Kobad Ghandy's upcoming memoir traces the activist's life from his student days in London to his work as a Maoist ideologue

An upcoming memoir by Kobad Ghandy, set to be published in 2021, will explore his journey from his early days as a young student in London to his life as an activist, as well as the legal battles he has been fighting through the last decade.

Ghandy, who was introduced to the Dalit Panthers following his return to India from London, embarked on a journey which involved advocating for the rights of the Dalits and the impoverished as well as developing his ideologies as a communist and Marxist thinker. For the better part of the last decade, the Maoist ideologue had been embroiled in several court cases and was in and out of various prisons across different states in the country.

Set to be published by Roli Books, the memoir will bring to the fore two contrary sides of this figure, of an individual raised in a privileged household to his transformation into a leading Naxalite thinker.

Of the memoir, Ghandy said, “The book is a rumination and reflection on lives lived differently on a road less travelled among the poor and exploited.”

“It is being brought out at a time the world is witnessing an earth-shattering experience, never witnessed before, of pandemics, environmental devastation and economic disaster,” he noted. “In such a scenario, the book takes the reader on a long journey, spanning half a century, igniting hope, towards a new dawn.”