannot flourish is such claustrophobic conditions. Tasleema spoke on the phone.

“I am happy and grateful to the Indian government for allowing me to stay on. I am already living in this country for almost four years. Kolkata has become my second home. The same language and the culture matters to me after all l am an author. Literature can only bloom in a cultural context that is why I believe my staying on in India is important. There is a tiny minority in this country that object to my presence. But I don’t that it needs to be taken seriously. I have been moved by the spirit of Indian democracy and the way people have come out in my support and the way intellectuals have expressed solidarity. I will feel suffocated till the time I am allowed to go back to Kolkata. I don’t have much of a life now. I am a person who loves to mix with people including authors. But I am not allowed to do that, How can an author’s mind flourish when the author is confined. Kolkata is my home. I get food and necessities but I don’t have freedom to step out as I have been confined. I cannot even receive friends. Kolkata is dynamic, flowing and friendly. Life in Delhi is hooked up in a room anywhere or outside is stagnant and inhuman. I am trying to write but it is not easy to concentrate. Writing is somehow keeping me alive and that is the only way for me to stay sane under these trying conditions," Taslima said.