As a Teacher

Jeffin Lijo

On a fine evening, after college I was called to the Department of English, the place where I have been both honoured and punished. I entered the room with a tingling sensation in my stomach, and I saw a little boy with spiked hair being yelled at for copying during an exam. I approached the cabin at the corner of the room and I heard the vibrant voice of my HOD. I greeted her, slowly raised my face and tried to smile. She gave me a letter which had instructions for me to teach English in a school. I felt fear and nervousness in my heart as I knew handling a classroom was not an easy task, but on the other hand, I must confess that I had a feeling of happiness, as this task gave me an opportunity to miss classes as a student for a few days.

It was six in the morning, I woke up, had my breakfast, and got dressed in formal clothing and shiny shoes. I bowed my head in devotion in front of the altar and prayed fervently, for I knew I needed to invoke God’s blessings for this task. I then proceeded towards the school. On seeing me at the school, the watchman refused to let me in and I had to explain that I was the new English teacher. He made a phone call over the intercom and finally let me in. I went towards the office, the principal greeted me and directed me towards the staff room. I was the only boy, and introduced myself feeling a little uncomfortable. I was given a copy of the timetable; I had to go to the ninth standard classroom on the second floor.

When I stepped into the classroom, I saw a boy punching another boy furiously, while the other one was pulling his hair and bleeding. Some children were enjoying the fight and cheering, the others were not bothered by the chaos, no one was aware of my presence. I tried to control the class but it was of no use, losing my temper I struck one of the boys on his back. Everyone was shocked, seeing a new teacher wielding a stick in his hand for the very first class. I introduced myself and I began teaching grammar. When I turned towards the board they started talking and whenever I asked a question there was no answer. Their eyes were fixed on the wall clock, not on me. I knew they were not interested in my class. I experienced the same in every other class.

The next day, I decided to be a little kinder and asked the class to write an essay about themselves. I had a better response on that day and everyone wrote. This allowed me to understand their expectations, and their problems. I learnt that their behaviour was bad, when they were treated badly as it disturbed them mentally. I decided not to be a task master and I was slowly able to understand their minds. By the third day; they began to like me and often walked behind me, greeting me “Good morning sir”. They would come and offer me food in the staff room, and the other teachers were surprised to see the change in the students. On the fourth day, I was asked to go to L.K.G, E-section, which I readily accepted. When I went inside the class I was very happy to see the tiny tots smiling back at me, no sight of blood this time. I noticed that each one lived in their own world and were not worried about anything. After about five minutes a little girl came towards me, “Tharun is pinching me sir,” she complained, and after two minutes the boy complained to me that the same girl, Reena was beating him. Slowly everyone came forward with complaints and eventually their voices became louder. I shouted out aloud and the class fell into silence. There was a little boy named Deva Raj, whose name I still remember because of his brilliant acting skills. When everyone was silent, this little boy jumped on the desk. I picked up the wooden scale and went towards him. I had barely raised my hand, when there was a loud cry and he fell to the ground, holding his legs. Suddenly, for no reason, everyone in the class started crying seeing the little boy. Hearing the commotion, a teacher from the nearby class rushed into the classroom and saw the happenings. Seeing the state of the boy, she asked me a question, “What did you do to the boy?” I said “Nothing”. It was an unforgettable experience and the boy, on the next day gave me a sarcastic smile too! I still wonder about his acting, that too from a little child. That was the last day I went to the lower sections. The other classes were really attentive, and they also liked me a lot.

From my experience, I have learnt that being a teacher is not an easy job, but it made me feel happy whenever they greeted “Good Morning sir”. On the tenth and last day when I was to leave the school, the students asked me to be with them for a while, and offered their autograph books and took pictures with me as if I was a celebrity. The principal offered me a job as a teacher after the completion of my degree course, but I opted to do my higher studies. She also informed my HOD about my classes and behaviour in the school.

On the following day, I had a tough time coming back to reality and it took almost a week to come out of the ‘teacher mode’ and I had developed a great interest towards teaching. Only after experiencing being a teacher, I could understand why people address teachers as ‘Madha’, ‘Pidha’, ‘Guru’ and ‘Deivam’. It is a job of sharing your knowledge with others. Whatever we teach, the child absorbs it, which seems to even be even the case with dressing sense. This was by far one of best experiences I have had, an experience which I will never forget.

A cup of tea/a cup of coffee

Sharvari Shetty

The cool breeze caressed her face, ruffling the curls on her forehead. Lying on the couch with one hand on the forehead, Veena continued to concentrate on the pages. The sip of coffee along with the lines of the book, added to the color on her face… she was surely reading a love story! She moved her fingers to turn to the next page when the phone rang.
“Hello!”
“Veena come to the park, we are all waiting for you. It’s real fun out here!”
“Oh no, Lalitha.  I feel too tired and this book is very interesting. You guys do the walking and talking. I’ll join you tomorrow.
“Fine! enjoy reading.”
She kept the phone down with her eyes moving on the words. Veena was lost in the world of fiction!

