Bharat Chand
I was hit with a stick by one of my grandfathers in the village when I was pursuing eighth grade. What had happened was nothing more than letting one of my friends of marginalized community to have my hair cut. ‘You should not let lower caste people to touch your head as it would stop your physical and mental growth’ was the remarks made by grandfather after giving four whips of stick relentlessly. The friend of mine undoubtedly had better skills on cutting hair than anyone in the area I would imagine. Finding out the barber shop to have our hair cut in the village was similar to finding diamond in the jungle.Drafting about the rights and duties of people deemed lower caste in the constitution would not help eliminate the problem until and unless the people’s perception towards them does not changeholistically.
One of my students pursuingstudies at bachelor’s degreerequested to see one of the write ups she has recently written as a part of maintaining her diary about how she was treated when she was small in the village. A pathetic situation she unveiled out of many was that she was only denied from receiving tika from the priest while her friends playingalongwith her received. Tender in age then did not help her understand the restrictionshe faced,but later she came to realize that it was the caste that hindered not only to receive tika from the priest but also closed all the doors to be a partof societal activities as well. Another compelling and heart touching episode she shares through her emotionally crafted write up is that neither her brother nor her sister in law is allowed to visit the house of sister in law’s owing to the inter-caste marriage they had done few years ago. Numerous instances of ill treatment towards oppressedparticularly in South Asian countries have diminished the chances of people of lower caste to reach the height of success despite having guaranteed the quota for marginalized community in the constitutions of respective nations.
Graded inequality prevailing in our society has led the situation to be more worsening than ever. When we firmly believe that society is composed of four different varnas such as Brahmin, Kshetriya, Baisya and Sudra, the oppressed class and their problems will remain the same even in the decades to come as well. Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, one of the intellectuals and designers of Indian constitution points out that the division of society into four varnasquashed the hopes and aspirations of those lying on the marginal line, making three varnas; Brahmin, Kshetriya, and Vaisya superior than Sudras because all three can keep Sudras as inferior while Sudras cannot as it does not have any other to rule over. The brutal killing of Nabra jBishwokarma in Rukum a couple of months ago on charge of loving to the higher caste girl is the result of graded inequality. He being hailed from the lower caste was not accepted by the upper caste, resulting his untimely death along with his friends.The societal structure prevailing for decades does not allow marginalized community members to cross the boundary line set forth by upper caste. Moreover, the society for long has been structured in such a way that it does not want anyone to question to its prevailing system as bad. Nothing grandeur will happen in the society if we do not pose questions to the existing evils in practice.
The psyche of the higher caste people is to be changed drastically so long as the equal existence of marginalized people is concerned, bringing reformations on all the sectors. How long psyche of the people worsens the existence of other marginalized people striving for equality has surreally been expressed by Isabel Wilkerson on her most recent book named ‘Caste’.She assiduously makes the point on how African-American were and are considered inferior to whites is worth mentioning here. The vast majority of African-Americansresiding in North and South of the USAhave inhumanly been treated back in 19th century. They were not only mistreated in the public places but also in the formal institutions like schools and colleges as well. The tendency to keep separate sets of text books for blacks and whites with separate places was the customary, denigrating the value of blacks in educational institutions. Indiaand Nepal for instance have similar problem of separating lower caste people while performing rituals on numerous occasions.
Our educational institutions with having decades of experiences in delivering education to the pupils do rarely discuss and bring forth the issue concerning of the marginalized community and their hurdles facing today so as to eliminate the problems deep-rooted in the society. Dr. Sanjeev Uprety, a scholar and retired professor of Department of English Tribhuvan University rightly points out that it is the society that has made him what he is today because society has been beneficiary to the people of higher caste in comparison to the lower ones. The impact of hard work and persistence effort at the disposal however is equally important in shaping one’s future. Had the people of marginalized class got the opportunity similar to him from the society, there would have been many like him, hitting the targets set forth in their lives.
Adopting the traditional skills, they have been reckoned with, by people of all castes like knitting the doko, bhakari out of bamboo and ningala as well as making pots from soil and weapons and utensils from iron used for various purposes could financially help the entire nation move towards prosperity. Doing so will eventually help reduce the unemployment rate rapidly scaling up and stop the millions of people from going out of country in the name of seeking jobs. At the same time, the much-touted slogan of incumbent government ‘Prosperous Nepal, Happy Nepali’ about bringing reformations in all the sectors would be viable to shout out once these skills get national recognition.
Respecting all the people through the eyes of humanism can help eliminate the problem we have been witnessing for long and the programs like Aaina being featured on Television and social media of lately also can add bricks to the elimination of the problem.
[Bharat Chand is an independent researcher as well as faculty of English working at colleges in Kathmandu.]