dharmic expressions

vaibahv wasnik’s comment on this pic: and these are going to be life givers. they hate 85 percent of the country, the sc/st/obcs so much that they cannot even tolerate people from these communities as co-doctors. how can these be expected to treat the illnesses of these same people.

kuffir, calls this picture “the ordinary faces of hate.”

i recently read an academic paper which was laboring to make a point about UN recognizing caste as a race issue and trying to decipher the relation and difference between race and caste. this is what this picture made me write “caste is not a sibling of race, it is not even the parent, it is the God of all forms of discriminations.”  just look at those women’s faces, there is no hate, there is only a supreme conviction of righteousness, such pure dharmic expressions. who needs conical masks and nooses, who needs to disguise hate that is so pure that it does not even require the face to contort into a negative expression.

hammers, wires, chips

In the words and images of the dalit woman lies the untold histories of anti-caste struggles, resistance, strength and intelligence in surviving odds which few other humans experience. That she survives is not the marker, that she dreams and works for a better life, for herself and her offsprings despite and against the storm of negative forces -is the celebration of her fighting spirit. She is pitted against all institutions like an alien individual, who has to first make herself visible to the unseeing eye, state her rights to the deaf ears and keep up a sustained battle with the institution, for it to deliver -be it education, law, health, housing or any other. The dalit woman rag picker, the flower seller, the stone quarry worker, the construction laborer, the sex worker, the panchayat leader or the urban homemaker are all bound by one single dream -a dignified living. They all dream of a world that treats their children better than it does them. They have a vision of an egalitarian tomorrow.

This vast democracy, its policies on education, its long line of thinkers and educators have only this to offer the dalit women -lowest literacy rates. Thus, a large chunk of dalit women’s articulation is accessible only in the oral form. A form that is so easy to ignore, so very easy to step in and be her interpreter, become her ‘saviour’. And proceed to develop one sided theories on her victimhood, secure in the knowing that she is not going to challenge its content from the same platforms. These theories inform policy formulation without the dalit woman’s actual participation in it. Policies are put in place for her, like she is a commodity to be managed, controlled and pacified for a short time, when the world proceeds conducting its other important businesses of keeping things normal for the ruling classes. To wait for institutional education to empower her, means a wait of several generations, which in turn will increase the lag between upper caste Indian women and dalit women, which also means accumulation of several more entangled policies, that would require the dalit woman to unentangle. This takes away enormous amount of her energy which could be better used towards her community’s needs.

Both, the ignoring and misinterpretation of her words and actions has to be tackled simultaneously. This trampeling of her articulation has to change and it has to change fast.

When I discard institutions for their snail like pace in responding to her articulation, what alternatives are there?

Technology? Technology that readily and faithfully records and transcribes the dalit woman’s articulation against exploitation and engraves her direct demands for a better society -without mediation by others. Wondering how…..

Photo courtesy Jitendra Kumar Jatav’s album, Faces.

Angadi Theru

Rupesh Kumar, a documentary filmmaker wrote this post for The Roundtable Portal. The ease with which popular culture screws the marginalized psychologically even as it massively thrives on their hard earned money, has made us consider having a separate tab for film and TV reviews on Roundtable, once we reorganize the database. Hope this review on Angadi Theru starts the trend of bringing in more writers sharing their analysis of film culture and its impact on Dalitbahujan.

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Angadi Theru: Soft killing weapon of celluloid

By Rupesh Kumar

‘Angadi theru’ is the latest offering of Brahmanical experiments in the cultural landscape of Tamil or Indian cinema. Under the pretext of presenting ‘real’ life experiences of Dalits, a casteist capsule bomb is deployed, it is intended to satisfy the Brahmanical mind set of the film maker and aesthetes of upper caste audience on the one hand, and on the other it cultivates images of dalit identities that are deeply disturbing.

Nishedhanama

Your produced regions of deception

With sharp beaks take my bites, in the surrounding intense wailing,

And beautiful crudeness you call literature

Dazzled by ornate words you call Mahakavi

You worship dirt covered with flowers

To infinite poverty you narrate story of king and queen

You write literature, write shashtras and philosophy of convenience

But here is the dominance of some people

I will go saying it by showing, wailing

While going I won’t remain dumb I will go cursing this clutter

I disagree

Within 24 hours I have disagreed with at least 3 people online, nothing new, I usually withdraw from such scenarios, but this is  important to me. So, why do I not buy the well argued posts in support of Mayavati’s actions by Kuffir, RW and Prabin, not because I don’t value, the in the face attitude and literally in their lives -life size statues reminding the upper castes that times are a changing, no not at all, I love it. I just happen to want more, much much more from her. 

