Sujatha Gidla
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Sujatha Gidla (born ) is an Indian-born American author and train conductor. She is the author of the critically acclaimed 2017 book, '' Ants Among Elephants: An Untouchable Family and the Making of Modern India''. She works as a conductor for the
New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system in New York City serving the New York City boroughs, boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. It is owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Tr ...
.


Early life and education

Sujatha Gidla was born in
Kakinada Kakinada (; formerly known as Cocanada) is a Port, port city and municipal corporation in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Situated along the Bay of Bengal, it serves as the headquarters of Kakinada district and is a prominent economic and c ...
, Andhra Pradesh, into a
Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...
Dalit Dalit ( from meaning "broken/scattered") is a term used for untouchables and outcasts, who represented the lowest stratum of the castes in the Indian subcontinent. They are also called Harijans. Dalits were excluded from the fourfold var ...
family that belonged to the Mala caste. Her family was educated by Canadian missionaries in the 1930s, which was unusual for Dalits at the time. Both of her parents were college lecturers. Her maternal uncle, K.G. Satyamurthy, was a prominent communist leader and a co-founder of the Naxalite group
People's War Group People's, branded as ''People's ViennaLine'' until May 2018, and legally ''Altenrhein Luftfahrt GmbH'', is an Austro-Swiss airline headquartered in Vienna, Austria. It operates scheduled and charter passenger flights mainly from its base at St. ...
. Gidla studied physics at the Regional Engineering College, Warangal. She was also a researcher in applied physics at the
Indian Institute of Technology Madras The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras or IIT-M) is a public technical university located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is one of the eight public Institutes of Eminence of India. As an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), ...
. In 1990, at the age of 26, Gidla moved to the United States. She initially worked in software development and later for the Bank of New York.


Career and writing

After being laid off from her bank job during the 2008 financial crisis, Gidla sought a change in career. Drawn to what she described as "romantic feelings about being a working class person" stemming from her Marxist beliefs, she applied to work for the MTA. In 2009, she became the first Indian woman to be hired as a conductor on the New York City Subway, a job she continues to hold. Gidla began writing what would become ''Ants Among Elephants'' after years of conversations with her mother and relatives about their family's history. Although the
caste system A caste is a fixed social group into which an individual is born within a particular system of social stratification: a caste system. Within such a system, individuals are expected to marry exclusively within the same caste (endogamy), foll ...
was officially abolished in 1950, Dalits, formerly known as "untouchables," continue to face widespread
discrimination Discrimination is the process of making unfair or prejudicial distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong, such as race, gender, age, class, religion, or sex ...
. The project began as an effort to understand the relationship between caste and religion, but evolved into a sprawling family saga.


''Ants Among Elephants''

Gidla's debut book, ''Ants Among Elephants: An Untouchable Family and the Making of Modern India'', was published by
Farrar, Straus and Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer P ...
in 2017. The book is a work of literary non-fiction that chronicles the lives of her mother, Manjula, and her uncle, K. G. Satyamurthy, against the backdrop of modern Indian history. It details their struggles with poverty, caste discrimination, and their involvement in India's communist and revolutionary movements. The title refers to the social hierarchy of the caste system, where Dalits are the "ants" living in the shadow of the powerful "elephants." The book received widespread critical acclaim. In ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'',
Michiko Kakutani is an American writer and retired literary critic, best known for reviewing books for ''The New York Times'' from 1983 to 2017. In that role, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1998. Early life and family Kakutani, a Japanese Americ ...
praised it for giving readers an "unsettling and visceral understanding of how discrimination, segregation and stereotypes have endured." ''
The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...
'' called it "quite possibly the most striking work of non-fiction set in India since ''
Behind the Beautiful Forevers Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity is a 2012 non-fiction book by Katherine Boo. The book chronicles the lives of residents in Annawadi, a slum near the Mumbai airport, offering an intimate portrait of pov ...
'' by
Katherine Boo Katherine J. "Kate" Boo (born August 12, 1964) is an American investigative journalist who has documented the lives of people in poverty. She has received the MacArthur Fellowship (2002), the National Book Award for Nonfiction (2012), and her wor ...
."
Pankaj Mishra Pankaj Mishra (born 9 February 1969) is an Indian essayist, novelist, and socialist. His non-fiction works include ''Temptations of the West: How to Be Modern in India, Pakistan, Tibet, and Beyond'', along with ''From the Ruins of Empire: The I ...
in the ''
The New York Review of Books ''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of ...
'' wrote that it "significantly enriches the new Dalit literature in English." ''Ants Among Elephants'' was named a top ten non-fiction book of 2017 by ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'' and a best book of the year and featured author on the front cover by ''
Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...
''. In 2018, the book won the Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gidla, Sujatha Living people American writers of Indian descent People from New York City Dalit writers Indian women non-fiction writers American memoirists Writers from Andhra Pradesh National Institute of Technology, Warangal alumni People from Kakinada 21st-century American women writers Recipients of the Shakti Bhatt Prize American people of Telugu descent