In his first anti-caste graphic novel, “The Blue Book,” the author and artist writes Siddhesh Gautam aka @bakeryprasad brings to life both the visceral reality of the caste system and its dreams of a just future. With his poignant words and powerful illustrations, Siddhesh weaves a moving narrative and offers a refreshing perspective on the institution of caste. Through interconnected dreams strung together with an anti-caste thread, Siddhesh explores themes of resistance, courage and hope, confronting the caste system in his inimitable, genre-bending style. Siddhesh takes us on a journey through his dreams, introduces us to his own heroes and outlines his vision for a casteless future.
Imagine Differently: A World Beyond Caste
Chapter 1 begins with Siddhesh’s reinterpretation of the caste system as a spinning top, in sharp contrast to the way it is usually construed in popular culture. He points out that caste is not actually a culture but a tool of social control. Siddhesh powerfully contrasts the vegetarian, spiritual and peace-loving version of India that the world sees with the version that constitutes his life experiences – the India in which people are “made with the label of caste”. It is this version of India, the India in which the caste system creates servants rather than citizens, that causes Siddhesh to take up pen and dream of a new India.
In the second chapter, a dreaming Siddhesh meets India’s first teacher, Savitribai Phule. He visualizes their meeting with a powerful illustration of her sari shielding and lifting them both up. She tells him that caste is not just a structure but a lie that has been given a form. She advises him to expand his imagination rather than restrict it and urges him not to let the shadow of caste fall on our children. Siddhesh, sitting with his legs folded in Mai’s palm, tells her that he feels like he is not doing enough as an artist and as a person to fight the violence that caste brings. Mai puts her hand over his head and says that the only rule is to move others forward as we move forward. In the following pages we are treated to Siddhesh’s artistic brilliance, with a beautiful illustration of how the top of caste begins to crack.
Chapter 3 introduces us to two more heroes of Siddhesh viz Sant Ravidas and Meerabai. Now transformed into a crow, Siddhesh flies towards a noise he hears where he meets Meerabai and Ravidas. Meerabai tells him, “Breathing is enough, but caring is revolutionary.” Sant Ravidas tells him that the vision of Begampura is not a promise but a plan – a plan that we must all work towards together. In accordance with Meerabai’s words, Sant Ravidas Siddhesh teaches that creation is resistance and resistance is creation; Creating does not mean decorating, but gently disturbing. Through his illustrations of Sant Ravidas and Meerabai, Siddhesh breathes life into them and gives wings to his own creative excellence.
The Stories We Carry: The Work of Remembering
On a journey through time, space and history, Siddhesh meets Gautama Buddha in Chapter 4. Together they follow in Buddha’s footsteps via Sarnath and Bodh Gaya and finally find themselves in Thailand. As they walk, the Buddha tells Siddhesh that being a Buddha is not so much about statues as it is about the practice of presence—how the self relates to the world. Siddhesh then asks the Buddha whether an oppressed person must overcome oppression before he can attain enlightenment. The Buddha replies: “You cannot ask someone to meditate on themselves on an empty stomach and without dignity.” Through the Buddha, Siddhesh tells us something worth paying attention to: to be human is to ensure humanity for others – for everything that breathes.
In Chapter 5, Siddhesh’s dreams shift to a new room where he sees Dr. Meets BR Ambedkar cooking in the kitchen. Siddhesh, half human, half ant, notices faceless guests sitting at the dinner table. When he asks Babasaheb why the guests have no faces, Babasaheb replies that it doesn’t matter who the guests are, “to serve is to serve.” With these words, Babasaheb falls silent and remembers that he could never make custard for his late wife Ramabai. Siddhesh tells Babasaheb that he is privileged to have this dream. Babasaheb instructs him not only to tell stories but also to train storytellers so that no child of us feels deprived of his story. As Babasaheb and Siddhesh prepare to serve the food, they turn around and see that all the faceless guests have turned into Ramabai. When Babasaheb sees her, he starts crying. Siddhesh illustrates this beautifully with a picture of Babasaheb on his knees offering a bowl of food to Ramabai. As they start talking, Siddhesh begins to fade into reality.
This quiet moment segues into the next dream, which constitutes the sixth chapter. When Siddhesh goes to sleep after a normal day at work, he meets Gail Omvedt. They find themselves in Nagina, Siddhesh’s hometown. As they explore the city together, they visit Siddhesh’s uncle’s shoe workshop. Omvedt refuses to reduce his uncle’s quiet work to a mere occupation, insisting that it is in fact history; Every stitch is an act of documentation, and every sole is a page. They fly over the market and observe Dalit stalls, which are always on the edge of the market. Omvedt tells Siddhesh that caste is an economy of erasure and determines not only what someone sells but also what their work is worth. Back in his uncle’s workshop, Siddhesh sees a pair of freshly sewn shoes and realizes that the silence is not empty, but full of memories.
The Dreams We Share: A Roadmap for the Future
In Chapter 7, Siddhesh meets two more of his heroes namely Kausalya Baisantri and Annabhau Sathe. Baisantri and Sathe sit under a lonely tree in the desert and tell him that movements do not arise from slogans or without art, songs, poems and stories. Siddhesh then asks her: What does the anti-caste movement need today, structure or fire? We need both Baisantri and Sathe’s answer, because fire without structure is lost in smoke, and structure without fire is just paperwork. They identify what the movement needs to work toward: toward songs that aren’t self-censored, toward classrooms we haven’t yet imagined, and toward people who don’t yet know they deserve to dream. Through Kausalya Tai and Annabhau Sathe, Siddhesh describes his own vision for the future of the anti-caste movement, not enlightenment as escape, but endurance as resistance.
About Bakery Prasad on Instagram
The final chapter takes place during Siddhesh’s first stay abroad, in Italy. Here we meet three more friends of Siddhesh: Bhagat Singh, Fatima Sheikh and James Baldwin. When Bhagat Singh makes a poster with Babasaheb’s famous slogan “Educate, Agitate, Organize,” he notes that although we call ourselves “Vishwaguru,” the Indian people are still burdened by caste and birth. Echoing his words, Fatima warns that we must be wary of narratives that teach division, emphasizing that no child should grow up believing that they are “inferior to others because of their caste, smaller because of their gender, darker because of their skin color, or alien because of their language.” Next we meet Baldwin, who tells us that creativity is not decoration, but the way we find out what the world is hiding. Dreams, says Baldwin, are not an escape but a test of truth. With these words, the three great reformers present Siddhesh with a card that has nothing written on it – only the color of the oppressed; a color shared by millions, a color called blue. We don’t always need alphabets or numbers, they say Siddhesh. Sometimes one color is enough.
Siddhesh’s dreams are not his alone. They are shared by the hundreds of thousands of us who fight with him for a future in which one’s caste does not determine one’s life chances. Through his touching words, minimalist blue-and-white color palette, and surreal page-long illustrations, Siddhesh enlivens those from history who showed us the path we take today, forcing us to confront our own privileges. In this way, he brings to life the thoughts and feelings that many of us cannot express. When I was asked by Feminism in India to review this book, I had no idea the journey it would take me on. So The Big Book is one of those rare works that challenges not only the way we think about the world, but also the way we see the world.
All images are from The Blue Book by Siddhesh Gautam, published by Penguin India
Abhijay Rambabu (he/him) is a sociologist with a strong focus on digital, urban and cultural sociology. He researches and writes on these topics, in addition to his writings on ecology, inequality and critical caste studies.