The stunning true story of an untouchable family who become teachers, and one, a poet and revolutionary.
Paperback
PRODUCT INFORMATION
Summary
The stunning true story of an untouchable family who become teachers, and one, a poet and revolutionary.
Description
Like one in six people in India, Sujatha Gidla was born an untouchable. While most untouchables are illiterate, her family was educated by Canadian missionaries in the 1930s, making it possible for Gidla to attend elite schools and move to America at the age of twenty-six. It was only then that she saw how extraordinary - and yet how typical - her family history truly was. Her mother, Manjula, and uncles Satyam and Carey were born in the last days of British colonial rule. They grew up in a world marked by poverty and injustice, but also full of possibility. In the slums where they lived, everyone had a political side, and rallies, agitations, and arrests were commonplace. The Independence movement promised freedom. Yet for untouchables and other poor and working people, little changed. Satyam, the eldest, switched allegiance to the Communist Party. Gidla recounts his incredible transformation from student and labor organizer to famous poet and founder of a left-wing guerrilla movement. And Gidla charts her mother's battles with caste and women's oppression.
Page by page, Gidla takes us into a complicated, close-knit family as they desperately strive for a decent life and a more just society.
A moving portrait of love, hardship, and struggle, Ants Among Elephants is also that rare thing: a personal history of modern India told from the bottom up.
About the Author
Sujatha Gidla was born in Andhra Pradesh, India. She studied physics at the Regional Engineering College, Warangal and at twenty-six moved to New York, where she became the first Indian woman to be employed as a conductor on the New York subway. Ants Among Elephants is her first book.
The stunning true story of an untouchable family who become teachers, and one, a poet and revolutionary. Like one in six people in India, Sujatha Gidla was born an untouchable. While most untouchables are illiterate, her family was educated by Canadian missionaries in the 1930s, making it possible for Gidla to attend elite schools and move to America at the age of twenty-six. It was only then that she saw how extraordinary - and yet how typical - her family history truly was. Her mother, Manjula, and uncles Satyam and Carey were born in the last days of British colonial rule. They grew up in a world marked by poverty and injustice, but also full of possibility. In the slums where they lived, everyone had a political side, and rallies, agitations, and arrests were commonplace. The Independence movement promised freedom. Yet for untouchables and other poor and working people, little changed. Satyam, the eldest, switched allegiance to the Communist Party. Gidla recounts his incredible transformation from student and labor organizer to famous poet and founder of a left-wing guerrilla movement. And Gidla charts her mother's battles with caste and women's oppression. Page by page, Gidla takes us into a complicated, close-knit family as they desperately strive for a decent life and a more just society. A moving portrait of love, hardship, and struggle, Ants Among Elephants is also that rare thing: a personal history of modern India told from the bottom up.
Product Details
Returns
This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.
Browse by category
- Books » Non-Fiction » History
- Books
- Books » Non-Fiction
- Books » Non-Fiction » Biographies & Memoirs
- Books » Non-Fiction » Education & Teaching
- Books » Non-Fiction » Politics & Social Sciences » Sociology
- Books » Non-Fiction » Politics & Social Sciences
- Books » Non-Fiction » Politics & Social Sciences » Politics & Government » Political Science & Theory
- Books » Non-Fiction » Politics & Social Sciences » Politics & Government
- Books » Non-Fiction » Biographies & Memoirs » Leaders, Notable People & Professionals » Medical, Science & Technology
- Books » Non-Fiction » Biographies & Memoirs » Leaders, Notable People & Professionals
