I do not remember why I first bought this book, but when I was reading it, it sure fired up some long gone memories into my system of the times when I was a six year old boy use to visit my grandparents in a remote village in Punjab, India.

I have always heard of the Untouchables but did not remember how disrespectfully the Indians have been treating their own people known as the Untouchables.

To summarize the book in some sentences -

1 It is an excellent story, which may not be true, but 99.9% of the Untouchables and the rest in India will relate to it.

2 The story also describes very clearly the Context in which these people have/had to work for their Masters (Jats, Brahmins etc.) in the villages of India.

3 If you do not wish to do extensive research on this topic but you want to understand the meaning and get a handle on 'the Untouchablility' existing in India then this book is for you.

4 I have also read an excellent book by John D. Morley called "Pictures from the Water Trade" which describes how a very similar Caste system also flourishing in Japan. My point here is that India is not alone, guilty of subhuman practices. In India there exists, perhaps, a more established hierarchical Caste system structure than any other place, and you will get a clear picture of it after reading the book.

Looking at the title some people might say: "Oh, well, it is another one of those stories about poor, suffering Indians...It is probably just another tearjerker, nothing more...and this and that..." They would be only half-right. Yes, it is another story about unimaginable suffering of out-cast Indians, The Untouchables. Yes, if you call yourself a HUMAN being and have a heart, you WILL empathize with them. However, this book doesn't ask you to pitty its characters and/or cry for them. Instead, it makes you think about them, not only in the context of Indian culture, but in a context of a much larger world. It also forces you to draw parallels to your own culture, whether you like it or not. Today, this book is especially potent, as we no longer live in our "little isolated cultures", separated by endless preconceptions and stupid prejudices about each other. In addition, this book is simply a piece of excellent writing, thanks to the wonderful writing skills and creative methods of its author. The story is narrated through the eyes of a main character, who directly addresses you as a reader, and yet sometimes seems to ignore you completely, while going about his own business (those are particularly interesting moments in the story). So, read this book, follow the lives (actually, try to live their lives with them) of its numerous and vivid characters, not one of whom is like the next one. I garantee that you will learn something new about India and also about yourselves, in the process of reading this book.