Outcast: Four Stories

Four women—Dhouli, Shanichari, Josmina, Chinta—all from the most oppressed, marginalized segments of the 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; Josima, the Ho tribal who, with her husband, gets sucked into the racket of trade in cheap coolie labour; 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. Mahasweta Devi is one of India’s foremost writers. Her powerful, satiric fiction has won her recognition in the form of the Sahitya Akademi (1979), Jnanpith (1996) and Ramon Magsaysay (1996) awards, the title of Officier del’Ordre Des Arts Et Des Lettres (2003) and the Nonino Prize (2005), amongst several other literary honours. She was also awarded the Padmasree in 1986, for her activist work amongst dispossessed tribal communities. Sharmistha Dutta Gupta is a translator and editor based in Calcutta. She has co-edited and translated The Stream Within (Calcutta: Stree, 1999), a volume of short stories by contemporary Bengali women writers.