My Life As a Comrade

Former Kerala health minister K.K. Shailaja became a global icon because of her handling of the first phase of the COVID pandemic.In this superb memoir, she tells her story - from her childhood as a shy, fearful girl, her days as a school teacher where she learnt the art of managing difficult students to her entry into politics leading to a tenure as health minister where she dealt with two terrifying epidemics. Along the way, she tells the story of Kerala in post-independent India - how its Communist politics shaped her family and the state, and what makes the Kerala model so remarkable.