I was traveling from Bangalore to Kolkata few days ago. On my way, I saw a few things, which I thought I might share.
Travel
South India is very sensitive about it’s languages and culture. They feel that the North Indian (Hindi) culture is trying to eat up their culture and language. Sometimes these justifiable concerns are used/expoited wonderfully by southern chauvinists. Because of them, we’ve had a riot when a famous Kannada actor (Rajkumar) died (of old age!). Mob went out and pelted stone at windows, shops and glasses. Because of these same chavinists, all buses in Karnataka have their destination written only in Kannada. A real pain in the neck for who don’t read Kannada, some of them are Kannada themselves (they study in English).It was, therefore, very surprising when I noticed that there was not a single announcement made in Kannada at the Bangalore airport. All announcements were made in Hindi and in English. That’s the other extreme. It felt as if the urban rich India was challenging the common Kannada people, outside the airport- `we don’t give a damn’. I didn’t like the absence of Kannada, just as don’t like the absence of English on Karnataka buses.
Untouchability
Shattered Me (Picture by Splat Worldwide )
Then I was at Kolkata.
I feel happy that I am from a state which does not practice cast system much. West Bengal has little record of female foeticide- the sex ratio is fairly normal here. Communalism is less than most parts of India, but on the rise at the moment.
I have also felt disgusted that India practices all of these, and is not taking it seriously to undo them.
I have always heard about untouchability. Little did I expect that I will see it being practiced in Kolkata, a poor place of high morals, a place I thought has risen far above these.
At the flat where I was putting up, there lives a lady, opposite to my door. (She’s not a Bengali, to be fair to the the Bengalis.) She was standing at the gate, buying some fruits from a street vendor. She threw a plastic bag towards the man. (She stood a meter away from him). The Nepali darwan held the bag as the poor man poured fruits into the bag for the woman who wouldn’t touch her.
I could stand there anymore. I left. Arguing with her would have been futile, for a number of reasons. The best thing I could have done, I realized later, was to find a pretext to shake hands with the man in front of her. I hope I will remember the lesson next time I encounter a similar situation.
It is not necessarily untouchability that the lady was practicing, though if it is, it is to be condemned. For instance, in my family, women (of the older generation) do puja every morning after taking a bath. In the period between the bath and the puja, they do not touch anybody, including anybody in the family. If they touch somebody by mistake, they would have to bathe again. They are clearly not practicing untouchability towards their own family members. In some families, similar rules are applied by women during their menstrual periods.
I personally do not even agree with these traditions. But the point is that these are not examples of the practice of untouchability. There are still some people who do practice it though and we need to do everything to eradicate the practice.
It is possible, but unlikely that it was something else.
Reasons I think so-
1. A small child was playing with her, so first and second options are ruled out.
2. She did mention something about “Brahmin bhojan” as for the reason of buying the fruits. That shows she does care about casts.
It is ironic though, that fruits from an untouchable will be served to the Brahmins! But that was rarely the issue. Brahmins have enjoyed the services of lower casts for ages. Only not their company.
Innocent until proven guilty.
I never assumed you did. Nor does your first paragraph give any hint in that direction.
I am from Bangalore, born and brought up, well i do not agree on the part of bus don’t have english name plate, read carefully the roman numbers are there not kannada numbers and there is small sub-title on every bus below the to and from written in kannada, unless u have travelled to some small town of Karnataka.
let me correct you, Bangalore Airport does announce in Kannada and instruct may be you might have not been attentive or might be that particular flight they didn’t.
Rajkumar died and Writing Kannada on shops and buses are two different issue’s, Rajkumar died and there wasn’t any official state holiday the fan of this historical actor and kannada language savior protest agianst it which is rightly done to honor the person who has give his life to give the dignity.
