Every morning in Sadar Bazaar, one of the oldest markets in Delhi, a gang of men gather looking for work in the building trade. For five years, Aman Sethi shared their lives, and in particular that of Mohammed Ashraf. Ashraf is a mazdoor, an itinerant house-painter, but he's not a typical labourer - he's studied biology in college, and after college learnt how to repair TV sets, cut suits, and slice chicken. He lived all over India, but now he finds himself in Delhi: the second most populous city in the country. The morning will bring hangovers, whisky breakfasts and possibly answers to the lingering questions that haunt Ashraf. How did he get here? Why is he the way he is? And is there a way back home?
One of the very best young journalists in India, Aman Sethi brings Ashraf vividly alive and illuminates the lives of countless others like him. Wry, humorous and insightful, A Free Man is an unforgettable portrait of an invisible man in his invisible city, and an extraordinary human story.
Review
A deeply moving, funny, and brilliantly written account from one of Indias most original new voices. (Katherine Boo, author of *Behind the Beautiful Forevers*)
Funny, poignant, and deeply moving, A Free Man is an extraordinary vignette into an extraordinary life. (Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of *The Emperor of All Maladies*)
A Free Man is a brilliant capturing of the language and bloodstream of a city. Aman Sethi has made a book thats remarkable in its voice and evocation. (Michael Ondaatje, author of *The English Patient*)
A Free Man is stunning. It reminds me of that Victorian masterpiece of investigative journalism, Henry Mayhews London Labour and London Poor. Aman Sethi gets modern India better than any other journalist I know. Not only is he a remarkable reporter and storyteller, but he possesses a novelists ear for language, sense of the absurd, and perfect pitch. Im bowled over, totally. (Sylvia Nasar, author of A Beautiful Mind and *Grand Pursuit: The Story of Economic Genius*)
A Free Man is a beautiful work of journalism, sympathetic and graceful. The author follows, and progressively befriends, a homeless day laborer in Delhi. What starts as classic ethnography becomes a gripping story, and ends as a homage to a lost friend. (Esther Duflo, author of Poor Economics and MacArthur Fellow)
With A Free Man, Aman Sethi comes to the forefront of an extraordinary new generation of Indian nonfiction writers. His compassion and humor is matched by a fierce determination to tell the stories of ordinary Indians, too often forgotten in the scramble for the spoils of the economic boom. (Hari Kunzru, author of *Gods Without Men*)
Funny and disturbing. (Arundhati Roy, author of *The God of Small Things*)
A Free Man makes no promise of a happy ending. Perhaps no book about contemporary Indian society can. But it delivers more. It takes readers on a journey they might otherwise not go on. And that the destination is neither secret nor hidden shows that sometimes what matters isnt whats beyond our reach. Its whats before our eyes. (Sonia Faleiro - *New York Times Book Review*)
About the Author
Aman Sethi was born in Bombay in 1983 and attended the Columbia School of Journalism. He is a correspondent for The Hindu and the recipient of an International Committee of the Red Cross award for his reportage.