An excerpt from the English translation of Uchalya-The Branded

Gaikwad's mother, Dhondabai also rejects the Uchalyas' traditional ways of earning livelihood. Beaten by the police for thefts committed by her sons, and by her husband, Dhondabai supports her family by selling milk. The earnings help her get iron sheets for their hut. She sells her sheep for the release of her arrested son but never steals even in adverse conditions. Her poor health brings an abrupt end to the milk selling business. Dhondabai's resistance to the traditional ways of earning suggests other ways that the Uchalyas could adopt to earn their livelihood with dignity.

Despite thefts, beatings, arrests poverty and starvation back home Laxman attends school regularly. He shares one coverlet in winters with a "cluster of fleas"(Laxman's brothers) in which even the dogs snuggle to ward off the chill. Their senses are dead to the strong odour of the lambs pissing on the coverlet. This coverlet teems with lice and is never washed except once a year on Dusserah day. The open space near their hut is used as shitting spot by women. It is also used for killing pigs. Laxman wears ill-fitting clothes and shoes (which have been stolen) and lives in filthy conditions without taking a bath and washing his clothes. Laxman remains chronically underfed because of poverty.

When the gruel is prepared, the particles of grain pop out of the earthen pot. Laxman eats these particles. He also eats from the shares of his brothers as well as the food that comes from Chamle's house for his father. Laxman skips school on Tuesdays and Fridays hoping to get some good food at the temple. Starvation forces. Laxman to even eat the coconuts and food offered to propitiate the spirits in the cremation yards on full moon and new moon days. The fear of being haunted by the spirits makes him leave a little portion of the food for the spirit.  He also roasts dried mango stones and tamarind seeds which he collects from heaps of rubbish.

During acute shortage of food, Laxman spreads salt on the grindstone in order to lick the flour sticking on it. Sometimes he has to walk eight or nine miles through mud and over thorns with his brothers to collect food from wedding and funeral feasts. They take bowls and containers with them so that they can carry more food. This act of theirs makes them suffer not only humiliation and curses but also the beatings of the people. Laxman also begs jogva offerings in the name of God with Shevanta (of their fraternity). While in school, he works in the house of a student (Gyanaba Kuthwad) for food.

When Laxman skips school to search beehives for honey, pigeon nests for eggs and the roots of tekali to satisfy his hunger, he is beaten by Guruji. Though his caste, his unhygienic habits and his poverty bring embarrassment and humiliation to him, he does his school work regularly. As he can make excellent speeches, he wins prizes also. It is education that gives this Pathrut boy the confidence to write to the then Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi: When is Gandhi Ji's [Mahatma] dream going to be fulfilled? Please take steps to see that the poor get one square meal a day at least. The use of the spatial practices of speaking and writing, as explained by Certeau help Laxman to carve a space for himself as well as his tribe.

Education initiates the process of transformation in Laxman's life. His "dirty and slovenly ''habits undergo a sea change after he learns the importance of cleanliness.  The fear of punishment by the teacher makes him brush his teeth and take bath daily. He also washes his clothes (with sticky mud). He advises his sisters-in-law to sweep the floor daily. Every Sunday he washes the earthen jar of water which contains fleas, small frogs and loam stick.

Laxman declines to consume liquor which is usually taken as an antidote for fever and cold by the Uchalyas, following the advice of his Guruji.  Laxman who could earlier eat coconuts and food offered to propitiate the spirits in the cremation yards during Ashadha-Shravana (July-August) now observes a fast on Fridays and Saturdays. He also gives up eating crabs, fish and pigs. It is because of this change in his habits that Mahadeo Bembade agrees to teach Laxman the singing of abhangas (devotional songs).

As soon as this outcaste starts singing devotional songs in religious functions, he gains entry into the houses of the higher caste people. Even a Maratha, Govind Patil, would now take him to his house for special snacks during the fasts. Laxman further upsets the caste hierarchies when he reads Ramayana, Shivaleemrit (condensed edition of Bhagvadgita) and the pothi (sacred book). Now that he is no longer a "pig and cat eater"he seeks Bembade's help to convince Patil to allow him the reading of scriptures.

This act of Laxman brings a change in perception of the higher castes because no orthodox Maratha would earlier allow an untouchable to read the sacred book. So those who would otherwise take a bath and drink cow's urine if touched by an untouchable permit Laxman to read scriptures and sing abhangs. Thus the spatial practices of reading and singing helped Laxman to win some dignity and respect in the unjust hierarchical order of society.

(See interview: Journey from darkness to the spotlight )