Author: Mahasweta Devi
Translator: Sarmistha Dutta Gupta
Publisher: Seagull Books
Year: 2002
Language: English
Pages: 114
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8170461898
Description
Mahasweta Devi's acute and perceptive pen brings to life with a deep empathy and sensitivity life stories of four women, who have one thing in common: the unending class, caste and gender exploitation which makes their lives a relentless struggle for survival.
Four women — Dhouli, Shanichari, Josmina, China —all from the most oppressed, marginalized segments of society. Whether it is Dhouli, the young Dusad woman who finds herself an outcast in her own village; Shanichari, the Oraon girl who is forced into working in the brick kilns outside Calcutta; Josmina, the Ho tribal who, with her husband, gets sucked into the racket of trade in cheap coolie labor; or Chinta, a brahman widow whose caste is no protection against the harsh social strictures that force her into working as a part-time maid in Calcutta—the life stories of each of these women have one thing in common: the unending class, caste and gender exploitation which makes their lives a relentless struggle for survival. Mahasweta Devi's acute and perceptive pen brings them to life with a deep empathy and sensitivity which makes these women step out of the margins of society to live in our minds, impressive in their quiet courage and tenacity, their will to survive.
Contents
Translator's Note
Dhouli
Shanichari
The Fairytale of Rajabasha
Chinta
Appendix 1: Contract Labor or Bonded labor
Appendix II: Birbhum Punjab
Glossary