Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Ants among Elephants: The defiance of an 'untouchable' New York subway worker...

In Sanskrit, the main language used by scholars in ancient India and sometimes referred to as the language of gods, her first name means one of noble birth.

The irony is laid bare by Sujatha Gidla whose recent memoir speaks of her life and her family and the plight of 300 millions Dalits ("oppressed" in Sanskrit), formerly known as untouchables in India.

An expressive personal examination of her life, her parents, especially her mother, grandparents and Satyamurthy, a Maoist uncle who hoped revolution would help improve the caste discrimination his people suffered, Ants Among Elephants has quickly become the toast of critics and readers in America.

The New York Times said the "unsentimental, deeply poignant book" gives "readers an unsettling and visceral understanding of how discrimination, segregation and stereotypes have endured throughout the second half of the 20th Century and today".

Reviewer Michiko Kakutani wrote that Gidla's family stories reveal how "ancient prejudices persist in contemporary India, and how those prejudices are being challenged by the disenfranchised". Full story...

Related posts:
  1. India's dalit revolution...
  2. India’s caste system is alive and kicking – and maiming and killing and
  3. Vibrant Gujarat? 98% Dalits have to drink tea in separate cups...
  4. Dalits in Tamil Nadu continue to pay with their lives for marrying outside...
  5. India Dalit man hacked to death in 'honour killing' in Tamil Nadu...
  6. Caste – India’s curse...
  7. Software engineer murdered in India by parents after marrying lower caste man...
  8. Schoolchildren in India's Tamil Nadu 'made to wear colour-coded wristbands to show caste'
  9. Dalit women in Tamil Nadu narrate tales of atrocities...
  10. How the low-caste Dalits are treated in India's Tamil Nadu...

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