K V Dominic's short story "What is Wrong with us?"

 

What’s Wrong with Us?

K. V. Dominic

 

“Why is it dad I don’t have qualifier to my name? Some of my classmates are named M. Krishnan Namboodiri, T. P. Chandran Nair, S. Subramanyan Pillai, K. N. Achyutan Potti, Kuttikrishnan Varrier, S. Mohanan Varma, G. Sankaran Menon, P. S. Sasidharan Kaimal. But I am just K. G. Vijayan” complained sixteen year old Vijayan to his father, Gopalan.

“Dear son, they all belong to higher castes and those tails to their names denote the caste they belong to. We are low caste Dalit people and we don’t have such qualification to be proud of” Gopalan replied.

Vijayan: “Why are we born as low caste and they all as high caste, dad?”

Gopalan: “I asked the same question to my father when I was a child, but he couldn’t give any satisfying reply other than he did not know, my son. For many generations we have been living as low caste. I don’t think our creator God plans some people to be born in high and respectable families and the others in low despicable families. He treats all His children equal and never shows discrimination to any. We don’t find any caste system among animals and we human beings who are evolved from them are also born in the same manner with no labels. Caste is man’s creation dear son.”

Vijayan: “Now I understand dad, why I am ignored by the teachers, asking less questions to me and never complimenting when I say the right answer. Those high caste, white skinned pupils are their favourites, and I have less friends in my class. My friends are all black like me. Our neighbour Joseph is my best friend among the classmates. Girls in our class never speak to us.”

Gopalan: “Don’t bother about the treatment of your teachers and classmates, dear son. You can overcome all these through hard work. Study well and try to get the highest marks for examinations. Then you will be applauded by your teachers and classmates. Haven’t you heard of K. R. Narayanan, our former President of India? He was born in our own State, Kerala in a low caste poor family like ours. He experienced much discrimination than you from his teachers and classmates. He had to walk 15 kilometres to reach his school every day. Like you, he too studied in a government school. By hard work he could get degrees after degrees from India and abroad and even served as Vice Chancellor and Indian Ambassador before he became the Vice President of India and then the President. It is very late now. Go and sleep, child.”

“I will study well and become an honourable high level government officer. Good night, dad!” Vijayan went for sleep.

Gopalan: Very good decision! Good night, son!”

Gopalan prayed to God to bless his child and fulfill his dreams and wishes. He is a daily wage agricultural labourer, working in the lands of rich people in his neighbourhood. Being a low caste, he had to bear all discriminations shown to him by the land owners. He was never offered a chair to sit near to his boss in the evenings when he returns after work for his wage. He had to sit on the veranda or stand on the front yard to drink the tea served by the boss’s wife or maid. He has no complaints since he knows well that what he experiences is the ill-fated predicament of the category of his society. Gopalan is the only income earner of his family consisting of his wife, son Vijayan, daughter, aged five, and old parents. His father was a daily labourer and he is now under treatment for asthma and can’t go for any work. His mother too is a patient of diabetes. They both get government’s old age monthly pension of Rs. 1600 each which can meet their medical expenses.

As mentioned earlier, Joesph is Vijayan’s best friend studying with him in the same class. Though he and his parents are Christians by birth they too face discriminations from the society. They are close neighbours of Gopalan’s family. Joseph’s father Mathai is a rubber tapper who works in the rubber plantation of a Christian land owner nearby. On holidays Joseph accompanies his father to the land owner’s house. Mathai gets his wages on Saturday. One day while he was receiving the weekly wages from the boss, the little son of the boss, seemingly twelve years old appeared there and asked him: “Mathai, is this your son?”

Mathai: “Yes, he is my son, Joseph who is studying in the tenth standard in the government school here.”

“I am studying in the sixth standard of the CBSE public school.” The child said.

“Very good! Study well!” Telling this Mathai walked back to his house with his son. While walking, Joseph asked his father, “Dad, why did that boss’s son address you by name with least respect? Why didn’t he add ‘Chetta” (elder brother) after Mathai as is our custom here? You are of his father’s age. He has no manners at all.”

“No need to accuse the child, Vijayan. He is trained in such a manner to call the low caste people by their names.” Mathai said.

“But we are not low caste, dad. We are Christians as they are. Christians belong to forward community. How then are we low caste?” Joseph argued.

