Today, Suraj is being courted by top literary agents (he has just signed on with David Godwin) for his next book. By the age of 25, he had two PhDs under his belt and was already on his way to being acknowledged as an international scholar worth watching, having impressed academia (Harvard/Oxford) with his impassioned commitment to his life’s mission and calling as a writer/speaker determined to have his voice heard. The visuals are straight out of Slumdog Millionaire, and his narrative is equally compelling as he vividly describes beating all odds at school and college, to finally achieve what very few have-dalit or not. Suraj’s extraordinary trajectory is worthy of a full length film, starting with his life in a slum in Nanded, sharing one cramped room with his family of five. I bombarded Suraj with questions about his past, present and future as we conversed energetically in our common mother tongue-Marathi. Once done with the valedictory function, Suraj, his Slovenian companion Tasha, and I drove for an hour to eat the best mango fish curry on earth at the famous Paragon restaurant.

I had not read the book-but now I will, after meeting Suraj at the just concluded Kerala Lit Fest in Kozhikode.ĭressed like a rockstar in strawberry pink drainpipe pants, a rainbow hued ganji hugging his lithe frame, fitted navy blue blazer with a foppish pocket square, pitch black shades (indoors) and a halo of unruly curls framing his face-the man had attitude written all over him, as he pulled up a chair and introduced himself.

The book (published in 2019) is frequently described as explosive, and Suraj Yengde, the 35-year-old author, gets blurbed as a first generation dalit scholar, educated across continents, who challenges deep-seated beliefs about caste and unpacks its many layers.

Frank admission: I had heard of the book (Caste Matters), but forgotten the name of the author.

Suraj yengde caste matters