31st of January, 2018:
Arian asked to read 'The boy who asked why', yesterday. It's one of his favourite books and he hadn't read it in a while. This story about the great Dr. Ambedkar, has been beautifully told and illustrated and his fight for equality in India raised a lot of questions in our household.
Dr. Ambedkar was from the lower caste known as 'Mahar' (Dalit) and were treated as 'untouchables'. They were and are still subject to massive socio-economic discrimination and are treated in a manner that is not only inhumane but defies logic.
This book narrates how the untouchables were treated and all the different obstacles that Dr. Ambedkar had to overcome. He wasn't allowed to sit with his classmates at school and he and his classmates from the lower caste had to sit on gunny sacks and were separated from the rest of their classmates. This was India's answer to segregation within its confines. Lower caste folk weren't allowed to take shelter from the rain, they were treated abominably and not offered water, food and objects weren't allowed to touch them. They were shunned, shamed and he and his fellow Dalits were treated worse than vermin. He wasn't allowed to use the same water container as the others due to his caste and there were times, if the peon at school wasn't around to pour water into his hands from a distance, he would go thirsty.
This insane discrimination continued into his adulthood, even though he was incredibly educated. Even when he was employed, people threw newspapers, documents and magazines that they needed to pass on, at him so as not to touch him. He was rebuked for wanting to learn Sanskrit, which was considered to be an upper caste language. The Brahmin teacher he went to didn't want Sanskrit to be polluted. Neverthless, Dr. Ambedkar persisted through all of this prejudice, inequality and complete and asinine madness that he endured, and being the youngest of fourteen children born into poverty, was determined to make something of himself and speak up about inequality and prejudice.
India was ruled by the British and extreme discrimination also existed within its enclave in the form of the Caste system. No one questioned the veracity of what made these lower caste folk 'untouchables'. Some rules, as we often see around us, are blindly followed.
Dr. Ambedkar went onto become an extremely qualified individual with several doctorates and postgraduate degrees from Columbia University and the London School of Economics. He was a boy who was thirsty for knowledge and was taunted for wanting to learn. He grew up into a person wanting to address the inequality that existed within via his writings and poetry. Every day was a battle with people not wanting to touch him, cut his hair or offer him, his family and members of his caste shelter, food and water when they needed it, and so on....
When India gained Independence from the British in 1947, Dr. Ambedkar continued his fight for equality and was appointed as free India's first law Minister. He was chairman of the committee for drafting the Indian constitution, which till date is considered the one of the world's best written constitutions.
Arian was dumbfounded, sad and enraged at the inequality experienced by the Dalits. He asked if he was an untouchable and as to which caste we belonged to. I mentioned that we belonged to the upper caste but that we didn't subscribe to casteism. He wanted to know why humans couldn't treat each other with respect and dignity and said that he thought that the caste system was rubbish. He was amazed by Dr. Ambedkar's persistence and we discussed his experiences and fears around being treated differently because of who he was or had experienced due to the colour of his skin. He has drawn a great amount of strength from this story and Dr. Ambedkar's life and has asked to know more about the caste system.
It was interesting to see this young lad of seven be extremely perturbed by people not being given water, shelter, food, not touched and treated abominably because of their caste and yet so many folk and family I know subscribe dearly to this notion of egotistical superiority due to our caste.
I shared with Arian that my maternal grandfather, Mr. V.P. Srinivasan who was a freedom-fighter, had watched Dr. Ambedkar give a speech and was fascinated by his eloquence. The lad was filled with wonder and asked if we were famous and was quite disappointed when I said that we weren't. Nevertheless, we are a part of this proud lineage and rich heritage of people who fought for India's freedom. I only wish to support our children's journeys into this wide world as they witness inequalities and learn tools and ways to challenge them.
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