From Silence to Assertion

Sushila Takbhaure's My Shackled Life lays bare caste, gender and poverty, tracing her struggle for dignity while exposing the enduring contradictions of India's social order

- SANJEEV CHOPRA

I began writing this review on the 15th of February, the day of Shivaratri 2026, when the Aghoris invoke the Bhoots, Pischaasas, and the Doms of the cremation grounds to join the 'all class-all caste-all gender' celebration of Shiva's marriage to Parvati.

I had settled down comfortably with my coffee on a cosy armchair in my study to review My Shackled Life, the English translation of Sushila Takbhaure's autobiography Shikanje ka Dard, when the Sunday edition of The Indian Express came in with a headline: 'Every day she cycles to Anganwadi, lays out mats and waits for kids who never come'. This is the reportage of a four-month boycott of a Dalit cook in the Nuagaon village of the Kendrapada district of Odisha.