• ISBN13: 9780199479290
• Binding: Paperback
• Subject: Writing/Research Methods
• Publisher: Oxford UP
• Publisher Imprint: Oxford UP
• Publication Date: September 16, 2017
• Pages: 276
• Original Price: INR 595.0
• Language: English
• Edition: N/A
• Item Weight: 290 grams
• BISAC Subject(s): Memoirs

You hardly look like a Chamar! All dressed up like a Nawab, did you hope to gain entry into our courtyard? Out you go!' I left immediately. It was then that I felt the first stirrings of my sense of self-respect. Born into a family of tanners in Uttar Pradesh, Sheoraj Singh Bechain struggled against social disabilities imposed on him by virtue of being an ‘outcaste’. Traded by his stepfather to serve as a bonded labourer at a brick kiln; kicked, punched, slapped, whipped for nurturing a love for education; earning his living by polishing shoes and serving in hotels—Sheoraj suffered hardships all through his childhood. In all of this, however, his quest for an education remained unperturbed, and eventually succeeded in getting enrolled in formal schooling. This is the life story of a Dalit that gives a look into the unknown and unfamiliar world of the ‘lower’ castes who suffer unseen, in silence, in all its terrible dignity. Rendered in the folk idiom of western Uttar Pradesh, My Childhood on My Shoulders highlights the dismal lot of those who grow up shackled in free India.

Sheoraj Singh Bechain, Professor, Department of Hindi, University of Delhi, Deeba Zafir, Assistant, Laxmibai College, University of Delhi, Tapan Basu, Professor, Department of English, University of Delhi

Sheoraj Singh Bechain teaches in the Department of Hindi, University of Delhi. A prolific writer, Bechain has several publications to his credit, the most notable of which, apart from his bestselling autobiography, are---a collection of short stories 'Bharose ki Behen', two anthologies of poetry 'Nai Fasal aur Anya Kavitaayein' and 'Kronch Hoon Main' along with several books on Hindi journalism and Dalit discourse. A prominent voice in the world of Hindi Dalit literature, Bechain is the recipient of several prestigious awards---the national Subramaniam Bharti Sammaan, Ambedkar National Award and Rashtriya Hindi Gaurav Sammaan, to name a few.

Deeba Zafir has been teaching for more than twenty years in the Department of English, Lakshmibai College, University of Delhi. She has translated critical material and fiction from Urdu and Hindi into English. She has also written on and reviewed works of Urdu and Hindi literature.

Tapan Basu is Professor at the Department of English,

University of Delhi. He is the author of 'Khaki Shorts, Saffron Flags: A Critique of the Hindu Right' (Orient Longman 1993), and the editor of two anthologies on caste---'Translating Caste' (Katha 2002), and 'Listen to the Flames: Texts and Readings from the Margins' (OUP 2016).