The Cell and the Soul

A Prison Memoir

Anand Teltumbde

9789369521883

Language: English

256 Pages

In Stock!

Price INR: 699.0 Not Available

About the Book

Noted social activist Anand Teltumbde entered the Taloja Central Prison as accused number 10 in the Bhima Koregaon case and spent 31 months as an undertrial until he was released on bail. As an intellectual who was stripped of his freedom, he lays bares the chilling realities of India's prisons in his gut-wrenching prison memoir. Part memoir, part diary, Cell and the Soul is a descent into the heart of India's carceral state, ripping open the belly of the beast-the prison industrial complex-and exposing the brutal, pulsating injustice within.



From the echoing silence of his cell, Teltumbde writes of a heartless state that criminalises dissent with political imprisonment, of the relentless grind of injustice, and the profound cost of speaking truth to power. His prison writing is but a synecdoche for thousands of nameless, faceless undertrials who languish in India's jails.


This is a raw, unvarnished testament of a man incarcerated for his convictions, a powerful indictment of a democracy devouring its own. Rare is writing so tender and searing it dares us to confront the darkness within each of us and seek our own freedoms.

Anand Teltumbde
Anand Teltumbde is a civil rights activist, political analyst, columnist and author of many books. He has had a long association with peoples’ struggles, spanning over three decades. Trained in technology and management he marshals his insights of the modern techno-managerial world to sharpen strategies of struggles. His recent books are Mahad: The Making of the First Dalit Revolt (Aakar, 2016), Dalits: Past, Present and Future (Routledge, 2016), Persistence of Castes (Zed Books, 2006), Anti-Imperialism and Annihilation of Castes (Ramai, 2004). A long-time opponent of Hindutva forces, he has been incarcerated by India’s right-wing government since 2020 on charges that appear fabricated.

See more by Anand Teltumbde

You May Like