A Twelve-Year-Old Girl Seeks a New Life In New Novel

Summary

Podcast Summary: All Of It – “A Twelve-Year-Old Girl Seeks a New Life In New Novel”

Host: Alison Stewart (WNYC)
Guest: Ruchira Gupta, author, activist, and founder of Apne Aap
Date: August 27, 2025
Episode Focus: Exploring the new novel The Freedom Seeker, which follows a 12-year-old Indian girl, Simi, as she and her mother journey from Punjab, India to the U.S., escaping religious intolerance.

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Overview

This All Of It episode centers on Ruchira Gupta's debut middle-grade novel The Freedom Seeker. The story follows Simi, a brave 12-year-old girl forced to flee her home in India with her Muslim mother after their interfaith family becomes the target of political vigilantes. Mixing adventure and social justice themes, Gupta’s book personalizes the immigrant child experience and the trauma of border crossings, encouraging empathy and awareness among young readers and adults alike.

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Key Discussion Points

1. Simi’s Origins and Characterization

• Gupta’s Inspiration: Simi is a composite of Gupta’s personal history and her decades of advocacy for girls born into brothels in red-light districts.

  • “I have seen their trauma but I've also seen their courage and resilience. So the character of Simi is sometimes based on those girls… but also I have myself been part of a very loving family influenced by Gandhi… Simi is a composite character of the girls that I've dealt with overcoming big odds. And also… some things from my own childhood.” (02:23, Ruchira Gupta)

• Writing for All Ages: Though branded middle grade, the book is intended to resonate with ages “eight to 800.”

  • “Eight to 800.” (02:34, Alison Stewart & Ruchira Gupta, lighthearted exchange)

2. Immigrant Children’s Fears and Social Climate

• Why Write from a Child’s View? Gupta emphasizes the importance of portraying migration and family separation from the perspective of youth, echoing the fears faced by millions of American children today.

  • “There are 18 million children in the United States right now who are living with one immigrant parent and they're really scared… this is a quarter of American children, one in four children… I felt that we need something to talk, talk to kids about what's going on to kids their age.” (03:00, Ruchira Gupta)

• Secrecy and Truth: Gupta advocates for open discussion with children to prevent them from being preyed upon due to ignorance, but insists stories remain accessible and hopeful.

3. Depiction of Contemporary India

• Polarization and Loss of Unity: Gupta laments the loss of India’s ethos of “unity in diversity,” highlighting rising fault lines across religion, caste, and region, now exploited for political gain.

  • “Now… you're being forced to stick to your lane. And the idea of shared spaces is disappearing… Simi is growing up in Chandigarh in Punjab, just in that period when vigilantes are attacking people who are of interfaith marriages…” (04:22, Ruchira Gupta)

• Plot Catalyst: Simi’s family is targeted by vigilantes for being interfaith; after her father is assaulted, he flees to the U.S. where he finds work as a taxi driver. Simi and her mother’s attempt to join him legally fails—forcing them to rely on traffickers to cross the border.

4. Bullying and “Otherness”

• Moments of Bullying: The book includes scenes where Simi is bullied for her mixed heritage.

  • “A class friend bullies her because she's half Muslim. And he says that you belong to a different country, Pakistan. And she says, no, my family has lived here for seven generations…” (07:00, Ruchira Gupta)

• Universal and Local: Gupta believes good literature can make local struggles universal, helping all readers relate to Simi’s experiences.

5. Preserving Innocence and Finding Resilience

• Innocence as Strength: Simi’s innocence, contrasted with harsh realities, raises the emotional stakes but also allows her to discover resilience.

  • “Her innocence makes the stakes higher… you have to find courage and resilience in spite of the innocence to survive. And Simi does exactly that. You know, her time as a hockey captain, probably her leadership ability, her love from her grandparents teaches her about community and forming alliances and trust.” (08:12, Ruchira Gupta)

• Alliances: Simi befriends Jose, a migrant from Honduras, and together they undertake the perilous border crossing and detention journey.

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Memorable Segment: Detention Center Scene (Book Reading)

[09:55-15:32]

• Gupta reads a vivid excerpt where Simi, separated from her mother, endures harsh conditions in a U.S. detention facility.

• Simi fakes a lice infestation to try to see her friend Jose. She is cared for by a volunteer who, upon hearing Simi’s story, promises to help look for her mother.

• The passage highlights the cruelty of family separation policies and the resilience of children even in dehumanizing conditions.

