Frustrated with the pervasive and paralyzing levels of unemployment in the state of Telangana, in southern India, and with no real hope of finding an employment in the near future, Karne Sirisha, a graduate woman, chose to graze buffaloes, and thereby to support her family.
At 25, she lives with her mother (who is abandoned by a drunkard-husband, not uncommon in rural India) and two younger brothers.
In spite of all odds that go with being born into a poor rural Dalit family, Sirisha fought her way and excelled in studies.
She is one of the angry and frustrated millions in Telangana who remain unemployed, recruited neither by the state nor by the private firms. Instead of remaining idle at home, Sirisha chose to add a few more buffaloes to the flock. Buffalo-milk consumption is popular in many areas in India.
By making and circulating a partly-critical and partly-humorous video in which she describes herself as Barrelakka, buffalo-sister (she uses it descriptively and not derogatorily), she ingeniously invented herself. As she got much attention and as her video got numerous views and shares, the panic-stricken government of Telangana, slapped cases against her. She has been fighting them all alone.