FATAL ACCIDENTS OF BIRTH

Harsh Mander

Harsh Mander, a writer and researcher, presents 17 stories of people who have suffered and overcome discrimination. For instance, after Lachmi Kaur lost almost all the men of her family in the anti-Sikh pogroms of 1984, she single-handedly raised her children and grandchildren. Krishan Gopal decided to build his own shrine to Hanuman after being barred from the village temple by his dominant-caste neighbours. Dhanam, after defying her family and undergoing a sex-change operation, now lives with a large community of eunuchs in a Chennai shanty.

Speaking Tiger, 216 pages, Rs 499