A.M. Balasubramaniam's Blog, page 4
June 21, 2020
Why Neither The Superstitions of Solar Eclipse Nor The Marketing Strategies of Father's Day Sentiments Have Any Bearing On Me?
Today happens to be Father's Day as well as Solar Eclipse. Father's Day or Mother's Day is a marketing concept, and hence I do not celebrate either of them. I respect my parents immensely. I value the immense love, affection bestowed and the sacrifices of my parents.
Today was a unique day. It happened to be Father's Day, and the solar eclipse came as a package from the calendar. Today also happens to be the longest day of the year. I don't know about the superstitions associated with the longest day of the year but definitely in the knowledge of those entwined with Solar Eclipse. During college, in private conversations, I used to invite my friends to have a cup of tea and pakoras with me, in a graveyard, during the solar eclipse. In this age of the easily offended, I don't think I would dare to post such an invite in any social media.
My father was a religious person with a moderate education. He believed in God till his last breath. He used to pray to Lord Muruga before leaving the house in the morning for work, and repeat the same on return. He went on yearly pilgrimages to various temples of Lord Muruga. Mary's feast is immensely popular in Bangalore, and it transcends religious beliefs. My father was an avid participant in these prayers. With such a background, it would seem that he had a lot of superstitions, but that was not the case.
He believed in God and his power but not the customs associated with the worship of God. Blind belief in the name of religion was not his cup of tea. I had never seen him suggesting black magic as a reason or solution for our family problems. He was a believer in thoughts but a rationalist in actions. He used to vehemently preach to us that instead of having movie stars as idols, we should have scientists as our role models. God was etched in his soul, but science was in his brain and heart.
He had given a vaccination for all his children as mandated by the Government. It started from my elder brother who was born in the late 1950s. Chickenpox meant treatment in the local government hospital though the regular South Indian religious rituals were followed. It might surprise the reader that this custom is practised even today in many Non-Hindu families in South India.
My father had a minor paralytic stroke in the early 1970s. Many of the relatives suggested to go in for black magic or native medicine, but my father decided to go in for allopathy and recovered fully well.
The usual treatment for Jaundice in South India is to grind a bunch of leaves called `Keelanelli' and administer it orally to the patient. However, my father was an exception to it and got me admitted to a hospital for treatment, despite a difficult financial situation at home.
Irrespective of whether it was a fever or the kidney ailment of my eldest brother, he always believed in allopathy. He always said modern science is proven and the only answer to the problems of life. How did an individual who had limited education possess such maturity of thoughts? Was he, despite his belief in religion influenced by the ideas of Periyar, the great social reformer of Tamil Nadu? I have every reason to belief that this was the case.
I remember during 1980 when there was a solar eclipse, he only restrained us from seeing the sun. Other than that, it was a routine day for all of us. There were no rituals on that day. From a young age, aversion to auspicious/ inauspicious time, day, or date was sown in our minds. We were never thought to be selectively vegetarian. I came to know about numerology and lucky stones only after I started seeing satellite TV. Watching science programmes on Doordarshan was mandatory.
I am an atheist, but going by the present definition of a pious Hindu, my father was an undercover atheist too. Thus, today ends with me neither celebrating Father's Day nor getting religious about the solar eclipse. Being childless helped my cause of disregarding Father's Day.
Today was a unique day. It happened to be Father's Day, and the solar eclipse came as a package from the calendar. Today also happens to be the longest day of the year. I don't know about the superstitions associated with the longest day of the year but definitely in the knowledge of those entwined with Solar Eclipse. During college, in private conversations, I used to invite my friends to have a cup of tea and pakoras with me, in a graveyard, during the solar eclipse. In this age of the easily offended, I don't think I would dare to post such an invite in any social media.
My father was a religious person with a moderate education. He believed in God till his last breath. He used to pray to Lord Muruga before leaving the house in the morning for work, and repeat the same on return. He went on yearly pilgrimages to various temples of Lord Muruga. Mary's feast is immensely popular in Bangalore, and it transcends religious beliefs. My father was an avid participant in these prayers. With such a background, it would seem that he had a lot of superstitions, but that was not the case.
