The Legend of Ramulamma

In a typical village somewhere in the Deccan, justice arrives in a different form… A middle-aged Dalit mid-wife, Ramulamma goes about her day performing her services as a dai, looking for odd jobs in surrounding villages and occasionally in the city, and countering constant ill-treatmeant from the local Inspector Sahib. But there’s more to Ramulamma than her torn sari and the gold stud twinkling on her nose reveal. Through her wisdom and canny intuition, she finds her way around the most intractable problems with the deftest touch. She brings to book a powerful landlord for the rape and murder of a young Dalit girl, saves a falsely accused thief from a miserable fate, and demonstrates to abusive policemen (and occasionally her high-born patrons) in her signature, subtle style the real meaning of duty. With delicate wit and never-failing empathy, the twelve stories in this delightful collection expose the hypocrisies of our sharply divided society and celebrate the self-empowerment of its oppressed.