Mathai: “Dear son, it’s true that Christians are a forward community. But there is discrimination among us in the society. Unfortunately our family is labelled as converted Christians. Our great grandfather belonged to a low caste Dalit family when he was converted into Christianity by some Christian priest. He might have been promised that he and his family would be looked after by the church and they could lead a decent life like the forward classes. It is to be assumed that the church did not keep its promise and he and his family and the generations after him continued their hellish life, working hard for the rich people and facing all discriminations from the society. The irony of the conversion is that the converted Christians were never supported by the church and they lost the scheduled caste reservations offered by the government for education, employment, medical treatment etc. So they are never considered a forward community and lost whatever support they have been getting from the government.”

Joseph: “I will study hard and get a government job to save our family from the financial problems and earn respectability from the society, particularly the rich whom we serve now.”

Mathai: “Excellent ambition dear son! Get high marks for your 10^th class public examinations so that you can get admission for higher secondary in the merit quota. Though there are several higher secondary schools and colleges run by the Christian management, we can’t get any admission in the management quota since we are poor. And when it comes to appointment as teachers in government aided Christian schools and colleges, candidates from converted Christian family like ours are very seldom selected. So try to get maximum marks so that you can get admission in Government higher secondary school and colleges. After your graduation or even post graduation you can apply for government jobs, perform well in the PSC/UPSC examinations and thus fulfill your ambition.”

Joseph: “I am determined dad, I promise you”

“Best wishes dear son! If there is a will there is a way.” Mathai replied and they reached home.

Joseph and Vijayan go to school together and they used to speak about the discrimination and ill treatment they had to face from the classmates, teachers and the society as such. They want to send back the arrows that pierce their hearts. But how it is possible is a question which gives no answer. On a Monday they planned to ask some doubts and clarifications to their social science teacher regarding the caste system in India. The social science teacher, Ramesh Krishnan is a low caste and he got appointment on the basis of reservation.

Ramesh entered into the classroom of 10^th Standard, Division A where Joseph and Vijayan are studying. After taking the attendance Ramesh Master asked the pupils some questions as to check if they had studied the portions taught in his previous lecture. Before beginning the new topic of lecture for the day, Ramesh asked if any pupil has any doubt. Then Vijayan stood up and asked: “Sir, I have a doubt regarding the caste system in our country. We would like to know the origin of caste system in India. Why are the people divided into high castes and low castes? Is there any justification in the division and discrimination shown to the low caste?”

Ramesh: “Very good question, Vijayan! Kindly sit down. It is a very relevant question now since so much of discrimination, cruelty, mob violence, torture, lynching, burning houses, murder, and police persecutions are going on in our country in the name of caste. ” He then opened his bag and took a notebook. “I am going to present before you a renowned history professor’s research findings on caste. She is Dr. Kallie Szczepanski, a history teacher specialized in Asian history and culture. She has taught at the high school and university levels in the U. S. and South Korea. She states that the origins of the caste system in India and Nepal are not fully known, but castes seem to have originated more than 2,000 years ago. Under this system, which is associated with Hinduism, people were categorized by their occupations. The four primary castes are Brahmin, the priests; Kshatriya, warriors and nobility; Vaisya, farmers, traders, and artisans; and Shudra, tenant farmers and servants. Some people were born outside and below the caste system; they were called "untouchables" or Dalits meaning "the crushed ones."

Early written evidence about the caste system appears in the Vedas, Sanskrit-language texts that date from as early as 1500 BCE. The Vedas form the basis of Hindu scripture. The "Rigveda," however, which dates from around 1700–1100 BCE, rarely mentions caste distinctions and is taken as evidence that social mobility was common in its time. The "Bhagavad Gita," which dates from around 200 BCE–200 CE, emphasizes the importance of caste. In addition, the Laws of Manu or Manusmriti, from the same era, defines the rights and duties of the four different castes or varnas. Thus, it seems that the Hindu caste system began to solidify sometime between 1000 and 200 BCE.”

“With regard to dining habits, at mealtimes, anyone could accept food from the hands of a Brahmin, but a Brahmin would be polluted if he or she took certain types of food from a lower caste person. At the other extreme, if an untouchable dared to draw water from a public well, he or she polluted the water, and nobody else could use it. Untouchables were barred entirely from temples, and sometimes they were not even allowed to set foot on temple grounds. If the shadow of an untouchable touched a Brahmin, the Brahmin would be polluted, so untouchables had to lay face-down at a distance when a Brahmin passed.”