She looked up at the clock to check the time, and then ran into the kitchen to make tea. At any moment her husband would be back from the office and a hot cup of tea on arrival was what he loved the most.

As she kept the water for boiling on the stove she heard the children talk outside on the veranda, and there was an unusual noise. She went to the kitchen balcony to see what it was and realized, much to her pleasant surprise, that it was the first rain of the season. She loved the beautiful weather and leaned against the railing. Drop after drop took her from one thought to another. Soon she was walking down the memory lane.

“Look outside the window, it’s raining!”
“Oh yes Kalpi! Finally the monsoon is here!”
“A cup of coffee would be ideal to enjoy this weather, isn’t it Veena?”
“Yes, surely Kalpi, come lets go to a nearby restaurant for coffee.”

Both of them enjoying the weather, walked towards the coffee shop, splashing water on each other.

“Aaahh! What a blissful weather”, exclaimed Veena.

“Yes of course. I am going to miss college days! These lovely moments, our group studies, the gossip, bunking classes, going for movies and the fun during summer holidays”, said Kalpi.

“Ah! Yes Kalpi, our summer holidays! It has always been fun with our gang of girls. Let’s meet every year and relive memories”.

“Every year Veena? Yeah right! Our paths will be different from now on. Responsibilities, commitments, family and what not…”

“Commitment Kalpi? What commitment? Don’t tell me you want to get married soon? Do you?” retorted Veena.

“Who would want to stay single and independent forever Veena. I feel life is easier when you stay at home with your husband and kids around.”

“I disagree Kalpi I would want to be independent and find a job for myself and enjoy being by myself for at least three years. Experiencing life on your own, earning and spending the way you want and do all that you want to do…”

The wind blew hard on her face. Water sprinkled with it and shook Veena from her college memories. She, the one who wanted to be free from responsibilities was a changed person today.

“Veena, where is my tea? What are you doing?” asked Veena’s husband from the drawing room.

“Getting it dear.”

Veena quickly turned off the gas and the water was boiling by now. She worked her hands as fast as she could to make tea. Veena smiled to herself thinking of the turn her life had taken. She could not believe that just a year ago she was in college, planning to be independent and today she was married woman with responsibilities.

As she sat down next to her husband, giving him his cup of tea, she grabbed her own cup of coffee. And once again she was lost in a world that was different from the one she lived in; a world of coffee cups and memories…

 

In the Age of Reason

Anonymous

It was a couple of days ago when my cousin and I, were going to his house. On our way there, we witnessed something so bizarre that it has troubled me ever since. It was the sight of a string of people flocked in a line, not far from his house. It wouldn’t have been such a bizarre sight if the line was leading to a bank or a post office where they’d be either waiting  to deposit their currencies of denominations Rs. 500 and 1000 or get it exchanged. Nor was the line leading to an ATM, a sale at a supermarket, a fair price shop, or even a temple, where people are usually spotted waiting in large queues. Apparently, it lead to a normal looking house, which got me thinking. I asked my cousin what the reason was for people in such a large number to have been waiting in line. “To know their future and fates. It’s the house of an astrologer,” he said. Not an astronomer, mind you! But an astrologer, whose profession is to hoodwink people into believing his cosmic divination’s and false prophecies and horoscopic interpretations, which are nothing but statements of the Barnum Effect.

I found (and still do find) this troubling on many levels. As it is my fundamental duty to develop a scientific temperament according to the Constitution’s Article 51A(h), and also the spirit of inquiry and reform, I can in the following essay, express my opinions which I would like to call subjective facts. It is also in the humanistic intention that is stressed in the same article, that I object this ignorant and ancient pseudo-scientific traditional practice that has conformed our culture into being irrational, superstitious, and backward.
Contemplating on this sole troubling thought, I jot down all things related to such hogwash and hokum pseudosciences that I find both funny and intolerable. I think of the many encounters and experiences I’ve had with false prophesying godmen, or my accumulated trivia over the years from what I’ve read and heard on this subject; or the serious ramifications it has on our culture and future.

The claims are vague. Its fallacious basis, the movement of stars and heavenly bodies (real and imaginary) and its influence on human life. Ridiculous as it is today (for some at least), it wasn’t the same though four or so millennia ago. It was in Babylon where the idea was first conceived in the mind of man, that there could be systems of predicting terrestrial events from celestial observations. The priestly men read the heavens and the entrails of animals, foreseeing and foretelling the fates of kings. But it was the ancient Greeks who developed this practice further and ascribed names and behaviours to planets. And thus originated, a number of belief systems that hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events or descriptions of personality in the human world. It is now, the second half of the second millennium in the Common Era. There never was a time before in the history of the world when Pseudosciences like Astrology, Feng Shui, Vastu Shastra, Numerology, and Dowsing, were more prevalent and pervasive than it is at the present time. Many pseudosciences have sprung up in this modern age of reason, having their origins in ancient tracts and works, by claiming to embrace culture and tradition by instilling fear. And helplessness to the unknowable natural order of things, creates such large-scale acceptance of mysticism.

