Tag Archives: Caste

Casteing!

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Was having a discussion with a good friend just two days back,

In his village,

There is a temple,

On the day of the puja,

The seating arrangement is pretty well defined,

The Brahmins sit right next to the deity,

Upper castes on the right,

Lower castes on the left

and

Untouchables right at the entrance of the temple,

Not that we, as Indians, aren’t aware of the social hierarchy,

Yet,

What’s surprising is to see it being practiced in such elaborate details,

Even in a so called modern India,

Few might argue,

That it has always been a part and parcel of our lives,

Don’t you think,

It’s time we break these barriers,

To move, so to say, forward in this game of life.

Source for the Image: https://www.holidify.com/collections/temples-in-bangalore

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Tiranga

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Bharata,

A nation,

A piece of geography we tend to be associated with,

An emotion that connects Indians all over the world,

and

A concept for which our armed forces are willing to die for,

Associated with this concept is our flag,

beloved referred to as tiranga,

and then there is our national anthem,

which tends to bring goose bumps;

symbols which instill a feeling of pride,

connect us all beyond caste, region, religion and creed,

In this year,

When we are celebrating the 75th year of Independence,

not taking for granted the freedom to:

dream,

be courageous,

and

make mistakes, learn and evolve in life,

why not take a pledge of sorts to put in our efforts in making India into a:

strong

benevolent

and

prosperous nation,

to behave in a responsible manner,

aimed at spreading harmony,

demonstrating unity and inclusivity,

and in doing so,

aspiring to become a better person each day of our lives.

Jai Hind!

Source for the Image: https://venacavadesigns.com/pingali-venkayya-the-man-who-designed-the-symbol-of-the-nation

ताका झांकी (Taaka Jhaaki)!

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No matter the diversity,

Caste

Class

Religion

Race

Country

One thing that unites us all,

We are interested in what’s happening next door,

Be it Sharma ji’s daughter whom he is trying to get married at any cost,

Be it Tandon aunty’s maid woes,

Be it the modern Sweety ji, whom the uncles seem to drool over,

or

Be it Mr. Paul’s long due promotion party,

We want to know it all,

And

Participate in every possible ritual,

After all, what it is to live in a community, if it were not this,

Yes, it comes with it’s own pros and cons,

Yet

Fun part,

A true community,

Lives

Loves

Hates

Fights

and

Celebrates TOGETHER.

Though this very establishment seems to have gone for a toss in this modern era,

Neighbors not having a clue who’s living next door,

Meeting with a frown rather than a smile if they happen to be in the same lift,

That’s what individualism has come down to,

Wonder whether the long gone ताका झांकी has lost its relevance!

Guess, it’s time to move on?

Source for the image: https://www.pngall.com/community-png/download/24460

The Cancerous Racist!

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We, human beings, are very good at differentiating things around us based on the various characteristics that those things might possess. The bad part is that this differentiation is not limited to just things. It tends to overflow to human beings as well, whom we tend to differentiate based on race, caste, colour, sex etc.

It is not only when Indians go abroad, are they differentiated, but also within India we have a tendency to differentiate based on regions. Our attitudes in turn get reflected in our behaviours towards them.

We tend to forget every virtue that tolerance teaches us. We tend to be so engrossed in taking judgements and attributing characteristics to a person, based on our biases that we forget to give the person a benefit of doubt that he or she might be different from the others belonging to the same group.

I used to think that such differentiation is followed only amongst human beings or the living creatures around. But the other day, when I was having a conversation with one of my doctor friends, I couldn’t believe that it is not only the humans who are good at differentiating but also the diseases, especially cancer, which is supposed to be one of the most dreaded disease with no cure what so ever, once a person tends to cross a particular stage.racist

The conversation went something like this:

“The one thing that I am very curious about is why people have not been able to find a cure for cancer.”—-Me

“Well, first of all you cannot alter the genes, and if you can, it is only upto a certain extent. Secondly, the cancer might be caued due to diet, environment or the lifestyle in general. As far as cure is concerned, it depends on how early it is diagnosed and whether the radiotherapy or the chemotherapy is conducted at the right time.”—Dr.

“But are there chances that it might recurr?”–Me

“It totally depends on how many times the cells have divided and there are always chances that such a thing might recurr. That’s why regular follow-up is very essential.”—Dr.

