Book Review | How a girl fought and won against rape culture

The author, founder of Prajwala, (home for the rescue, rehabilitation of victims of sex crimes, sex trafficking and sex slavery, and the prevention of such crimes), presents a searingly honest and no-frills account of her journey in her memoir. It is a moving description of a life lived to serve, the passion to make a difference, and the will to surmount all odds. She speaks of the cruelty of labels and the propensity to view people merely as victims. While it may be true that we are all shaped by our experiences, those who have suffered extreme adversity and strive to overcome it, to live with hope and a purpose, find such perspectives suffocating. Her own experience of sexual assault brings to her life an added dimension of compassion and understanding. However, it is clear that her activism and courageous initiatives, often at the risk of personal harm, are not solely motivated by her personal pain but arise out a genuine desire to protect the vulnerable. This is what makes this memoir so meaningful.

While giving detailed descriptions of situations and incidents, Krishnan also introspects with great frankness and sincerity. She notes where she has gone wrong — whether in the handling of situations or of relationships — and recognises that while she has paid the price for being who she is, her loved ones, chief among them her parents, have paid the price too. Not many people are able to recognise and articulate this. All those who helped her in her path are meticulously acknowledged — people who offered time, money (often when they didn’t have enough to spare), love, understanding, resources…There are numerous instances where divine intervention seems to be at play too, as though recognising the nobility and dire need for such activism.

The dark, horrible underbelly of society is there in all its starkness; there are no masks, no euphemisms to ‘protect’ the reader. Many sections of the book bring a lump to the throat. The tears well up not only at the inhumanness of fellow beings but also with sheer admiration for this indomitable woman, her band of warriors and what they have accomplished. And soaring above it all is the resilience of the human spirit, the success stories of the rescued, and the grit of the survivors of inhumanity and persecution who prove, as she says, that they are truly “aparajita”, unbeaten. This memoir tells us that in spite of the ugliness and darkness of cruelty that shadows our lives, there are people like Sunitha Krishnan who hold out the light of hope and restore faith in humanity.

The reviewer, Malati Mathur, was director, School of Humanities, and director, School of Foreign Languages, IGNOU. She is presently a fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla.

I Am What I Am

Sunitha Krishnan

Westland

pp. 284; Rs 699