He believed in God and his power but not the customs associated with the worship of God. Blind belief in the name of religion was not his cup of tea. I had never seen him suggesting black magic as a reason or solution for our family problems. He was a believer in thoughts but a rationalist in actions. He used to vehemently preach to us that instead of having movie stars as idols, we should have scientists as our role models. God was etched in his soul, but science was in his brain and heart.
He had given a vaccination for all his children as mandated by the Government. It started from my elder brother who was born in the late 1950s. Chickenpox meant treatment in the local government hospital though the regular South Indian religious rituals were followed. It might surprise the reader that this custom is practised even today in many Non-Hindu families in South India.
My father had a minor paralytic stroke in the early 1970s. Many of the relatives suggested to go in for black magic or native medicine, but my father decided to go in for allopathy and recovered fully well.
The usual treatment for Jaundice in South India is to grind a bunch of leaves called `Keelanelli' and administer it orally to the patient. However, my father was an exception to it and got me admitted to a hospital for treatment, despite a difficult financial situation at home.
Irrespective of whether it was a fever or the kidney ailment of my eldest brother, he always believed in allopathy. He always said modern science is proven and the only answer to the problems of life. How did an individual who had limited education possess such maturity of thoughts? Was he, despite his belief in religion influenced by the ideas of Periyar, the great social reformer of Tamil Nadu? I have every reason to belief that this was the case.
I remember during 1980 when there was a solar eclipse, he only restrained us from seeing the sun. Other than that, it was a routine day for all of us. There were no rituals on that day. From a young age, aversion to auspicious/ inauspicious time, day, or date was sown in our minds. We were never thought to be selectively vegetarian. I came to know about numerology and lucky stones only after I started seeing satellite TV. Watching science programmes on Doordarshan was mandatory.
I am an atheist, but going by the present definition of a pious Hindu, my father was an undercover atheist too. Thus, today ends with me neither celebrating Father's Day nor getting religious about the solar eclipse. Being childless helped my cause of disregarding Father's Day.
June 10, 2020
Darren Sammy Racial Abuse Allegation - This Too Shall Pass
Darren Sammy has recently made a statement that while playing for SRH, he was called `Kalu'. If it is true, it must be an Indian Cricketer. We have a massive obsession for the fair skin and genetical avarice towards dark skin. I will dwell later on how fair skin after caste leads to apotheosis in Indian society.
If unification was a religion, sports is the high priest of it. If sports is the high priest of unification, cricket in India is `God's favourite priest'. Racial abuse in such a sport, that too in a society which proudly believes in `Vasudeva Kutumbam' is iniquity. The players who indulged in this are the truest anti-nationals. If found guilty they should be banned from the sport, their records erased, they should be jailed and declared as person non grata.
IPL has been the hell house of controversies since its inception. Allegations of match-fixing, seedy night parties, tales of sexual abuse, and not to mention mediocre cricket have blemished the reputation of cricket's showbiz event.
Racism has no place in sports. The IPL governing board should immediately order an enquiry into this issue. It should be conducted through video conferencing mode, and telecast online. Let the truth come out. Let those who have to be shamed, be shamed.
There is an Instagram post going around of a particular Indian player calling Darren Sammy as Kalu. These are the days of fake news and photoshopping; hence I refuse to believe this post until it is conclusively proved as accurate. In one of his twitter posts, he talks of an Indian gentleman legend and associates him with this term `Kalu'. It would be bilious if this legend too had called him `Kalu'. Investigate everyone associated with SRH during this period. Government of India should crack the whip, if the IPL governing board does not order an inquiry by the end of this week, i.e. second week of June 2020.
Caste defines an individual in India, and next comes skin colour. An individual coming from a low caste with dark skin is considered unintelligent, perfidious, and generally heathen. Being born in an upper-caste makes one priggish, and a coruscating skin colour ennobles its bearer. Cracking jokes or abusing an individual about his/her skin colour or caste is considered Dionysus.
Our Bollywood dumb asses went ballistic with `black lives matter' when the George Floyd issue broke out. These are the shenanigans who do not mind endorsing fairness creams for a few dollars more. One would be curious to see which hypocrite Bollywood star tweet on this issue, especially if it is proved correct. Will they dare to take on the might of IPL and call the bluff on racism, I doubt. Everyone is eagerly awaiting that great man from Bollywood whose blood boils when commentators question the indifferent performance of BCCI XI, and he expresses it on his Twitter account.
