Faded Leaves, Faded Lives

Unlike the books about rich and famous, FADED LEAVES, FADED LIVES is about the marginalized masses. A rare compilation book with quite a few heart touching stories about people who constantly struggle to earn their livelihood. The book has a good collection of news

features published in popular publications like Deccan Herald, The Times of India and Indian Express. Written by S V Upendra Charya, a freelance writer known for his social commitments, these news features highlight the harrowing hardships of the needy and downtrodden.

Following excerpts from the compilation stress the need to make collective efforts for at least minimizing the hardships of have-nots.


They wash and press your clothes to keep you looking smart. But the life of a washer man, dhobi as he is popularly called, is very dismal. With the arrival of mechanized laundries, the Agasas, who still wash clothes manually, are finding it difficult to make ends meet, writes Upendra Charya.

ñ Deccan Herald November 5, 1996


There are all gone now, and there isnít anything more the sea can do to me, intones a forlorn fisherwoman, who lost all her sons, six of whom died in the sea at one time or the other, struggling against the deadly tides. UPENDRA CHARYA visits Malpe fishing harbor, still reeling from fish famine and a recent fire mishap.

ñ Deccan Herald August 27, 1999


The craftsmen of Kalanagara are poor. Particularly the hand lathe operators have to depend on middlemen who pay them between Rs. 10 and Rs. 15 a day as wages. They do not get jobs regularly. The skilled artisans make about Rs. 30 a day but nearly 40 per cent of their earnings goes for paints and other materials used in making the eye catching articles.

ñ S V Upendra Charya, The Times of India March 13, 1999