Consider the bahujans as an ecosystem. All links within this system are important. We are feeding both from our weakest life stories and from our strongest, as a leverage to break free from the ecological niches that were not our natural choices as free humans. How do the actions of the strongest influence the rest? Undoubtedly, Mayavati is the most powerful factor -the energy source for the ecosystem. The energy has to sustain a large family over a long period, it has to be utilized effectively and creatively. If certain activities seem to use up energy that should and could be better utilized then that has to be considered. Even the minutest amount in the fragile system could mean a possible strengthening of weak links. Arguments of, it is comparatively little energy  as against energy spent for similar activities by forces outside of this ecosystem are null. They can afford it, we cannot. This is the only source we have. Agreed, she has earned her place to decide how she will dispense her resources. But can I not worry about it? Surely I don’t have to justify against what I essentially see as better spent elsewhere even to enforce symbolism?

I have a long wish list for her. But for starters, a Mayavati’ TV channel would be nice – an employment generating resource, symbolic to boot, can be used for elections, for development projects, will have the reach to touch every dalit in the country, get the bahujan the media slice that we need so bad. This may be more energy requiring but this is useful yet symbolic model that has the potential for reproduction, by not so strong energy providers along the system, another minister might aspire for a radio station, another for a newspaper to give voice to the silenced. Sure, this will not have the irritation value for the upper caste that a statue has, but they are outside this ecosystem. One needs to strengthen the links within the system, our energies should be directed towards this, and not be allowed to dissipate trying to weaken the links of the external factors. This is the need of the hour. When all the internal links are strengthened sufficiently the synergy of the ecosystem will force the external links to regroup in different, more acceptable forms without us expending much energy on that. IMHO

PS: I am totally grateful that a large number of artisans have benefitted from Mayavati’s statue building exercise, but I want to dream about their children as TV executives, media people, journalists and other professionals and NOT as artisans building endless stone and plaster dalit iconic structures.

An Untouchable Land

I’m still trying hard to get some sleep after watching the movie Resilient Rhythms screened by well meaning, socially conscious, young Indian Ivy league students. The movie was predictable, a collection of images of newspaper headlines –raped, paraded naked, dirge singing, dancing, shit cleaning, corpse carrying, dark skinned rural dalits – not Indians. They. Not we. There was plenty of toddy influenced rhythmic music and very little resilience –either from the dalits or the upper castes –especially the young ones sitting inside the room with me. Innocently so, they are simply clueless. Five minutes into the discussion post screening –the topic moved to reservations and matrimonial ads –via which they are informed about caste. 64 minutes of relentless imagery of labor, exploitation and apathy and these bright children of India can talk about ads.

That India in the movie is not something I know, I am as urban as naïve and as well meaning as my fellow Indians here, but the movie and the following 2 hour long discussion makes me want something; not understanding, not your fucking pity but just want you out of our lives, our land, and for you that will be an untouchable land. That is something you do understand, don’t you?

 

 

Image courtesy: http://www.history-of-india.net 

Dalit media? Study “theRoot”.

Here is a dream, no, a model. The Root., an online magazine run by the African Americans, as a medium of communication. Those of us who believe that media can be an instrument of change, effectively used in the context of Dalits and underprivileged in India, for the ones left out of the political processes and civil life, but because of its unavailability as it exists,…………………creating our own effective media has been a dream for a long time. The root, can be an useful example for the execution of such a thought, in the digital era. We can kick start this by first drawing the parallels and differences of the African American and the Dalit/underprivileged of India. Listen to Lynette Clemetson, the editor’s interview, it is a long one but worth every minute of viewing.

Today’s headlines on ‘theRoot’, covers the US elections from the viewpoint of African Americans, their influence, their hopes……..in articles authored by themselves, meant to be read by their own people.

BUT, the absolute treat here, are the video interview series with Wole Soyanki on the ‘Future of Africa.’ Mind blowing!

(click on the links: watch, listen and think about it.)