There is an air of expectancy how one or two most followed twitter accounts that react on every other injustice happening around the globe, react on this issue. The account did not condemn George Floyd issue itself for apparent reason.
It is pertinent to recall what happened during the match-fixing scandal at the beginning of the century. The South African cricketers, including Hansie Cronje, fixed matches, but they admitted to their role when confronted with facts. Their teammates also named and shamed them during the enquiry. Neither the believed to be guilty Indian cricketers gave themselves up nor their teammates named and shamed them. `The Monkey Gate' scandal involving Andrew Symonds witnessed a re-run of this bonhomie. We all know what will happen to the Darren Sammy issue; it will die a slow death. The only doubt in one's mind is, will SRH go one step ahead, and file a multi-million dollar defamation case against Sammy.
May 24, 2020
Why I Did Not Become A Singer? - A Confession
While growing up, all of us want to become a singer one day and the next day a doctor. The third day we would be holding a paintbrush with the intent of becoming an artist. When on a summer day, we saw an aeroplane flying over our head, we desired to be a pilot. When siblings or bullies in school gave us a thrashing, we all wanted to become a cop and arrest them. During a cricket season, our life goal was to become a cricketer, The weirdest of the kids would want to grow up to be a lawyer. I too wanted to be all of these at some time or the other while growing up. I felt I should confess why I could not become any of this but ended up being what I am today.
I earnestly tried to be a singer and enrolled in singing at the school annual day programme. The teacher asked me to be a part of the chorus. My voice made the chorus coarse, and I was coaxed never to croak err sing again.
The thoughts of making me a doctor were given up when I questioned why human beings required two eyes, nostrils, and ears when they could do with a single head and heart.
I still cannot draw a straight line, and the twisted straight line is too bland to be accepted as modern art. Such being the case, I gave up hopes of becoming an artist.
There was no point in making me a pilot when I could not jump from one stair to another without stumbling. My parents did not want to risk passenger lives while the plane was landing.
A cop is expected to be vigilant and intuitive. Obviously, a kid who is sent to buy two rupees worth of green chilly, and returns with 2 kg of them does not make the cut. Similarly, a soldier is expected to be fit and quick not take an eternity to do a left-right step while marching.
Desires and reality never match each other unless you have some skills. If you cannot hit the ball out of the pitch, and when you expect the ball to catch your hand, you can never be a cricketer no matter how much desperately you want to. I badly wanted to become a cricketer but played the game very badly.
An academically challenged kid should not hand-over his progress card to parents immediately on reaching home. A kid who does so can have no hopes of becoming a lawyer.
When I was growing up, knowing typing and shorthand were as important as having Aadhar Card or Arogya Setu App is these days. I too joined a typewriting training institute for learning both these life skills. The principal, after a couple of months, said to my father `Don’t waste your money, his time, and test my patience.’
For no reason, I didn’t dream to become a postman or a milkman or a bus driver.
I ended up by chance or luck being what I am today.
May 23, 2020
Hatred Against Tik Tok Is Just A Class Subjugation, And There Lies The Opportunity For Liberals
Many things are being held against Tik-Tok these days. One of them is that it is a national security threat. National security interests are non-negotiable, and if it is true, this app and any app which poses such a risk must be banned. The regurgitated arguments against it are, the content on Tik-Tok is unimaginative; it spreads hatred, superstition, fake news, and vulgarity. This fact is undeniable. The material these days on YouTube, TV channels and print media are no better. Tik-Tok is just the T-10 version of the existing media. Tiktok is one of the many such platforms. The name Tiktok is used as a representative of similar apps and is not its endorsement per=se.
Tik-Tok is not my forte. I can never be a creator of content on Tik Tok because I neither have the attitude, aptitude, nor inexactitude to do so. During the COVID-19 lockdown, I received a lot of Tik-Tok videos from friends, colleagues, and family. A Tik Tok video should not be viewed with the mind of a connoisseur. Tik-Tok Videos are made by patrons who have neither the means nor the time nor the intellect to make a critically acclaimed content.