Vastu Shastra is the traditional Hindu system of architecture which in ancient times laid the rules and principles of designs and layouts for temples, houses, gardens, towns. But it has evolved into something completely different today.Vastu has gained traction since the boom of real estate. There nearly isn’t a house or a building that isn’t built to the specifications dictated by Vastu Shastra. There have been instances where walls of the offices in Vidhana Soudha belonging to the members of the state legislature have been demolished just to suit the specifications of Vastu. Most of the buildings that are built today claim that they comply to the guidelines of Vastuas it is a requirement for buyers who believe that the layout of their houses have kitchen in the south-east corner, or a potty pot that faces south, or specifications similar to those.

As a kid, I had always enjoyed a dip in the pool of our apartment. But due to “Vastu” reasons, it was decided by the flat owners’ association that it had to be filled up and covered and leveled with dirt. Just because it was built in the “wrong corner” of the site, the children of the apartment were deprived of one of the happiest of amenities in the apartment.

Another worrisome state of affairs is that of the self-claimed and so addressed “experts” in these fields of pseudosciences propping up on news channels (especially Kannada). Televangelists, spiritual gurus, numerologists, Vastu experts, astrologers, who have so much to say for each and every incident or phenomena. Be it a crow sitting on the Chief Minister’s vehicle, or the phenomena of super-moons and eclipses. Interpreting a new meaning for natural happenings and claiming the causes to be supernatural. This to me is the epitome of ignorance. It does not matter whether the owner of a particular news channel himself believes in the sayings of the channel astrologer (who appears in every debate that covers anything from a communal riot, to aliens that visit the temple of Tirupathi, to the effects of demonetisation of Rs. 500 and 1000,which by the way hadn’t predicted) but due to the reason that every other news channel has one and for the rating points.The same can be said for the horoscope columns in newspapers and magazines.
The length people go, to stick to the advice of their astrologers; from changing names and cars and phone numbers, to wearing “lucky”stones, to sacrificing animals, to marrying banana plants. The list goes on… There are also the practices of voodoo, black magic, tarot, parrot fortune telling, Cowrie Shells (kavade) shastra, palmistry, et cetera. It is even more serious when famous people follow such beliefs and their followers in turn are influenced by them. Changing the spelling of their names in English though their names are words of the Sanskrit language, is enough to realise that it makes no sense whatsoever that it brings fortune or luck by changing it. Ministers, actors, singers like B. S. Yeddyurappa, Ajay Devgn, Sonu Niigaam respectively are examples enough for changing their names. (Sonu Niigaam changed his name back to Nigam). Even Elizabeth had an astrologer adviser, John Dee. Stars do influence our lives, but not the ones that are beyond this planet.

Lack of intellectual attitude is at times scary; and the astrologers, clinging so obstinately to anything which seems to confirm their beliefs,ignore the plethora of inconvenient facts which call their whole belief system into doubt. My advise to all the people who’ve told me things like they’ve experienced “positive vibrations” and “some unexplainable energy”, people who’ve  had other worldly experiences at the time of their waking from sleep, and those who’ve had similar experiences, is this: Science, Logic and Rationality (Common Sense goes without saying).

I had this irresistible urge to shout “Astrology is nonsense” to the people standing in that line, but alas we had already passed it, before that thought hit me. My cousin refused to take me there again. And I was home before I could go there again myself. I sincerely hope that it is written in my stars that I shout those words the next time I’m there.
“The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is Reason. I have never used any other, and I trust I never shall.” – Thomas Paine

Susanna’s Seven Husbands

Annabel George

When Vishal Bhardwaj had come out with the black comedy 7 Khoon Maaf, which was based on Ruskin Bond’s well-known short story Susanna’s Seven Husbands, I couldn’t wait to get hold of the short story. After a LOT of searching, a few months ago I finally stumbled upon a book which amazingly contained not only the short story but a novella which is an extended version of the original short story and the screenplay of the Hindi movie. Both, the short story and the novella are written by Bond himself. Ruskin Bond expanded the short story into the novella when Bhardwaj saw the probability of a script in the short story and asked Bond to expand it further for film adaptation. The screenplay however, is written by Vishal Bhardwaj and Matthew Robins. I haven’t actually read the screenplay but I did read the novella and the short story and the following is a review pertains to the short story and the novella, purely.

