Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Sujatha Gidla's book

Even though I planned to spend much longer reading the book, I finished my first reading of "Ants Among Elephants: An Untouchable Family and the Making of Modern India" by Sujatha Gidla. I found it compelling with several threads running through. Parts reminded me of 'Nirjana Varadhi'. But in such books, we do not see the 'intimate enmity' faced by Dalits. Then there are parts of the family life of author's mother Manjula which are as powerful of parts of 'Asamarthuni Jeevayatra'. Fortunately, it is also a story of struggle and survival of some talented people despite handicaps. There are also the comical and tragic aspects of revolutionary meetings. Escape to foreign ands to escape caste to some extent. Should be translated in to Telugu soon.
The defiance of an 'untouchable' New York subway worker

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