• Notable Quote (Ruchira Gupta as Simi):

  • “As politely as I can, I say, I don't care if Ami and I are sent back to India. All I want to know is if she's alive. I just need someone to help me look her up.” (14:30)

• Thematic Reflection:

  • “Gandhi Ji had said an unjust law is itself a species of violence and that it should be resisted by nonviolent gentle acts. She is standing up for right and justice in her small way. Perhaps she has heard of Gandhiji after all.” (Book excerpt, 15:20)

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Broader Implications: U.S. Policy and Childhood

• Connection to Reality: Gupta references her Time Magazine op-ed linking immigration policy to the psychological toll on children.
  • “If one in four children are living in fear that they might be deported or their parents are being deported and they are scared that they cannot play in a park or go to school, can you imagine the mental health consequences on those children?” (15:46, Ruchira Gupta)
  • Ripple effects hurt not only children of immigrants but the broader community.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• “Secrets are not good for kids. You know, people can prey upon their lack of knowledge, but of course, it has to be told in a very accessible way, based on truth, but hopeful.” (03:38, Ruchira Gupta)

• “[On family and pluralism:] In Calcutta, I was born in a Hindu family, but my school prayer was Buddhist. And when my family had to mark a milestone… we'd send a check to Mother Teresa. And we didn't think she was a Christian nun, but somebody just doing good.” (04:45, Ruchira Gupta)

• “Eight to 800.” (02:34, Ruchira Gupta, affirming universal appeal of the book)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:09] — Episode and guest introduction
• [02:25] — Discussion of Simi’s character and universality of her appeal
• [03:43] — Rationale for a middle-grade protagonist
• [04:22] — Explanation of India’s changing political and social climate
• [07:00] — Bullying for religious heritage, local and universal connection
• [08:12] — Discussion on innocence and resilience
• [09:55-15:32] — Freedom Seeker book reading (detention center scene)
• [15:46] — Broader societal impact of U.S. immigration policy on children

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Conclusion

Ruchira Gupta’s The Freedom Seeker is a powerful entry point for discussing migration, identity, and resilience with children and adults alike. The novel goes beyond one family’s story, tying personal experiences to broader questions of community, justice, and belonging—in both India and the U.S. Gupta’s interview underscores literature’s role in cultivating empathy by illuminating the daily, lived realities behind headlines and policies.

Guest's final words:
“Thank you Alison. This was wonderful.” (16:35, Ruchira Gupta)

Transcript

[A]

This is all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. A young girl's journey across the US Mexico border after her family is forced to flee India is the plot of the book titled the Freedom Seeker. We're introduced to Simi, a bright, caring 12 year old girl with many friends and also she's on the school's hockey team. She's the captain. At home in her Punjab, India. She's surrounded by a host of loving family members including a Sikh father who affectionately she calls Abu and a Muslim mother who she calls Ami and both sets of grandparents. At first glance, Simi's life is good. But tensions in India are rising and a group of political vigilantes who are against mixed faith marriages are threatening her family's well being. After her father is beaten, her family is forced to flee to the United States for safety. However, Simi and her mother face danger along the way. The Freedom Seeker is on shelves now. Author Rasheera Gupta, excuse me. Joins us to discuss. She is the founder and a journalist turned activist and is the founder of the Apne ap. Did I say that correct?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Yes. An anti trafficking organization that supports women and girls exiting systems of prostitution. She's also an occasional teacher at NYU center for Global affairs and she lives between New York and India and she's sitting right across from me. Welcome.

[B]

Hi Alison. And hi to everyone listening in.

[A]

How did the character of Simi come to you?

[B]

I have been dealing with young Girls for about 30 years now as an anti trafficking activist and trying to get kids who are in red light areas born inside brothels to go to school. So I have seen their trauma but I've also seen their courage and resilience. So the character of Simi is sometimes based on those girls who have courage and resilience against all odds. But also I have myself been part of a very loving family influenced by Gandhi and I was taught to be spunky and fight for whatever I believed in. Nobody said no. And so Simi is a composite character of the girls that I've dealt with overcoming big odds. And also I think some things from my own childhood.

[A]

It's interesting. This is a middle grade novel and I didn't say that in the beginning because I think anybody could read this.

[B]

Book to be honest. Eight to 800.

[A]

Eight to 800.

[C]

Love that.

[A]

But why was it important for you to tell this from a 12 year old girl's perspective?

[B]

You know, there are 18 million children in the United States right now who are living with one immigrant parent and they're really scared because they think either they will be deported or a loved one will be deported because of them or somehow and because of the fear, they're either not going to play in parks or even not going to school. And this is terrible because this is a quarter of American children, one in four children. So they are scared. Then their friends watch them, they know they are scared. Nobody quite knows what's going on. They're too young to understand. So I felt that we need something to talk, talk to kids about what's going on to kids their age. And therefore I published the novel with Scholastic and I wrote it for middle grade kids just to humanize and build empathy and also share information and knowledge because I truly believe that secrets are not good for kids. You know, people can prey upon their lack of knowledge, but of course, it has to be told in a very accessible way, based on truth, but hopeful. Which is what I've done with my novel. And I call it a social justice adventure because there are, that's interesting, cliffhangers and, you know, page turners and, you know, kids are involved, but they get information as they go through it.

