Ants Among Elephants

Author: Sujatha Gidla

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The word outcast is used to refer to those who have been rejected by society or a social group. It literally means outside of caste, which is the social hierarchy in which many in India have lived and still live. Previously known as untouchables and now usually referred to officially as “Dalits” in an effort to prevent the inevitable discrimination, those outside of or at the bottom of the caste system in India today still face discrimination based on this designation.

This book was an intensely personal account of a Dalit family in India during the decades following India’s independence. The author mostly told stories of her great grandparents and grandparents, mother, father, uncles and siblings as they navigated life with a social designation that often engendered outright disgust and abuse from others.

The author illustrates how her uncle was not allowed to enter a friend’s house by the front door or where her mother, despite being qualified and near top of her class in university, was fired from teaching jobs because of her status. She describes the dirty jobs that some groups considered “untouchable” were confined to such as cleaning latrines in conditions which often made them sick. She paints pictures of abject poverty that would not only be surprising to the modern reader in any Western country but was shocking even to others within the caste system in India at the time.

While the author does set some context to the events happening in the country at the time that influenced her family’s struggles as well as the opportunities they were presented, I did feel that some of the richer historical context was lacking, especially considering that this book was published by Daunt Books and, therefore I assume, targeted at a Western audience.

That being said, I think this is a worthwhile read for anyone interested in the subject. It’s deeply personal and uncomfortable at times for anyone sitting reading this in a setting of relative comfort, but it’s an important story, and I’m glad the author took the time to tell it.