This volume collects twenty-one stories of women and men who, simply because they were born poor, or a particular gender, or into a certain caste or religion, fell prey to the many atrocities and indignities endemic to contemporary India. Some resisted, survived, and soldier on. Some did not. Lachmi Kaur, who lost nearly all male members of her family in the anti-Sikh riots of 1984, overcame despair to singlehandedly bring up her children and grandchildren with fierce love and pride. With great courage of conviction, Krishan Gopal, a Dalit man from Nimoda in Rajasthan, built his own shrine to Hanuman when forbidden from the village temple by his upper-caste neighbours.