[A]

So it seems at first that Seemi has a pretty good life in India. It's certainly one she doesn't want to leave behind. However, the nation is facing challenging times. Would you tell us about the climate that she's living in and what makes her know she's gotta go?

[B]

You know, India is going through a period of depolarization. And what's happening is there are fault lines now which are being exploited by political parties. So between north and South India, you know, between upper caste and lower caste, Hindu and Muslim, and even Hindus and Christians, you know, so there are lots of divisions which were normal when we were growing up. And our motto when we were growing up was unity in diversity. So in Calcutta, I was born in a Hindu family, but my school prayer was Buddhist. And when my family had to mark a milestone to celebrate something, we would send a check to Mother Teresa. And we didn't think she was a Christian nun, but somebody just doing good. So I grew up when there was fluidity between identities of religion, of caste and many things. And now, you know, even different regions of India, Punjabi, Bengali, all of that, now, you know, you're being forced to stick to your lane. And the idea of shared spaces is disappearing. And Simi is growing up in Chandigarh in Punjab, just in that period when vigilantes are attacking people who are of interfaith marriages, they have a campaign against interfaith marriages. And Simi's father is Sikh her mother is Muslim, and she's the captain of a hockey team, doing really well in school. You know, she's looking forward to a championship match. And then she's celebrating a festival with her family, her four grandparents and her parents with lots of food and music. And a rock comes flying through. And the rock is really attached to a note with a warning that, you know, marriage should not happen between a Hindu Sikh man and a Muslim woman. And then ultimately, things become so bad that her father has to flee India. He's beaten up, and then he has to flee India, and he becomes. He gets political asylum and becomes a taxi driver in Queens in New York. But by the time he applies for a visa for his wife and daughter, it's rejected. Chain migration, zero tolerance, all that.

[A]

All that.

[B]

So then they pay coyotes to bring them inside the country.

[A]

I want to go back to when she's in India. A boy calls her a slur, calls her a name, and he's bullying her. What do these moments of bullying mean to her? And what did you want those moments to mean to us, the reader?

[B]

You know, all good literature always universalizes things, but it's also very local. And in this case, Simi is going to school. A class friend bullies her because she's half Muslim. And he says that you belong to a different country, Pakistan. And she says, no, my family has lived here for seven generations from both sides, so how does that make me less of an Indian than you? But the idea that a religion should belong to only one country is something foreign to Simi, who's growing up in this very secular, plural household. And the boy doesn't know better because of the political climate around him. And he's told that everybody who's Muslim belongs to a different country. And this is what Simmy's caught in between. And this is the climate in India right now, because there's a new kind of education going on of the masses, the. Through political campaigns. So they don't know the India we grew up in about unity and diversity.

[A]

How much of her innocence did you want to keep as a writer? Or did you want to protect her? Or did you want her to experience all the problems she.

[B]

You know, I wanted to keep her innocence because, you know, I think it's a whole generation of us who are now watching what's going on with, like, bated breath and wide eyes that, how did this happen? Right? So I feel we were kind of innocent. We were sheltered from the harsh realities of these divisions and these vigilantes and all of that. And suddenly now we are faced with it and we don't know what to do about it. So for me, Simi embodies all of us in a way that she doesn't even imagine that something like this can happen. And she comes in, you know, she's growing up in a very loving family from all sides, right? So I did want to keep her innocence. Of course, her innocence makes the stakes higher because when you have to walk through the desert in the blazing sun with no water, you are separated from your mother and you don't know where she is. You have to find courage and resilience in spite of the innocence to survive. And Simi does exactly that. You know, her time as a hockey captain, probably her leadership ability, her love from her grandparents teaches her about community and forming alliances and trust. So she makes friends with this boy called Jose who's from Honduras and he's fleeing gang warfare from there. So together they trek the desert and take on the border detention camps and the shelters to reunite with their families.

[A]

We're talking about a new novel which follows a 12 year old Indian girl whose family is forced to flee to America due to religious intolerance. Author, social justice activist and journalist Rishira Gupta is here to join us to discuss her book, Freedom Seeker. You have a clip you're going to read from the book. Could you set this up a little bit?

[B]

Yes. So I'm writing about the time when Simi and Jose have both been put into a border detention camp.

[A]

They've tried to cross.