Upper Middle Class hates Tik-Tok Users, especially that section of the upper-middle class which is narrow-minded, lacks critical thinking, is parochial, and are hypocrites of the highest order. They are jealous of the fact that the lower middle class has got a medium of expression. Upper Middle Class is under the false impression that all the intellect is their privy. Shattering this misconception is essential. Tik-Tok as of now is a medium to showcase PJs, dance moves, and mini-skits. The content creators are usually lower middle class, people in primary professions, homemakers, and teenagers.
Tik–Tok can be used to revive liberal ideologies on the verge of extinction. It can be used as a useful tool to spread social awareness, restore communal harmony, raise awareness on environment, improve scientific temperament, explain the process of creating economic inequalities, demask historical distortion, and expose fake news. Tik-Tok is the best option available to detoxify the thought process of the society because it is going to reach the masses.
The larger population cannot read lengthy books to imbibe the principles of democracy and communal harmony. They cannot understand the threat to the environment or appreciate scientific temperament as dished out in the conventional media. They don’t possess the critical thinking abilities to decipher the distortion of history and impious dissemination of fake news. Enlightenment of the masses is possible only through new age mediums like Tik-Tok. The ball is firmly in the court of the intellectuals. The intellectuals who care for equality in the society can step in and develop content on Tik-Tok, which is factual, precise and sleek. The question is whether they can gather their wits, and return it for a winner. The vital thing to note is that the cost of making a Tik-Tok video is minimum, but its reach is maximum.
May 11, 2020
My INTEr-Nation-Null CertiFake - A Sarcasm On Fake News
It is good to get your achievements certified by an agency, especially the international ones. No, I am not talking the ISO types but that United World Body.
That world body is not doing what it is meant to, the minimum they can do is to certify the qualities of individuals. When I pointed out this to them, they readily agreed to certify some of my attributes, and also roped in a few other international agencies.
The body which decides international disputes has decided that my style quotient is the main reason for causing sty across the world.
The Health Organisation has certified that the photographs taken by me are the best cure for Alzheimer’s disease.
That Satellite Company has certified that my scalp was the most radiating surface when it took a pic of India on Buddha Poornima day.
The Environment Body has certified that my posts across social media are responsible for the melting of the arctic glaciers.
The Bank which controls the world money has certified that my choice of music is the poorest amongst all human beings born, alive, and yet to be born.
The organisation that concerns itself with atomic energy has certified that my thought process is the most sapping one.
The organisation which itself is a refugee has certified that my personal savings are the most unfortunate refugees in the world.
The International Body which deals with Labour has certified that my sense of humour is laborious.
That body which has an emergency fund for children has certified that my penchant for reading books as the biggest act endangering world peace.
The International Union connected with Telecom has certified that my greed for eating different types of Biryani as the major hindrance in the implementation of 5G.
Not to be left behind, the international organisation that certifies food, flag, leaders, and national anthems has certified that My Handwriting as the best in the world.
April 30, 2020
How `Coming Out As Dalit' By Yashica Dutt Resonates With My Life? ?
Coming Out As Dalit – A Memoir written by Yashica Dutt is a wonderful book of the authoress who has come out in open with her Dalit identity after years of hiding it. I am not going to review the book. The book has not only been written from the heart but after a lot of research. There are happenings from her personal life, which are also contained in the book, and have a relevance to the problems Dalit societies face. I belong to the Dalit community. What I am going to do is going to pick some lines from the book, and relate it to the happenings in my life.
The authoress in one of the portions of the book states that Dalits who fearlessly come out with their identity offend upper castes the most. She hits the top gear right at the beginning of the book, and there is no slowing down in exposing the caste predators.
It took me almost 25 years of existence to come out with my identity as a Dalit, and after that I too had nothing to hide. The authoress came out with her identity because of Rohit Vehumla, and I did it because I realised that no matter how much of a Hindu I tried to be, I was always a low caste, and in the context of independent India, a freeloader.
Caste is Ubiquitous
Ask any Dalit who has worked for the Government, who was as efficient as his upper-caste peers, with an interest in progressing his career, he will bet his last pie to vouch for this thought.
Hiding Caste Identities
We are living in the times of lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19 virus. We are required to wear masks when we come outside to not contract this disease. Dalits will never find this difficult because for the better part of their lives they wear a mask of an upper caste person to avoid being ostracised.
