Career
Her work challenged "agricultural fundamentalism". Blossoms in the Dust, a title taken from a 1941 film, was based on a journal from 1958, when she spent a year in Indian villages. She was born Kusum Prasad in Etah, Uttar Pradesh.
Her early work dealt with Indian politics, and the Bombay Naval Mutiny of 1946.
A Congress Socialist Party member, she was involved in the mutiny"s planning.