Taslima Nasrin
When Taslima Nasrin announced "I am dead. Google killed me. Sue them", it sent many into a tizzy. Was there a wrong update about her in any of the websites, was the question that was paramount on everyone's mind. But it turned out that the issue was different. Taslima's e-mail account was frozen by Google because of delay in payment for the extra storage space.
Says Taslima, "We have now become completely dependent on Google. My entire database is stored in my account. I admit that I had been given warnings to pay up the required 4 dollars to buy the storage space. But due to some unavoidable reasons, I couldn't do that. My American credit cards had expired and I tried to use my Indian credit card to pay up. But Google didn't accept it. Even a friend's American credit card isn't working to make the necessary payment. I am completely at a loss now."
Her friends had advised her to create a new account. "I did that too but the problem is that no one really knows about this new account. In some cases, it is not being accepted because people might think it is a hoax account. I have been battling a lot of odds. There have been so many attempts to stifle my voice. The denial of access to my account has made me so helpless. I never knew that Google had become my lifeline," she says.
Living a life in exile isn't easy. "Even filmmakers, who approached me to make adaptations of my works, have suddenly vanished into thin air. They take rights from me and then after a while, I find they have started making other movies. I have still not been able to fathom who stops them midway through the whole process of making a movie. It is frustrating but my fight still continues. I am happy that there is one film-maker who isn't a coward about referring to me in a film. I will want to check out " Abhimaan" - a film starring Prosenjit Chatterjee's wife. It is based on what happened to a married lady on the night of the 2007 riots when there was a riot in Kolkata after which I had to leave the city," she signs off.
Says Taslima, "We have now become completely dependent on Google. My entire database is stored in my account. I admit that I had been given warnings to pay up the required 4 dollars to buy the storage space. But due to some unavoidable reasons, I couldn't do that. My American credit cards had expired and I tried to use my Indian credit card to pay up. But Google didn't accept it. Even a friend's American credit card isn't working to make the necessary payment. I am completely at a loss now."
Her friends had advised her to create a new account. "I did that too but the problem is that no one really knows about this new account. In some cases, it is not being accepted because people might think it is a hoax account. I have been battling a lot of odds. There have been so many attempts to stifle my voice. The denial of access to my account has made me so helpless. I never knew that Google had become my lifeline," she says.
Living a life in exile isn't easy. "Even filmmakers, who approached me to make adaptations of my works, have suddenly vanished into thin air. They take rights from me and then after a while, I find they have started making other movies. I have still not been able to fathom who stops them midway through the whole process of making a movie. It is frustrating but my fight still continues. I am happy that there is one film-maker who isn't a coward about referring to me in a film. I will want to check out " Abhimaan" - a film starring Prosenjit Chatterjee's wife. It is based on what happened to a married lady on the night of the 2007 riots when there was a riot in Kolkata after which I had to leave the city," she signs off.