Writing kannada, i don’t see any issue protesting and asking to apply this, as in UP, Delhi Punjab and MP where you go, you see only hindi they also don’t have english so how do u expect south indian to read that.
so if you are coming with the expectation everybody in south india to speak hindi or english then re-look into the north, atleast south india speak english majorly.
no offence just justification on the wrong mindset
Ashraf
Why are you manipulating facts? 1. I never said numbers are written in Kannda. I said destinations are written in Kannda. 2. To be polite, it’s not true that destinations are written in English.
About airport, I paid particular attention to every announcement. Twisting facts is not going to serve any purpose.
I didn’t know you guys are such fans of Hindi speaking people that you imitate them so closely. No seriously- if they do something wrong, should you must, too? Moreover, did you notice that this statement of yours is somewhat inconsistent with your earlier claim that buses do have their destination written in English?
Something is wrong with the last sentence. Or it is not English.
All written and read. It is interesting but to remind the Bengali’s, I feel they practice something else that is not healthy. That is denial of other languages spoken, atleast in cities. I happen to be colleague of few of them a decades back and all of them denied presence of Urdu in bengal and even Calcutta. I knew well their presence as I still read Urdu magazines and a lot of contribution is from Howrah and places around. Three years back I happened to visit the great city and to my surprise, pleasant at that, that even the municipal market at park street has Urdu signboard engraved on its building. What that is happening at Nandigram is also a state of denial. With all this negativity, let me affirm that Bangalis are still one of the most tolerant lot except the BC Chatterjee etc. Of course, the choice is from a worst lot, bad feels good!!
A fact I missed to mention is that announcements at Bangalore airport are done in Kannad too (& why not?). This is a fact as far as domestic departures and arrivals are concerned.
Mehman
There is a bit of denial about Urdu. There are regions in Kolkata where Urdu-speaking people, who are mostly from Bihar and have retained their language, live. Hindi, too, is present but not that well-recognized.
Re: announcements- I was at the (domestic, of course) airport for about 2:30 hours (my flight got delayed). I listened carefully to all the announcements so that I don’t miss my flight. AI, Jet, Kingfisher, Deccan, Spice every announcement was made in two languages- Hindi and in English. It may have been an exception on that day, but that is what I observed.
Shaikh Saab,
sorry if i am being rude or kind of partial its purely unintentional i was just trying to emphasis my words, well i realy don’t know how to attach the pic in the comments i have taken the picture today morning of the bus which has english and kannada both on my way to office, i litterally stop my car on the road and took the pic in lunch hours to bring into your notice.
and please go thru this artical in very popular english news paper of Bangalore and india which says that buses carries the english destination boards http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1396030245.cms
about the airport, i wouldn’t want to argue on that as you already said possible that day could have been exceptional, i m being a bangalorean i travel twice a month or more officially & personally and i always listen to it and noticed that there is Kannada announcement, and it has to be cuz even majority of the airport staff belongs to Bangalore.
but i agree with you one wrong doing can not be justified by another one. we shouldn’t do but its beyond my limitation i hope u know that as well
cheers,
Ashraf
You did not post any link to the photo you took.
I don’t own a camera (I’m not the gadget guy!) but maybe I’ll have to borrow one and photograph a bus now to prove my point.
Or maybe somebody else who lives in bangalore can help me out?
Ashraf
The article you linked was published in 2001. I think showing photographs of buses with destination written only in Kannada after that date should prove my point.
I found some photographs of bangalore buses on Flickr. I think they prove my point. Have a look:
http://flickr.com/photos/subwiz/295200818/
http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=405307741&size=l
http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=441850210&size=o
Now, to be fair, the buses that run inter-state have their destination written in English too
http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=1272465741&size=l
I don’t see the point of your narrative on Untouchability. Is it just a narrative? Or are you suggesting Untouchability is a widespread phenomenon because of what you saw? Or scoring points Islam Vs Hinduism? Or Hinduism is inherently flawed (a case for embracing Islam and perhaps joining the Worldwide Sunni Unity Pledge movement)?
Or only Bengalis(Hindus included) being the conscience keepers of the nation?
kafir
The point is this- untouchability exists. We just don’t see it, because we are not the target, and hopefully we are not the perpetrators either.
