I MA English
Reg No: 1901712006023
Paper: Romantic Age
I was just a mere three years old, when I had the fascination to go towards the grand old man of our village
to get the mark of valour. Regretting for the pain that I by myself incurred it on me, and to my beautiful hand for a while, I had never
felt insane for the act then.
But now it’s really
shocking to know how seriously a village and its people irrespective of the
age, can be driven by superstitious beliefs.
Thinking that I had
all the symptoms of Jaundice in me, my family took me to the elderly man who is
known for his methods to cure any sort of illness and diseases. Without any
knowledge I acknowledged to open up my fingers where the Hot rod was placed and
was pulled with a rapid speed. The rod made a deep mark in my hand which made
one of my fingers almost to cut off from my hand leaving all other its
companion fingers.
However proper medical
practitioners safeguarded me from not losing the finger from my hand. The logic
that was put forth for such a practice is that if a iron rod is placed on the
hand with full heat that would create a swelling which will swell the part so
that the fluid of the jaundice would come out later if at all it is present
within it.
Later with the help of
science I realised that any such a swelling will release a fluid called Pus
only to indicate its suppression in the upcoming days.There is still a pride in
me, not of the mark of superstition but because of the fact I am the last one
who had been treated in this manner for having the symptoms of Jaundice not
because that the evils of Superstitions died but because the Old Man who does
the practice died by then.
This makes me to
understand very clearly that despite the cruel nature of the practices still
they continue to exist due to the sanctity that they derive from the traditions
and superstitions. Being a victim for the practices of superstitions at a very
small age, in my childhood, I could only by now question what was the level of
ignorance of the people who had followed these practices with no doubt and
question and almost of no confidence to raise their questions. This is a case
of complete ignorance and irrationality of the surroundings that I grew up had.
Of late, during my
starting phases of teenage, I came about listening to my uncle, who introduced
me to the name of Ambedkar and other similar ideologues.
However, I learnt
something new and fresh from my uncle to understand the society, what my
textbooks had never did to me. And only after that my perspective of
understanding the way society works and the under-currents lying in treating
same people differently lies beneath was changed. People are the same everywhere, but the
way they are treated is not the same everywhere!
The social impression
of caste was made obvious when an old lady of the nearby village, sought the help
of my dad, who was once a village Panchayat Leader, to receive her monthly old age pension given by the government. She never takes water from our home.
This is a clear form of practicing untouchability which our schoolbooks said
was completely abolished and forbidden.
But despite the
efforts to abolish it, still untouchability survives in a manner of choice. It
could be argued that the lady was not interested in drinking water at our home as
it is based on her choices to opt or not but it’s the social stigma and her prejudiced mindset which was also shaped by the very same society that we live in, which had made her not to choose to drink water from our homes despite we, being
capable enough to move into a better economic strata.
In short, the economic
mobility, the education, the offices are not taken into consideration because
they always feel that the idea of social hierarchy exists almost everywhere, in which we are always
placed at the lower level.
This is another
example that clearly made me to understand that the ignorance of the people
keeps them in a dormant condition and to maintain the social stigmas as well.
It’s not the granny’s fault for being ignorant and for practicing all these
sorts of discriminations but rather it’s the pressure of the society upon which
made her to stay comfort in the sphere, not even recognising her ignorance as
well. She is also a victim of the social oppression on her. This is another
sort of oppression upon the gender that I see.
This now makes me
relate with two different forms of oppression upon women which had the
potentiality to affect me, very deeply and intensively. It’s of two dimensions –
The gender oppression on women and the gender oppression on Dalit women. I will
emphasize why such a division is present, in short. I feel that the women specifically
of the oppressed caste will have to fight their own battles to seek justice
than other women.
Firstly, gender
oppression to me is not just a myth but a practice that I often encountered
with live examples. As soon as I completed my 12th standard of
education, I could observe that girls of my age getting married by then. Though
it’s not much different or occasional at my village still the marriages of my
very own batch girls made me realize that how our society takes away the dreams
of girls.
Marriages of my peer-aged girls are made in the name of economical conditions, for a better living,
as a duty of the parents, as a duty of the community as a whole. But however, I
am grateful to my family that despite these same pressures they ensure me to decide
upon my own regarding my life and choices. To me, Education is the best tool
that you could give for your children so that they can shape their own life and
career. These marriages which make your children to drop their education and their dreams are not just a bane, but rather an impediment in itself.