Susanna Anna-Maria Yeats, the protagonist of Ruskin Bond’s Susanna’s Seven Husbands is breathtakingly beautiful. From the very beginning of both, the short story and the novella, Bond establishes that Susanna possesses the kind of handsomeness which is at times hard to put into words.  Even Arun, the narrator whose name isn’t revealed in the short story but in the novella and who is her next door neighbor, was instantly mesmerized by her beauty ever since he first set his eyes on her. But there is a certain kind of darkness and mysteriousness lurking behind this loveliness that is, Susanna Anna-Maria Yeats. After the death of her father, Susanna was left with a mansion and an abundance of riches. Her world consisted of the three-four housekeepers who lived with her. She was someone who I see as constantly looking for someone who would fill her father’s shoes and love her with the same warmth and tenderness, as did her father. That is why you can see her forever looking for a husband. However, none of the marriages lasted because not one of her husband’s gave her the love she was longing for. Each of her husbands died mysterious deaths. My personal conclusion is that she was the one who killed each one of them because she never found what she was looking for, in them. The real reason however, is never been revealed in either the novella or the short story. Arun in a lot of ways, according to me was exactly what Susanna was looking for. In fact, Susanna lay her trust wholly on Arun more than she had on any of her husbands. Arun was the only one she took to the mysterious room (mentioned in the novella) in her mansion which perpetually remained locked. Arun understood her more than anyone else did. Although innumerable people thought Susanna to be bizarre and someone with who one should have minimal interaction with, Arun thought otherwise. According to my personal reading, maybe because Susanna did not want to lose Arun and what they had, he did not make it to her list of prospective husbands. Theirs was a relationship which cannot just be boiled down to friendship purely, but a relationship which was unique and had a different kind of depth which no one really understood.

The short story was something else as compared to the novella, for me. The novella was no doubt more detailed and a much broader version of the short story but it did not have the same kind of impact on me as did the short story. Even after I finished reading the short story and the novella, I was unable to decide whether I liked Susanna or no, whether she is someone who I could sympathize with. But what I do know is that this work by Bond is truly worth the read.

Texts versus images in storytelling

Rajeshwari N

Motivation behind writing this paper:

I distinctly recall this one particular evening when I discovered a dusty, tattered copy of a large, hard-bound fairy tale book, amongst piles of magazines and other books at my grandfather’s place. The disappointment which I felt upon reading the story of ‘Cinderella’ from that book is one emotion which I can still relate to. Unlike the Disney picture book version which I had diligently consumed with all my meals, this story was bloody and was also quite complicated. Moreover, back then my eight year old mind did not know what to make of Prince Charming in that story, because he required blood soaked stalking’s, each time, to make him realize that he was not with his ‘chosen one’!

Upon recalling this incident year’s later numerous questions continue to puzzle me. One of the foremost questions was how despite having read this narrative of Cinderella, I was still deeply attached to the pictorial and colourful version manufactured by Disney. What constituted the basis of this attachment? Another pondering question (which is allied to the former) is how do young children receive these stories? Do pictures and colourful methods of articulation aid comprehension among young children?

As an attempt to answer the above mentioned questions, this paper places its primary focus on the usage of books as a medium of storytelling, and attempts to present a comparison between the effects of narrative (or text based) story books to picture books, in fostering learning and comprehension skills among children. The paper makes use of solely secondary research materials; and through these sources a comparison between the two methods of storytelling is drawn. However, the paper holds the view that illustrations prevails textual content in aiding comprehension skills among children during their elementary school years, and this much of the research material referred to in this paper support this view.

 

Text versus images in storytelling:

The word ‘story’ can be defined in numerous ways. However, most often this word is comprehended as an account of imaginary or real events, narrated either for entertainment or as a medium of instruction. It is often narrated with the objective to impart themes which revolve around certain values, or to inculcate awareness on a particular cultural practice or a significant event in history.  Stories are often narrated using different mediums and it encompasses oral methods of storytelling (a practice common among several indigenous cultures), written narratives i.e. texts (such as in novels and short-stories) and the usage of sounds and images (such as in films and games).

Reading habits are viewed as an integral part in inculcating literacy among children. Most stories or works of fiction written for children are pedagogic in nature as they cater to inculcating certain moral values. Stories written by Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl and other writers, whose writing is categorised under the genre of ‘children’s literature’, often based their stories on adventures and the importance of being good-natured and honest. Enid Blyton’s ‘Amelia Jane’ series has a didactic tone as it instructs its child readers to not be troublesome through the usage of a notorious protagonist named Amelia Jane. Similarly, her ‘Noddy’ series revolve around the themes of honesty and righteousness by focussing on the adventures of the protagonist named Noddy. Her novel titled ‘Billy Bob tales’ centres around the intimate bond shared between siblings. Likewise, Roald Dahl’s most popular novel ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ also revolves around themes which emphasize on the importance of being honest and truthful.

