Being from a Savarna, middle-class family, I wasn’t aware of my privilege in our society. I always believed that only money had the power to divide communities. I never understood that going to an English medium school and access to proper education is a great privilege in itself.
Growing up, I used to see my relatives offering tea or snacks to maids and labourers in utensils different from the ones we used regularly. This was my first introduction to the caste system. I never understood why they did that, but I couldn’t dare to ask them why!
When I reached the 12th standard, it was time to appear for the engineering entrance exam. Like lakhs of general category students, I felt like reservation had to be banned. I thought that there should not be any reservation based on caste as it snatches opportunities from general category students.
How My Views On The Caste System Changed
But, one day, when I was scrolling on YouTube, I found a documentary by ScoopWhoop that changed me completely. The line: “har Dalit safai karmi nahi hai lekin har safai karmi Dalit hai!” (not every Dalit is a sanitation worker, but every sanitation worker is a Dalit) hit me so hard that I couldn’t resist watching the rest of the film.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FRGkIUazb0
It was about the hierarchy of the caste system that exists even today. I then researched the topic, and two things helped me the most. The first was Dr BR Ambedkar’s ‘Annihilation of Caste’. The other resource was a detailed video featuring Dr Vikas Divyakirti, in which he talks about the need for reservation in a country like ours.
I came across many stories about the cruel practices of the caste system, including the one about Nangeli, who is a woman who cut off her breasts to protest a tax. Also, I came across the story of Sunil Yadav, a safai karmi, who is currently pursuing an MPhil from Mumbai’s TISS (Tata Institute of Social Sciences).
Savarnas Are Respected, Dalit-Bahujans Are Not
Anyone like me, who doesn’t know much about the concept of reservation in India, should definitely go through these resources. One significant learning that I got from them is that Savarna people also get respect as a part of their inheritance, while Dalits and Bahujans get humiliation.
Today, when we say that people are open-minded and there really isn’t any divide based on caste, we often ignore the fact that we don’t offer any money to the one who cleans the sewers near our homes. Also, we don’t let domestic workers sit on our sofas, neither do we let them eat in our plates.
I get scared by the mere thought of how I would live if such things ever happened to me!