“Bramhin?” somebody had asked me when I first entered my graduation school, “Hmm...I guess so” is what I had responded, but how does it matter? Is what I thought that time? I got my first ugly picture about people’s obsession with caste, sub-caste and more during my graduation days. I am glad I was spared from it in school but I am sad that it still gripped me during my early student years. It gave me its first impression in the form of different beliefs, different food habits, and different traditions but as I started to know it more the impression took a serious and sad turn and it became all about different pride, different community, and different political followings! I realized that the difference was so important that it did come in between two people when they wanted to get married, and it did evoke some harsh response if it was ever questioned. In scenarios when I looked out for work the difference was fruitful for me when I met others of my own caste, and the difference was discriminated when I interacted with those of another. I realized that the difference which could be beautiful was actually being used as a target for all sorts of bad. Though I could never justify its importance myself I still tried my best to settle with it. But unfortunately the more I tried to come at peace with it; the world showed me more and more versions of it. Besides the religion, caste, and sub-caste there were some broad divisions of the north, south, east and west as well, there were major variations in the same caste depending upon the region where they belonged and so on and so forth!
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| Image credits: yugaparivartan.com |
I knew Homo sapiens as my species and that’s what I had mugged up when I was a kid! I didn’t know that there were so many minorities, majorities and other priorities within this one species itself. Even after being exactly similar biologically with the same ways to digest, walk, reproduce and survive we have cut ourselves down into so many small pieces! Where science divided us only as man and woman we have entangled ourselves into a circus of Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Bramhin, Bunt, Kayasth, Khatri and the list is truly endless! And I think that the endless was not enough which has brought up yet another divide by the name of Lingayats recently!
Who creates these divides and why are these divides being created is highly debatable and I am never in favor to spark that endless discussion, which as per me is meaningless. But yes I know that we as individuals should realize that no matter how much we divide the human race it will still be the same. Yes, we do have different beliefs, food habits and traditions and these should be taken as harmonious and beautiful cultural diversity, and not as points of debates and fights. It’s us who constitute the big world and if we stop giving importance to these big and small divides then yes one day it will really cease to matter! If all young parents just focus on teaching their children respect and love and if all older parents stop questioning their children the caste and religion of the boy/girl their child wants to get married to, then nobody no matter how strong will be able to create any divide and differences in the name of culture. It’s the differences that exist amongst us that are minor why are we making people with different beliefs as minority. We all are majority and we all are humans! High time, let's talk about merging things and not about dividing them further.
Vandita Mishra
email: vandita5jan@gmail.com
Image credits: yugaparivartan.com
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