It doesn’t matter whether it is widespread or not. The idea that somebody can be “untouchable” itself is sickening.
This is the kind of response I expected from the lady. That is the reason I refrained from saying her anything.
Don’t get into siege mentality. I am trying to score points against untouchability. Plain and simple. What is bad is bad. It doesn’t matter whether it is being practiced by Hindus or Muslims. And if you did not know, casts exist even among Muslims.
If Bengalis are ahead of others in this matter, you should have no problem with that. This has nothing to do with proving or disproving superiority.
Manas,
It goes without saying the idea that somebody can be “untouchableâ€? (or a “kafir”) itself is sickening.
Of course there will be ultra conservative elements in every society.No society is perfect (and this is not to condone Untouchability) but what is more important, I feel is, are we significantly “moving” away from such practices.
Would you say the social situation WRT Untouchability is same as it was, say 100 years back? Today there is enough evidence that social correction is taking place and the momentum is certainly not weakening. We have a Mayavati (with Brahmin supporters) heading an Indian state and Yadavs dominating the political landscape in Bihar and UP.
But you choose to see the glass which is one-tenth empty than the one which is nine- tenth full. The big picture is equally important.
And worse, you chose to do NOTHING about it but take consolation in the fact that the lady wasn’t a Bengali!(I won’t buy any excuse, real or imagined, for not acting at that moment)
It is partly because of such arm- chair- critic responses the vestiges of this social evil still remain. You SHOULD have stepped in and confronted the lady immediately. PERIOD.
P.S.
And if you say there is NO untouchability in the whole of West Bengall, all I would say is please give me a break! BTW this Rehman/Todi episode and the hooliganism against the local populace in Nandigram is very disturbing.
Manas,
Bangalore was always the city of decent, soft and cultured people. With the advent of IT there has been a whole deal of world that has come into bangalore. People are more worried because a healthy, clean, green bangalore is suddenly finding itself congested, full of traffic and now opposite to a pensioner’s paradise. The south Indians do not oppose north Indians but what they feel is that a rough mentality is suddenly invading the city. If you go in a railway station you will find people standing in queues or people waiting patiently for tickets. Something which is not found in North India. Some of the north Indian folk who are educated tend to break such rules and get immediately singled out. Also the typical tendency of north indians to make fun of anything allthough not harmful sometimes doesnt goes well with the local people. All these factors have definitely led to people emphasising more and more on Kannada culture. The goverment has defintely not done enough to make bangalore stand in standards of singapore or dubai or even its old bangalore status. Infact a new city or infrastructure neighbouring bangalore should have been built to accomodate IT rather than destroying down once a beautiful city.
Also Manas, I do not believe that untouchability is widely prevalent in society now in literal sense allthough do not deny that it exists. Having said that I may not like to eat something out from a vendor whose hands are dirty etc. Maybe many times people tend to do that and not based on the mere fact of untouchability or casteism.
Kafir , I see your point as completely irrelevant in this article. Summed up in Omar Abdullah’s statement if a Muslim says that we should be good friends with Pakistan he is dubbed as anti national and if a Hindu says that we should have good relations with Pakistan he is seen as a global peace loving citizen. Infact I am hearing about the sunni unity pledge movement for the first time whatever it is. I guess if there is one then they also are looking at only side of picture.
kafir
(I hate calling you by this name, can I call you kaf?)
I agree with you that the solution is “moving” away. The first step is to acknowledge that there a problem. And I have clearly hinted in my post that this is the first time I am encountering this practice. But then, I have always moved in urban or semi-urban circles. All the reports about untouchability suggest that they normally take place in villages.
About confronting the lady: if I did that, she’d have fallen back into her (mental) fort, flooded the mote and lifted the bridged. Me being a Muslim, if I tried to convince her, she’d have seen me as a intruder/conspirator/hindu-hater(hey, the guy too was hindu, wasn’t he?). At the end, she’d have more hatred for Muslims and no increase in her love for the dalits.
