The Undocumented

In May 2009, Cyclone Aila tore through the Sundarbans of Bangladesh, swallowing everything Safrat had built: her land, her livestock, her livelihood. What it left behind was not a choice but an ultimatum: stay and slowly disappear or cross the border into India. The Undocumented follows Safrat and her two children, Nur and Nabeel, as they journey from the delta’s edge to Kolkata, shedding names, faith and identities to survive. It is the story of a border crossed and an identity hidden, but also of a family struggling to remain together even as it fractures from within. Drawn from thirteen years of fieldwork on the fringes of a Kolkata slum—years spent earning trust and reading silences—this book offers a rare and intimate account of why people leave their homes, how they cross over to a strange, unknown land and what it takes to build a life on the other side.