Start the Week

Arundhati Roy on castes and outcasts


Listen Later

Booker Prize-winning novelist Arundhati Roy's latest book weaves together the lives of the misfits and outcasts from India's bustling streets. Roy is famous as an advocate for the most vulnerable and dehumanised in Indian society. She tells Andrew Marr how her main character Anjum builds a small paradise for the dispossessed in a graveyard in Delhi.

Ivan Mishukov walked out of his Moscow flat aged four and spent two years living on the city streets, where he found a home among a pack of wild dogs. Playwright Hattie Naylor used this true and extraordinary story as the basis for a play and now a film, Lek and the Dogs. She explores how the human world failed to look after the child, but how his kindness won the trust and protection of street dogs.

Damian Le Bas grew up surrounded by Gypsy history from his great grandmother. He sets out on the road to discover Travellers' stopping places and to understand how the romanticised stories of the past were replaced by the critical, outcast image of present-day Gypsies.

The columnist and Conservative Peer Daniel Finkelstein appears to be the ultimate establishment insider. But his parents were refugees who were forced to move across Europe because of antisemitism. He believes their desire for rootedness and belonging underlines his own politics.

Producer: Katy Hickman

Picture: Arundhati Roy (credit Mayank Austen Soofi).

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Start the WeekBy BBC Radio 4

  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7

4.7

152 ratings


More shows like Start the Week

View all
Global News Podcast by BBC World Service

Global News Podcast

7,727 Listeners

The LRB Podcast by The London Review of Books

The LRB Podcast

290 Listeners

From Our Own Correspondent by BBC Radio 4

From Our Own Correspondent

369 Listeners

More or Less by BBC Radio 4

More or Less

879 Listeners

Newshour by BBC World Service

Newshour

1,036 Listeners

In Our Time by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time

5,506 Listeners

The Documentary Podcast by BBC World Service

The Documentary Podcast

1,817 Listeners

In Our Time: History by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: History

1,874 Listeners

In Our Time: Culture by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: Culture

607 Listeners

Arts & Ideas by BBC Radio 4

Arts & Ideas

290 Listeners

6 Minute English by BBC Radio

6 Minute English

1,822 Listeners

Learning English Conversations by BBC Radio

Learning English Conversations

1,079 Listeners

The Infinite Monkey Cage by BBC Radio 4

The Infinite Monkey Cage

1,946 Listeners

Great Lives by BBC Radio 4

Great Lives

521 Listeners

Last Word by BBC Radio 4

Last Word

47 Listeners

Thinking Allowed by BBC Radio 4

Thinking Allowed

302 Listeners

Moral Maze by BBC Radio 4

Moral Maze

61 Listeners

Curious Cases by BBC Radio 4

Curious Cases

830 Listeners

Front Row by BBC Radio 4

Front Row

128 Listeners

Private Passions by BBC Radio 3

Private Passions

44 Listeners

The Briefing Room by BBC Radio 4

The Briefing Room

72 Listeners

13 Minutes Presents: The Space Shuttle by BBC World Service

13 Minutes Presents: The Space Shuttle

4,177 Listeners

You're Dead to Me by BBC Radio 4

You're Dead to Me

3,167 Listeners

This Cultural Life by BBC Radio 4

This Cultural Life

113 Listeners