Most of the books stated above caters to children who fall under the age group ranging between six to twelve years of age, and basic reading skills in English is a prerequisite in order to comprehend the textual content in these books. The storyline in most of these stories follow the Freytag’s pyramid structure of storytelling, which comprises of the following five acts- exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and denouement. However, how does reading aid a child’s development? Moreover, how do children comprehend the textual content and interpret the message conveyed in these books?

In the paper titled ‘The effects of storytelling and story reading on the oral language complexity and story comprehension of young children’, it is stated that ‘story reading’ benefits children with language acquisition and literacy, and that children acquire vocabulary growth and many other skills through this process. (Isbell, Sobol, Lindauer and Lowrance, 158) The paper also states that when a story is read the primary reference for interpretation is the text and that it helps foster creativity and imagination. (Isbell, Sobol, Lindauer and Lowrance, 158)

Reading might seem like a simplistic activity to most adults. Nevertheless, most people seldom acknowledge the fact that a lot of skills are involved in trying to acquire meaning from print. In their paper titled ‘Understanding and Supporting comprehension development in the elementary and the middle grades’, Marjorie Y Lipson and J. David Cooper state that the primary purpose of reading is to comprehend the meaning of what is written in the text, and that comprehension is a complex process which requires ‘intentional cognitive effort on the part of the reader’. (Lipson and Cooper, 1) Moreover, in their paper they state that one of the most intriguing aspects of comprehension is that it varies from person to person and that this trait is common among both adults and children. (Lipson and Cooper, 1) By referring to various sources, they state that prior knowledge and experience play a crucial role in how a child interprets the textual content in a book and that a good reading program at the kindergarten level in schools can foster the comprehension and learning skills in elementary school children. (Lipson and Cooper, 5) Moreover, Lipson and Cooper emphasize on the role played by verbal fluency in enabling children decode the meaning of the text. (Lipson and Cooper, 6)

However, most studies, including the one conducted by Lipson and Cooper, argue that picture books are a more efficient tool in fostering learning and comprehension skills among elementary school children.  The pictorial method of story-telling dates back to the early cave paintings. The concept of using picture books as a medium to narrate a story can be dated back to over 130 years ago when artist and illustrator Ralph Caldecott elevated the picture as a story telling device than using it as a mere illustration of a text. (‘A brief history of children’s picture books and the art of storytelling’)  Picture books primarily use pictures mainly drawings to narrate the story and contain minimum or little text. It is stated that back in the 1950’s due to a peculiar cultural shift the line separating the author and artist started to blur, and that a set of designers set out to write and illustrate picture books as a means to enhance visual thinking. . (‘A brief history of children’s picture books and the art of storytelling’)

So, how do picture books serve as a storytelling medium to enhance the learning and comprehension skills among elementary school children?  The paper titled ‘Illustrations, texts and the child reader: What are picture books in children’s storybooks for?’ by Zhihui Fang, examines the significance of illustrations to the child reader. Fang writes that the visual content in picture books helps establish settings, defines and attributes certain overt traits to characters, and enables in developing the plot/story-line. Countering the views of several critics, who claim that the illustrations in picture books serve as a distraction to the child reader (as it would hinder their language acquisition) Fang states that the contribution of pictures to a child’s overall literate behaviour seems to be far greater than its potential dangers. (Fang, 137) Fang writes that illustrations serve as tools which would entice the child reader to interact with the text and that it would enable them to derive hidden objects or meanings from the story. In contrast to the stories narrated through words, stories in picture books often contain a jumpy rhythm to it. (Fang, 137) Fang gives the example of the illustrations used in Keith Beker’s story titled ‘Who’s the beast’, wherein young readers are motivated to search and identify the beast, by following the illustrations.

Moreover, Fang argues by stating that pictures aid children’s creativity. She states that pictures enable children to make connections with real life situations and help them construct meaning in the process. Alongside fostering a child’s aesthetic appreciation for art, Fang writes that illustrations serve as mental scaffolds for the child reader, thus enhancing their understanding of the linguistic text. Through her paper, Fang emphasizes on the need to incorporate illustration in text books as it would enable in enhancing the better understanding of the text. Mirroring Fang’s view, in the paper titled ‘The importance of reading picture books to children’, Nobuo Mastaka states that visuals accompanied by an audio, enhance the verbal acquisition and comprehension skills in a child reader.

 

In Conclusion:

In my opinion, illustrations/images aid a better understanding of the text and are thus better received among child readers. Furthermore, even among adults several studies have proven that majority of the people tend to remember events and details through images than through words, and that a human being’s ‘iconic memory’ (ability to recall images) is stronger than his/her ‘echoic memory’ (ability to recall information provided by an aural medium).  Therefore, it would not be incorrect to assume that images influences one’s reading and comprehension. This can be best observed in mediums wherein images and texts co-exist such as newspapers, graphic novels etc, wherein images play a definitive role in guiding ones understanding of the textual content.

The merit of the image over the text to aid comprehension could thus be regarded as one of the many reasons behind the popularity of Disney’s version of popular fairy-tales over the textual versions that preceded it.

