Caste Matters

by Suraj Yengde

Casteism is the longest-thriving pathology known to mankind. Conjuring differences between human beings out of thin air and claiming they are based on birth, and then ascribing them a certain social status, is a testament to seriously compromised mental and social health. A child is taught to be different from others. The question of one’s differences is emphasized so strongly that the child follows it without necessarily making critical inquiries. The child is mentored by the entire family to harbour the feeling of otherness towards Others who are most likely inferior or lower in the socio-economic ladder. The prejudicial attitudes that a child is brought up with prepares it to be harmful towards Others, natural innocence ruthlessly taken away by the oppressive minds in the family. Later, as time passes, when the child becomes an adult, he or she is told—misleadingly—by society that differences don’t exist. Therefore, the adult is now in a dilemma: how to now believe that everyone is equal irrespective of the differences? However, the same adult seldom questions or challenges these foolish differentiations and changing narratives—how the Other is different and not supposed to be mingled with, and is yet ‘equal’. The Other that the child was never allowed to play with is now deemed his equal. This leads to bewilderment at the Other receiving state benefits. This is how caste numbs one’s consciousness—it is true for both the oppressor and the oppressed.