Sara Joseph and Sangeetha Sreenivasan in conversation with Anita Nair

Writer, political commentator and activist Sara Joseph's acclaimed book, Budhini, traces the uprooted life of the Santali girl who was famously ostracised by her community for greeting Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru with a garland and tikka, seen as a symbolic matrimonial ritual, during the inauguration of a dam in 1959. Translated from the original Malayalam to English by her daughter Sangeetha Sreenivasan, the book is an enduring tribute to the female voice and to lives and stories that should not disappear within the folds of time. In conversation with writer Anita Nair, she delves into the process of translating this evocative tale and the wider bio-politics it uncovers.