Salt and Pepper: Unearthing Taboos

‘Salt and Pepper’ reveals life as experienced by a young Bangladeshi girl, Ranya. She is six at the beginning, living in Dubai with her doctor father, singer mother and older siblings. We follow her trials and tribulations at school and at home and her moves to Bangladesh and London. Her family life is disturbing. Ranya is at times treated as a slave and suffers abuse from her father; her mother is too self-absorbed and cruel to be of any help. The only hope for her is to escape to London as a teenager to live with her brother and his family, but her troubles don’t end there. Bhaiyya, though at times kindly, is also steeped in misogynistic tradition. Will Ranya find fulfilment through education, her beloved books and love, or will she too become a bride in an arranged marriage?