My father was polemical to hiding our caste identity but wanted his children to grow outside the earmarked Dalit areas of Bangalore. To be fair, most house owners never asked us about our caste except one who insisted that we should not cook non-vegetarian food. Our economic condition did not allow us to regularly consume non-vegetarian food, but my parents went heads over heels to comply with this condition. Possibly ashamed of being born as Dalits, my parents avoided all those things that could reveal our caste. Over a period we performed poojas, marriages, funerals, and festivals befitting an upper caste. We were indirectly acknowledging that the Dalit customs were inferior.
How do Dalit legends and ultra-legends hide their caste identities?
Dalits try to hide their caste identities but legends do it by ridiculing Dalits, and even by criticising the move of Babasaheb to provide reservations to Dalits. They even label the acts of successive Governments to extend reservation as a regressive step.
The ultra legends are the ones who say that castes no longer exist in the society. Over the past few years, the Government has made it mandatory to celebrate the birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar in a befitting manner, and the ultra legends who work in Government offices ensure that they don’t turn up for this function.However, when it comes to claiming reservation in promotion, or quarters allotment, or getting relief from being reprimanded for indifferent work/corruption, or getting medical/engineering seat for children, or BDA residential site allotment, they will swear about their being a dalit on the Manu Smrithi itself.My brother also works for the Government, and he is a Dalit Ninja Warrior. Wish I could insert a sound clip of him in this blog describing such bilious masqueraders. Many in Government service have used their Dalit identity to get promotions, get elected to lucrative employee cooperative societies, and when they reach the helm trample the Dalits working under them. They are more upper caste than upper-caste themselves.
I prominently display a photograph of Dr BR Ambedkar on my desk ever since I entered Government service. The aforesaid masqueraders have advised me to remove it to avoid the wrath of the management. I did not pay heed to it, and till date my table contains an image of Babasaheb.
Embracing Vegetarianism in to-to or selectively
Between the age of 18 and 24, I had embraced vegetarianism due to a misconception that being a non-vegetarian is imbruing humanity. Having exorcised that belief, I am now a passionate non-vegetarian. Caste Hindus become vegetarians during certain days of the week and select periods of the year. I have no objection to it because it is their belief and they have been conditioned so for ages. Dalits who for ages were maimed, raped and assaulted for entering a place of worship or trying to behave like a caste Hindu, follow these conditions religiously. It does not prick their conscience that even during this period of abstinence Dalits across the country are butchered by upper castes.
Assuming that possessing a flawless English knowledge can hide your Dalit identity.
Three months after I joined my present job, I came to understand that one of the upper caste officers had enquired with my boss whether I could read and write decent English. There have been quite a few uncharitable remarks about my ability to express in English. I don’t claim coruscating English knowledge but these remarks were made against me because I am a Dalit, because we are assumed to be unintelligent. As pointed out by the authoress, Tina Dabi, the daughter of a civil servant couple, is accused of wrongly availing reservation, even though she had scored more marks than general candidates in the main exam. It was only in personality test interview that she did not perform to her potential. The matter of fact is that more often than not when a Dalit commits a mistake in Government service, it will reminisce in closed corridors how reserved candidates are a useless lot and a virus in the system.
My father’s formal education was limited but he had a great passion to better his English. He relentlessly pursued this goal by reading many English books and even consulting my English teacher on some doubts. A relentless pursuit to attain an ability to speak and write English impeccably is part of my genes. It is the only language in which I have an acceptable proficiency.
Anti Reservation Protests in AIIMS during 2006
Mandal Commission Protests was the first big anti-reservation protest I was a witness to. I will reproduce two incidents from those protests which will explain the contemporary hatred against Dalits.
During the protest, I saw a young lady holding a placard `Wanted an SC/ST Groom with a Government Job’. Inter-caste marriage is the best solution for eliminating the caste system. This placard was not an invitation but intimidation of a community trying to assert itself.
During the Mandal Protests, I was pursuing ICWAI course. My friends, a few of them who knew my caste status had warned me not to tell to anybody that I was a Dalit, as if otherwise I was proud about flaunting my Dalit identity. The classes for this course were held in the evenings in a prominent Christian college in Bengaluru. Please excuse me for reproducing this crass graffiti from the Men's Restroom.