 

Articles and websites cited:

‘Analysing a story’s plot: Freytag’s Pyramid’ http://www.ohio.edu/people/hartleyg/ref/fiction/freytag.html

‘A brief history of children’s picture books and the art of storytelling’ www.brainpickings.org/2012/02/24/childrens-picturebooks

Isbell, R., Sobol, J., Lindauer, L. et al. ‘The effects of storytelling and story reading on the oral language complexity and story comprehension of young children’. Early Childhood Education Journal, 32, 3 (2004) Pg. no.158.

Lipson Y, Marjorie, J David, Cooper ‘Understanding and Supporting comprehension development in the elementary and the middle grades’. Houghton Mufflin Reading, Pg. Nos. 1-6.

Zhihui, Fang. ‘Illustrations, texts and the child reader: What are picture books in children’s storybooks for?’ Reading Horizons, 37, 2 (1996) Pg. no. 137.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Annihilation of caste: A critical review

By Shruthi SU

In a day when “Bharat Mata ki Jai” is forced into people’s mouths to perhaps pacify the “children of India” and provoke true patriots into believing the presence of a just and egalitarian India, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar’s undelivered speech published as a book titled “Annihilation of Caste” must be reread. For the reason that a counter discourse of “Bharat Mata ki Jai” does not merely exist in counter sloganeering. For progress lies in the vision of a leader who demanded a social democracy and not just a political one.

To closely look at Ambedkar’s vision for a truly independent India and to acquaint the reader with caste hierarchies as it hovers over India today, writer-thinker-activist Arundhati Roy introduces the book with her book-length essay titled “The Doctor and the Saint.” What Roy unmistakably does is pick the idea of Ambedkar from the textbooks as only an architect of the Indian constitution and place him in the radical intellectual resistance movement of India.

Ambedkar’s no non-sense approach and Roy’s cutting wit can make believers out of firm nonbelievers. But caste is more than belief – it is a “spiritual” seed sowed in the righteous makeup of an Indian individual and society. One force that has constantly nurtured this seed is the aura of Mahatma Gandhi. Many intellectuals have established how Gandhi has outgrown himself and why a critique of the persona of Gandhi need not necessarily hurt Gandhians. In her essay, Roy states “Obama loves him and so does the Occupy Movement. Anarchists love him and so does the Establishment. Narendra Modi loves him and so does Rahul Gandhi. The poor love him and so do the rich.” Hence, a critique of Gandhi is more difficult than one can imagine. Whereas Gandhi’s siding with caste is one that cannot be altered in any narrative that he is pulled into.

Gandhi wanted to retain the caste segregation but also wanted untouchability eradicated. But Ambedkar questions the materiality of caste – why would a privileged give up on his treats to integrate what is historically othered? The problem with caste is not only that it is divinely ordained (hence, unalterable) but that it is a systemically arranged “division of labourers” and not merely of labour. This forms one of the key moments in Ambedkar’s speech.

Gandhi’s solution to every caste problem seems to be his revised understanding of the shastras while Ambedkar appeals to investigate the material conditions of the people and to pause deliberating over the original meaning of the shastras. More importantly, Ambedkar asks for a complete rejection of Hinduism as a religion which he rather unfairly reduces to a set of codes and laws.

The reference of the doctor seems to stand for the modern, scientific, futuristic, progressive nation while the Saint is mocked at as being antiquated, unprogressive and almost unintelligent. This binary is perhaps not the most sympathetic way of looking at two people who framed the consciousness of India’s independence – certainly one more than the other. Then again there are loopholes in the industrial modern India that Ambedkar envisioned since it largely paved way to capitalism and globalization – the very crux of many Dalit movements across India.

One point that persisted throughout the book was the question of the audience. Who was Ambedkar writing for? S. Anand, who has edited and annotated the latest edition of the book, flags in the very beginning of his note that it “is a text in search of the audience it was written for.” To elaborate further, Roy says that Ambedkar directed his argument towards those Hindus who considered themselves moderate and who Ambedkar called “the best of Hindus.” So the question really remains as to when are the best of Hindus going to arrive if at all they do.

PRINCE UNDER CONSTRUCTION?

Sharvari Shetty

Growing up, everything seemed so pretty, so easy and so colorful. Life was brilliant, magical and everything looked effortlessly perfect. It was the only time where life did not teach me what it is to be complicated. I loved life, I was living life and I appreciated life. My world was surrounded with soft toys, story books, colorful clothes and loads of not so complicated friends. What was complicated then? The only hard choice I had to make was which chocolate to buy or which game to play. Then, how did things change?  What made life throw lemons at me? If I only knew then, I would have made use of those lemons somehow and probably my life would have been easier now…

I loved playing hide and seek back then. It was so much fun to hide from your loved ones and then wait for them to come look for you and if not, you win. What’s the difference now? I am still playing it, anyway. However now, no one comes looking for me and here I am, still hoping someday I would lose and that one person would successfully look for me. It is easy, isn’t it?

