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The Cell and the Soul: A Prison Memoir
Noted social activist Anand Teltumbde entered the Taloja Central Prison as accused number 10 in the Bhima Koregaon case and spent 31 months as an undertrial until he was released on bail. As an intellectual who was stripped of his freedom, he lays bares the chilling realities of India's prisons in his gut-wrenching prison memoir. Part memoir, part diary, Cell and the Soul is a descent into the heart of India's carceral state, ripping open the belly of the beast—the prison industrial complex—and exposing the brutal, pulsating injustice within.
From the echoing silence of his cell, Teltumbde writes of a heartless state that criminalises dissent with political imprisonment, of the relentless grind of injustice, and the profound cost of speaking truth to power. His prison writing is but a synecdoche for thousands of nameless, faceless undertrials who languish in India's jails.
This is a raw, unvarnished testament of a man incarcerated for his convictions, a powerful indictment of a democracy devouring its own. Rare is writing so tender and searing it dares us to confront the darkness within each of us and seek our own freedoms.
From the echoing silence of his cell, Teltumbde writes of a heartless state that criminalises dissent with political imprisonment, of the relentless grind of injustice, and the profound cost of speaking truth to power. His prison writing is but a synecdoche for thousands of nameless, faceless undertrials who languish in India's jails.
This is a raw, unvarnished testament of a man incarcerated for his convictions, a powerful indictment of a democracy devouring its own. Rare is writing so tender and searing it dares us to confront the darkness within each of us and seek our own freedoms.
256 pages, Hardcover
Published September 14, 2025
2 people are currently reading
41 people want to read
About the author
Anand Teltumbde
20 books108 followersAnand Teltumbde is a leading public intellectual and is known for his critical insights on many a contemporary issue. A civil rights activist of long standing, he is currently General Secretary of the Committee for Protection of Democratic Rights (CPDR). He is also associated with the All India Forum for Rights to Education (AIFRTE), which is spearheading the movement for common school system, as a member of its Presidium and many other Peoples’ movements.
A regular contributor to Economic and Political Weekly, wherein he writes a monthly column ‘Margin Speak’. He also regularly contributes to other progressive journals like Mainstream, Frontier, Seminar, etc. and most English and Marathi newspapers.
Some of his recent books are Dalits: past, Present and Future (Routledge, 2016), Mahad: Making of the First Dalit Revolt (Aakar, 2016), Persistence of Caste (Zed Books, 2010); Khairlanji: A Strange and Bitter Crop (Navayana, 2008); Anti-Imperialism and Annihilation of Castes (Ramai, 2005); and Hindutva and Dalits: Perspectives for Understanding Communal Praxis, (Ed) (Samya, 2005). He is widely translated into most Indian languages.
He has been a CEO of a holding company. After his corporate stint, he joined IIT, Kharagpur, where he teaches Business Management.
A regular contributor to Economic and Political Weekly, wherein he writes a monthly column ‘Margin Speak’. He also regularly contributes to other progressive journals like Mainstream, Frontier, Seminar, etc. and most English and Marathi newspapers.
Some of his recent books are Dalits: past, Present and Future (Routledge, 2016), Mahad: Making of the First Dalit Revolt (Aakar, 2016), Persistence of Caste (Zed Books, 2010); Khairlanji: A Strange and Bitter Crop (Navayana, 2008); Anti-Imperialism and Annihilation of Castes (Ramai, 2005); and Hindutva and Dalits: Perspectives for Understanding Communal Praxis, (Ed) (Samya, 2005). He is widely translated into most Indian languages.
He has been a CEO of a holding company. After his corporate stint, he joined IIT, Kharagpur, where he teaches Business Management.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 14, 2025
This book is not merely about Anand Teltumbde or the charges the government alleged against him, for which he spent 31 months in jail. It goes far beyond, exploring the deeper questions of social justice that lie hidden beneath the fabric of capitalist,politics and the influence of powerful individuals who shape society’s narrative.