At a height, it was written `if you can p**s till this point, you can become a fireman.
At a lower threshold, it was written, this height is enough for SC/ST.
I too laughed it off shamelessly but that graffiti has stuck in my mind as an epitome of the hatred that is present against Dalits.
Dalits were always the despised lot. The contemporary hatred is fuelled by the fact that some of us have escaped the dragnet of caste humiliation thanks to reservations, and a need is felt to prevent further hostages getting away through this method.
The book is well written and must be read by all Dalits who are ashamed of asserting their identity. The Upper Caste would do well to encourage such an assertion. Dalits asserting their identity would mean the end of caste discrimination, and also the ignominious reservation. Once the stain of reservation goes from the face of India, we can look forward to only meritorious doctors, engineers, scientists and administrators. None of the IIT Engineers and Doctors will leave this holy land for foreign shores. This could mark the return of the proverbial `Sone ki Chidiya’.
The authoress in one of the portions of the book states that Dalits who fearlessly come out with their identity offend upper castes the most. She hits the top gear right at the beginning of the book, and there is no slowing down in exposing the caste predators.
It took me almost 25 years of existence to come out with my identity as a Dalit, and after that I too had nothing to hide. The authoress came out with her identity because of Rohit Vehumla, and I did it because I realised that no matter how much of a Hindu I tried to be, I was always a low caste, and in the context of independent India, a freeloader.
Caste is Ubiquitous
Ask any Dalit who has worked for the Government, who was as efficient as his upper-caste peers, with an interest in progressing his career, he will bet his last pie to vouch for this thought.
Hiding Caste Identities
We are living in the times of lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19 virus. We are required to wear masks when we come outside to not contract this disease. Dalits will never find this difficult because for the better part of their lives they wear a mask of an upper caste person to avoid being ostracised.
My father was polemical to hiding our caste identity but wanted his children to grow outside the earmarked Dalit areas of Bangalore. To be fair, most house owners never asked us about our caste except one who insisted that we should not cook non-vegetarian food. Our economic condition did not allow us to regularly consume non-vegetarian food, but my parents went heads over heels to comply with this condition. Possibly ashamed of being born as Dalits, my parents avoided all those things that could reveal our caste. Over a period we performed poojas, marriages, funerals, and festivals befitting an upper caste. We were indirectly acknowledging that the Dalit customs were inferior.
How do Dalit legends and ultra-legends hide their caste identities?
Dalits try to hide their caste identities but legends do it by ridiculing Dalits, and even by criticising the move of Babasaheb to provide reservations to Dalits. They even label the acts of successive Governments to extend reservation as a regressive step.
The ultra legends are the ones who say that castes no longer exist in the society. Over the past few years, the Government has made it mandatory to celebrate the birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar in a befitting manner, and the ultra legends who work in Government offices ensure that they don’t turn up for this function.However, when it comes to claiming reservation in promotion, or quarters allotment, or getting relief from being reprimanded for indifferent work/corruption, or getting medical/engineering seat for children, or BDA residential site allotment, they will swear about their being a dalit on the Manu Smrithi itself.My brother also works for the Government, and he is a Dalit Ninja Warrior. Wish I could insert a sound clip of him in this blog describing such bilious masqueraders. Many in Government service have used their Dalit identity to get promotions, get elected to lucrative employee cooperative societies, and when they reach the helm trample the Dalits working under them. They are more upper caste than upper-caste themselves.
I prominently display a photograph of Dr BR Ambedkar on my desk ever since I entered Government service. The aforesaid masqueraders have advised me to remove it to avoid the wrath of the management. I did not pay heed to it, and till date my table contains an image of Babasaheb.
Embracing Vegetarianism in to-to or selectively
Between the age of 18 and 24, I had embraced vegetarianism due to a misconception that being a non-vegetarian is imbruing humanity. Having exorcised that belief, I am now a passionate non-vegetarian. Caste Hindus become vegetarians during certain days of the week and select periods of the year. I have no objection to it because it is their belief and they have been conditioned so for ages. Dalits who for ages were maimed, raped and assaulted for entering a place of worship or trying to behave like a caste Hindu, follow these conditions religiously. It does not prick their conscience that even during this period of abstinence Dalits across the country are butchered by upper castes.
