The Fifteen is not just about women in the Constituent Assembly of India. It is a narrative of how they got there. And how a few chose to leave. The time period is understandably the 20th century, and the backdrop, India’s freedom struggle. Besides that, Mahatma Gandhi and the All India Women’s Conference (AIWC) find mention in most of the chapters.
The book begins with Ammu Swaminathan, introduced as the mother of Captain Lakshmi Sahgal (of the Indian National Army) and wife of Dr Subbarama Swaminathan, a celebrated figure of the Madras High Court. The initial pages account more for Subbarama’s background as a progressive and anti-caste figure than of Ammu. Fourteen-year-old Ammu’s assertion that she should ‘not be asked what time she would reach home’ gives the reader a glimpse into her personality.