Waiting for a Visa: Reminiscences or Remedy?

Dr. B. R. Ambedkar's autobiographical work, Waiting for a Visa, composed between 1935 and 1936, transcends personal recollections to voice the collective consciousness of the untouchables in pre-independence India. This chapter critically examines the therapeutic dimensions of Ambedkar's writing and argues that Ambedkar subverts traditional autobiography by voicing collective Dalit trauma. The act of writing functions as remedy for unspeakable oppression faced by the untouchables. Ambedkar strategically addresses potential foreign readers to expose caste discrimination. The chapter examines how he interweaves personal and community experiences to assert Dalit identity and humanity. It contends that Waiting for a Visa hands a strong Dalit autobiographical tradition despite exclusion from mainstream genres. The work testifies to marginalization while empowering the subject/s through recognition.