In this episode of the Granta podcast, we speak to Sujatha Gidla, author of Ants Among Elephants: an Untouchable Family and the Making of Modern India. Gidla’s essay, ‘I Am My Mother’s Older Brother’, about dementia and caring for her mother, appeared in Granta 173: India.

We discuss the history of the caste system, writing a political memoir, and Gidla’s experiences as a train conductor for the New York City Subway.

Leo Robson is a cultural journalist whose work has appeared in the London Review of Books, the New Yorker, and the New Left Review, among other publications. He is the author of The Boys (2025).

Thomas Meaney is the editor of Granta.