Gidla, who now works as a conductor on the New York City subway, conveys the strain of living in the sort of abject poverty she knew as a child, where some neighbors were skeletal from hunger, and an apple was a precious Christmas treat. She chronicles the horrifying violence that could break out between the police and Maoist rebels, and among local hooligans, hired at election time to intimidate voters. And she captures the struggles of women like her mother to pursue careers in the face of caste and misogynist bias, while raising children and helping to support, in her case, as many as two dozen relatives.<\/p>\n
When asked about caste \u2014 and in India, she says, \u201cyou cannot avoid this question\u201d \u2014 Gidla writes that an \u201cuntouchable\u201d like herself has a choice: \u201cYou can tell the truth and be ostracized, ridiculed, harassed,\u201d or \u201cyou can lie.\u201d If people believe your lie, she goes on, \u201cyou cannot tell them your stories, your family\u2019s stories. You cannot tell them about your life. It would reveal your caste. Because your life is your caste, your caste is your life.\u201d<\/p>\n
In these pages, she has told those family stories and, in doing so, the story of how ancient prejudices persist in contemporary India, and how those prejudices are being challenged by the disenfranchised.<\/p>\n