Interrogating My Chandal Life
Abhijit Khandkar, medical practitioner, Byculla

Manoranjan Byapari lays bare the violence and humiliation embedded within the caste order, refusing the comforting myths of social harmony often promoted by dominant narratives. Through Byapari’s life, we see the Bengal of refugees, labourers and Dalits, a Bengal that rarely finds space in the polished bhadralok imagination. At a time when majoritarian politics is trying to flatten history and identity into one singular narrative, this book reminds us that the voices from the margins are not peripheral to the story; they are central to it.