Falling in love is really easy. Being with someone who you really love is actually a blessing, but not always. I grew up reading love stories in which the princesses found their prince and watched a lot of daily soaps which were high on romantic drama. Obviously, even I believed in the same. My teenage life I tell you! It never ever stopped with one crush. It went on for so many years, until I encountered the opposite, one day. And, man, my love story began. So beautiful, so lovely.  I really felt he was the man of my dreams. But I soon got a slap on my face. From whom? My dad of course.

Well, let me tell you, I come from a small town where it is really easy to catch people, especially teenage couples. What then you ask? Nothing, I was happy that I broke up with him. It was just a fleeting teenage romance! I was seventeen, then. Prince, my foot! He did not even remain my enemy after that. Life went on, it had to.

I am a hopeless romantic. Love stories do exist for me. Prince charmings are real for me. Not too long ago, I actually found my lover. A best friend, best mentor and on whole, the best person. Five years of commitment and we’re still going strong. Ever since I got a hold on my life, he walked in. Ever since I learnt what life is about, he stood right next to me. Hard times, good times, we walked along. My life has never been better and I have never been happier. Every time I turned around, I saw him smile. There is nothing in the world that would make me give up on him.

Princes do exist and love stories do happen. But along with this, what I need to know is whether he will remain my Prince Charming forever, or will my parents replace him with somebody else.

We have fought before and we are still fighting, not every girl finds the perfect match. I have not found one and yet I have one.

Living a life with the dreams that you grow up with is more or less shattering. It can give you a false idea about something that may not be real at all. Reading Princess Stories, watching love stories are a perfect waste of time. But living a life, making it worth the while and meeting people who then make you believe that magic does happen, is beautiful. And what’s more lovely is when you believe that you actually do not need any man or a prince to keep you happy, but someone who you can look up to and just smile, when words fall short but all emotions are heard.

Us Perceived

Anonymous

I want to look at the world through your eyes,
I want to perceive the reality through your perspective,
I want to inhale you in my breath,
My mind is engrossed with thoughts of you,
I see your invisible self all around me.

Breathless is what I feel when you are close,
I want to tightly hold on to you,
Never wanting to make you a memory,
But my reality.

I want to see you in my shadow,
My foot prints must reflect your legs,
Our foot steps may be
stolen by the sea,
Yet our memories will remain.

Speechless we will remain held in each others arms,
Listening to heartbeats and the soothing sea
Souls together,
Hearts fluttering,
We would drive into the sky,
Free of everything that binds us,
Closing our eyes, to see a new world.

Prostitution in the Dalit Community: A Case Study

Minal Sukumar

            Prostitution in India and its neighbouring countries has developed into what it is today from a long line of rituals and traditions interwoven with the country’s history and culture. For instance, in the case of India, during the era of kingdoms, courtesans were essentially sex workers of the court, though they were treated with far more respect than contemporary sex workers (Nag 1). Later on, during the British rule, the British army set up several camps where soldiers could ‘avail’ of the women there. During this time, prostitution and active brothels were most rampant in Calcutta (Nag 2). Today, the laws regarding prostitution are vague at best and the trade continues to live on in Indian cities and villages. Though Indian women from all walks of life are often forced into prostitution or choose it themselves, majority of prostitutes in red light districts across the country are from the Dalit community.  Oppression and injustice doled out by the upper castes is largely the reason for these circumstances, however Dalit women are often encouraged to join the sex trade by people of their own community themselves. This paper aims to examine two major reasons behind this resignation on the part of the Dalits, through a study of the Dalit communities in Karnataka, India and the Badi community from Nepal.

The first of these reasons can be termed as ‘religious internalization’, which is when a person turns an externally prescribed regulation or tradition into an internal one (Ryan, Rigby, King 2). In the case of the Dalit communities, the tradition I am discussing is the long standing one of the ‘Devadasi system’ or of ‘ritual prostitution.’ As young as the age of five and six, Dalit women are dedicated to the Goddess Yellamma in a sacred marriage ceremony, tying the girl to this marriage for the rest of her life. This is widely known as ‘temple prostitution’, although the girl usually spends her time after the ceremony far away from the temple (Yadav N.A.). When she reaches puberty, a rich landlord or upper caste man buys the girl for his own use until he loses interest with her. She then becomes the property of the village and is sexually exploited by both Dalit and upper caste men on a daily basis (Yadav N.A.). The girl’s family is completely accepting and even encouraging of this because of the belief that a ‘devadasi’ or a ‘jogini’ brings luck from the Goddess to her family and to her entire village. The prosperity of the village is placed on the shoulders of a young woman and the belief is twisted to suit the needs of the patriarchal system within the Dalit community and outside (Yadav N.A.)

