Siraj Ahmed Jafferi’s debut novel Unnoticed Women is not about any particular sect, but a story of women in general. At the launch at Oxford Bookstore, the young author said women will be able to relate to the story. He added that women sacrifice their happiness for the sake of the family. It is to honour women that Siraj chose to write this book. Siraj said he had begun work on his novel after the Delhi rape incident. “I felt men don’t do enough for women’s rights.”
Siraj, who hails from Raichur in Karnataka, was inspired to write this book because he wanted to carve niche for himself. Artist, architect and social activist Zafer Mohiuddin, Maqbool Ahmed Siraj, a journalist at BBC World Service, Karnataka and Siraj were in conversation over the book. Zafer said Siraj and he hail from the same home town and that Siraj was the only person in Raichur he knew who had written a book in English.
Maqbool Ahmed Siraj said the book comes at an important time when civil society is demanding the recognition of women’s rights. “Women are discriminated against from birth. The birth of a boy child is celebrated much more than that of a girl child.” The discussion revolved around how women are discriminated against in countries in different ways.
