It is a story of survival, of terrible grief and oppression, of surmounting great odds to emerge as a freer human being. Omprakash Valmiki talks of growing up in a village in north India in an untouchable caste, Chuhra, well before the defiant term 'Dalit' was coined. In this book, the second autobiography in Hindi by a Dalit, readers are drawn into world where cruelty and deprivation seem to be the only reality, and they become aware of the complexities of caste oppression. In some ways, it is a symbol of the demeaning existence imposed on the Dalits, for whom autobiography is the preferred genre since it enables them to write of themselves and their communities, of their lived reality. In some ways, it is a symbol of the demeaning existence imposed on the Dalits, for whom autobiography is the preferred genre since it enables them to write of themselves.’ 'Joothan' refers to the scraps left on plates that are then given to Dalits to eat. 'Joothan' refers to the scraps left on plates that are then given to Dalits to eat. Omprakash Valmiki is the author of two collections of poetry and one of short stories.
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