Often on the WhatsApp and on the FB, I am invited to join the "All Maharashtra/India/World Brahmin groups." Hence this discusson, a debate that often rages within me.
To begin with, the typical reaction would be that every other caste is solidifying its identity, and as an exclusionary technique. I should know. Let me tell you 'why'. In Aai's final years, we had to engage a "mavashi" to accompany her so that she would not be all alone, while I would be in the college.
Honestly, I have hence lived in close connect - as I thus shared daily lived life in all its subtleties and complexities - with the entire cross section of the Marathi society, all religions and all castes included, surely from the lower middle class section.
In other words, my premises and conclusions are not empty airy theorisings. I do not repeat some trendy catch phrase, politically-oh-so-correct, as if it is some talisman opening up the right doors/opportunities for me.
Most of these ladies had completed their education up to the tenth or the twelfth. They had worked for many years. They would watch the t v (not to forget the all time favourite mobile). In other words, they were not at all that hazy picture of the ''poor'' woman, et al.
Absolutely aware they used to be of their rights as employees. Even, back in their houses/families, they were quite assertive, what with the extra "bhishi" money. Street smart, they would dress well, why, they would not mind splurging on themselves when festivals were involved. Good enough!
Believe me, they were all horribly caste conscious. They would tell me about all the rules and regulations every which way they would follow within their caste. They used to be terribly dismissive of the caste considered lower than theirs, would/could not even think of marrying "beneath" them!
Now let us look at the larger societal picture. There is more and more a crystal clear solidification of caste identities. Both career conscious intellectuals and activists as well as politicians are very knowingly and consciously cementing the caste orientations!
It is so sad that something as tragic as a rape (of a kid of hardly three years) could/would be looked at from the caste angle! Who cares if the truth goes for a toss in the entire conveniently oh-so-ideologically-correct slogans of the "post truth" era!
The worst aspect of all this sound and fury is Brahmin bashing. Whether it be leaders or intellectuals or prominent women achievers from the past or the present who are to be celebrated or diminished, it is always caste careened! Historiographies, creatively crafted, are thus hyped up!
Let me give you an example or two, not of such 'archaeologies', but of actual praxis. Which Brahmin priest says "mum bharya samarpayami"? To begin with, how many temples in Maharashtra, major ones and/or especially those in small towns, hamlets, et al, actually have Brahmin priests? A reality check would surprise many!
Across India, quoting a "Manusmriti" often not read (and surely not in its immediate or contemporary context), it is conveniently forgotten that caste is a colonial construct. Yet the "Aryan" anxiety is terrifyingly drummed up. Honestly, the fear of an impending holocaust looms large. Openly, there have been such threats n challenges in the so-called progressive Maharashtra, too!
Oh, yes, Brahmins are apparently well-to-do!!! Forget their sincere commitment to their work, et al, how many are actually so? Yet again a survey would prove the facts, that not even three out of ten would be well-off. Horrible is the condition of those in two/three tier cities or villages!
Given such lived realities, I surely do not mind helping a deserving Brahmin. Let me provide a concrete example. In my Compulsory English class (Division C) was this student, Geography Major.
Poor (in all senses of the term) kid, roughly an eighteen-year-old, every day before coming to College, he would go to different households, perform the pujas there, and hence he had to wear simple cotton clothes and he would have to sport that tuft of hair at the back of his closely cropped head.
Mercilessly, he used to be mocked. I tried my level best to make the ambience happy for him even when he was not an English Major, and hence not directly, my student.
Thus would not I mind helping my caste, though I do reach out to others, too. I have paid fees of my PG students so that they do not have to sell their livestock.
In brief, targetting a group on the basis of many a stories/anecdotes/narratives/hearsay for which there is NO actual historical proof or exact documentation is hardly either just or democratic!
Pratima@ It feels awful to quote caste at all. Yet what to do when that has become the way of the wor(l)d?!?
Quote of the day: "Caste is a notion; it is a state of the mind," argued B.R. Ambedkar.
Word of the day: Discrimination Discrimination is the unfair, unjust, or prejudicial treatment of individuals or groups based on characteristics such as race, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation, or disability. It occurs when someone is denied equal rights, opportunities, or fair treatment simply because of their identity rather than their individual merit.