“Untouchables were considered so impure that any contact with them by a caste member would contaminate that member. The polluted person would have to bathe and wash his or her clothing immediately. The untouchables historically did work that no one else would do, like scavenging animal carcasses, leather-work, or killing rats and other pests. Untouchables could not eat in the same room as caste members and could not be cremated when they died.” Ramesh ended his reading from the notebook and continued speaking:

“Dear children, from what I have read you can feel and understand that the caste system and the discrimination based on it are all manmade. It is all misuse of the power and wealth of a few people in the society.  God the Father or the Creator can never show any discrimination to his children. The law of Nature also gives equal right to all inhabitants, be it humans or non humans. Hence, caste discrimination is a canker of our society and we should all pledge to fight against it. No one is superior or inferior to others in a society. All professions have their own glory and importance in a society. The profession of a pujari and that of a scavenger should be treated equal and dignified since a society can’t exist without them. Caste system in its origin as we find in the Vedas and Shastras was just the division of a society based on the professions assigned to. The vedic dharma is very prominently seen in the division of the controversial caste system. In the real spirit of the Veda, there is no need of the controversies on the caste system. Only people who can lead a very pious life are supposed to be Brahmins. Kshathriya should possess iron fist. Vaisya should possess productivity. And sudra must be able to do manual labours. Any person unfit for the former three castes will become Sudra, because all the human beings are born as Sudras and the state of being Sudra is common in each and everyone.

The entire people come under one caste or the other and they are all dignified and essential for the existence of the society.  As it is now, the service sector constitutes the vast majority of the people in a society. As per the original concept of caste division they all belong to the Shudras.  In fact Jati and Caste are different. There are more than 3000 Jatis in India. Caste groups as political pressure groups work very well in a democratic system. Caste may provide psychological support that people seem to need. Economists and political scientists are finding that caste is no real barrier to economic development or political democracy. Degeneration happened in the caste system and the British government used it in India when they ruled, to break the unity of the people and to divide and fight among themselves.”

“My dear children,” Ramesh added, “We should learn the dignity of labour from the West. An Indian Brahmin has no reluctance to serve as a sweeper or a scavenger abroad, but in his own country, his or the society’s false pride doesn’t allow. This mentality should be changed.  Dr. B. R. Ambedkar the architect of the constitution of India was all against the caste system. He is renowned for championing the rights of Dalits and their upliftment in the society. He is of opinion that Hindu social order doesn’t recognize liberty and fraternity. The unit of Hindu society is caste. Ambedkar does not agree with the argument that economic power brings power to the lower caste. Caste superiority is inculcated in the minds of the people. To eliminate hierarchical nature of the caste, these beliefs need to be changed. He opines that caste is the state of the mind. Dear students, it has come to a pathetic stage now that Hindu religion can’t exist without Jati.  What is Hindu religion? It is a communion of people who believe in the principles of the four Vedas. Since caste and functions of the castes are mentioned in detail in the Vedas, caste has become an inseparable part of Hindu religion. So caste is a reality but the superiority and discrimination as we find now was not there in the early period. I hope you have all heard of Sree Narayana Guru who is acknowledged as the "Father of the Renaissance in Kerala." His philosophic statement on caste system is "One Caste, one Religion, One God for mankind." What he means is that everyone is equal in this world.”

“Sir, how can we put an end to this discrimination shown by the higher caste? Isn’t there any law to punish those who torture the poor low caste people for no reason?” Vijayan interrupted.

“Surely, all offences and assaults done in the name of caste are punishable. Dear students, future India lies in your hands and it is your duty to fight against this irrational discrimination and tortures done to the poor low caste and dalit people. Haven’t you heard of Daya Bai, the social activist from our own State Kerala? She is a nun turned activist working for the welfare of the tribal people in Madhya Pradesh. She is now 81. She studied law and took the degree to plead free for the tribals in the court. You cannot eradicate caste system from our country but you can fight against the discrimination and tortures like her.”

Vijayan stood up and declared, “Sir, I have decided to become a lawyer and devote my life for the low caste and Dalit people.”

Immediately Joseph also stood up and declared, “I too have taken a decision to go for LLB after my Plus two and plead for the lower caste people in the court.”

“Excellent decision! You are real sons of India. The entire nation feels proud of you! Let us give a big clap to Vijayan and Joseph.” Ramesh said. All the pupils stood up and clapped continuously for several seconds. And Mother India smiled with immense happiness.