Farasi Premik by Taslima Nasrin [Hardcover]

Golden hair. Blue eyes. Rosy lips. A lean, well-built physique.

This French young man’s name is Benoît Dupin. At first sight, Neela falls in love with him. Neelanjana Mondal—born into a wealthy Bengali family—beautiful, intelligent, and well-educated. But she is also the wife of Kishanlal, a non-Bengali Indian man settled in Paris.

To Neela, Kishanlal’s well-kept, orderly apartment feels like a prison. A successful owner of two restaurants, Kishanlal sees his wife as his possession, much like any other traditional Indian husband. To him, Neela has no personal desires, no dreams of her own—he alone controls her youth, her body, her desires.

Neela longs to break free from these golden chains. But what kind of freedom awaits her? She leaves Kishanlal’s home, stepping into an uncertain, dark abyss. It is in this moment of vulnerability that Benoît enters her life. This charming Frenchman stirs a storm in Neela’s heart. Together, they explore the streets of Paris, its cafés, museums, and art galleries, weaving a love story like a poetic symphony—a melody of two souls in perfect harmony.

But suddenly, the music stops. The rhythm shatters.

Neela realizes that Benoît does not truly love her—he only loves himself. He is no different from other men.

Like in Baudelaire’s poem "To a Malabar Girl," where the poet laments—
"Ah, poor child, why did you choose our sorrow-stricken France, where suffering never ends?"—
Neela, too, has recited these lines.

But unlike the melancholic fate expressed in the poem, she refuses to accept defeat. Humiliation, heartbreak, and pain may have tried to bring her down, but Neela rises once more, determined to carve her own path.

Like all of Taslima Nasrin’s works, this novel is written in a bold, vibrant, and compelling prose. At its heart lies the struggles of womanhood, and a protagonist who refuses to surrender to fate.