This story is about a couple of university kids in Bangladesh who study at North South University and try to make sense of their lives while abusing drugs to escape from an overwhelming feeling of alienation. It’s not only about sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll in the chaotic metropolis of Dhaka city, it’s also about the social fabric of the community around them.
The protagonist, Deen, (din duniya) struggles to find a spiritual connection, but he is unable to transcend his physical reality, all the more so because of his addiction. It’s his journey to redemption.
I have some close friends who are recovering addicts. Their strength inspired me to write this book. Drugs are a growing problem in Bangladesh, especially among the youth. Addictions, mental illness, depression, these are all considered ‘taboo’ topics here, so no one talks about them. People need to know more about addiction. I hope some of the young people currently hooked on yabba will read this book and realize how dangerous their so-called-party scene is for their health and well-being.
A lot of research went into this book. Through my friends, I had the good fortune of meeting Doctor Yusuf Merchant who runs a rehabilitation centre in Mumbai. I spent a month there, learning from him, about addiction. The overriding characteristic of an addict is extreme negativity. We all tend to get negative sometimes, so addicts in this book are a metaphor for the weak moments we all face. During those moments, we tend to feel disempowered and blame others for everything around us, we become angry and depressed, we become selfish. It’s important during those moments to remember to stay positive. In this book, I explore many of the key ways one can stay positive.
I also spent a month in a village talking to extremely poor women to explore their understanding of happiness in order to do the research for my thesis – I was doing masters in social psychology at the London School of Economics. That shaped one of the characters in my book, Falani, the drug dealer who lives in the slum – I wrote the book a few months after finishing my thesis. London School of Economics is both leftist and socialist and some of that political discourse made its way into my story.
My Indian readers have given me some very positive reviews and feedback. They say that though our countries are neighbors, they knew very little about the realities of today’s Bangladesh before reading this book.
I hope you enjoy reading this book, and I hope it helps you understand a little more about addictions and about how to stay positive in getting out of it
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