Balancing the apple cart
About forty women sat in small groups on the floor of the room. They had gathered for a special meeting of the
self-help groups that would be led by your supervisor. Poor women, whose husbands were marginal farmers, depended on the loans they could obtain from banks through their groups.
The meeting concluded when Mangala, the supervisor and coordinator of the Bhoruka Charities project, thanked the participants. Ace
Mahadeva Swamy, his assistant, got up to distribute tea and biscuits, a group of women apologized and left, without
having a snack.
The women, who were o Vokkaligas, Lingayats, Kurubas gold Gollas, they considered themselves too
“superior” to accept food or beverages offered by Swamy, who belonged to a Programmed Caste.
The people of Madapura, a village in the T. Narsipur taluk near Mysore in the Karnataka state of India, are no different from
their counterparts in other parts of the country. People don’t wear castes on their sleeves; yet it is there all over the world
mind all the time.
The departure of upper-class women set the stage for a lively discussion about discrimination against people on the basis of caste.
“If we distribute the food packages, they won’t accept. That’s why the lady (Mangala) usually asks someone from the upper caste to distribute them,” Kantamani laughed mockingly, “then they accept and it doesn’t occur to them that some of us might have them. prepared “.
Even the village public schools did not practice equality. For government sponsored noon meals, only chefs belonging to the upper caste are employed. “My son has grown up. Now he refuses to eat at school, as they seat the students in different rows according to their castes,” Lakshmi complained.
Parvati said that if she had to deliver something to the higher caste, she had to keep it on the ground. They had to
keep a safe distance while talking to them. If he collected water from the borehole first, the upper castes cleaned the “contaminated” place with cow dung, before proceeding to draw water. “The water comes from the same land. How
Does it matter? “he asked defiantly. Mangala consoled,” They are the ignorant class. Not you. “
“If we ever ask them for water, they won’t give it in a glass. We will be asked to cup our hands and they will,” Lakshmi said.
“When we travel by bus, they may be forced to sit next to us. Sometimes they stand to avoid sitting near us.
unknowingly they sit near us, some of them go home and bathe, “Puttalakshmi said,” that’s why we never reveal our
castes, if a stranger asks us. “
“We can go to the temple, but not inside the sanctum sanctorum like them,” Puttalakshmi continued.
the peoples can enter the interior even if they belong to the Programmed Caste, since nobody knows who they are. “
I suggest that she should also be brave and go inside, but Puttalaksmi says that the temple authorities threatened them with fines. People
of other towns perhaps he did not know their customs; but he did, so he shouldn’t be breaking the rules on purpose, the priests reasoned.
Santamma, quiet the whole time, said thoughtfully: “It’s all our karma. If we start breaking the rules, no matter how small, we will end up in a group clash. Except spilling some blood, what good will it do us? “
His fear was justified. The Vokkaligas or Lingayats were generally landowners and possessed too threatening political influence for the programmed caste workers they employed to protest.
There is another reason they do not protest. They see nothing wrong with it, except when confronted. They believe
that each caste has its own ‘Shastra‘or code of conduct and higher caste people are simply following their’Shastra‘. They also believe that their current position in life is dictated by deeds performed in their previous birth.
One of the interesting comments came from Puttalakshmi, who said that he would not consider sitting with a woman of Jadumali
gold Madiga, the caste to which the scavengers belonged. He was of a higher caste and would never associate with them. In fact, the half-dozen self-help groups in the room did not have a single member of these “outcasts.” Mangala said the ‘untouchables’ formed their own groups.
The groups had never discussed caste discrimination before. Mangala, who was concerned that his work as a project
the coordinator must not fall under a cloud for “inciting” the clash, reminded the group that they must “erase” from their minds
what was discussed in the meeting.
Unless social reforms keep pace with legal provisions, caste discrimination will continue. The media does not
beware, unless a sensational story catches your eye. Even social welfare organizations wink at you; for who wants to bow
a neatly stacked apple cart?
Biases that go back at least 3,000 years cannot be easily erased. Especially when it’s sanctified by religion, glorified by tradition, and fueled by politicians for votes.