Terrorised, victimised, incarcerated: an Indian woman’s story of life under the extremist regime. Six years in Afghanistan, three of these under the Big Brother scrutiny of the Taliban, has made Sushmita Banerjee a hardened woman with bitter memories. The 34-year-old Calcuttan was trapped in Sarana, a village three hours from Kabul, ever since 1989 when—after a whirlwind romance and marriage to Jaanbaaz Khan, a Pathan—she had gone to visit her in-laws’ home. Eventually, she became the target of the Taliban. For close to three months she was placed under house arrest. And was nabbed when she tried to flee the country.