[B]

Yes, they've tried to cross. The border guards have found them. They are in a detention camp. They don't know if their mothers are alive or not, where their mothers are. No contact with anyone in their families. And they are in separate cages, as they call them. And many of the migrants call these cages ice boxes. Some even call them kennels because 40, 50 people are sort of stuffed into a place with barbed wires. Full air conditioning, no daylight, no access to showers, only occasional access. Food just thrown at you to sleep on the floor, aluminium sheets given so not even the warmth of a blanket. And Simi is in that situation. And that's where I'm going to read from chapter 18. Another 18 hours pass. I have been here for nearly two days when a lice infestation breaks out among the girls in our cage. All the children are scratching madly. Somehow it hasn't made its way to me, but when I notice that the girls who came down with lice are taken to the infirmary, I get an idea. To get to the infirmary, you have to pass the boy's cell. It may be my only chance to talk to Jose that night. I pretend to get itchy. I scratch and scratch behind my ears, just like the stray cats who live in our garden at home. It's not long before a woman in a blue uniform leads me past a converted loading area where dozens of boys are huddled. It is the middle of the night, so they are asleep beneath the aluminum blankets. I try to walk as slowly as possible as I peer through the fencing, searching for Jose, but the woman in the blue uniform ushers me along. You are contagious, she says. I pray that I will get another chance on the walk. Back at the infirmary, she cleans my face and puts in some ointment. It even though I'm not actually infected, it makes me feel better. Everything looks dilapidated and mouldy in the infirmary, but it has a window. For the first time in 36 hours, I finally see natural light. It nearly burned my skin off in the desert, but after so long without sunlight, I'm ready to forgive it. A plump black haired woman in a gray smock does a full medical checkup. She doesn't find lies, but but my skin is red where I have been scratching myself and the woman determines that it must be an allergy. She gives me some ointment. Then she gives me a smock to change into and takes me to a bed with clean sheets. Despite her no nonsense air, she seems caring. Shouldn't I go back to my cell now? I ask, hoping to pass Jose's cell again. You need to make sure you're not contagious first, she says. You'll sleep here tonight. Tomorrow someone will escort you back to the after the itching stops, she has begun to remind me of my grandmother. Dadi, will you take me? I ask. The woman sighs. I'm not sure I'll be here tomorrow. We are volunteers, Coast Guard officers, just helping out. She's about to leave when I decide to take my shot. I am not an unaccompanied minor, I say in one breath. My mother was with me. She was separated from me in the desert by some bad men. She might be here if the coyotes haven't taken her away, I tell her. Her head falls and she turns around and sits at the edge of my bed. Have you heard of the zero tolerance policy? I think I have, but I can't recall. Vaguely, but I'm not sure what it means. I wish I had paid more attention to the conversation at the Hotel Hacienda. It means that the US Government will have Zero tolerance for parents migrating with their children to the U.S. my brow furrows. This means nothing to me, she continues. Children who cross the border into the US will be separated from their parents and kept in different places. Eventually both will be sent back to their country, she explains. It is supposed to be a deterrent, she adds offhandedly. What's a deterrent? I ask. I can feel the heat of her eyes on me. She sighs. It's to keep foreigners out of America. I think she's trying to warn me not to tell the officers that I have come with Ammi. I meet her eyes. I can see how upset she is, how mad this rule makes her, just as it makes me. As politely as I can, I say, I don't care if Ami and I are sent back to India. All I want to know is if she's alive. I just need someone to help me look her up. She glances at me hard, then nods and gets up. Give me her name and I will try my best to find out about your mother. She does not know Gandhiji's wisdom that my grandfather Nana Ji once shared with me. Gandhi Ji had said an unjust law is itself a species of violence and that it should be resisted by nonviolent gentle acts. She is standing up for right and justice in her small way. Perhaps she has heard of Gandhiji after all.

[A]

That is Rashida Gupta reading from her book the Freedom Seeker. You wrote an op ed for time magazine criticizing U.S. policy, saying they are not just shaping borders, they are shaping childhood itself. What does that mean?

[B]

It means that, you know, if one in four children are living in fear that they might be deported or their parents are being deported and they are scared that they cannot play in a park or go to school, can you imagine the mental health consequences on those children? Also how it impacts their future, you know, if they don't go to school, if they don't play in sunlight. Plus, not just are those children affected, the ecosystem they inhabit is also affected. So other children who are in school with them, their playmates, their classmates, their teachers, the wider community is also ridden with anxiety because human beings care for each other. We are all part of a community. So other children are also living in fear and anxiety.

[A]

The name of the book is the Freedom Seeker. It is by Ruchira Gupta. Thank you for joining us. We really appreciate it.

[B]

Thank you Alison. This was wonderful.

[C]

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[D]

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