Kolkata: Bangladesh-born author Taslima Nasrin was overwhelmed by the response on her return to Kolkata after 19 years on Friday, saying she was thrilled to be back in the city which gives her a “sense of belonging”.“It is homecoming and I am elated to be here for a couple of days,” she told TOI soon after arriving in the city, which she was forced to leave in Nov 2007 following violent protests over her presence. “If things are in order, I would be frequenting Kolkata and attending cultural meets. If assured of security, I can surely come down to stay here. But the state govt has to decide if I can stay here permanently.”She said that for more than three decades, she has had places to stay, but not the unquestioned right to belong. “Even the country of my birth refuses to renew my (Bangladeshi) passport or issue me a visa on my foreign passport. My dream home, therefore, is more than an address. It is a democratic space where my safety, freedom and dignity are recognised as rights — not granted temporarily as favours,” said the author, who landed at the Kolkata airport around 12.30 pm.Exalted at the reception she got at the airport, the author of books that drew the ire of fundamentalists, such as ‘Lajja’ and ‘Dwikhandita’, said it was clear that residents of Kolkata wanted her back. The previous administrations, she alleged, prevented her return as they were unwilling to take on the fundamentalists.Talking about the 2007 protests, Nasrin said, “I shared an excellent rapport with then CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. But when trouble broke out, I was asked to leave. A senior police officer was instrumental in picking me up and forcing me on a flight to Delhi the very next day. Hoping that I would soon be allowed to return, I kept paying the rent for my flat on Rawdon Street till 2009.”Expressing her dismay at the erstwhile Trinamool Congress administration, she said, “The TMC govt blocked the telecast of the TV series ‘Dusahabas’, which was based on my script, in Dec 2013. The govt feared protests by fundamentalists.”She thanked Secular Mission’s Osman Gani Mallik, who took the initiative to bring her back, and CM Suvendu Adhikari, who responded positively to the move.Soon after landing in Kolkata, Nasrin became busy attending a rehearsal for a programme at Rabindra Sadan on Saturday, where CM Adhikari is expected to felicitate her. She plans to recite three of her poems at the event — ‘Boimela’, ‘Prasno’ and ‘Amar Kolkatar Bari’.“The security is too tight. They are not even allowing my own men,” she said while having a late lunch of fish and vegetables at a city hotel before the rehearsal.The hotel management and the security staff had a tough time handling guests who wanted to meet the author. Some of them brought gifts and sweets, including rosogolla. Nasrin, who has an aversion to sweets, could not resist tasting a rosogolla. “If I am in Kolkata, how can I not taste it,” said an exuberant Nasrin.