“We see so many different kinds of cancers that have been detected in humans. Is it true that some are found only in certain countries and not the others?”—Me

“Adeno carcinoma is found commonly in developed countries where as in India, you usually get to see squamous cell cancer.”–Dr.

“Hmm, even the cancer differentiates. I wonder whether the cancer is racist too.”–Me

“🙂 …well cancer is a disease which sucks the life out of you. And so is racism and its consequences.”—Dr.

That was the end of conversation about cancer and the diseases. We could have gone on and on talking about racism, cancer etc. But one thing that we Indians should try to do is to go beyond talking.

We are very fond of table-talks which we don’t want to incorporate into our daily lives. When it comes to following the same, we end up finding it too much to do. We all want to do the easy and ignore what we find as tough or difficult.

Is this lethargy a part of our culture or is it because we have the genes which make us do so? I would want to believe that it is our own attitudes which influence our decisions to include such things in our way of life.

Personally, I think, if everyone would take a plegde to bring about that one important change that is needed in oneself, then the world would become a much better and happier place to live in.change

The question, though is, are we ready to take that one important step towards improvement? Are we ready to take on our own lethargy head-on? Are we prepared to tread the tough path? Are we motivated enough not to think about just us but the entire society or the World? Are we inspired from the teachings of great men who gave up their lives to do what was right at that time? And do we have the intellect to understand what is right and what is wrong and if we have, then would we want to abide by what is right?

Nobody else but you can answer all the above. Only your heart knows what the truth is. Only you, yourself know, deep inside, what is wrong and what is right. The earlier we will start the better, for we don’t want to repent in the future thinking why we didn’t start early.

Source for Image: http://wonkette.com/487709/sarah-palin-will-no-longer-be-racist-as-soon-as-she-understands-what-racism-is, http://blogs.bgsu.edu/elements/tag/change/

It’s Caste Time

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When I was in college (undergrad), I happened to be an observer of an amusing incident which occured during an academic project in which we as a group of 3 were supposed to inquire about the perceptions of girls about their status in Indian society.

While talking to a group of girls in a University in Kanpur, one of my project mates (whom I will call Mr. X from here on) seemed to become deeply interested in a particular girl. Seeing this actually happening, one of my other project mate and myself couldn’t let our special curiosity fade away, and we ended up standing next to a tree which was pretty close to where the real action was taking place.

After going through the normal conversation Mr. X did something which was beyond our comprehension. He asked the girl about her gotra. 

“What the heck he is talking about :)?” My other group mate was bemused at what he had just heard.

Being the gentlemen that we were, we thought of not interferring with the gotra talk that the couple was having and decided to decipher the mystery of the gotra after their conversation would come to an end.

It was not before half an hour that we could get an opportunity to talk to Mr. X, who went on to explain the hooplah surrounding the mystery term gotra. By the way Mr. X hails from a zamindar family residing in a small town in Harayana where he can do nearly everything but to marry a girl from the same gotra, which if he did, could literally have deadly consequences for both him and the girl.

The raison d’etre was pretty clear now to both of us. Mr. X wanted to leave no stone unturned to eliminate all kinds of risks and doubts before getting into any kind of relationship with a girl whom he had just met and had for sure fallen in love with.

It was not that Mr. X believed in the same tradition and norm that have been existant in his part of the World for quite sometime now. In spite of being the most eligible and educated bachelor in his town, he dared not to cross the line for the fear of the barbaric consequences.

Initially, we couldn’t believe what Mr. X had just told us and we thought that he was making a mockery out of us. But, soon we realized that he was dead serious about a fact that has become such an integral part of lives of the so many in our country.

On top of this, there are corporate houses and businesses trying to make money by encouraging such divisions in our society. And there are innumerable examples of such companieswhich make sure that the parent’s wishes of a girl marrying a guy of the same caste are fulfilled to the core.

The question that needs to be asked though is:

“Who is to be blamed for such a thought process? Is it the companies that are cashing on this kind of divisional thinking that needs to be blamed? or Should the administration in our country which has not been able to do anything whatsoever in order to get rid of this menace should be held accountable?

OR

Should we rise above the blame game to pause for a moment and take a look at the irrational and illogical tendency and mode of thinking that has gripped our society and has made us all corrupt to the extent of even indulging in actions that the whole humanity would be ashamed of?”

Source for Image: http://ratheesh.livejournal.com/322652.html