'We're relieved Bangladesh isn't with Pakistan anymore'
Shobhan SaxenaShobhan Saxena, TNN
Aug 7, 2011, 12.38AM IST
A Golden AgeIn 2008, Bangladeshi writer Tahmima Anam , 36, talks about Islam, Bangladesh and its love-hate relationship with both India and Pakistan.In 2008, Bangladeshi writer Tahmima Anam , 36, won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for her first novel A Golden Age, a stunning book that laid bare the gulf between East and West Pakistan during the 1971 war. In her second book, The Good Muslim, the London-based author returns to the period 40 years after Bangladesh won its independence to say that debates on Islamic fundamentalism are not just held in the western and Muslim worlds, but exist within Islam as well. In an interview with Shobhan Saxena , the Harvard-trained anthropologist talks about Islam, Bangladesh and its love-hate relationship with both India and Pakistan. Excerpts:
The title of the book suggests that there is something called a good Muslim. Who is a good Muslim?
The book is not supposed to answer this question; it's supposed to ask this question. The novel is meant to raise some questions in the reader's mind: who is a good Muslim? Is it the religious character? Is it the secular character? Or is it the mother who is caught between the two? I suppose that my aim was to show that these debates are happening between Muslim communities as well as between Muslim communities and the outside world. There are contestations of meaning and moralities - what it means to be a person of faith and to be a good person.
The backdrop of both your novels has been the 1971 war. Are Bangladeshis still talking about that war?
Yes, absolutely. I am a Bangladeshi writer and that's the most important thing that has happened and affected the world that still exists. This book is about the shadow of the war and about the people living in the wake of a great event. It's about the people who survive it - what happens to them; how they lead the rest of their lives knowing that they have lived through such a horrific time. For me, as a novelist, war is wonderful - it's like a stage where so many things happen, so many relationships change, and there is so much drama and trauma. There is love too. When I talk to people about the war, they don't say 'I fought this battle or that battle'; they say 'I went to the village for the first time and I fell in love'. You know the stories are very human. So I was attracted to that period.
So it's part of the imagination of your generation too - the people born and brought up after the war was over...
Definitely. It takes a big place in public imagination in Bangladesh - people of all generations whether they lived through it or not. There is a film called Guerrilla that released recently. It's a story of the war and shows all aspects of it - basically about the young men who formed the urban resistance. It's been playing to packed houses for three months and a lot of young people are going to see it because it's the first time they have seen this kind of cinematic depiction of what they have heard from their parents and read in books. There hasn't been a kind of closure to that event.
In 1971, India was seen as liberator of Bangladesh, but not anymore. What has gone wrong in these 40 years?
Well, there was a lot of goodwill after 1971. Indira Gandhi played a major role in our independence. Sonia Gandhi was in Dhaka last week and Indira Gandhi was given a big award. So there is still a lot of goodwill and a sense of indebtedness to India, to Indira Gandhi. Obviously, the relationship has had its ups and downs since then and there are many reasons for that. It's hard to be surrounded on three sides by a much bigger economic superpower. But there is a lot of potential for a relationship with a lot of mutual respect and understanding.
Recently, PM Manmohan Singh said something to the effect that many Bangladeshis support fundamentalism.
There is a mixed feeling about India. India can look at Bangladesh as its Muslim neighbour who doesn't have the problems of Pakistan - a Muslim neighbour that has nothing to do with ISI or fundamentalism and terrorism. The present government has done a lot in uprooting terrorism. India needs to acknowledge that and give Bangladesh its due. So, negative statements set the relationship back. People feel there goes India again - to bully us.
What kind of books do you read? Any favourite writers?
American writer Tony Morrison is my favourite. I also like a lot of contemporary Pakistani writers. I think the most exciting writing coming out of anywhere in the world is from Pakistan. Writers like Daniyal Muennedin, Mohammad Hanif and Nadim Aslam are writing excellent stuff. Indian writing in English is old now and a new generation of writers is coming up now from Pakistan, and hopefully, from Bangladesh. Maybe it's because of the many conflicts in that country. It's also because of the moment - it's Pakistan's moment on the world literary map.
There is a perception that Pakistan's at war with itself and may be falling apart. How do people in Bangladesh see what's happening in Pakistan?
We are all very happy that we are not part of Pakistan anymore. So there is a sense of relief. But because there is a feeling of Muslim countries being besieged by these stereotypes, there is a sense of camaraderie with other Muslim countries as well. And since Pakistan is one country which is most similar to ours, there is long-standing affection for Pakistan. Bangladeshis just adore the Pakistani cricket team. There is this kind of relationship but also the feeling that we didn't really belong together. It was a relationship that was doomed to fail.
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