Budhini

On 6 December 1959, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru came to Dhanbad district, in what is now Jharkhand, to open the Panchet Dam on the Damodar river. Budhini, a fifteen-year-old chosen by the Damodar Valley Corporation, welcomed him with a garland and put a tikka on his forehead. Some read these ceremonial gestures as a marriage. Her village cast her out and she lost her job as a construction worker, on the grounds that she had broken Santal custom. Budhini was declared an outcast for marrying outside her community.

This novel reimagines her story through Rupi Murmu, a young journalist distantly related to Budhini Mejhan, who is determined to dig out the truth of an uprooted life. Sarah Joseph brings Budhini to life with energy, authority and flair, creating a strong and lovable woman and reminding readers of the people and stories that should never be forgotten.

The novel is translated by Joseph's daughter, the novelist Sangeetha Sreenivasan. It also speaks to the wider politics of relentless modernization and the danger of ignoring ecological realities.