Lootaloot

Translation of the 1969 Marathi classic Maran Swasta Hot Aahe (Death is becoming cheap)

A brothel exposes the intricate mechanisms of power and exploitation within a family. A petty conman attempts to feed his desperately sick children. A poet and a writer walk around Mumbai's slums to cure themselves of writer's block, only to discover the gruesome life stories of its inhabitants.

In eleven explosive stories, Baburao Bagul, a pioneer of Marathi and Dalit literature, casts an unflinching look at the lives of those society has rendered invisible - goons, sex workers, criminals and the desperately poor. Even as they battle systemic exploitation, starvation and police brutality on Mumbai streets, Bagul's characters simmer with rage, and rebellion is always around the corner.

As relevant today as when it was first published, Lootaloot lays bare the effects of caste on Indian society and marks Bagul as one of the most astute and remarkable chroniclers of our age.