Leprosy and a life in South India

Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork as well as many hours of interviews, Leprosy and a Life in South India: Journeys with a Tamil Brahmin documents the life story of Das, a South Indian Brahmin born in the newly postcolonial India of the early 1950s. After being diagnosed with leprosy, Das spent over a decade on the streets of Bombay and Madras learning to survive as an unofficial station porter, bellhop, and sometimes tourist guide. Das's story unfolds against a backdrop of everyday violence and hardship in South India. Re-inves