Readers have chance to take a deep plunge into the life of prisoners, presenting facts and data that help in understanding the complexities of our society. In his powerful work “The Cell and the Soul,” Anand Teltumbde not only exposes the political and social realities of our time but also provides profound insights into the lives of figures like Varavara Rao, Father Stan Swamy, Arun Ferreira, and many others. Each event and every character leaves a lasting impression—one that the reader is likely to carry for the rest of their life.
He sits quietly in his cell, untouched by the groans and cries that rise from nearby, yet deeply disturbed by the thoughts circling within him. His mind, trapped in its own shuddered space, glides through his veins in kaleidoscopic patterns, restless and unyielding. He does not know what crime he has been accused of, nor how truth has turned into betrayal. Once a professor who taught that freedom begins in the mind, he now finds his own thoughts becoming both his refuge and his torment. The walls cannot silence him, but they echo his confusion — how knowledge became guilt, how silence became evidence. Each thought twists like a fragment of broken glass, reflecting what he once was and what the world has made of him.
Anand Teltumbde takes us into the harsh reality of casteism within prisons. The data and experiences he presents are truly astonishing, revealing the deep injustices and hardships faced by marginalized and incarcerated people behind bars.
It compels readers to question whether prisons truly serve as a solution for maintaining peace and reducing crime, or if they should instead focus on rehabilitation and reintegration into society — much like Norway’s nature-integrated rehabilitation model.
By the time readers finish this book, they may come to a profound realization of what is truly happening in our society — how justice, power, and humanity intersect within the walls of our prisons and beyond them.
👏🙌🏻 🔥🔥
Readers have chance to take a deep plunge into the life of prisoners, presenting facts and data that help in understanding the complexities of our society. In his powerful work “The Cell and the Soul,” Anand Teltumbde not only exposes the political and social realities of our time but also provides profound insights into the lives of figures like Varavara Rao, Father Stan Swamy, Arun Ferreira, and many others. Each event and every character leaves a lasting impression—one that the reader is likely to carry for the rest of their life.
He sits quietly in his cell, untouched by the groans and cries that rise from nearby, yet deeply disturbed by the thoughts circling within him. His mind, trapped in its own shuddered space, glides through his veins in kaleidoscopic patterns, restless and unyielding. He does not know what crime he has been accused of, nor how truth has turned into betrayal. Once a professor who taught that freedom begins in the mind, he now finds his own thoughts becoming both his refuge and his torment. The walls cannot silence him, but they echo his confusion — how knowledge became guilt, how silence became evidence. Each thought twists like a fragment of broken glass, reflecting what he once was and what the world has made of him.
Anand Teltumbde takes us into the harsh reality of casteism within prisons. The data and experiences he presents are truly astonishing, revealing the deep injustices and hardships faced by marginalized and incarcerated people behind bars.
It compels readers to question whether prisons truly serve as a solution for maintaining peace and reducing crime, or if they should instead focus on rehabilitation and reintegration into society — much like Norway’s nature-integrated rehabilitation model.
By the time readers finish this book, they may come to a profound realization of what is truly happening in our society — how justice, power, and humanity intersect within the walls of our prisons and beyond them.
👏🙌🏻 🔥🔥
November 4, 2025
This memoir is quite devastating to read. An intense, real account of how morally, materially and psychologically corrupt the Indian carceral and the criminal justice system is. This book is an excellent resource for anyone interested in understanding how the rule of law translates into the everyday life and a must-read for every criminal law student in India. From the tiniest requests of minimum-water-intake (as mandated by the law) to mosquito nets, we understand how devastating the State's violence is. I loved the chapter on Proximity between Prisoners. The chapter about a wrongly incarcerated political prisoner researching the implications of the POCSO Act is so interesting! I like Teltumde's work and I know this wasn't the intention - but no amount of meritocracy will ever make any dalit person 'worthy'!? Repeatedly mentioning awards and achievements won't make any difference, would they? So much more to say about this book! But for now, I will say that this is an excellent, ground-breaking work; a text that goes beyond the current right-wing regime and challenges the very functioning of prison systems, notions of what or who an Ambedkarite is.
November 8, 2025
Brilliantly written book by Anand. It's not just the experiences of his jail incarceration but his views on several social and politically issues linking to his jail experiences.
November 9, 2025
Brave. Honest. Iconoclast. Inspiring. Must read!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews