(The author) chronicles the insults and indignities heaped on his kith and kin with admirable restraint. The rage does not rise to the level of hysteria nor does it ever descend to a stage of self-pity. And even as he exposes, through one telling anecdote after another, the inequities of the caste system and their devastating effect on the (Untouchable) Dalit community, he avoids radical rhetoric. He is aware of the systemic flaws but his aim is to reform the system, not to overthrow it.

Dileep Padgaonkar in
Outlook,
(September 22, 2003)