Sultana's Dream...a book I had heard about since kindergarden, but never actually happened to read. It is brilliant, and becomes increasingly more brilliant as you put it in context of 1905's Bengal, where the purdah system reigned and the subcontinent was still under the ruthless British rule. This science fiction has a reversed sex-roles dystopia (it seems quite utopi-c, though), solar energy, electric irrigation and transportation and quite a few other marvels. I think it should be made a required reading for schools in Bangladesh. Also, I just found a fanfic on it!

'We do not covet other people's land, we do not fight for a piece of diamond though it may be a thousand-fold brighter than the Koh-i-Noor, nor do we grudge a ruler his Peacock Throne. We dive deep into the ocean of knowledge and try to find out the precious gems, which nature has kept in store for us. We enjoy nature's gifts as much as we can.'

A really good short-story.