East Pakistan is where this stirring trilogy of semi-autobiographical books is set. It narrates the tale of little Jibon, a Dalit child who is rescued from the Muslim-majority country and brought to a refugee camp in West Bengal by his Dalit parents. In the camp, where dispossessed families like his are treated inhumanely, he grows up always craving hot rice. Jibon flees to Calcutta when he is just thirteen years old since he has heard that money flies there. He has a wildly na?ve imagination that makes him think he can leave the house, get job, and return with food for his siblings who are starving and clothing for his mother, whose sole sari is torn. Moreover, he leaves home, through the travels of this starving, bewildered but gritty boy, we witness a newly independent India as it grapples with communalism and grave disparities of all kinds.In this deeply affecting novel, you are exposed to a young, dispossessed Namasudra boy?s fears and his spirit for survival?all through Byapari's inimitable gaze. A work of great brilliance and beauty.