On the other hand, I
am deeply affected by hearing the cases of how women are oppressed in various
levels of our society. For example, in Rajasthan recently women of a particular
hostel were checked whether they are menstruating or not, therefore to keep them
isolated, preventive of causing any other sins, which is another form of
untouchability. Being a hosteller, this deeply affected me.
Women are oppressed
just because they are women. The various forms of oppression such as
molestation, harassments, abuses on children, rapes are still another personally
affecting factors to me. It is general and same for all of us. But there is
something else that deeply affects me is that the nature of how these issues
are meted out and resolved and the role of caste even in the oppression of
women. It’s again terrible to understand that why the cases relating to the
rapes of Dalit women are not solved quickly like how the Nirbhaya or Priyanka
Reddy cases were solved. If it is only about the modesty of the women why is
the standard not the same for all women.
For example, the case
of Roja which simultaneously occurred during the times of Priyanka Reddy case
is not moved any further. It’s not only about the legal system and police but
the focus of media is also not always the same in covering the same kind of
issues. They only do address that the victim was a Dalit but not more than
that. This question terribly haunts me whenever I come across a news that’s
about a rape and all other several questions relating to women safety and of
children’s safety comes in random to the mind which we are facing only through
a small smile as we have no answers to these questions.
The introduction of
literature to me in my initial days of Under graduation at college, is another
beacon light that helps me to know the various shades of the society that I
have never heard or seen before. Literature, in this sense I would like to
include not only fictions, poetry but also movies.
The book called, GOD
OF SMALL THINGS by Arundhati Roy, which speaks about the life and feelings of
the siblings who were separated at a younger age goes on cover different
aspects relating to the caste system, colonised stories, industrial community
and many more. This book evidently brought within me the change and the desire
to read many books as well.
Though I was not able
to capture the entire concepts involved in the story called Animal Farm by
George Orwell it however made me to read fictional stories from completely
different perspectives leading to read even different academic disciplines.
Movies, which are also a different form of literature is much capable of
shaping an individual’s life and mind.
One such a movie that
made me understand the complexities of the society and the role of police in
solving these complications was from the movie called Article 15 which was
based on a true story, where a couple of young girls were raped and hanged by
the upper caste men in Uttar Pradesh, a case that happened right after the
times of Nirbhaya’s death. This movie focussed on the idea of banning
discrimination but however even after the movie released and become a hit same
such sort of incidents continued to happen in the very next days.
Another movie which
made me to like the skills of photography and cinematography is Pariyerum
Perumal B.A.B.L, which apart from the movie story and direction conveyed
various kinds of ideologies needed for the sensitivity of the story that it
required. The last frame of the movie depicted the history of oppression, the
causes and the leaders who brought in the reforms and the idea of equality in a
single shot with no dialogues to narrate all these. This made me to change the
point of view of seeing movies and to look beneath the story line and then the
characters upon whom the story revolves or lives. This also motivated me to
read and listen to the makings of these stories which are highly rich in the
subtleties.
Another significant factor
that affects me, is that the people who we see often but we won’t speak to them
and also take them for granted. That’s the people who are engaged in Manual
scavenging. We all accept on the point to sympathise for the people who are
involved in the manual scavenging jobs from collecting garbage to entering into
man-holes. But we never go in person and speak or interact with them.
I am also a part of
the society who never interacted with these labourers but has the concern over
them and to feel pity of them. Maybe, I am not aware of what stops me from
interacting with them: is that the same social stigma or prejudices or what is
the next big question that I am always concerned about!
Apart from these
questions that come within me, I am always concerned about being looked down by
others for the language that I use for communication. Maybe not the language
itself but the level of knowledge that I have in the language. In short, I am
afraid of being judged for the simple English that I speak.
This problem has been
a factor that I personally feel which makes me feel inferior and silent before
others. This is all about being judged, feeling less confident and covering up
my own personality and turning out to be silent and calm just to adjust the
inferiority that’s promoted within me. These are the various factors that have affected me at the personal level and has enhanced or changed my view of
understanding the outside world apart from me.
