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K.K. Kochu's life and work, as both a writer and social activist, challenges
dominant narratives-of the Congress as well as the Communists-that
exclude the Dalit experience. Among his most significant works, his
autobiography is not merely a gritty story of the life of an individual, but a
history of modern Kerala written from a subaltern perspective.
Growing up in a village called Madhuraveli in a flood-prone region of
Kottayam district, fishing in the clear waters of nearby canals and eating
wild fruit, Kochu was also a promising student, reading everything he
could lay his hands on. The boy, troubled by the unquestioning submission
to their Namboodiri landowners, distinguished himself by his curiosity,
keenly observing the present and preserving in his young mind precious oral
histories of Pulaya life. His thirst for knowledge would sustain him through
the endless years of tragedy for the family and periods of unemployment, but
also lead him to study-and work towards ending-the marginalization of
the lower-castes and the erasure of their contributions to society. Starting out
as a Naxalite in college, he would go on to form a Communist Youth Front,
sympathetic though not affiliated to them. Working with leading figures in the
cultural and political space, as well as many that rarely find mention in written
histories, he would move from a Maoist to a self-consciously Ambedkarite
path of anti-caste struggle, a perspective that would guide him in subsequent
efforts to build unity among Dalits, Adivasis and minority groups.
By combining a view from below of raw life with an account of the
broader socio-cultural, economic and intellectual trajectories in Kerala,
Dalithan stands out as a unique contribution to Dalit life-writing in
Malayalam, available for the first time to an English readership in a brilliant
and faithful translation.