Assuming that possessing a flawless English knowledge can hide your Dalit identity.
Three months after I joined my present job, I came to understand that one of the upper caste officers had enquired with my boss whether I could read and write decent English. There have been quite a few uncharitable remarks about my ability to express in English. I don’t claim coruscating English knowledge but these remarks were made against me because I am a Dalit, because we are assumed to be unintelligent. As pointed out by the authoress, Tina Dabi, the daughter of a civil servant couple, is accused of wrongly availing reservation, even though she had scored more marks than general candidates in the main exam. It was only in personality test interview that she did not perform to her potential. The matter of fact is that more often than not when a Dalit commits a mistake in Government service, it will reminisce in closed corridors how reserved candidates are a useless lot and a virus in the system.
My father’s formal education was limited but he had a great passion to better his English. He relentlessly pursued this goal by reading many English books and even consulting my English teacher on some doubts. A relentless pursuit to attain an ability to speak and write English impeccably is part of my genes. It is the only language in which I have an acceptable proficiency.
Anti Reservation Protests in AIIMS during 2006
Mandal Commission Protests was the first big anti-reservation protest I was a witness to. I will reproduce two incidents from those protests which will explain the contemporary hatred against Dalits.
During the protest, I saw a young lady holding a placard `Wanted an SC/ST Groom with a Government Job’. Inter-caste marriage is the best solution for eliminating the caste system. This placard was not an invitation but intimidation of a community trying to assert itself.
During the Mandal Protests, I was pursuing ICWAI course. My friends, a few of them who knew my caste status had warned me not to tell to anybody that I was a Dalit, as if otherwise I was proud about flaunting my Dalit identity. The classes for this course were held in the evenings in a prominent Christian college in Bengaluru. Please excuse me for reproducing this crass graffiti from the Men's Restroom.
At a height, it was written `if you can p**s till this point, you can become a fireman.
At a lower threshold, it was written, this height is enough for SC/ST.
I too laughed it off shamelessly but that graffiti has stuck in my mind as an epitome of the hatred that is present against Dalits.
Dalits were always the despised lot. The contemporary hatred is fuelled by the fact that some of us have escaped the dragnet of caste humiliation thanks to reservations, and a need is felt to prevent further hostages getting away through this method.
The book is well written and must be read by all Dalits who are ashamed of asserting their identity. The Upper Caste would do well to encourage such an assertion. Dalits asserting their identity would mean the end of caste discrimination, and also the ignominious reservation. Once the stain of reservation goes from the face of India, we can look forward to only meritorious doctors, engineers, scientists and administrators. None of the IIT Engineers and Doctors will leave this holy land for foreign shores. This could mark the return of the proverbial `Sone ki Chidiya’.
April 23, 2020
Happy World Book Day - My Journey With Books
Today is April 23, 2020, and the world is under lockdown to contain the spread of Corona Virus. Today is also the World Book Day.
The entertainment zones are closed. The watering holes have gone dry. The weekend trips cannot be undertaken. The sporting events have been suspended. The places of worship are soulless. The TV Serials and Web Series have no new content to offer. Many of the mobile games cannot be played for fear of action by the cops, and some of them are getting tedious. The memes on Corona Virus only remind us that we have been consigned to our homes by a virus.
We the book worms/book nerds/ book lovers/ bookaholics are finally ruling the world. We can travel to Paris. We can feel high without having a drink. We can read the original version of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. We know what happens when viruses capture the world thanks to science fiction. We can go the Drones Club. We have retained our freedom, imagination, and not fluttered by staying indoors. We are the envy of all those friends and family who ridiculed us for being book aficionados, and never cultivated a habit of reading. We can go on a train journey unravelling murder mysteries. Today, they are left only to watch the Corona ticker, and crib about its impact.
I too would have been in theunfortunate lot but for my father drilling the need to read books. My cousins used to desist visiting my home because my father used to inexorably advise them to read books. However, we had to listen to him, and slowly but surely I took interest in reading books. My father was not a scholar but knew that books can ennoblelives. He used to always say, when you start earning, buy one good book a month and read it, you will be able to deal with life in a better way. It took me nearly a decade and a half of working life to realise this irrefragable truth.
