Tag Archives: dalit

Imagine a man plunging into a 20-feet-deep sewer through its narrow mouth, holding his breath for over 30 seconds, scooping the filth inside with his bare hands or a shovel, and emerging from it, covered in muck. The only precaution he takes is to light a match over the hole sometimes, to detect the presenceContinue reading “Sewer Rats”

-VIDYA VENKAT Twenty rupees is all he gets for plunging into a manhole from which there is no guarantee of returning alive. Sami* does it nevertheless, oblivious to the neat people walking past him on the road, holding their noses. He does it bare-bodied, save for a loin cloth to cover his manhood and aContinue reading “A life of dirt, danger, drudgery”