In my experience (and do I have some experience of taking a stand, kaf) one encounter rarely changes a person. That’s why those who could change somebody after one meeting are considered great.
There was an alternative- shaking hands with him. But it didn’t occur to me at the moment.
Khoja
I agree with you. In fact I wrote “sometimes these justifiable concerns…”
O yes, I can’t express how much I love the queues. I’ve been to Bihar. I know!
Untouchability exists at many places. I read some reports about it. It’s more common than terrorism. Only this news doesn’t sell well.
There is discrimination against lower casts. That is much more prevalent and visible.
By the way, kafir is not the same idea as untouchable. A little research might help. Asghar Ali Engineer had a very nice article about it.
Kafirs are not untouchable. They can be loved. They can be included.
Manas,
“Kafirs are not untouchable. They can be loved. They can be included.”
Doesn’t this sound too patronising? And then why do you feel uncomfortable in addressing me as Kafir?
Khoja,
“I see your point as completely irrelevant in this article. Summed up in Omar Abdullah’s statement if a Muslim says that we should be good friends with Pakistan he is dubbed as anti national and if a Hindu says that we should have good relations with Pakistan he is seen as a global peace loving citizen. Infact I am hearing about the sunni unity pledge movement for the first time whatever it is. I guess if there is one then they also are looking at only side of picture.”
I fail to comprehend your reply and it’s context. I don’t know which post of mine are you are responding to? With regards to Worldwide Sunni Unity Pledge movement, Manas would be in a better position to fill you in with the details.
I largely agree with your observations about Bangalore.
and also of Kaifi Azami!)].
I worked in Chikmagalur for a couple of years and found the Kannada people to be very decent, extremely hospitable and helpful. Going by my personal experience I feel there is better civic/social sense in South than in North [My roots are in UP (Azamgarh to be precise...heard of Babloo Srivastav/Abu Salem
Generally speaking, the Northies have a certain “roughness”/aggressiveness in their overall deportment, they also tend to be insensitive to other cultures esp. of the South. In fact I was amazed to see the contrast between Muslims in Chikmagalur and the ones in North.
I thank all the Kannadigas for making my stay in Chikmagalur a memorable one.
kaf
there are two types of answers to your question. i’l give you both.
if you think kafir is as derogatory as as untouchable, why don’t you stop being one? (can you stop being an untouchable?)
now, that was reactionary. i’ll give you a brief but serious answer. if you want more, go read asghar ali. thing is one chooses to be a Muslim or a Kafir. For an untouchable, it’s not a matter of ideology. He has no choice there. Being a Kafir does not disqualify a man from deserving equal justice as the next guy (whoever that might be). Being untouchable does. Calling somebody a kafir is no more derogatory than calling somebody a Communist or calling somebody a Hindu.
Why do I not like calling you kafir? Because YOU think this is degrading. And I don’t want you to feel degraded.
I won’t dig deeper in this issue here. Kafir can be handled in another thread.
Manas,
Is it derogatory to call someone a Hindu or communist? I am surprised. Is it more derogatory to be a slave, kafir or untouchable? There are many stories throughout the arabic world where slaves were treated very well. I am surprised that you call someone a slave and then you pride on treating him well.
I think there have many efforts in this country to remove untouchability and casteism. The most notable fact is that within 60 years of its freedom at least in Urban India this country has achieved significant achievements in removing untouchability and casteism. Now there is a complete reversal of roles because people want to be treated as Scheduled castes for reservation benefits. This could not be achieved by the Mughals in their 100 of years of rule or by British or by many rulers in the past. Also during the travels of hieun tsang or many other travellers during the hindu period of India there has been no mention of untouchability.
I think you havent yet been to africa where Arabs have been yet not able to remove usage of slaves where untouchability leave but the very basic human rights have not been made available to them. Please see this video that how slavery is still rampant in Islamic world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ21yikpLtg
And probably this one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMGjJJhHvqY
Can I hear your views on these Arabs and this entire slave business? I am sure your human sense will hate these Arabs but your Islamic sense will try to justify it and attack untouchability more.