Untouchable: About The Book

Untouchably touches the world...

 

 

 

 

This book is a multilayered personalized saga of the social transformation of Dalits in India. At one level, it is loving tribute from a son to his father; at another, it gives an intelligent appraisal of the caste system in India and traces the story of the awakening of Dalits traversing three generation; at yet another level, it is reflective of the aspirations of millions of Dalits in India.

‘Untouchable’ is a story of awakening of Dalits . It is a story of one Dalit (untouchable) family’s struggle, inspired by Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar who touched the lives of millions of Dalits and Damu (Damodar) Runjaji Jadhav was just one of them. The author’s father, Damu was an ordinary man who did an extraordinary thing; he stood up against the oppression of the caste system by teaching his children to believe in themselves and reclaim their human dignity. Damu’s guts and sinews are too strong, his response to Ambedkar’s call to Dalits to “Educate, Unite and Agitate” too complete and all consuming to allow him to live in the past.

Damu comes to Mumbai to escape the tyranny of the upper castes in his native village Ozar, in Nashik District of Maharashtra. His struggle for survival and his transformation under the guidance of Dr. Ambedkar, from servility to awakened self-consciousness, is the main theme of this book. Damu was not a born leader, nor did he ever become one. But he had one exception- he chose to rebel against the prevailing caste system to create his own destiny. An intelligent man, with no formal education, he worked hard to be allowed to live with dignity. Damu is abused and severely beaten up by upper-caste people in his village, for refusing to take out a putrefied body from a well. His forefathers were required to wear clay-pots around their necks to keep their spit from polluting the ground, and brooms were tied to their rumps to obliterate their footprints as they walked. Damu’s story differs from those Indian Dalit autobiographies which revisit and relieve the horrors of untouchability without going beyond. The simplicity of the narrative brings out the misery in the story and triumph of the Damu’s family describing various landmarks like, a radical transformation under the spell of Dr. Ambedkar in Damu and his family; their sloughing off of servility and realization of their self esteem; and finally their empowerment through education.

 Wellknown economist Stanley Fischer has noted,” (the) book eloquently tells the story of a Dalit (Untouchable) family’s journey from an Indian village to the Indian and international middle class. It is the story of the genius and determination of the (author’s) illiterate father and his stalwart mother, and their remarkable children. It is also a story about modern India and its potential. Even more, it is a moving story about humankind in all its complexity.”

“If you have a burning desire, you can come up in life against all social odds.” This strong positive message is engraved in the minds of the reader, when he/she finishes this book.