With his limited means, he used to buy me some books. There used to be a friendly shopkeeper who used to lend us new comics at Rs.1 per day. The books used to come on Friday night, and should be sold the next day morning. My father used to get the books from him, and it was my responsibility to read it by next morning without crumbling the pages. This was an unintentional introduction to speed reading.
Once in a month, on Sundays, we used to visit the bookstores in MG Road. Those days books never came wrapped in plastic, and book shop owners were always kind enough to let people read books in their shops without buying them. When my father had some money, he used to buy a book or two. After the knowledge trip, our trip back home was conducted on two legs, because that was the only way the home finances could be managed. Bangalore still had all the habiliments of a garden city, and thus a six kilometre walk on a Sunday afternoon did not break a sweat. Amar Chitra Katha, Tinkle, Wisdom, Aesop Tales, formed the staple diet. The bigger books were mostly about freedom fighters.
Later I joined the City Central Library. I was around 12 years at that time, and was allowed to go to the library alone. There I read about Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Sherlock Holmes, Discoveries, Inventions, Cricket History, Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Gulliver Travelsetc. After I joined college, with my first scholarship amount, I was allowed to join the British Library. One book, I profusely remember having read there was a science fiction book, whose name I don’t remember. In that book carnivorous plants take over the world, and human beings are consigned to their homes. During college days, I was an eager participant in debates, and as usual not having much knowledge on the subject, I used humour to ensure that I could speak for a couple of minutes on the topic. My English Lecturer had suggested me to read PG Wodehouse to sharpen the quality of humour in my speeches. I was more interested in making a career in commerce than paying heed to his words, except read a few pages of a collection of short stories suggested by him.
After finishing my studies, I landed up a stable job, and a good income. I forgot reading books, and better part of my spare time was spent in travelling to and from work. On weekends, if I was not required to go to office, I used to roam, watch movies, and eat in fancy restaurants. After I got married, I used to read an odd book or two but nothing serious.
The good advices given by our parents and teachers, and ignored by us have a strange way of coming back to haunt us. In 2008, I stuck a psychological roadblock, and had to seek medical attention. It was during one of the sessions, my therapist suggested I should cultivate hobbies like reading books. He suggested I should read someone humorous like PG Wodehouse. There I was, having been given both these advices for free, now being told the same, after a heavy dosage of drugs, and a sizeable amount of fee.
I tried to be wise, and again took a membership of British Library. It has a sizeable number of PG Wodehouse titles. Though I was reading the books, but an attachment to them was never there. It is at this point, I purchased `White Tiger’ by Aravind Adiga. It is then when I realised what difference it makes to pay and buy a book. When you buy a book, you are more likely to read it. You can’t call yourself a genuine book lover if you buy pirated copies. If you don’t reward the author’s effort, you can never appreciate his work. In the last 7 to 8 years, I have not purchased a single pirated copy.
It took me a lot of time to move from PG Wodehouse works, and most importantly humour to other genres. Being associated with book clubs helped in this endeavour, especially We Read Therefore We are Book Club, Bangalore, and The Book Nerds, Dehradun. The wide spectrum of well read individuals I meet in these gatherings helped me to try out other genres. During this period, I read mythology which I thought was sacrilege to do so, being an atheist. I learnt to appreciate the fact that Mahabharata was beyond religion.
During the last seven years, I have read books on travel, mythology, politics, dictators, unethical medical practices, growth of fascist organisations, science fiction, democracy, stoicism, conspiracy theories, origin of humanity, graphic novels, dystopian novels, cricket, murder mysteries, casteism, satire, self-help books, and poetry. The number of purchased but unread books is crossing the three figure mark. Kindle has helped to read more books, one it saves space, and is easy to carry.
My parting thought to you would be to start reading. If you are old, it is never too late. If you are young, you don’t have to get to late 30s to start reading. Reading is the best hobby you can cultivate. You can buy a book, put it aside for years, and one fine day pick it up to read. The book will never crib that it was ignored for so many years, but will impart all the knowledge it has. Book is the best inheritance you can leave behind to your successors. Stay safe, take care. Happy World Book Day.
