Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
Elephant Chaser's Daughter
Elephant Chaser's Daughter | Shilpa Raj
2 posts | 1 read | 7 to read
When you are a female born into a poor Indian family, the odds are already stacked greatly against you. The human drama captured in this memoir is nothing short of amazing - a young woman's struggle between the two worlds of her existence. Saved by her grandmother from being killed at birth for being a female, and abandoned by her mother at a young age, Shilpa faces the formidable constraints placed on her by her family and the village elders. The values with which she is being brought up in a school for poor children started by a philanthropist come in conflict with those of her family, tearing each other apart. Just when all seems settled, an unforeseen death under mysterious circumstances shatters whatever stability remains in her life. Pulled in opposite directions, and torn between despair and dreams, Shilpa finally makes a choice for her escape. But is she strong enough to stand up to the people she loves, and pursue what she wants? At its heart The Elephant Chaser's Daughter is about hope, when all seems lost. Written with raw honesty and grit, this is a deeply moving memoir of a young woman confronting her 'untouchable' status in a caste-based society, and her aspirations for a good future.
LibraryThing
Pick icon
100%
review
monalyisha
post image
Pickpick

If circumstances had differed slightly, Shilpa Raj (the author of this memoir) would have been an Untouchable, rather than a highly-educated, respected, accomplished young woman with a Master‘s degree in Psychological Counseling. This story of her miraculous schooling & the dire poverty from which she escaped is compelling. She doesn‘t conceal her weaknesses (rage; selfishness; untrustworthiness) but it‘s difficult to judge her too harshly.

Ericalambbrown This sounds fascinating! Stacked! 5y
67 likes6 stack adds1 comment
quote
monalyisha
post image

“There is a paradise in every childhood.”

True or false?
Where was yours?

Mine was my BFF‘s house (diagonally behind my own). Her family was far from perfect (her parents were divorced; her mom was lonely; her brother, in & out of juvie). But they always made me feel like I belonged. I had to pass through a tiny field of tiger lilies to get there. There was a bifurcated tree trunk that I believed was a wish-granting gateway to another world.

Hooked_on_books We moved every few years as my dad was in the Air Force, so it would have been hard to find a paradise. But we went to New Jersey every summer to visit my grandparents, who always took us to the boardwalk. Playing the games and riding the log flume are amongst my favorite childhood memories. 5y
monalyisha @Hooked_on_books I understand! I think “paradise” is a strong word. I don‘t think my friend‘s house was heaven...but it was a haven. 🧡 5y
72 likes2 comments