The Outcasts-Lidija Stankovikj

Book: The Outcasts-A Thousand Dreams of Redemption

Author: Lidija Stankovikj

Publisher: Platinum Press/ Leadstart Corp

The Outcasts is a story of 3 seemingly unrelated characters who have seen life give them lemons. It is a story that encompasses social, religious and cultural boundaries and how our upbringings make us live inside a box of these constraints.

We first meet Tabassum, or Tabu, who is a rebellious young Muslim woman, who is seemingly under the influence of jinns. Moving ahead, we meet Santan, an aging Hindu man, who returns with a new lease of life from the face of death. The Third person, we meet is Chameli, who is an emotionally fragile transgender woman, who is forced to leave the community which provided her with safety and identity.

The book first introduces us to each of the characters individually. We meet Tabassum in a dargah. Where she has been left by her family to be cured of the jinns. Here we see the fragility of her mind, yet she does not hesitate in helping out people those who ask for it. We also get to see glimpses of her headstrong nature and a brief of her story. Next, we are introduced to Santan, an old man, who has been brought to the City of the Liberation to die by his son. Since he lived for 40 days and did not die, he asks his son to leave him as his duties as a son were over and Santan starts off towards a journey. And finally, we are introduced to Chameli, who was named Ajay by her parents, but being uncomfortable in being a boy, she finally accepts who she is and becomes a Hijra. Her story of moving on is also very detailed and impressive.

At crossroads of life, this uncommon trio embarks on a trip, that would finally shape their life. It is their experience from life that turn into lessons for others. They have multiple experiences that help us understand these 3 people in detail and how each of them react to it. The trip turns out to be a transformative journey, where all 3 of them look for the things they were looking for and how they find them.

The book is a compelling read as the character development is very nicely done. The 3 protagonists can be anyone around us. It is easy to relate to them and their stories. Lidija has amalgamated very subtle hints of how we are bound by social conventions and our reactions to situations are governed by those. Reading between the lines, the 3 people represent the majority of the people. How our notions of gender, religion, caste & sexuality define what we are and what we do. There are no names of the cities but this story could be put in any part of the world and would still remain true.

The last part of the book closes the story arcs in a very emotional and poignant manner. We get to the very soul of each of them as they bare out their very emotions.

The storytelling is very tight and no instance in the book seems unnecessary. For everything comes a full circle and we are all haunted by who we are, our pasts.

I would rate it 4.5/5.