ABSTRACT
Muli’s brief narration of his early years introduces many themes that remain important throughout his life, and to which he refers often: poverty and semistarvation; pervasive discrimination against untouchables; parental sacrifices for children; an authoritarian father and grandfather; Muli’s dislike and avoidance of hard physical labor; and high-caste sexual exploitation of untouchable Bauri women. Within a few pages, Muli thus outlines the economic, social, and psychological plight that confronts most untouchables in contemporary India.
