Full Description
Caste, as it is experienced in everyday life, is the pièce de résistance of this book. Thirty-two voices narrate how from childhood to adulthood, caste intruded upon their lives—food, clothes, games, gait, love, marriage and every aspect of one's existence including death. Like the editor Perumal Murugan says, caste is like god, it is omnipresent.
The contributors write about the myriad ways in which they have experienced caste. It may be in the form of forgoing certain kinds of food, or eating food at secluded corners of a household, or drinking tea out of a crushed plastic cup, or drinking black coffee in a coconut shell or water poured from above into a cupped hand. Such experiences may also take the form of forbidden streets, friends disapproved of and love denied. And when one leaves behind the fear of caste while living one's life, there is still death to deal with.
Contents
Translator's Preface: Marked Bodies, Marked Minds
Introduction: The Buried Treasure I Found - Perumal Murugan
A Relentless Voice - N. Arulmurugan
Caste in Folk Theatre - K. Anbazhagan
Discrimination - M. Ananthan
Of What Use? - N. Ranjan
Only Son of the Family - R. Rajasekaran
The Ugly Face of Caste - P. Rajeskannan
Of the Soil - P. Ezhilarasi
In Which Ganges Do We Bathe? - T. Kalaichelvan
Futile Whimpering - K. Kasimariyappan
Pollution and Untouchability - V. Krishnan
Ugly Grin - P. Gunasekaran
A Kind of Pain - P. Kumaresan
A Wedding Feast with Mutton - S. Gopi
Empty Pride - Govindaraj
The Deep Pain of Identity - S. Sathiskumar
Snatched Freedom and Life - C. Chandiran
Like Eating Faeces - A. Chinnadurai
Born of a Father, Born into a Caste - P. Suresh
Upper Caste Goddess - C. Sureshkumar
Non-Existent - M. Senthamarai
Dealing with Inability - V. Dharmalingam
Testimony - M. Natarajan
Keeping Friends - P. Nallusamy
Black Coffee in a Coconut Shell - P. Balasubramaniam
Acceptance or Rejection? - R. Prabhakar
Distancing - K. Poonkothai
Everyday Moments - Perumal Murugan
Excommunication - R. Mahendiran
Penalty - P. Muthusamy
Family of Snake Charmers - R. Venkatachalam
Stale Food - M. Venkatesan
Taking Life as It Comes - M. Venugopal
