'Indian democracy is in deep trouble at this time, but its flame has been kept alive by a multitude of vibrant collectives working on the ground. Aruna Roy and her colleagues in the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan have played a leading role in this effort to defend and expand democratic space.'

-Amartya Sen, economist and philosopher, and Jean Drèze, welfare economist and activist

'This is the most unusual yet compelling of memoirs: a chiaroscuro of thought and emotion, seen through the refracting prism of memory.'

-Jayati Ghosh, development economist

'Aruna Roy's remarkable life overlaps almost completely with the life of independent India.'

-Harsh Mander, author, researcher and social activist


'Aruna Roy reflects on [a] life of deep engagement, weaving the personal and [the] political. A great inspiration.' - Amartya Sen & Jean Dreze

'A brilliant and riveting feminist manifesta for social change.' - V (Formerly Eve Ensler)

'There are many who speak, but very few who act. This book is a testimonial to the fact that change comes only with action and reinforces the proverb ''Actions are the best words spoken''.' - Perumal Murugan

Magsaysay Award-winning social activist Aruna Roy's remarkably forthright memoir is the story of two parallel journeys

a fifty-year-long engagement with public action in India, and a personal narrative that traces how the author has striven to convert her ideological convictions into practice.

For long decades, Aruna Roy has lived with and worked for the benefit of marginalized communities in rural India, fighting for the right to survive in a hostile environment. Alongside accounts of the plight of the vulnerable and the transformative power of mass-based grassroot social movements, her recollections are marked with stories of resilient individuals and communities and their extraordinary resistance to oppression.

Roy recounts a powerful lesson learnt from her extraordinary life: that every issue, whether it is poverty, discrimination, inequality or corruption, has personal as well as political ramifications. It is only by connecting the personal and the political, Roy says, that each one of us can make a difference.