4.5 stars. Although not as spellbinding as “Romtha”, I feel like “Operation? Bashai Tudu” is a real window into the the complexities of the systemic oppression of modern India. Mahashweta Devi’s dry sense of humour comes through this translation and I found myself laughing out loud over my morning coffee at some of her linguistic juxtapositions. In a twenty-first century full of oversimplified political discourse, this book is as relevant as ever. In an India full of deep, systematic, and structural caste oppression it colours the ongoing discourse for those of us who will forever sit on the outside.

The novelette and accompanying short story, “Draupadi”, make heavy use of puns, layers of Bengali dialects, and plays on the Bengali/English intersection of urban Bengal in the 1970s. Kudos to the translators for making this work at all, much less making it accessible and entertaining... but I understand I’m missing 90% of the book without reading it in the original Bengali. Even so, it’s wonderful.