What does the life of an ordinary working-class, Muslim woman look and feel like in modern India? Award-winning journalist Neha Dixit traces the story of one such faceless Indian woman, from the early 1990s to the present day. What emerges is a picture of a life lived under constant corrosive tension.

Syeda X left the holy city of Banaras (now Varanasi) for Delhi with her young family in the aftermath of riots and communal violence in the early ’90s. In Delhi, she settled into the life of a poor migrant, juggling multiple jobs a day – from sewing soccer balls and removing the stems from raisins, to shelling almonds sold in bulk to multinationals and assisting in illegal abortions. Syeda has held over 50 different jobs in 30 years, earning paltry sums in the process. And if she ever took a day off, her job would be lost to another faceless migrant.

We meet an unforgettable cast of characters: a rickshaw driver in Chandni Chowk who ends up tragically dead in a terrorist blast, a doctor who gets arrested for pre-natal sex determination, a Hindu nationalist “cow vigilante” whose sister elopes with Syeda’s son, and policemen who delight in beating up young Muslim men.

Written with empathy and deep insight, The Many Lives of Syeda X is a portal to a harsh, hidden world. It is the story of untold millions and a searing account of urban life in new India.

Neha Dixit is an independent journalist based in New Delhi. She has covered politics, gender, and social justice for seventeen years. Most of her work is investigative, narrative, and long-form. She has reported for Al Jazeera, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Caravan, The Wire, and other notable publications.

Presented by the Department of Sociology and co-sponsored by the Center for South Asian Studies. This event is open to all students, faculty, staff, and members of the public consistent with University policy and state and federal law.