Contents

Foreword ix

Preface xiv


PART 1: VILLAGE AND JUNGLE

The mystery of the two pillars 3

Grandfather marries a plant 8

A dandy and Gandhi 13

Running with the bulls 15

The bullock race 18

My ancestor fights a tiger 21

Late to school 26

My father the reformer 32

Marriage at age twelve? 37

We learn of Dr Ambedkar 40

Tattoed 44

Dreams of food, air, and water 57

From wrestler to bodyguard 63

PART II: THE CITY

The moneylender and the Queen's Palace 87

The specter of prison 92

Riot! 100

The "Temple-Destroying Nimgade!" 106

Forbidden romance 113

A Muslim to the rescue 115

Food and friends 120

'I am not a coolie!' 128

PART III: CASTE ASIDE

The holy stepping stone 135

The lion's den 138

Beggar's clothes in the nation's capital 140

Into the melting pot 144

An adventure at the Asian Games 148

Lost in the jungle 151

Learning from wasps 155

Nimgade the 'Guru' 158

Mother takes precipitous action 161

'Who are you?' 164

PART IV: MY TIME WITH BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR

Visiting Babasaheb's bungalow 169

'Do not get tempted by power' 175

Drafting the Indian Constitution 179

Dr Ambedkar explains life 184


PART V: TYING THE KNOT

The wedding 193

A new life for Hira 196

Family and Dr Ambedkar 200

Caste out 204

Losing Sadhu-boa 206

PART VI: A NEW WORLD

No end to knowledge 211

'I will not die a Hindu!' 217

To the New World 222

Warmth in a freezing land 225

Appeals to stay 229

No turning back 233

Dr Nimgade and Dr King 239

Journey home 245

To Motherland 251

Return to Delhi 254

The Nimgade Hotel 258

'An Untouchable has won world status' 264

A second generation Buddhist wedding 277

A village boy returns home 285

My wonderful identity card 288

Further Readings 290

This is the story of the first dalit to be awarded a PhD from an American university after Babasaheb Ambedkar. Namdeo Nimgade starts schooling at the late age of fourteen in Sathgaon. He has to stand on the ‘hot verandah and listen to lessons through a window’. From the Chokhamela Hostel in Nagpur, he journeys to the University of Wisconsin to study soil science in the 1950s. Serving as one of Ambedkar’s attendants on occasion, Nimgade offers a ringside view of the Ambedkarite movement. He writes with candour and humour—whether recounting his great-grandfather Ganba’s combat with a tiger or his ‘forbidden’ love for a non-dalit woman. This is an inspiring story of triumph against the odds.