This double standard, an ‘untouchable’ being used by the upper castes for sexual pleasure, is the reality of many women in the state of Karnataka and in other states across the country. In a remote village in the South of Karnataka, Malvika (name changed) was dedicated to the Goddess forty years ago, when she was merely six. As soon as she hit puberty, Malvika was sexually exploited by the men of her village (Chand N.A.). Being a girl, Malvika’s grandparents believed she could not take care of them and felt this was the only option for the grandchild they had raised from birth. In an interview, she blamed “deep rooted superstitions” and “lack of awareness” for her fate in life. After 20 odd years of suffering at the hands of every man in her village, Malvika came into contact with an organisation working for women forced into the Devadasi system. However, it was only in 2011, when she got in touch with the Karnataka AIDS Center, did she find any real support for her cause. Now, she works as a peer educator for the Center and has raised her two sons to treat women with respect. She has made a change in so many lives of the women who face the same cruel reality she did for close to forty years of her life (Chand N.A.).

In a similar case, Ruchika (name changed), a young woman from another village in North Karnataka, was dedicated to be a Devadasi at the age of ten after her parents were pressurized to do so by the rest of the village (Chand N.A.). A few years later, a group of wealthy men visited the village and in attempt to get them to remain there, Ruchika was given to them, along with a plot of land. Ruchika went on to have a daughter with physical disabilities and because of her poverty and caste status, she had no option but to dedicate her own daughter to the same system (Chand N.A.), thus continuing what can only be seen as a vicious social circle. Dalit women who are forced into this system often end up as prostitutes in red light districts in Mumbai and Delhi (Yadav N.A.) and escape from this ritual is close to impossible.

The second reason for prostitution within the Dalit fold is simply one of economics. To highlight this, I take the example of the Badi community in Nepal, categorizes by Nepal’s 1853 civil code as one of the most marginalized Dalit communities to exist (Kafle N.A.). The women of the Badi community have long been resigned to the fact that they have no opportunities beyond prostitution, even now in the year 2016. In 2007, Taruna Badi led a group of women from her community to Kathmandu in a protest against the situation of the Badi people, especially the women. The Government agreed to provide aid, health services, education and employment opportunities to these women stuck in this profession, however none of this happened and most of the women who attended the protest, including Taruna Badi, returned to a life of sex trade (Kafle N.A.). In an interview, Taruna Badi confessed the women of her community have no other way to earn a living and thus have no choice or say in the matter.

The women of the Badi community are trained to be prostitutes right from a very young age. In fact, a large number of Badi girls are sold by their mothers into the sex trade in big Indian cities such as Mumbai and Calcutta (Abruzzini N.A.). Babi Badi, a mother of one daughter, revealed that she is aware she will one day sell her daughter to the Mumbai sex slave trade as she has no other way to support her. Tearfully, she told an interviewer, that her daughter would not be able to earn money for them through any other means and just as her mother had sold her, she will be forced to sell her daughter as well. Several mothers of this community send their daughters to India, when there are no opportunities in Nepal, and thus contribute to the widespread sex trade of the country (Abruzzini N.A). Here again, we see a vicious social circle created by the division of wealth in India and its neighbouring countries.

With the laws on prostitution in India not being clearly defined, sex trade is a booming industry. Women from all over India, Nepal and Bangladesh make up the industry and majority of these women are from the Dalit community. Even as the 70^th year of our Independence rushes to meet us, the continued existence of the caste system and caste hierarchy is a painful reality. Though women from all communities are often forced into prostitution or see it as their only option, Dalit women face a double oppression from the upper caste as well as from the patriarchal structure of their own community.

 

Works Cited

 

Abruzzini, Bibbi. “Is There a Life beyond Prostitution?” New Spotlight. New Spotlight, 26 July 2013. Web. 22 Aug. 2016.

Chand, Dular. “Dalit Prostituion.” Web log post. Blogspot. Chamaar Tab Aur Ab, 2 Dec. 2012. Web. 20 Aug. 2016.

Kafle, Nima. “Nepal’s Badi Says Prostituion Is Still All There Is.” Women’s ENews. Women’s ENews, 29 May 2011. Web. 22 Aug. 2016.

Nag, Moni. “Anthropoloigcal Perspectives on Prostitution and AIDS in India.” Economic and Political Weekly 36.42 (2001): 4025-030. JStor. Economic and Political Weekly, 26 Oct. 2001. Web. 24 Aug. 2016.

Ryan, Richard, Scott Rigby, and Kristi King. “Two Types of Religious Internalization and Their Relations to Religious Orientation and Mental Health.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 65 (1993): n. Page 586-596. PDF.

Yadav, Yogendra. “Prostitution in Gandhian India.” Web log post. Blogspot. Chamaar Tab Aur Ab, 2 Dec. 2012. Web. 20 Aug. 2016.