Born Behind Bars by Padma Venkatraman (review)

Nine-year-old Kabir has only known life in a Chennai jail cell; his low-caste Hindu mother was pregnant by Kabir’s Muslim father when she was sent to the women’s prison after being blamed for a theft in the home where she worked. Now Kabir has aged out of his stay, and he’s released into the care of his father’s cousin; when it turns out the man is no relative but an opportunist selling Kabir into labor, the boy flees. He fortunately makes a friend of Rani, an independent young Kurava (Roma) girl who escaped an arranged marriage, and the two decide to journey to the city of Bengaluru in hope of finding his father’s family there. Venkatraman, in a story based on a real child, illuminates some harsh realities of life in an India where the lower-caste are oppressed with impunity and where sectarian hatred and violence can make life dangerous. Her characterization is solid, especially of the women in the jail cell and of bold Rani, but also of Kabir’s newly found grandparents, softened after severity that drove away their now-late son. Kabir’s and Rani’s sweeping good luck, however, seems to insulate them from the threats around them, and the bountiful good outcomes for just about everybody undercut the realism with a fairy-tale gloss. It’s still a readable tale of two plucky kids battling against the odds, though, and justice-minded youngsters will especially rejoice in Kabir’s putting wrongs to rights. Venkatraman includes a note about her research.