************************************************************************************************************
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
***********************************************************************************************************
Photo: DC, Page 2, Monday 15, 2013
Photo Caption: Thousands of people participate in the 'Run for a caste-free India' from the People's Plaza to the Ambedkar Statue in Tank Bund on the occasion of the 122nd BR Ambedkar Jayanti celebrations on Sunday...
R. K. Narayan in Castes: Old and New
I fear that foreign observers of Indian life would feel frustrated if the caste system should completely disappear from our country. They will have nothing left to talk about. The caste system has always offered a convenient handle for foreign observers. In my opinion, next to Russia, India is the most visited and the most commented-upon-country in the world. I am afraid that the abolition of caste will affect the tourist traffic, on which so much anxious thought and discussion is being bestowed at present. If a notice should be put up at Santa Cruz aerodrome or on the Gateway of India announcing: "There is no caste system in this country," I believe, many a tourist would turn back home with the feeling that he has been cheated of legitimate entertainment for which he has paid a heavy fee in the shape of air or steamer fare.
Once a visitor from a far-off country called on me. When I asked her what I could do for her, she replied, "I should love to take Indian coffee in Indian style." This was an understandable request in this part of the country. After coffee she said, "Now I want to see the caste system. May I see it in your house?" I blinked for a while and then told her that the caste system was not a curio in a glass-case to be displayed on request. "Then what is it?" she asked, cross-examining. I explained, throwing into my sentences a proper sprinkling of such words as varnashrama dharma, etc. She was properly impressed. "What caste are you?" she asked. I told her. She would not believe it. "You can't tell me that! If you were really a Brahmin you would not have drunk coffee with me, don't I know so much?" I felt that there was some justice in her observation, and explained to her how the caste system was disappearing in our country and how our national aim was to create a casteless society. She was aghast. "What, no more caste system!"....
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$4
RKN's lady visitor need not have worried. After a good half-century and more, here is a news item from ToI, Page 4 April 14, 2013:
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Hyderabad: Aware of the silent rebellion within, chief minister XXX has chalked out a three-pronged strategy to consolidate his hold on the state Congress, ensure that the ruling party remains in the control of the Reddys, and make sure that the Congress remains in power in the 2014 elections.
The three-fold strategy, according to the CM loyalists, is to take control of the party at the earliest by replacing YYY as PCC chief with a BC leader from Telengana, announce a sub-plan for the BCs along the lines of the SC-ST sub-plan, and dole out largesse to the Reddy community and arrest their migration to the ZZZ Congress. "If XXX manages to lure the BC votes into the Congress kitty and retain the Reddys by giving them sops, he will emerge the winner in 2014," said an aide of the CM...
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
***********************************************************************************************************
No comments:
Post a Comment